Why are we making declarative statements about a dude who hasn’t even logged a practice yet lmao. The simple answer for a lot of these guys is “We won’t know what we’ve got until we’ve seen it”.
Tillis was a great defender at UC Irvine, a major cog in one of the best mid major defenses in the country but we won’t know if he can guard ACC level bigs until he actually matches up against some. Tillis did do quite a bit of damage off the bounce there too, saying he has “zero” ability to drive to the basket is just wrong but again, we don’t know if that part of his game is gonna translate here. Tillis was a very good positional rebounder at Irvine, he averaged nearly 8 per game and had 7 double doubles last season. But we don’t know if that’s gonna be the case here.
Saying he is or isn’t gonna be able to do something right now is dumb, we have NO IDEA yet. I’m not even sure the coaches fully do, they probably hope so since they sent him a big bag to play for us but nothing is a guarantee. On paper at least I think he’s gonna be a solid rotational piece for us, I’ve made the poor man’s Kris Jenkins comparison before and as of right now I’m sticking by that. Jenkins had his fair share of limitations too and he ended up being one of the best players on a national title team.
If it’s dumb to project whether he can or cannot do something, why is your post filled with such projections? Lol. The reality is that we can make reasonable projections based on size and athletic ability. The reality, again is, that small, undersized bigs have difficulty against bigger, more athletic players. Can he overcome that? Yes, but the historical record suggests that will be a difficult hurdle. His value may be coming off the bench to make some threes when others are having a bad shooting night.
And in addition I think he is crafty and a dawg out there. I think he is going to bring a lot of intangibles to the team on the floor, on the bench and in the locker room.
De Ridder is a much better overall player so I assume he’d play more than Tillis but I’d actually be more concerned about him on the defensive end than Tillis…4s aren’t really bigs in college anymore, haven’t been for a long time. Will be an adjustment for a Euro coming over, from guarding a guy standing in the corner to the wide range of players and styles you see in college.
Also even if De Ridder is the “starter”, two things…1) Odom rotates frequently, nobody plays very heavy minutes. And 2) Euros aren’t used to playing what we think of as starter minutes. It’s like their system over there to use the top 10 or more almost evenly. 20-25 is the most you see.
He’s Jayden Gardner with a 22-foot jumper. All Gardner did was average 15 points and 12 points in his two years here, despite being a very undersized 4.
It’s not dumb to project, it’s dumb to say something is a fact when it hasn’t even been proven yet which is what you’re doing. Because believe it or not there’s a difference between someone saying “I think he’s gonna do this” and someone else saying “HE CANT DO THIS”.
Not quite. Jayden Gardener had at least 20lbs on Tillis. Gardner had much better footwork inside, quickness, and physicality. Oh, and not to mention Gardner was scoring 18-19 ppg before leveling up to the ACC. Tillis’ numbers dont compare to that. You’re right that Tillis’ shooting makes him an option in some limited circumstances
So it’s just a foregone conclusion that Tillis won’t be able to do any of the things you said, because he’s 6’5 and unathletic and gosh darnit BaddAzzery said so. Got it, will keep that in mind going forward.
We are doing great recruiting. Why get snarky about any recruit with great history when you have no idea how Odom plans to use them. More easy to be positive now. Gotta really make an effort to be negative right now . I personally think it is obvious that we are in better place than 3 months ago.
What a luxury to be arguing about how good our likely back up 4 is. Y’all remember we had TJ Power in this spot last year, right?
My 2¢— Tillis’ size/speed combo does worry me a bit, but I feel like his floor is mature older player with experience winning who can at the very least knock down 3’s and find the open man. He’s a 39% career 3P shooter, that alone has a decent bit of value at his size.
If we needed him to be a primary creator of offense, I might understand the concern, but he’s in a spot to be a luxury which is very nice. He’s an absolute stud to have as a likely backup.
I have a feeling he’s going to be a guy whose advanced stats are going to impress more than his standard ones. Feel like he’s gonna be a BPM all star for us.
