Papi averaged 18 mpg and it was probably more like 20-25 in conference play. But he wasn’t particularly good at guarding mobile bigs (VPI, Miami- Waardenburg, etc). However, last season Tony didn’t really play the matchups with Papi. I guess the theory was that We knew he was going to have to play about 20 with Shed foul trouble, so don’t be too precious about it (I’m not sure that was the correct call, but I’m a contrarian jerk).
But this season, we have enough front court depth to keep Papi in the roles he thrives in, and keep him away from situations that give him trouble. I don’t think this means 5-10 mpg, but it might mean more like 12-15 or so, especially if we find a small ball rotation (Fish at the 5?) that gives us an offensive boost without too much of a defensive drag.
I don’t know how likely this is. Frankly, I think there’s a decent chance we just run Papi and Shed at the 5 roughly 50-50. But it’s certainly a possibility.
I think there are some signs Jayden is going to play less this year (mainly that one guy’s post trip article but I think I agree with him). And we all assume Papi will. Could see something like this for those 80 4/5 minutes:
I’m thinking Papi’s minutes arc will be Jack Salt 2019-like where he plays more early (50%-ish) and then less down the stretch as Shed solidifies his role. He maybe plays a little less in terms overall total minutes %, as Salt did have the whole hedging mastery thing going for him.
I think that those dismissing the significance of Caffaro’s role next year are very mistaken. It’s worth remembering that he was the starter in nearly all the games after mid January. His stats are not that different from Shedrick’s, although I imagine we all agree that Shedrick has a higher eventual ceiling. Nonetheless, Caffaro has shown steady year by year improvement since he arrived. He has never lacked for effort or hustle, and his grasp of the defense is becoming pretty sound. As Haney noted, he struggles with mobile big men, On the other hand, he does complement Shedrick’s skill set quite nicely. I don’t know if they’re going to split time 50-50 next year (last year it was 18 mpg vs 21 mpg), but I imagine Caffaro will get more minutes than some here are projecting. And, if nothing else, I don’t see Coach Bennett changing things that much in the coming year. (I think the only year he’s really done much in that way was in 2018, and he had started those changes in late 2017.) He’ll have more options than last year, but not so many at the center position. Some, but not that many.
I think Coach Bennett was able to to that because he had DeAndre Hunter and Braxton Key, who were athletic plus defenders. I’m not sure he has similar options this year.
I disagree with this and suspect this difference is why we have different expectations for Papi this season. I saw little improvement between his first and second year on the court. He might have even regressed offensively. He had a good stretch of play in the middle of ACC play last year but then went back to his mediocre play down the stretch. I agree if THAT good version of Caffaro shows up he’ll have a role. Just not sure how reasonable it is to expect that version given his collegiate and international sample size at this point. Think he largely played last year because of a lack of other options and not because the staff approved of what he was doing in his minutes. Guess we will find out in a couple of months.
People can point to Jack Salt but I still think Jack was MUCH better, at least at everything other than scoring, by the second half of his redshirt sophomore year than anything Papi has shown so far.
Assumes these guys all play at the 4 and 5 only. Pretty good evidence so far they will throw BVP and Gardner in at the 3 on occasion, depending on matchup. I think you’ll see at least 10 mpg with one of those at the 3 position. Would guess papi gets 10, Traudt 10, BVP, Shedrick, and Gardner at 25.
Traudt has the best combination of athleticism and inside/outside offensive skill of any of our 4/5’s. If he sufficiently learns his defensive roles in TB’s estimation, I think he could get pretty regular minutes. Not only can he shoot, he showed some skill around the basket in Italy clips including grabbing some offensive rebounds for putbacks. He has nice touch. I could see him getting some RS Freshman Hunter type of minutes, spotty early on but more consistent double digit minutes in ACC play as he proved his effectiveness. I don’t think Bennett will hold him back just due to seniority if the guy is proving more effective than others. He’ll have to earn it though, and it’s a long season for a frosh who doesn’t have all the physical development yet.
I don’t know which games you were watching but…
In 2020, his averages were similar to 2021, but he only played in 20 games (14 conference games). He also started the season injured.
In 2021, Caffaro played in 17 games, scored 1.2 ppg, grabbed 1.2 rpg, shot .500, and played 7.8 mpg.
In 2022, Caffaro played in 35 games, socred 4.3 ppg, grabbed 4.6 rpg, shot .524, and played a bit less than 18 mpg.
He also started 16 games, which suggest a level of trust by Coach Bennett.
To my untrained eye, this suggest improvement. Not so much Year 1 to Year 2, but, overall improvement to now.
I think this is a key point. Yes Gardner, BVP, and Papi have the college experience advantage but from the clips I’ve seen it appears Isaac has the best lateral movement of the group. Could help him close the gap in learning the defense.
Steady vs overall is different. Also think his starts were more about keeping fouls off Kadin than the staff trusting Papi (the staff has used that approach in the past). But, as not to get bogged down in semantics, I’ll leave my 0.02 at this: if Caffaro can reach Jack Salt redshirt junior year levels of consistency then I agree with you that he’ll have a significant role. If not, I think he becomes a foul trouble and matchup specific 9th or 10th man.
Fair enough. Of course, Caffaro’s numbers for his RS third year either match or exceed Salt’s. I’m not sure how you measure consistency, but I agree if Caffaro achieves that, his role will not be insignificant.
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