Gavin Griffiths

[MiloTalon13]

If he is going to be such a great and creative shooter, why is he not a potential 1 or 2 and done player?

Especially if he is a potential All Big Ten Freshman team candidate.

He's going to be great.....but not good enough to garner NBA looks?

Yup - I wouldn't be surprised if he's our leading scorer and 1 and done. Shooting is really valuable, especially if you're 6'7" and athletic.
Pike is going to try to maximize the talent he has. The kid has the potential to be our best player, Pike isn't going to use him like he's Caleb.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Yup - I wouldn't be surprised if he's our leading scorer and 1 and done. Shooting is really valuable, especially if you're 6'7" and athletic.
Pike is going to try to maximize the talent he has. The kid has the potential to be our best player, Pike isn't going to use him like he's Caleb.

Let’s see what his halfcourt defense looks like first. There’s a major hole to fill there with Caleb leaving and it’s not in Pike’s DNA to field an Iowa type team.

 

[Nycrusupporter]

I love Richard’s commentary and insights, but he is not an NBA guy. I think the odds are much higher that he is a 2 and done or better player if he proves out to be one of the best shooters in his class (and multiple analysts call him the best shooter in the class). The NBA loves guys who can shoot from deep, almost every NBA offense is predicated on having 4 or 5 shooters on the court at the same time so they can spread you out and either kill you from deep or driving to the basket.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I love Richard’s commentary and insights, but he is not an NBA guy. I think the odds are much higher that he is a 2 and done or better player if he proves out to be one of the best shooters in his class (and multiple analysts call him the best shooter in the class). The NBA loves guys who can shoot from deep, almost every NBA offense is predicated on having 4 or 5 shooters on the court at the same time so they can spread you out and either kill you from deep or driving to the basket.

I haven’t seen that much of him, but I’m picturing a Joe Wieskamp type of player. Joe graduated from Iowa and has now played in 38 NBA games over 2 seasons.

 

[MiloTalon13]

I haven’t seen that much of him, but I’m picturing a Joe Wieskamp type of player. Joe graduated from Iowa and has now played in 38 NBA games over 2 seasons.

Joe Weiskamp left Iowa after 3 years and was the 41st pick in the NBA draft.

 

[needmorecowbell]

Yup - I wouldn't be surprised if he's our leading scorer and 1 and done. Shooting is really valuable, especially if you're 6'7" and athletic.
Pike is going to try to maximize the talent he has. The kid has the potential to be our best player, Pike isn't going to use him like he's Caleb.

Leading scorer and 1 and done. No pressure lol. I think it would be very surprising to most.

 

[MiloTalon13]

Let’s see what his halfcourt defense looks like first. There’s a major hole to fill there with Caleb leaving and it’s not in Pike’s DNA to field an Iowa type team.

LOL - ONE guy who is offense first makes Rutgers into Iowa?

 

[MiloTalon13]

Leading scorer and 1 and done. No pressure lol.

Pressure makes diamonds

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

LOL - ONE guy who is offense first makes Rutgers into Iowa?

I’d sign on the line 10 times over again if he turns out to be like Wieskamp. Great overall college player. Not a 1 and done type though.

You have no idea what his defense will look like until he’s played at the college level. Until then it’s a crap shoot.

 

[RUHouston]

Looking forward to Gavin playing on the banks....not sure about one and done but he may also be looking at the 2024 class that may be here and say, "it'd be great to play with those guys and get some hardware!"

 

[MiloTalon13]

I’d sign on the line 10 times over again if he turns out to be like Wieskamp. Great overall college player. Not a 1 and done type though.

You have no idea what his defense will look like until he’s played at the college level. Until then it’s a crap shoot.

That's simply not true. "No idea"?
Pikiell, Brandin Knight, TJ Thompson, they just recruit offense because defense is a crap shoot.
That's absurd.
Those guys believe he can play D/be taught to play D at a level that will keep him on the floor or they wouldn't recruit him.
Have you watched the kid move? You think he'll be worse defensively than Paul or Cam?

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

That's simply not true. "No idea"?
Pikiell, Brandin Knight, TJ Thompson, they just recruit offense because defense is a crap shoot.
That's absurd.
Those guys believe he can play D/be taught to play D at a level that will keep him on the floor or they wouldn't recruit him.
Have you watched the kid move? You think he'll be worse defensively than Paul or Cam?

Okay but they also recruited Jaden Jones. His defense turned out to be terrible. I’m not saying that will be the case here, I’m just saying we have no idea. Look - Caleb was not a very good defender as a frosh either.

 

[NickRU714]

Leading scorer and 1 and done. No pressure lol. I think it would be very surprising to most.

I think the main point is that it's at least a reasonable option.

It's simple facts: Big Ten Freshman Of The Year is at least in draft conversations. Especially if they have a primary skill (shooting) that is valuable at the NBA level.
Just making the Big Ten All Freshman Team puts someone in drsft conversations.

3 of the 5 players on the All Freshman Team are leaving after 1 year.
4 of the 5 players on the 2022 All Freshman Team got drafted.

The exception are players like Kofi Cockburn who just don't fit in today in the NBA. That doesn't appear to be the profile of a 6'7" elite shooter.

 

[MiloTalon13]

Okay but they also recruited Jaden Jones. His defense turned out to be terrible. I’m not saying that will be the case here, I’m just saying we have no idea. Look - Caleb was not a very good defender as a frosh either.

"we have no idea" is extreme - we do have an idea, he has all the tools and he's played hard defensively in the EYBL and in HS, and especially THEY do have an idea (Pike, B Knight, TJ Thompson)
His HS and EYBL teams played primarily M2M and his HS did a lot of switching, he was communicating on defense every trip. He frequently guarded guards in the EYBL. These are positive indicators, not "we have no idea".

 

[MiloTalon13]

I think the main point is that it's at least a reasonable option.

It's simple facts: Big Ten Freshman Of The Year is at least in draft conversations. Especially if they have a primary skill (shooting) that is valuable at the NBA level.
Just making the Big Ten All Freshman Team puts someone in drsft conversations.

3 of the 5 players on the All Freshman Team are leaving after 1 year.
4 of the 5 players on the 2022 All Freshman Team got drafted.

The exception are players like Kofi Cockburn who just don't fit in today in the NBA. That doesn't appear to be the profile of a 6'7" elite shooter.

Thank you. Well said.
6'7" elite shooter with athleticism and BBIQ - every single NBA team wants more guys like that

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

"we have no idea" is extreme - we do have an idea, he has all the tools and he's played hard defensively in the EYBL and in HS, and especially THEY do have an idea (Pike, B Knight, TJ Thompson)
His HS and EYBL teams played primarily M2M and his HS did a lot of switching, he was communicating on defense every trip. He frequently guarded guards in the EYBL. These are positive indicators, not "we have no idea".

We are replacing a super senior NDPOY candidate. He’s a frosh who is yet to play in his first collegiate game. Most frosh do not come in as above average defenders. If they turn out to be serviceable in year one that’s usually a great sign. Is it possible he’s an exception? Sure. But it’s also far from a given that he’s going to come in as a better perimeter defender than Cam or Paul off the bat. Experience matters. Which is why I say - until we see him play in a college game we won’t know.

 

[MiloTalon13]

We are replacing a super senior NDPOY candidate. He’s a frosh who is yet to play in his first collegiate game. Most frosh do not come in as above average defenders. If they turn out to be serviceable in year one that’s usually a great sign. Is it possible he’s an exception? Sure. But it’s also far from a given that he’s going to come in as a better perimeter defender than Cam or Paul off the bat. Experience matters. Which is why I say - until we see him play in a college game we won’t know.

If your baseline is "hopefully he'll be serviceable as a freshman" you are in for an extremely pleasant surprise.

 

[Caliknight]

Hope the kid is drinking his muscle milk this summer

Why? He plays basketball not football. Dexterity and length are much more valuable.

 

[Nycrusupporter]

We are replacing a super senior NDPOY candidate. He’s a frosh who is yet to play in his first collegiate game. Most frosh do not come in as above average defenders. If they turn out to be serviceable in year one that’s usually a great sign. Is it possible he’s an exception? Sure. But it’s also far from a given that he’s going to come in as a better perimeter defender than Cam or Paul off the bat. Experience matters. Which is why I say - until we see him play in a college game we won’t know.

If he is servicable on defense, and very efficient and skilled on offense, Rutgers is highly likely to be a better team next year. We had Caleb last year, and I do love him, but we limped into the NIT and go eliminated by Hofstra. We are desperate for players who efficient scorers with range, it should have a much bigger impact on our team‘s performance.

 

[Pdabs]

If he is going to be such a great and creative shooter, why is he not a potential 1 or 2 and done player?

Especially if he is a potential All Big Ten Freshman team candidate.

He's going to be great.....but not good enough to garner NBA looks?

There are many really good college basketball players that don’t necessarily make good nba prospects.
You can actually be a dominate player in college and don’t even get drafted (see cockburn)

So being good at college level / and being an nba player are not mutually inclusive.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

If your baseline is "hopefully he'll be serviceable as a freshman" you are in for an extremely pleasant surprise.

I said “serviceable on defense”. That’s different from serviceable overall. And yes - I think expecting anything better than serviceable on defense from any frosh is unfair. Makes that a reasonable baseline in my book. Considering we’re losing our best perimeter defender who regularly bailed out weaker defenders in the halfcourt sets, we’re not well positioned to absorb anything less.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

If he is servicable on defense, and very efficient and skilled on offense, Rutgers is highly likely to be a better team next year. We had Caleb last year, and I do love him, but we limped into the NIT and go eliminated by Hofstra. We are desperate for players who efficient scorers with range, it should have a much bigger impact on our team‘s performance.

We’ll see what happens. The halfcourt D is taking a pretty big hit on paper on the perimeter. Caleb bailed out a lot of weaker defenders in schemes last year. That doesn’t show up in the stat book but when you replace a guy that was not only elite in shutting down the top perimeter player but also bailed out other guards around him, you need to replace that defense at minimum with someone who doesn’t need to be bailed out themselves.

Even with amazing offense, we’re going to struggle to stop teams from scoring if Gavin’s D looks like Paul’s D or even Caleb’s D from their frosh seasons.

 

[MiloTalon13]

I said “serviceable on defense”. That’s different from serviceable overall. And yes - I think expecting anything better than serviceable on defense from any frosh is unfair. Makes that a reasonable baseline in my book. Considering we’re losing our best perimeter defender who regularly bailed out weaker defenders in the halfcourt sets, we’re not well positioned to absorb anything less.

Fair enough, I read that as overall.
I think his defense will be good enough to keep him on the court, serviceable if you prefer and his offense will be excellent.
Our defense is going to be worse than last year, but the improvement in offense will more than make up for it.

 

[Caliknight]

He may be a one and done player. It wouldn't surprise me.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Fair enough, I read that as overall.
I think his defense will be good enough to keep him on the court, serviceable if you prefer and his offense will be excellent.
Our defense is going to be worse than last year, but the improvement in offense will more than make up for it.

That last part holds only if our half court D isn’t awful. That’s the biggest wild card for next season in my opinion. We’re fine down low with Cliff. But everywhere else is a question mark.

We don’t know where Mag will be in his recovery. Relying on Hyatt for defense is never a good thing. Noah is stepping up a level. Neither him or Cam are going to be great defenders. Hopefully they are collectively okay. Simpson was serviceable last season. I wouldn’t say he was great but frosh usually do improve before their next season so there’s hope there. If Gavin doesn’t come in at least comparable to where Paul is now on defense, we might have struggle a bit on D. Especially early. Mag is a good halfcourt defender. But his elite play was mostly attained through the press.

 

[Caliknight]

Defense is all about effort and will. We will be fine.

 

[MiloTalon13]

Defense is all about effort and will. We will be fine.

Technique, communication, focus - but I agree in principle, we'll be fine defensively and the improvement in offense will be large

 

[RutgersChow]

He may be a one and done player. It wouldn't surprise me.

I remember when most here thought Omoruyi was going to be a one and done.

 

[Knightmoves]

If Gavin scores 15 and gives up 10 then RU fans will be happy campers.

At this point worrying about Gavin’s defense is a red herring imo.

 

[Caliknight]

I remember when most here thought Omoruyi was going to be a one and done.

Then they saw him shoot lol

J/K. Big Cliff is awesome, but his lack of offense will keep him out of the NBA until/if that gets sorted.

Great player for us though. Hope he comes back.

 

[Nycrusupporter]

We’ll see what happens. The halfcourt D is taking a pretty big hit on paper on the perimeter. Caleb bailed out a lot of weaker defenders in schemes last year. That doesn’t show up in the stat book but when you replace a guy that was not only elite in shutting down the top perimeter player but also bailed out other guards around him, you need to replace that defense at minimum with someone who doesn’t need to be bailed out themselves.

Even with amazing offense, we’re going to struggle to stop teams from scoring if Gavin’s D looks like Paul’s D or even Caleb’s D from their frosh seasons.

If we raise our team shooting percentage by 5% it will do more to improve our record than literally anything else we can do. Putting Griffiths on the floor with Spencer and Fernandes will open up the floor for everyone, especially for Cliff down low, and should result in lots of easy shots. U need to score the ball to win games, last year we really struggled with that.

 

[NickRU714]

I remember when most here thought Omoruyi was going to be a one and done.

I not doubting "most" but I would question whoever did about their actual NBA knowledge.
As I often say "CBB fans are among the worst NBA draft evaluators".

If a Center is going to be a one and done then they need translatable skills to the NBA. You can't just be big.
I don't remember Clif being heralded for his shooting, passing or dribbling.
Not sure what they were basing that projection on.

 

[MiloTalon13]

I not doubting "most" but I would question whoever did about their actual NBA knowledge.
As I often say "CBB fans are among the worst NBA draft evaluators".

If a Center is going to be a one and done then they need translatable skills to the NBA. You can't just be big.
I don't remember Clif being heralded for his shooting, passing or dribbling.
Not sure what they were basing that projection on.

If Cliff had Gavins skills he’d be a #1 pick

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

This thread reads like a player is a golfer or tennis player. Players, especially shooters are reliant upon how able are the guards playing with Griffiths can push the ball after rebounds and advance the ball to Griffiths before the defense is set.

This notion that a player is going to hit 40+% from 3, in a half court offense, isn't realistic. And I am not concerned at all about his percentages as much as finding him 6 to 8 3s per game.

The more shot attempts, the more dangerous RU becomes and he develops this year, so when his sophomore year rolls around when Bailey, Harper, Warren and Sommerville are here, Griffiths and Simpson are thriving and confident.

 

[dpwhite]

Lotta people pushing Gavin out the door before he gets here in this thread.

 

[Jerseylegends]

This thread reads like a player is a golfer or tennis player. Players, especially shooters are reliant upon how able are the guards playing with Griffiths can push the ball after rebounds and advance the ball to Griffiths before the defense is set.

This notion that a player is going to hit 40+% from 3, in a half court offense, isn't realistic. And I am not concerned at all about his percentages as much as finding him 6 to 8 3s per game.

The more shot attempts, the more dangerous RU becomes and he develops this year, so when his sophomore year rolls around when Bailey, Harper, Warren and Sommerville are here, Griffiths and Simpson are thriving and confident.

Idk I think you guys may be underestimating this guy. I'm guessing he will bring the ball up himself at times.. looks like he can create his own shot off the dribble as well and not have to rely on a pg...telling you he's more Jason tatum/Jalen brown like, not a spot up/ catch and shoot guy...

 

[MiloTalon13]

Idk I think you guys may be underestimating this guy. I'm guessing he will bring the ball up himself at times.. looks like he can create his own shot off the dribble as well and not have to rely on a pg...telling you he's more Jason tatum/Jalen brown like, not a spot up/ catch and shoot guy...

Yup - he’s been labeled a spot up shooter, he looks the part and many who haven’t seen much of him put him in that box and no doubt that his most elite tool
Every time this kid walks in a gym, for years now, coaches tell their team “don’t let him shoot” then he gets up ten threes

 

[Arizona Knight]

I remember when most here thought Omoruyi was going to be a one and done.

That was never a thing.

 

[GRU23]

I’ve seen clips and games of Gavin from what I can find on YouTube. The negatives are he is very skinny, not very quick laterally and his ball handling lacks much shiftiness. That being said, he projects as a tremendous play finisher. Ofc, about everything you could want in a shooter. Great shot prep, fairly high release, quick, has range and is tall. On top of that, hes a pretty decent athlete in a straight line and good vertically. Should be able to attack a close out well. He should excel in transition, cuts and running off screens. Now my worry is that our offense hasn’t exactly catered to such types in the past. On the other hand, we haven’t had players super skilled at such things so perhaps a new system could be worked out to mold to his strengths. If so, he should be able to be a good contributor right out of the gate.

 

[needmorecowbell]

I remember when most here thought Omoruyi was going to be a one and done.

Gavin isn’t going to be a 1 and done. It’s just a few random posters who think that.