So what is Paul up to????
- Thread starter Joey Bacala
- Start date
You also said from "day one" that Paul's serious injury was just a "stinger" and admonished those who were rightfully worried about his condition moving forward. So yeah, you can go ahead and sit this conversation out.
Anyone who thinks this clearly has no idea. Paul has been a 30 minute per game guy for the past 2-3 years. He does everything on the court. Nothing has changed. In fact, when he is healthy he will be a problem for every opposing team, especially when he is surrounded by shooters. He’s a 6’7” pass first guy that will find someone a good shot.
I don't get the criticism for Mulcahy. The guy was beat to hell by the end of last season. If Rutgers got a player of his caliber in the transfer portal today, we'd be doing cartwheels.
Completely disagree.
I like Mulcahy but he is very limited on the offensive end. He excels when he is a PG and has a huge height advantage. He bullied smaller guards in the paint. When teams started putting bigger players on him his advantage in the paint disappeared.
As a 3 point shooter he shoots set shots at a high percentage of 37%. He can't take 3's off the dribble, he can't take 3's coming around picks and getting a shot up quickly. And, he doesn't take quick 3's in transition.
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As a frosh, he played 18+ minutes on a roster with JY, Geo, RHJ, Caleb, Yeboah, and Tez…
Objectively speaking - you admit our roster next year 1-4 doesn’t present as stiff competition for him, right? How can you not?
GG has yet to play in a collegiate game. Mag coming off major injury. Hyatt is not ahead of Paul on the depth chart. Anyone who would chose that combo of 3 over RHJ, Yeboah, Caleb just isn’t being honest.
In the backcourt - Noah is stepping up a level. No proof at all he’ll be better than Geo. Cam does some nice things but so did JY. Simpson and Tez are similar in my opinion. Even if you think Simpson is “better”, it’s hard to project he’s materially so because the data to this point doesn’t suggest that. Doesn’t mean he won’t up his game but going into the season, the competition for Paul is way weaker than when he was a frosh across the board.
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As a freshman he was basically the only PG, so there was less competition then.
Huh? We had Geo and JY. You think Simpson is better than either of them? Please. Noah might not be either. Time will tell. He played in the A-10.
You keep listing players who weren’t PG’s. PM lost his job at PG this year because he stunk and Pike grabbed a PG out of the portal to replace PM. He has to bow battle against Simpson, Cam, and Gavin for time…..all of which are much better offensively.
Young never played any position other than point. Like literally not ever. What are you talking about? If he played for UMass instead of Texas before transferring his numbers would’ve looked like Noah’s. Also - It’s highly unlikely Noah’s defense will be comparable to JY’s. D is part of the game. Super senior Paul will also be a much better defensive player than frosh Paul.
Pike values D. Always has. The competition on D in 2019-2020 at 1-4 blows out what we’ll have next year. Anyone who tries to argue otherwise would look foolish. And Paul is a much better defender now than he was then - and he still got 18+ minutes. There’s almost no chance he’s buried on the bench next season.
And no - I’m not saying Paul is a good defender. His defense relative to the competition next season is much better though than it was that year and he still played.
More like he brought in an efficient offensive player to help our anemic offense. It turns out that player also happens to be ball handler but that impacts Simpson more than Paul in my opinion unless Simpson’s game becomes a whole lot more efficient.
I don’t see Pike playing Noah and Simpson that much together unless we’re running press and trying to score in transition off turnovers. When Noah, Cam, GG and Cliff are on the floor together, I bet Pike wants Paul, his best distributor on the floor rather than Simpson, his explosive but inefficent iso scorer. I guess we’ll find out.
Nothing here makes sense from a offensive or defensive perspective, unless you are putting Mulcahy in a catch and shoot/corner 3 point role, where he is not likely taking 4 to 5 3s per game.
On the defensive end, you'll be asking Mulcahy to be able to guard another teams best offensive player at the wing, which he is also not equipped to do well.....and I haven't even discussed the rebounding aspect, of this lineup of Noah, Cam, Gavin, Paul and Cliff.
Just because a player has value or skill sets, doesn't mean he's an appropriate fit for a truly winning basketball team. Paul is not a scoring threat on a consistent basis and the team lineup you presented is not fast enough to advance the ball and find Griffiths in transition to shoot/score.....and Cam Spencer and Mulcahy are duplicates in terms of what they do best, which in your lineup is "catch and shoot".
The game requires 2 guards who can drive and score AND can generate their own shot off the dribble. There is a better chance that you will see Simpson and Fernandes on the court together with Spencer/Griffiths, than you will Spencer/Mulcahy or even Hyatt.
I haven't even factored in JaMicheal Davis, who's tape is athletic and another guard who can advance the ball, create his own offense and pressure the opponents on defense.
From a strictly basketball sense, there really isn't a defined role for Mulcahy with this 2023-24 roster and what it requires in order for the roster to be better than last year.
And I am sure someone is going to say when Mulcahy eventually gets around to announcing his return that he's going to start.....he certainly can and may start.
At the end of the day, once we get into the teeth of the season in early to mid January and into February, when things ultimately need to click, it is probably going to require our depth being improved. I view Mulcahy as a depth piece that we need, but I don't see a defined role where I'm starting him over Gavin Griffiths, under any circumstances whatsoever AND he's not a PF or a 4. If he's not the PG or SG, asking Gavin Griffiths to play the 4 "could work", but I'm fairly certain a portal addition is better suited to do that, at this stage.
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re: Transition: I don't know about the team being "fast enough" in terms of footspeed which, while a factor, is not the greatestest factor in running transition. I'd put in there intent, smarts/savvy, practice-practice-practice. In the fast break and semi-fast break we've got to finish much better than last year or it negates the whole notion of pushing the ball.
Speed, quickness and athleticism are musts for a good fast break. We weren’t a good fast break team this season because we lacked enough of those players. Good teams have them and we’re recruiting more of them.
Paul was fine for a developing/transitional program but we’re trying to upgrade and move towards the type of personnel and style of play you’re more likely to see from the top tier teams. He’s a nice depth piece on a top tier program not a 25-30 min player. If he’s playing those kinds of minutes this season it means we’re NIT again.
