I’m not sure what evidence there is that Acuff would be a better choice than J Williams. J. Williams would score a ton in the MAC too.
Theoretical Line-Up Advantages: This Coming Season v Last Season
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I’m not sure what evidence there is that Acuff would be a better choice than J Williams. J. Williams would score a ton in the MAC too.
Eh, outside shooting is JWill's shortfall. He couldn't shoot in the AAC either. Acuff, even last year, on huge usage, still had a higher eFG% than Williams.
JWill is very good in the midrange. It's not valuable. Especially when you want the ball in Dylan and Ace's hands. You want shooters off of them.
I think J Williams has a history of making others around him better though as a team. One could technically argue the opposite of Acuff to date for what it’s worth. His team actually played better the last 2 games without him. And his team had a lot of talent the prior year and underperformed. I’m not saying that’s necessarily his fault but as the guy with the ball in his hands a ton - he didn’t show a lot to convince me he’d a be a good choice as a compliment to maximize what we can get out of Dylan and Ace. I see him more of a spark plug off the bench. Tez type of player. We’ll see.
I can see the scorer off the bench role too, but wo years ago, Acuff had a much lower usage rate than Bates and Farrakhan, had the lowest TO rate on the team and led that team in Box +/-, and win shares, asst %, and had an eFG% of 54%. Even last year he had a big asst% and a very low TO rate. I think he's being slept on. His defensive fit next to freshman may lead to the scorer role you mention.
Jwill and Derkack are more like for like. Acuff is our one proven veteran scorer. The only reason JWill is a locked on starter, to me, is that you really can't play him and Derkack together or the offense will look similar to last year. So you separate them and Derkack comes in when Williams sits. Acuff and Dylan can play together or apart. JMike is an x factor. He's as good defensively, but not a finished offensive product yet. If he can improve on that side, it may limit PT for one of the above.
We have a lot of lineup combination possibilities. Plus offensive guys, plus defensive guys. Martini and EO play together for optimal defense.
I am sure the staff has plenty of ideas on what they expect the lineups to look like, but until fall practice starts and they really see who works best on the court with Ace and Dylan, everyone else except probably Martini is up the in air right now.
I don’t think that’s a fair assessment of J Williams skill set. He proved early on that he can create for himself and set others up well. The trouble was the surrounding cast as we really didn’t have a lot for him to work with and teams quickly figured out they could focus on him to shut down our offense. We had no perimeter threats at all.
Despite that - J Will averaged 12.2 ppg in 26 minutes. He shot 44.4% from the floor. I know he’s not a good 3 point shooter (he only attempted 24 of them), how many non center reasonable volume players do you think we’ve had under Pike who have surpassed this at Rutgers? Here’s a hint - not Geo. Not Yeboah. Not even Cam Spencer (he matched at 44.4%). RHJ and JY did once apiece. Paul did only when he was a lower volume shooter.
I don’t think you can compare Jordan’s efficiency mostly on transition lay ups playing in the worst conference in D1. It’s apples and oranges even using metrics that attempt to adjust for this.
Williams came in and immediately took up the highest usage on the team and produced an eFG% of 46% (50% true shooting). Those are bottom 200 player in the country numbers. I think there were 332 TEAMS that put up higher eFG%'s and True Shooting % numbers. He only looked good because the rest of the team was legendary bad at shooting.
Spencer was eFG% of 55% (59% true shooting). Mulcahy that year was similar to JWill. Harper two years ago was 53% (57% true shooting), Geo similar to JWill, Mulcahy was better than JWill that year. Year before that Harper and J Young were in the 50's by both measures, Baker was better than JWill. Yeboah and Harper were both much more efficient that year too, Yeboah 52% eFG% and 55% true shooting.
When it comes to scoring/shooting, JWill isn't much more valuable overall than a guy like Hyatt. His lack of outside shooting are the reason his numbers from last year match his career numbers. His defense and distribution gives him some added value. 44% shooting for a guy who only takes two's isn't great though.
I didn't love Martini as the first guy to go after in the portal, but I agree, he is probably the only other one certain to be on the floors right now.
As a facilitator first type of player - 44% is fine. I’d rather him not take many 3s than hoist them up like Simpson at a low percentage. You will see - when surrounded by talent he’s the type of player who will make the team better. That’s not what has happened with Acuff in the past. Again - look at the stats for his team’s last two games. They rattled off a win and almost pulled off a second upset without him. I think he’s used to being an iso performer which means he has potential to be that JY type spark plug off the bench. I don’t see him playing alongside Dylan and Ace as a starter and see him more as a guy who comes in to spell those guys and jump into a dominant scoring role. I think Williams can embrace a role of setting others up. Acuff has work to do to convince me that he can. I’m not seeing it at the moment.
Disagree, 44% isn't good. Would you want your center, that only takes two pointers, to shoot 44% on the teams highest usage? I want my facilitator to be a threat to score.
I don't really care what happened for two games at the end of a bad year. Better talent will make everyone a little better. Acuff has never played with better talent, his numbers, across the board have been better than everyone on his teams, whether he was a leading scorer or not. Acuff and Williams are the same year in college. Acuff has played twice as many minutes, at a higher efficiency. He's had the highest asst % on his last few teams, which leads me to believe the rest of the teams were even more ISO.
I agree, the bench will be his role. Dylan needs the ball in his hands, which then renders JWill just taking up space. Dylan isn't a catch and shoot guy. Now JWill's defense will be important though, and that's why he's probably better for the starting role and Acuff for off the bench. I think Acuff will be the teams 3rd scorer.
It really just depends on who you think would have the ball in their hands. If you think Dylan is an off the ball guard, you would rather it in JWill's hands. If you think Dylan is the lead guard that shoots or drives and kicks, I'd rather Acuff next to him. Who knows, maybe it's year four where JWill suddenly becomes a threat from outside if he's left open. That would be ideall.
They can get away with a 3 guard lineup against most teams. With some exceptions, post play isn't really taught in America anymore.
That would be nice, but he shot 23% his season before this years 20%. Even if he gets back to his freshman year 32%, it doesn't mean much unless he takes more of them. His % difference between his freshman year and last year would result in one made three more every three games.
There is a lot of merit to what you're saying but then you go over the top and ruin it saying Ace might be on the bench in crunch time. That is not happening. MAYBE if it's one final defensive possession if he struggles on D... but he's so long and athletic that also seems unlikely
The context of the conversation here is important. He’s basically just saying that a guy like J Will is a proven major conference veteran starter and there are situations where that experience can prove move valuable than raw talent. I think that’s what he’s trying to say.
I personally dont see either of the mid major transfers as candidates to be primary ball distributors even in spot situations. It’s going to be J Will and with certain match ups Dylan will take over when Pike concludes sheer talent alone can prevail. Other guys will earn playing time when we need defensive stops (Acuff offensive spark), but J Will will be the rock (in my opinion) stabilizing the offense. Any conversations about other candidates for that are sort of ridiculous. Acuff wasn’t a good PG on a bad mid major team. He’s not stepping into that role now.
I agree with you, but JWill has ten games more experience at the major college level. He's not exactly much more of a veteran at this level than the transfers. He does have the practice experience though.
He just seems to be a leader. Last year it seemed like he had a lot of respect from teammates.
It's funny, I didn't see or feel that last year, but am definitely getting the leadership vibes from him early on this off season. I thought he kind of disappeared for very long stretches this year as soon as Mag went down and things weren't all roses.
