How could he when he wasn't putting that same effort as their head coach?
2022-23 Season
- Thread starter bucketshardy
- Start date
You seriously think Anderson is going to change his philosophy, even a bit? I'm sure Pinzon and Storr are going to be very good players for us, but until they prove themselves, especially on D, Mathis is probably going to start.
Give him the start again I guess? Just don't let him shoot, dribble, or go in for a layup. He's not all that good was a big liability way to often last year. I couldn't stand him starting or even being in the rotation.
I hope you're right. he's behind storr, pinzon, wusu imo.
My guess is section9 is right especially in the beginning of the season. By mid season it's anyones guess but I think CMA is going to go with the known instead of the unknown and slowly work the other guys into the lineup
L J S A
Well-known member
I want Pinzon and Storr over Mathis all day every day. But I'm realistic and know that CMA likely doesn't agree. The one good thing is that I assume there will be way less of Wusu and Mathis on court at the same time, at least if we are trailing.
As the old saying goes, it is not who is on the floor at the start of the game--it is who is on the floor at the end of the game.
L J S A
Well-known member
I don't want them together at the beginning or the end.
Only time I want them together would be as a response to our No. 1 star eating repeated cheap shots, but since this isn't hockey, I don't think that happens.
I worry more about Mathis next to Posh and Curbelo 1-3 than I do him and Wusu.
MakingPlays
Well-known member
You don't bring in a former pre-season All-American to come off the bench. Curberlo is a day 1 starter. Him, Posh and Jones are the 3 guys with 100% certainty will start on day 1, unless their is injuries or suspensions. All 3 are all league caliber players, you don't waste time bringing them off the bench.
Soriano is probably 95% starting a center. Nyiwe made great strides and was better defensively and closed out more games more than Soriano, so he gets a 5% chance to overtake Soriano there.
The only question will be who starts at the 3. Wusu, Mathis, Storr, and Pinzon will all have a shot. I'd say Wusu (50% chance) Mathis (35% chance) Storr (10% chance) and Pinzon (5% chance)
This will be Mathis' 5th yr. He will be 24 a couple days into 2023. He has never averaged less than 20min/game across his 4yr career.
If anyone thinks he isn't coming prepared to be one of the best players on this roster is delusional.....whether the talent is there to be one of the best...thats a fair question.
The way I see it at this juncture- if Storr/Pinzon end up playing more mins than Mathis... we should be having a very good season.
If anyone thinks he isn't coming prepared to be one of the best players on this roster is delusional.....whether the talent is there to be one of the best...thats a fair question.
The way I see it at this juncture- if Storr/Pinzon end up playing more mins than Mathis... we should be having a very good season.
L J S A
Well-known member
He's going to be 24, which means I can't see his three-point shooting (26.4) or his free throws (62.3) improving.
If he's better than Pinzon and Storr, then I'm not sure we'll have the type of season I'm expecting.
We know who he is. Time to see who the other guys are.
MakingPlays
Well-known member
To be fair, Aaron Wheeler was a 23 year old 5th year senior and he improved his 3 point shooting and free throw shooting drastically from the prior year. So, it's not unheard of for a guy his last year of college to have more urgency and improve their numbers.
And 24 doesn't mean anything... At 24 your not even in your basketball prime yet. Most professional guys don't start playing their best basketball until their mid-late 20's. He's been working out with NBA guys like Immanuel Quickley, we'll see if that helps. And with a guy like Mathis, they don't him to be a superstar, if he stays a solid defender, up that 3 point % to 30%, and can get close to 70% from the line, he'll be a positive contributor.
The counter argument would be Mathis and Wheeler came here at the exact same time and played the same amount of time under CMA whereas Wheeler had big improvement ant Mathis kinda stayed the same so I wouldn't get my hopes up
Can’t really compare the two. Mathis started 66 games at Rutgers, Wheeler started 14 at Purdue prior to transferring. Wheeler needed an opportunity to show what he can do and did when he got here. Mathis has had plenty of opportunities and just hasn’t improved enough yet. He is what he is.
It’s all about accentuating his strengths and minimizing his weaknesses when it comes to Mathis. There are certainly things he does better than others. I think Making plays point about it being do or die time is overlooked. It’s now or never and I’m sure he doesn’t want to spend his final year of college ball playing the least amount of minutes in his career. Hopefully CMA demands the most from him and he’s willing to make what ever sacrifices necessary. Seeing how the pecking order materializes between him, Storr and Pinzon is one of the things I’m most looking forward to. Think about Paris Horne, as a sophomore he was the teams leading scorer, as Junior on an NIT team he was 3rd leading scorer and as a senior on an ncaa team he was the 4th leading scorer.
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This.... having such a close friend/maybe mentor who knows what it takes to get to the next level can only help. Let's not pretend kids can't improve / that something can "click" and we see someone we didn't see last year.
I feel- with his staying put at SJU... and with what i assume Pro aspirations...if he doesn't succeed this year, it will not be at lack of effort and dedication
MakingPlays
Well-known member
This is revisionist history. Wheeler had an opportunity here at the beginning of the season and didn't do anything with it. Now that Wheeler's gone people like to downplay the rough start he had here. He was completely out of the rotation at one point and registered a DNP. His situation was more of things just finally clicked for him rather than him not having an opportunity at Purdue, because he had opportunities there as he did here to start the season.
And who's to say after 1 year in CMA's system and a good off-season things can't also click for Mathis? Mathis is not a bad player by any standards, him and Wusu for some reason are the punching bags here, when neither are bad players. Mathis has shown he can be a starter on a tournament team, his only weakness in his game is shooting and shot selection at times. He's already a very solid defender and a really good athlete at 6'4. And I'm not saying he will come out and be Julian Champagnie and average 19 PPG next year, but if next year he's a starter, improves his shooting, ,continues to get his 8-10 PPG, and helps get the team into the tournament, it wouldn't surprise me at all.