LJ in Transfer Portal?

[quote="Amaseinyourface" post=388586][quote="SJUFAN2" post=388585]

Does hoisting 30 foot contested 3's and 20 foot floaters on a nightly basis equal bad play? [/quote]

I had higher expectations for him than anybody. Believe me, he didn’t play nearly as well as I hoped or what I believe he is capable of. He still was our best player most nights and overall I think he had a good season. I thought he would have a great season. He took some bad shots, he didn’t shoot it as well as the season before. He also didn’t have a pg to set him up.

Was he not our best player last year?[/quote]

Some nights he was our best player. Other nights he wasn't. He and Heron were our two most proven and talented players going in to the season. Neither played up to their previous season, let alone the expectations they inherited as new leaders of the team.

I don't want to kill the guy over his performance because he wasn't bad, he just wasn't what was expected. Largely, in my opinion, because he's a "Robin" and not a "Batman" type personality on the court. Candidly, were it not for his horrifically awful shot selection, there would be little to complain about with his numbers becasue his FG% wouldn't have fallen from .513 to .379
 
[quote="SJUFAN2" post=388584][quote="Monte" post=388577][quote="SJUFAN2" post=388555]

Ok, but in order for LJ not to come across as having shafted the staff you have to believe that he woke up on memorial day and decided out of the blue that he now wanted to transfer if he didn't go pro.

If that's the case, then how do you explain the report of him taking extra courses without the staff's knowledge so he can be a grad transfer?[/quote]

Or, CMA knew what LJ doing the entire time and was willing to go along with it knowing that it would highly unlikely that he'd be able to grab a kid this late in the game with anywhere near LJ's talent. I could be wrong, but I have a hard time believing that LJ was taking courses on the low down, and CMA wouldn't have found out about them. In the absence of a public confirmation that LJ was returning, I don't see how CMA didn't know that he was still contemplating leaving.[/quote]

Under normal circumstances I might buy that argument, but kids finished up the year with online classes. Harder for anyone to know what courses they are taking and besides, if they thought he was going pro, why would they be looking into stuff like that?

Either way, even ZB says we could have had Salnave and passed on him and a few other options we could have pursued because they had "good news" from LJ's team.
https://nypost.com/2020/05/27/the-reality-of-lj-figueroas-separation-from-st-johns/
I doubt that "good news" was that he was considering transferring if he didn't go pro and was taking extra classes to make sure he qualified as a grad transfer.[/quote]

But if the "good news" was confirmation that he was staying, why wasn't it ever announced? As for his classes, the online classes were only the last 6 weeks of the school year. I can't imagine that he was able to sneak in a number of classes in that time, and graduate. Even if that was possible, certainly it would have raised some red flags on the academic end, and would have filtered back to CMA. Anyhow, it's all speculation at this point. My guess is that CMA knew much, if not all, of what was going on with LJ.
 
[quote="SJUFAN2" post=388584][quote="Monte" post=388577][quote="SJUFAN2" post=388555]

Ok, but in order for LJ not to come across as having shafted the staff you have to believe that he woke up on memorial day and decided out of the blue that he now wanted to transfer if he didn't go pro.

If that's the case, then how do you explain the report of him taking extra courses without the staff's knowledge so he can be a grad transfer?[/quote]

Or, CMA knew what LJ doing the entire time and was willing to go along with it knowing that it would highly unlikely that he'd be able to grab a kid this late in the game with anywhere near LJ's talent. I could be wrong, but I have a hard time believing that LJ was taking courses on the low down, and CMA wouldn't have found out about them. In the absence of a public confirmation that LJ was returning, I don't see how CMA didn't know that he was still contemplating leaving.[/quote]

Under normal circumstances I might buy that argument, but kids finished up the year with online classes. Harder for anyone to know what courses they are taking and besides, if they thought he was going pro, why would they be looking into stuff like that?

Either way, even ZB says we could have had Salnave and passed on him and a few other options we could have pursued because they had "good news" from LJ's team.
https://nypost.com/2020/05/27/the-reality-of-lj-figueroas-separation-from-st-johns/
I doubt that "good news" was that he was considering transferring if he didn't go pro and was taking extra classes to make sure he qualified as a grad transfer.[/quote]

If SJ has an academic coordinator/counselor assigned to Men's BB (and I'm sure they do) and he didn't know what courses LJ was taking, he should be fired immediately.
 
[quote="Monte" post=388589][quote="SJUFAN2" post=388584][quote="Monte" post=388577][quote="SJUFAN2" post=388555]

Ok, but in order for LJ not to come across as having shafted the staff you have to believe that he woke up on memorial day and decided out of the blue that he now wanted to transfer if he didn't go pro.

If that's the case, then how do you explain the report of him taking extra courses without the staff's knowledge so he can be a grad transfer?[/quote]

Or, CMA knew what LJ doing the entire time and was willing to go along with it knowing that it would highly unlikely that he'd be able to grab a kid this late in the game with anywhere near LJ's talent. I could be wrong, but I have a hard time believing that LJ was taking courses on the low down, and CMA wouldn't have found out about them. In the absence of a public confirmation that LJ was returning, I don't see how CMA didn't know that he was still contemplating leaving.[/quote]

Under normal circumstances I might buy that argument, but kids finished up the year with online classes. Harder for anyone to know what courses they are taking and besides, if they thought he was going pro, why would they be looking into stuff like that?

Either way, even ZB says we could have had Salnave and passed on him and a few other options we could have pursued because they had "good news" from LJ's team.
https://nypost.com/2020/05/27/the-reality-of-lj-figueroas-separation-from-st-johns/
I doubt that "good news" was that he was considering transferring if he didn't go pro and was taking extra classes to make sure he qualified as a grad transfer.[/quote]

But if the "good news" was confirmation that he was staying, why wasn't it ever announced? As for his classes, the online classes were only the last 6 weeks of the school year. I can't imagine that he was able to sneak in a number of classes in that time, and graduate. Even if that was possible, certainly it would have raised some red flags on the academic end, and would have filtered back to CMA. Anyhow, it's all speculation at this point. My guess is that CMA knew much, if not all, of what was going on with LJ.[/quote]

Sorry Monte but we are going to disagree on this.

1) He's taking classes now to graduate. He didn't jam them in at the end of the semester. Yes, CMA would have known his class load in the spring semester. He wouldn't necessarily be tracking summer classes being taken online by a guy who was in the NBA draft process (for the second time).
2) Two, the "good news" was probably that he wasn't likely to be going pro with the NBA draft process on hold and oversees opportunities in limbo due to Covid. Which would explain (very reasonably) why they passed on other options to hold the spot for him.
3) Nobody claimed he said we was coming back. If he had, he would likely have made that announcement himself. He didn't, so that likely indicates that the "good news" was that he was leaning towards coming back, which would explain both why the staff held the spot by passing on other options, and why they were caught off guard by him being in the transfer portal n Monday.
 
Why don’t we just chalk it up to the Coach and Player not being on the same page? On the Court or off. Anderson’s offense wasn’t not a good fit for Figgy . Deploying him 30 feet from the basket , made no sense . Why be surprised he wasn’t satisfied with how he was utilized ? And , coming back this year , would likely be much the same . Figgy played well in Mullin ‘s offense . Not as well with Anderson . So , just not a good fit between the 2 . It happens often in college BB .
 
[quote="MarkRedman" post=388580]Apparently, LJ was a pretty good "Robin" but not a great "Batman"[/quote]

Shades of Reggie Jessie.

Long ago in my NYU undergrad days a friend played a year of high level Euro ball after graduating and then had a seven year career in the league as a defensive specialist. My sense about LJ is that his defensive instincts and hustle are very high end and that CMA might have helped him refine them towards profitable basketball employment, BUT LJ's offensive skills do not hold up as well without a true point guard setting him up.

Williams, Wusu, Cole, Caraher, Marcellus, Moore, Penny, all can play some 3. I still want the last ship to go to a 6'9", 230 lbs. + athlete who is just learning basketball and who ripens in to a strong backup after Toro graduates.
 
[quote="SJUFAN2" post=388591][quote="Monte" post=388589][quote="SJUFAN2" post=388584][quote="Monte" post=388577][quote="SJUFAN2" post=388555]

Ok, but in order for LJ not to come across as having shafted the staff you have to believe that he woke up on memorial day and decided out of the blue that he now wanted to transfer if he didn't go pro.

If that's the case, then how do you explain the report of him taking extra courses without the staff's knowledge so he can be a grad transfer?[/quote]

Or, CMA knew what LJ doing the entire time and was willing to go along with it knowing that it would highly unlikely that he'd be able to grab a kid this late in the game with anywhere near LJ's talent. I could be wrong, but I have a hard time believing that LJ was taking courses on the low down, and CMA wouldn't have found out about them. In the absence of a public confirmation that LJ was returning, I don't see how CMA didn't know that he was still contemplating leaving.[/quote]

Under normal circumstances I might buy that argument, but kids finished up the year with online classes. Harder for anyone to know what courses they are taking and besides, if they thought he was going pro, why would they be looking into stuff like that?

Either way, even ZB says we could have had Salnave and passed on him and a few other options we could have pursued because they had "good news" from LJ's team.
https://nypost.com/2020/05/27/the-reality-of-lj-figueroas-separation-from-st-johns/
I doubt that "good news" was that he was considering transferring if he didn't go pro and was taking extra classes to make sure he qualified as a grad transfer.[/quote]

But if the "good news" was confirmation that he was staying, why wasn't it ever announced? As for his classes, the online classes were only the last 6 weeks of the school year. I can't imagine that he was able to sneak in a number of classes in that time, and graduate. Even if that was possible, certainly it would have raised some red flags on the academic end, and would have filtered back to CMA. Anyhow, it's all speculation at this point. My guess is that CMA knew much, if not all, of what was going on with LJ.[/quote]

Sorry Monte but we are going to disagree on this.

1) He's taking classes now to graduate. He didn't jam them in at the end of the semester. Yes, CMA would have known his class load in the spring semester. He wouldn't necessarily be tracking summer classes being taken online by a guy who was in the NBA draft process (for the second time).
2) Two, the "good news" was probably that he wasn't likely to be going pro with the NBA draft process on hold and oversees opportunities in limbo due to Covid. Which would explain (very reasonably) why they passed on other options to hold the spot for him.
3) Nobody claimed he said we was coming back. If he had, he would likely have made that announcement himself. He didn't, so that likely indicates that the "good news" was that he was leaning towards coming back, which would explain both why the staff held the spot by passing on other options, and why they were caught off guard by him being in the transfer portal n Monday.[/quote]

I actually agree with you on 2 and 3, so it's only 1 that we'll have to agree to disagree on lol. Anyhow I'm just speculating, so not saying I'm right.
 
Amaseinyourface wrote: Was he not our best player last year?

Amase, I agree he was our best player in terms of being the most talented and being capable of carrying us for parts of games when hot from the field and disrupting the opponent defensively. I would argue that he was not our most efficient player, Julian C. was. Pretty hard to argue that for a wing with his touch shooting 38% from the field and 66% from the foul line is efficient, not to mention a drop in rebounding from 6.4 to 4.5.
Maybe it was coach/player mismatch, maybe it was going from Robin to Batman, maybe it was lack of a true point guard or a combination of the three, but he definitely took a step back from his first year.
 
[quote="SLYFOXX1968" post=388594]Why don’t we just chalk it up to the Coach and Player not being on the same page? On the Court or off. Anderson’s offense wasn’t not a good fit for Figgy . Deploying him 30 feet from the basket , made no sense . Why be surprised he wasn’t satisfied with how he was utilized ? And , coming back this year , would likely be much the same . Figgy played well in Mullin ‘s offense . Not as well with Anderson . So , just not a good fit between the 2 . It happens often in college BB .[/quote] Not taking anything away from LJ, but one of the reasons he played well in Mullins system is because teams were double teaming Ponds.
 
[quote="richard A Steinfeld" post=388601][quote="SLYFOXX1968" post=388594]Why don’t we just chalk it up to the Coach and Player not being on the same page? On the Court or off. Anderson’s offense wasn’t not a good fit for Figgy . Deploying him 30 feet from the basket , made no sense . Why be surprised he wasn’t satisfied with how he was utilized ? And , coming back this year , would likely be much the same . Figgy played well in Mullin ‘s offense . Not as well with Anderson . So , just not a good fit between the 2 . It happens often in college BB .[/quote] Not taking anything away from LJ, but one of the reasons he played well in Mullins system is because teams were double teaming Ponds.[/quote]

I don't think it's a question of Mullin's offense or CMA's. When Mullin was here, so was Ponds and he was the focus of other teams D. This year, Figgy was the prime focus and IMHO that's really the cause of the efficiency dip. It's a lot harder when you're the primary focus (batman). So we'll see who becomes batman this year and if they can handle it. Cole has been batman at the JC level so maybe it's him. We'll see...hopefully.
 
[quote="NCJohnnie" post=388597]Amaseinyourface wrote: Was he not our best player last year?

Amase, I agree he was our best player in terms of being the most talented and being capable of carrying us for parts of games when hot from the field and disrupting the opponent defensively. I would argue that he was not our most efficient player, Julian C. was. Pretty hard to argue that for a wing with his touch shooting 38% from the field and 66% from the foul line is efficient, not to mention a drop in rebounding from 6.4 to 4.5.
Maybe it was coach/player mismatch, maybe it was going from Robin to Batman, maybe it was lack of a true point guard or a combination of the three, but he definitely took a step back from his first year.[/quote]

Efficiency is a different conversation. I’d say our most efficient player was Earlington.

LJs first year he was absolutely our most efficient player. And he wasn’t our best player then.
 
[quote="Making Plays" post=388550][quote="JO23" post=388540][quote="capmaker" post=388503]Dave from Johnny Jungle has posted this on his site.........please don't shoot the messenger:

Starts with M and ends with N.

Didn't get along. A lot of other players aren't exactly fond of him either but they also don't have many options to play on this level and get playing time. I think if they did Roberts and Williams were gone. I also think that's why you saw Williams get a bump in minutes towards end of last year because he was very close to bouncing.[/quote]

I don't see how ANY of that makes sense. I don't read JJ at all, so have no clue who Dave is but he just sounds like an Anderson hater.

"Williams got a bump in minutes last year because Anderson, an 18 year HC with almost 400 wins, was afraid his Sophomore SG who puts up 6 points per game was threatening to transfer." That really sounds like something Anderson would do. Who comes up with this stuff? Lol.

How bout Williams got a bump in minutes because he was playing really well on both ends of the floor and lit up a top 10 team in the country during that time. On top of that, Heron was injured at the end of the season so we had to rely on Williams more. It's also a contradiction, he is basically saying Williams will be hard pressed to get minutes at this level anywhere else, but at the same time Anderson was afraid to lose him so we gave him more minutes. Is Williams good or not good? I think Williams is a nice 2 way player, and I do see a slight breakout coming in his Junior year (10+ PPG), but there is no way in hell Anderson would bump anyones minutes if they were threatening to transfer. I don't care who it is, I guarantee Anderson shows them the door and says next man up.

Somehow the guy putting Roberts name out their makes even less sense than the Williams name drop. It was the perfect time to leave for Roberts, he's coming off season ending shoulder surgery, which could effect him next season, so it wouldn't hurt to sit a season, he lost his starting spot and his MPG plummeted by the end of the season, and not to mention Roberts could possibly fall behind Moore and Toro next season. So if Roberts disliked Anderson so much, why would he stay? Makes no sense.

Guy is just looking for someone to blame for the Figueroa situation. It sucks, maybe Anderson misread it, maybe Figueroa screwed us. All I know is we overachieved last year and we haven't been able to say that since 2010. We'll bounce back.[/quote]

That Dave guy is completely full of it. I joined that site before I found out about this site, and I caught him up in a few lies on stuff I absolutely knew were not true about CMA. One of the members over there PM'ed me and told me about here and said don't take anything over there seriously, it's basically just Dave and a few of his followers. Glad he did, I'd never go back over there again it's terrible.[/quote]
Think it was me who PM’d you...they were starting to get uncivil with you
 
Amaseinyourface wrote: Efficiency is a different conversation. I’d say our most efficient player was Earlington.

LJs first year he was absolutely our most efficient player. And he wasn’t our best player then.

Not sure stats or eye test backs up Earlington being more efficient than Champ but reasonable people can disagree. I must say I prefer less talented, team first guys like Justin Simon, Heron & Tariq to more talented guys like LJ & Shamorie, so my view is sometimes skewed in that direction.
 
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[quote="Section3" post=388614][quote="Making Plays" post=388550][quote="JO23" post=388540][quote="capmaker" post=388503]Dave from Johnny Jungle has posted this on his site.........please don't shoot the messenger:

Starts with M and ends with N.

Didn't get along. A lot of other players aren't exactly fond of him either but they also don't have many options to play on this level and get playing time. I think if they did Roberts and Williams were gone. I also think that's why you saw Williams get a bump in minutes towards end of last year because he was very close to bouncing.[/quote]

I don't see how ANY of that makes sense. I don't read JJ at all, so have no clue who Dave is but he just sounds like an Anderson hater.

"Williams got a bump in minutes last year because Anderson, an 18 year HC with almost 400 wins, was afraid his Sophomore SG who puts up 6 points per game was threatening to transfer." That really sounds like something Anderson would do. Who comes up with this stuff? Lol.

How bout Williams got a bump in minutes because he was playing really well on both ends of the floor and lit up a top 10 team in the country during that time. On top of that, Heron was injured at the end of the season so we had to rely on Williams more. It's also a contradiction, he is basically saying Williams will be hard pressed to get minutes at this level anywhere else, but at the same time Anderson was afraid to lose him so we gave him more minutes. Is Williams good or not good? I think Williams is a nice 2 way player, and I do see a slight breakout coming in his Junior year (10+ PPG), but there is no way in hell Anderson would bump anyones minutes if they were threatening to transfer. I don't care who it is, I guarantee Anderson shows them the door and says next man up.

Somehow the guy putting Roberts name out their makes even less sense than the Williams name drop. It was the perfect time to leave for Roberts, he's coming off season ending shoulder surgery, which could effect him next season, so it wouldn't hurt to sit a season, he lost his starting spot and his MPG plummeted by the end of the season, and not to mention Roberts could possibly fall behind Moore and Toro next season. So if Roberts disliked Anderson so much, why would he stay? Makes no sense.

Guy is just looking for someone to blame for the Figueroa situation. It sucks, maybe Anderson misread it, maybe Figueroa screwed us. All I know is we overachieved last year and we haven't been able to say that since 2010. We'll bounce back.[/quote]

That Dave guy is completely full of it. I joined that site before I found out about this site, and I caught him up in a few lies on stuff I absolutely knew were not true about CMA. One of the members over there PM'ed me and told me about here and said don't take anything over there seriously, it's basically just Dave and a few of his followers. Glad he did, I'd never go back over there again it's terrible.[/quote]
Think it was me who PM’d you...they were starting to get uncivil with you[/quote]

Yea, I remember the name now. Thank you for directing me over here.
 
[quote="NCJohnnie" post=388617]Amaseinyourface wrote: Efficiency is a different conversation. I’d say our most efficient player was Earlington.

LJs first year he was absolutely our most efficient player. And he wasn’t our best player then.

Not sure stats or eye test backs up Earlington being more efficient than Champ but reasonable people can disagree. I must say I prefer team guys like Justin Simon, Heron & Tariq to more talented guys like LJ & Shamorie, so my view is skewed.[/quote]


Marcellus scores 9 points in 18 minutes.
Champ scores 10 in 25. Marcellus has the slight edge in FG%.
 
[quote="richard A Steinfeld" post=388601][quote="SLYFOXX1968" post=388594]Why don’t we just chalk it up to the Coach and Player not being on the same page? On the Court or off. Anderson’s offense wasn’t not a good fit for Figgy . Deploying him 30 feet from the basket , made no sense . Why be surprised he wasn’t satisfied with how he was utilized ? And , coming back this year , would likely be much the same . Figgy played well in Mullin ‘s offense . Not as well with Anderson . So , just not a good fit between the 2 . It happens often in college BB .[/quote] Not taking anything away from LJ, but one of the reasons he played well in Mullins system is because teams were double teaming Ponds.[/quote]. It’s a theory certainly that Ponds being double teamed might have helped Figgy but , I tend to discount it . Figgy was probably option number 5 in Mullin’s scheme . Ponds, Simon, Clark and Herron all were getting the PT , Shots , etc As for Figgy being double teamed and against the opponents best defender this past year , there is some truth . But , even then , wby didn’t Anderson adjust his strategy to free up LJ? Having him 30 feet from the basket , didn’t play to Figgy’s skills . Which are shooting from the Wing, interior passing , follow up rebounding, etc . As for this Batman and Robin stuff being mentioned by many , how’s this as a theory , Figgy was going to be Robin last year anyway. I think Anderson envisioned Herron as being Batman until Mustapha was seriously injured , playing for the USA in the Pan Am games . Herron tried coming back but , was never fully healthy and then , reinjured himself playing hurt . It cost him his senior year ., Still back to Figgy , he still scored 14 plus points a game , no small feat in the BE . As purely a player , Figgy will be missed . If Herron was fully healthy all year , he and LJ could easily have averaged 30-35 points a game . Which would have resulted in more Wins .
 
Could of ,would of should of look I could be all wet and I do not say he wasn’t an ok player but his shot selection ,foul shooting was terrible. As far as his 14pts per game that is not hard to do if your a very good player playing maj mins.when he first got here he had more talent around him and wasn’t a1st or 2nd option but taking many 35 foot shots is in his DNA Yes coach could have stopped it but he did not either have the horses or the depth of talent or was just not inclined too
Anyway like I have said I wish him the best but let’s not put him up there with top 10 players in the confr
Also should have let us know sooner but think we only want players who’s heart in in program I am looking forward to next season hope it starts on time
 
[quote="SLYFOXX1968" post=388626][quote="richard A Steinfeld" post=388601][quote="SLYFOXX1968" post=388594]Why don’t we just chalk it up to the Coach and Player not being on the same page? On the Court or off. Anderson’s offense wasn’t not a good fit for Figgy . Deploying him 30 feet from the basket , made no sense . Why be surprised he wasn’t satisfied with how he was utilized ? And , coming back this year , would likely be much the same . Figgy played well in Mullin ‘s offense . Not as well with Anderson . So , just not a good fit between the 2 . It happens often in college BB .[/quote] Not taking anything away from LJ, but one of the reasons he played well in Mullins system is because teams were double teaming Ponds.[/quote]. It’s a theory certainly that Ponds being double teamed might have helped Figgy but , I tend to discount it . Figgy was probably option number 5 in Mullin’s scheme . Ponds, Simon, Clark and Herron all were getting the PT , Shots , etc As for Figgy being double teamed and against the opponents best defender this past year , there is some truth . But , even then , wby didn’t Anderson adjust his strategy to free up LJ? Having him 30 feet from the basket , didn’t play to Figgy’s skills . Which are shooting from the Wing, interior passing , follow up rebounding, etc . As for this Batman and Robin stuff being mentioned by many , how’s this as a theory , Figgy was going to be Robin last year anyway. I think Anderson envisioned Herron as being Batman until Mustapha was seriously injured , playing for the USA in the Pan Am games . Herron tried coming back but , was never fully healthy and then , reinjured himself playing hurt . It cost him his senior year ., Still back to Figgy , he still scored 14 plus points a game , no small feat in the BE . As purely a player , Figgy will be missed . If Herron was fully healthy all year , he and LJ could easily have averaged 30-35 points a game . Which would have resulted in more Wins .[/quote]

This stuff about Heron playing injured to start the year is absolute bunk. He was moving terrific and had two very strong games against weak competition to start the year. He was subsequently interviewed and said he was healthier than he had been in several years. He then proceeded to have a number of poor games, not coincidentally against better competition. This was all before he was injured late in the non-conference season. I don’t doubt that the sprain he suffered in the Pan Am games may have made him susceptible to the second sprain he suffered in the non-conference schedule, but I don’t believe it severely impacted his game. Lest we forget, he was pretty miserable at times the year before. If he had made even a handful of shots in the ASU game, we would have likely won.
 
I am a big fan of Mustapha Heron. Yes, he wasn't able to perform to his capabilities, but he is a tri-state area kid, was a solid member of the program and a great teammate. I have no doubt that injury (year two) and system (year one) affected him. Yet, he never let his frustration be known and never put himself before the team.

I wish Mustapha the best and, with all his local contacts, I hope he feels St. John's is a good place for other young Div-I basketball players.
 
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