Returning players for 2021-22

slugboy

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Jeff Goodman

@GoodmanHoops
· 3m
Georgia Tech’s Jose Alvarado told @Stadium he will turn pro and not take advantage of another season in college.
🤞
Spongebob Squarepants Good Luck GIF
 

GT_EE78

Banned
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i thought that was a foregone conclusion when CJP signed Smith on the same day Jose made his announcement.
Go get em Jose.
 

Techster

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I'm not gonna say "good luck" to Jose, because that dude is gonna earn everything he gets. He's going to make some NBA coach love him once he gets on a summer league roster. That NY PG hard nosed attitude he has is going to win him a lot of respect from his future teammates and coaches. I'm just going to say "Thank you" for giving this GT fan a lot of great memories and lot of proud moments.

Looking forward to watching him on the next level. All the best, Jose!
 

Jacketman99

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I really did not see any other option if he wants to play pro basketball. Coming back would not do him any good in that regard. I am glad he is giving his all and chasing his dream. Makes all the sense in the world. His degree will still be good whenever he decides to give up basketball. Wish him nothing but the best.
 

RyanS12

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He will be up there with Steph, Mark, Travis and Kenny to me. Sad how it ended with the tournament loss but winning the acct to me, will be his final game. Covid ruined the NCAAT what could’ve been a special run.
Jose will be a legend and could be the cornerstone of CJP’s program at GT. I’m sad to see him go but a kid like him deserves the best!
As far as the new look basketball team goes, I think we still have enough to be a dangerous squad and will finish in the top 5/6 of the league, which will be deep this year. I’m calling it now. We finish 20-10. 11-9 in the ACC, 9-1 OOC, win 2 in the ACCT and 2 in the NCAAT.
The future looks bright again for Tech hoops! I can’t wait to see the guys coming back step up and take over. Mike will be 1st team all acc, Ush will be up there too and will be the alpha of this team, taking over for Jose. We’re going to be just fine!
 

der-k

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
35
From my remove, it seemed like going pro was the right choice but I wanted him to do whatever was right for him and his family. Best of luck to Jose, who seems like a hell of a worker and a great guy to have in an organization.
 

lv20gt

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Jose will be a legend and could be the cornerstone of CJP’s program at GT.

I've said this before but if we're lucky, Jose and Moses will be to CJP what Price and Salley were to Cremins. They've certainly done their part. Now it's time for us to build on what they accomplished.

Looking ahead we have a roster that looks something like the following

PG - Sturdivant - Smith
SG - Devoe - Parham - Maxwell-Kelly
SF - Coleman - K. Moore - J. Moore
PF - Ush - Meka - Hill
C - Howard - Gigiberia

There is a lot of unproven potential there. I think you could make the case that in terms of raw talent this is the deepest roster we've ever had. Guys like Maxwell and Kelly being, potentially, end of bench players is not something I can remember us having. The problem is that usually it's your top 7/8 that make the difference because your 10/11/12 players rarely play no matter how good they are. I think our depth should make us a bit more resistant to injuries and the like completely knocking us off course, and there are always the tangential benefits of things like harder practices, and whoever winning the time being more likely to be ready for it.

I've bolded who I think are our likely top 8 that will play in most/all games. I also think you'll see Smith and Meka contribute fairly frequently when match ups favor them. The concern I have is with having a third scorer. To me, if Coleman can come and and give us a third reliable scorer alongside Devoe and Ush I think we are really well set up. I think whoever comes out of the trio of Sturdivant, Smith, Parham as the guard alongside of Devoe will be a very solid contributor at least. If it's Parham I would expect both he and Devoe would handle PG duties more or less 50-50. But I expect Bubba to be the first guard off the bench using his experience to give us whatever we need for that given game. Similarly whoever is the starting center out of Howard, Gigiberia, and Meka should also be solid with our big man coaching. Coleman over Moore I would put just for trying to get a third big time scorer going. Plus, I like having experience coming off the bench with both Bubba and Moore being options giving us a lot of flexibility to make early adjustments whether it's defense, shooting, size, or speed.

Regardless of the lineup, I think we have so much depth that it would be hard to imagine there isn't a combination that can get us back to the NCAAT. The question is how quickly we can identify which of the pieces are the right ones this year.
 

ChristoGT

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PG - Sturdivant - Smith
SG - Devoe - Parham - Maxwell-Kelly
SF - Coleman - K. Moore - J. Moore
PF - Ush - Meka - Hill
C - Howard - Gigiberia
Until really looking at that lineup, I hadn't thought how deep we really appear. We almost have a two-deep set where we could run out a second unit a la NBA style, if needed. Not saying their wouldn't be a drop-off in production, but a second unit of Smith, Parham, Khalid, Meka and Gigi (or mix in one of the others) could still be very respectable out on the court to spot 3-4 minutes at a time for a rest and to allow coach to make adjustments to the first unit.
 

orientalnc

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I would make some minor changes, but basically agree with your top 8. I believe Kelly and Smith with get into the mix outside and Meka might push Howard and Saba for minutes down low. We have a lot of talent, but except for Sturdivant, Devoe, Parham, Ush, and Khalid, we don't have much experience. Those five might be our opening game starters.
 
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