Who will be our leading scorer this year?

MtnWasp

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
989
Just to idle away the off-season, who will be the team's leading scorer this season? What we have returning makes this an interesting question!

I guess that Deebo will get some if not the most votes.

I have a dark horse pick. I am picking Tristan Maxwell.
 

2ndgenjacket

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
46
Location
Upstate SC
I’m going M Kelly. His stroke looks good to me and I think he is more aggressive than Debo and has no conscience when he shoots which is what a scorer should have if the coach gives him freedom and won’t punish him for misses
 

Jack

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
257
Deebo is more of a spot up shooter. Last year I did not see him create his own shot.
Kelly had open looks and was some better at being guarded and getting off a shot. The best at creating his own space was Smith, but he seemed to miss a lot, but he has more quickness than the others. If he improves his accuracy and control, he could be the leading scorer.
 

Connell62

Helluva Engineer
Featured Member
Messages
3,092
Nah, Deebo is not just a spot-shooter. Admittedly, he did very little other than shoot trey's last year, but if watch his film in HS, you will see a player very adept at scoring off the bounce and pull-up.

I expect that we will see him expand that part of his game significantly. He'll score more points by getting the rim, getting to the foul line, and the midrange.

He is a naturally gifted scorer, and I think that he will lead the way for us this year.
 

yjfan

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
209
I think deebo leads the way- shot too good looking. Kelly ended the year strong esp in the acc tornanmaent in barclays. howard just needs 3 baskets and 4 foul shots for double digits- just put him on the block instead of the top of the key- - play 4 out and i think he gets there
 

YlJacket

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,260
Just because of the way the game is now played you have to expect either Debo or Kelly will be the leading scorer. Hard to see a 5 or a classic 4 such as Franklin leading the pack. The dark horses would be Terry or Maxwell if they come on stronger than we (or at least I) expect.
 

YlJacket

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,260
I think deebo leads the way- shot too good looking. Kelly ended the year strong esp in the acc tornanmaent in barclays. howard just needs 3 baskets and 4 foul shots for double digits- just put him on the block instead of the top of the key- - play 4 out and i think he gets there
FWIW, most 4 out sets have the 5 at the foul line similar to the modified Princeton but then they do a lot of ball screens or down screens to start the offense. They can roll or move to the block after that. Even when you see 5's set up on the baseline they normally will come out from there to set a screen as soon as it is obvious the PG or whoever has the ball isn't going to break down their defender. Not a lot of teams just sticking the 5 on the block as it really just clogs up today's offenses.
 

Jacketman99

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
962
I would be willing to bet Deebo is gonna be that guy. He has a much more advanced offensive game than what he showed most of last year. The fact that he will not have established guys to defer to will let him take more of a leadership role offensively. I also think Kelly will be right there with him. I am interested to see how Lance Terry fits in.
 

MidtownJacket

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
4,862
So much of this remains to be seen based on the offensive style CJP is going to trot out. He has said many times this season the basic message is “the open guy, is the go to guy” so I expect it to be a guard (based on getting themselves open or creating for themselves).

I don’t think he’ll allow anyone to start hero balling out there as if no one is the designed play scorer than it’s easy to get greedy if one guys forces shots.

My gut says it’s will be evenly distributed across Deebo/Smith but Sturdivant may come on as might a F (Meka/Moore). We need to find a couple killers and the alpha through our first few games. I don’t mind scoring by committee and love teamball styles but you still have to know who to go to (either based on matchups or who’s hot the game) in clutch must score moments.
 

lv20gt

Helluva Engineer
Messages
5,580
I don't expect it to be Sturdivant or Smith because I believe they will more or less split time.

I also don't expect it to come from the 4 spot. Meka hasn't really shown a whole lot offensively, Moore is relatively unproven, and Franklin, while I think he will help us, isn't a threat from 3 which will make it hard for him to lead the team in scoring imo.

I think Howard is the wild card candidate. I think he'll play pretty much as long as he can unless there is foul issues. He did average right at 10 a game the latter third of the year, when he came back from his injury. I don't think he's likely, but I could see a case where he leads us with like 13 a game if we have several of our wings balancing our slightly lower.

I think more likely the leading scorer will come from the wing, out of the group of Coleman, Kelly, Maxwell, and Terry. I think either Coleman or Kelly could do it, but I expect Coleman as I think he'll likely play a bit more than the others due to his size allowing him to slide to the 4 in certain circumstances.
 

78pike

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
860
I don't expect it to be Sturdivant or Smith because I believe they will more or less split time.

I also don't expect it to come from the 4 spot. Meka hasn't really shown a whole lot offensively, Moore is relatively unproven, and Franklin, while I think he will help us, isn't a threat from 3 which will make it hard for him to lead the team in scoring imo.

I think Howard is the wild card candidate. I think he'll play pretty much as long as he can unless there is foul issues. He did average right at 10 a game the latter third of the year, when he came back from his injury. I don't think he's likely, but I could see a case where he leads us with like 13 a game if we have several of our wings balancing our slightly lower.

I think more likely the leading scorer will come from the wing, out of the group of Coleman, Kelly, Maxwell, and Terry. I think either Coleman or Kelly could do it, but I expect Coleman as I think he'll likely play a bit more than the others due to his size allowing him to slide to the 4 in certain circumstances.
I thought I read somewhere that Coleman had slimmed down quite a bit to improve is mobility and speed for both offense and defense. If true then his height and size wouldn't be much different than Kelly or some of the other guys when it comes to playing the 4. I am hoping maybe we have a hidden gem in the 6'8" Bagatskis who is touted to be a great outside shooter or maybe even the 7' Martynov. With him we could play a 5 out offense to try and bring the other teams big man away from the basket and open up the cutting lanes if he can truly shoot the outside jumper as advertised.
 

MtnWasp

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
989
I thought I read somewhere that Coleman had slimmed down quite a bit to improve is mobility and speed for both offense and defense.
The GTAA website has had some practice photos-up from this Summer. Based on those photos, it doesn't look to me like Coleman has slimmed-down at all. He may have decreased his body fat, but he looks like a Middle Linebacker with a really thick chest. He looks like a Big 10 player. Let's see if he starts to use that muscle, bull his way into the paint and abuse smaller guards and get some boards instead of floating around the perimeter.

On the other hand, Howard looks to have lost some mass in his lower body. Hopefully that translates to better footwork and lateral mobility.
 

iopjacket

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
806
I would love to see Tristan Maxwell stay healthy all year and have a chance to be productive. The freshmen are probably too green to push for top scorer. Franklin and Terry will likely spend some time adjusting to new surroundings. I think it is a coin flip between Coleman and Kelly for top scorer.
 

MtnWasp

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
989
I went back to last season's stats to look at our players' minutes played per shot attempt in the ACC. The way to think about the number is the average minutes elapsed on the game clock between shots taken in conference games. If you wanna score, you gotta shoot. (I'll add the players' field goal percentage / 3pt percentage for grins)

Meka - 6.85 (.200/N/A)
Howard - 5.28 (.592/N/A)
Khalid - 4.78 (.390/.250)
Deebo - 4.13 (.359/.360)
Kelly - 3.87 (.369/.370)
Sturdivant - 3.73 (.404/.340)
D. Smith - 3.58 (.493/.286)
Usher - 2.66 (.470/.297)
Devoe - 2.58 (.442/.304)
J. Moore - 2.44 (.375/.500)
Maxwell 2.43 (.333/.421)
 

iopjacket

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
806
I went back to last season's stats to look at our players' minutes played per shot attempt in the ACC. The way to think about the number is the average minutes elapsed on the game clock between shots taken in conference games. If you wanna score, you gotta shoot. (I'll add the players' field goal percentage / 3pt percentage for grins)

Meka - 6.85 (.200/N/A)
Howard - 5.28 (.592/N/A)
Khalid - 4.78 (.390/.250)
Deebo - 4.13 (.359/.360)
Kelly - 3.87 (.369/.370)
Sturdivant - 3.73 (.404/.340)
D. Smith - 3.58 (.493/.286)
Usher - 2.66 (.470/.297)
Devoe - 2.58 (.442/.304)
J. Moore - 2.44 (.375/.500)
Maxwell 2.43 (.333/.421)

J Moore and Maxwell need more minutes. Maybe a lot more minutes.
 
Top