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Posted (edited)

Gerry Hamilton making an unprompted comment about Johnson needing to attend class in late November/early December was interesting because that is around when what little playing time went he was getting went off a cliff.

Edited by Hookem2147
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1 hour ago, Hookem2147 said:

Chris Johnson to the portal, per On3

I was happily surprised when it was reported that he was staying a few weeks ago. I think he will end up being a very solid player when all is said and done.  

Oh well, we should be able to get someone who can more immediately contribute.  I don't think he was going to suddenly become awesome overnight.  He is probably not going to be very good for at least another full year

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1 hour ago, Hookem2147 said:

Gerry Hamilton making an unprompted comment about Johnson needing to attend class in late November/early December was interesting because that is around when what little playing time went he was getting went off a cliff.

There's opportunity to play for us next year if you have ability and at least act like you're trying. Guess the second part of that was just too elusive. Johnson and Morris are the swap that proves a fresh start isn't always enough. 

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He’s been pretty fun to watch early. Turned it over on a good double team by the East but recovered to force a TO of his own on the break. Followed it up with a deep three off the dribble and has a couple nice passes/defensive efforts too.

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14 minutes ago, CashMcCoy said:

He’s been pretty fun to watch early. Turned it over on a good double team by the East but recovered to force a TO of his own on the break. Followed it up with a deep three off the dribble and has a couple nice passes/defensive efforts too.

Pulled up again on a fast break and swished a stepback three off the dribble. Keep it up, Tre.

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Tre Johnson looks to be a different mold than most of our other highly ranked recruits in recent memory. 

Mitchell, Greg Brown, Bamba, etc were all athletic freaks but weren't really refined from a skills perspective. Johnson looks to be pretty skilled. 

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I don't follow recruiting and I missed the McD AA game last night.  What are the expectations for Tre Johnson?  Is he a point guard who can shoot or is he "just" a shooting guard?

It sure would be nice to have a true point on the 40 Acres again.

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10 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I don't follow recruiting and I missed the McD AA game last night.  What are the expectations for Tre Johnson?  Is he a point guard who can shoot or is he "just" a shooting guard?

It sure would be nice to have a true point on the 40 Acres again.

He’s listed as a shooting guard. Pretty sure PG really high up there on the staff’s portal needs. Especially if Hunter is gone 

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47 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I don't follow recruiting and I missed the McD AA game last night.  What are the expectations for Tre Johnson?  Is he a point guard who can shoot or is he "just" a shooting guard?

It sure would be nice to have a true point on the 40 Acres again.

He's a shooting guard in the vein of Devin Booker. Really efficient in terms of scoring and the limited amount time it takes him to get a good shot.  In other words, he scores without being a ball stopper. 

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17 hours ago, shadow_operative said:

but i was told that this wasn’t happening despite us pretending he didn’t exist all season long. i am shocked at this news, shocked i tell you!

I was scratching my head as to why he wasn't getting any minutes to build some experience.  If he was goose-egging on the school attendance part of the job, I guess I understand why now.  It doesn't take much for an athlete to get a passing GPA in "undecided" with all the tutors and hand-holders provided.

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Posted (edited)

This has all his makes (actually had 19 points). What it doesn’t show is that the putback happened right after his first miss of the night on a wide open corner three. I bet a lot of people watching didn’t think he had that type of athleticism to match the smooth shot. The effort all around was impressive though and this class should be pretty fun to watch nationally next season.

Also Jamie Shaw @ On3’s final thoughts on the week:

Spoiler

7. Five-Star Plus+ SG Tre Johnson, Texas

Tre Johnson has a unique ability to create an advantage with the ball in the half-court. His footwork and balance are excellent, able to get his defender off balance and find the space to rise up and knock down a shot from multiple levels. 

Typically an off-ball guard, Johnson played well on the ball here. He showed he could get the ball into the front court under pressure and get the ball to its spots without turning it over. There are questions over his defense, but he showed a full offensive arsenal here throughout the week. Certainly showing to be the top shooter in the event, for this week.

Johnson finished the game with 17 points, four rebounds, and three assists. He shot 5-of-7 from three.

 

Edited by CashMcCoy
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6 hours ago, Js1 said:

He’s listed as a shooting guard. Pretty sure PG really high up there on the staff’s portal needs. Especially if Hunter is gone 

PG should be at the top even if he's not, IMO.  I realize we are in the position-less Bball age but man we need someone with BB IQ and a handle.  I'm not sure if I care if he can shoot.

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I really like the Booker comparison. Both find ways to score but don't have eye-popping athleticism. If Johnson was just a step quicker/more athletic he would probably be the #1 recruit in this year's class. 

We haven't had a scorer like Johnson in a long time. Arterio Morris was a scorer but he was more of a downhill scorer. Johnson has a much better jumper and 3 inches on Morris which allows him to score in more ways. 

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On 3/26/2024 at 6:56 PM, Teryor said:

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I knew it was bad but here's Mitchell's shooting chart.  Not shocked he's portalling and wish him the best but definitely for the best we both move on from this situation. I know he'll test the draft but I wonder if he goes somewhere he can have a bigger role on offense or if he sticks to a school with real expectations.

I think one of the dumbest narratives from this last season is RT didn't develop Mitchell. 

Mitchell was practically benched his FR year and was the worst player on the court at the NBA combine. Dude was finishing -20 almost every scrimmage at the NBA combine. Mitchell went from a really bad player to at least a serviceable 5th or 6th best player on a NCAA tournament team.  

The lack of development in the context of Mitchell is under the assumption he's a "NBA caliber" player which he simply he isn't. He has zero offensive game but can be a good college rebounder/decent defender which is exactly what RT got in year 2. 

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I appreciate that Mitchell understands his game well enough to not be chunking up shots when he doesn't have those skills. He is also a very willing defender and does the dirty work on the glass.  Another year in the weight room and shooting and he should continue to improve.  He is also a college power forward and should get most of his minutes there. 

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Posted (edited)
14 minutes ago, HookEm said:

I appreciate that Mitchell understands his game well enough to not be chunking up shots when he doesn't have those skills. He is also a very willing defender and does the dirty work on the glass.  Another year in the weight room and shooting and he should continue to improve.  He is also a college power forward and should get most of his minutes there. 

I don't see it. No matter how much time Mitchell spends working on his shot he's still going to be a below-average shooter. 

He was a 59.8% free throw shooter this year which is a pretty good indicator of where he's at as a shooter. He needs substantial progress to even become an average shooter. Some guys just have natural talent or they don't. 

Will he improve as a shooter? Sure, but he's still going to be a black hole on the offensive end. 

Edited by Rickylovesweed
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5 minutes ago, shadow_operative said:

dillon mitchell has been as good as i would have expected the no.300 player in his HS class to be. it’s been shocking to me how little of an impact he’s had. he’s a 10-12 mpg role player with a 5 star HS rating.

The recruiting rankings value athleticism way too much.  Greg Brown and Dillon Mitchell are athletic freaks but it was even obvious coming out of HS that they were extremely limited offensively. 

 

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1 hour ago, Rickylovesweed said:

I think one of the dumbest narratives from this last season is RT didn't develop Mitchell. 

Mitchell was practically benched his FR year and was the worst player on the court at the NBA combine. Dude was finishing -20 almost every scrimmage at the NBA combine. Mitchell went from a really bad player to at least a serviceable 5th or 6th best player on a NCAA tournament team.  

The lack of development in the context of Mitchell is under the assumption he's a "NBA caliber" player which he simply he isn't. He has zero offensive game but can be a good college rebounder/decent defender which is exactly what RT got in year 2. 

 

50 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

I don't see it. No matter how much time Mitchell spends working on his shot he's still going to be a below-average shooter. 

He was a 59.8% free throw shooter this year which is a pretty good indicator of where he's at as a shooter. He needs substantial progress to even become an average shooter. Some guys just have natural talent or they don't. 

Will he improve as a shooter? Sure, but he's still going to be a black hole on the offensive end. 

So, you are using his terrible lack of development as an argument for why Terry can’t be blamed for his lack of development. Interesting take. 

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3 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

 

So, you are using his terrible lack of development as an argument for why Terry can’t be blamed for his lack of development. Interesting take. 

Mitchell developed into a very good rebounder and quality defensive player. 

"Lack of development" on the offensive end has nothing to do with development and the player in question. Mitchell can't dribble or shoot which nobody is going to fix. It's also why no NBA team wants anything to do with him even though he's an athletic freak. 

You can't just magically teach somebody like Shaq how to shoot. You either have a baseline talent at certain skills or you don't. Unfortunately, Mitchell can't dribble or shoot. Screaming "development" isn't going to magically change that. 

 

 

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Posted (edited)

The funniest narrative last summer was "Mitchell developed a jump shot after working with a different coach than RT over the offseason" and then he proceeded to shoot like 2/20 from the perimeter during the NBA combine scrimmages. 

Maybe if Mitchell hires a couple more shooting coaches this offseason he will magically learn how to shoot.  

Edited by Rickylovesweed
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Mitchell improved a bit as a scorer in year 2:  0.25 points per minute to 0.33 points per minute.  Mostly, his improvement in scoring was a result of him increasing his minutes.  (Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but he still has a ways to go before he presents as any kind of offensive threat.)

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There have been plenty of players who started as terrible shooters and developed into good shooters. Mitchell has shown gradual improvement in his free throw shooting, which I think is a good proxy for overall shooting potential.

  • 40.5% - Last Year
  • 58.7% - This Year – OOC
  • 68.6% - This Year – In Conference

For comparison, Kai Jones shot 68.9% from the line during his 2nd year, which is virtually the same as Mitchell in conference. His issue seems to be more about confidence than about mechanics. 

I also think we are going to REALLY miss his rebounding.  He was 2nd in the Big 12 in rebounds per game and 3rd in Defensive Rebound %.  Our best returning rebounder is Shedrick and he was not very good.

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7 minutes ago, Braff Zacklin said:

If Jason Kidd could develop a somewhat reliable 3-point shot, anyone can.

All it takes is repetition. Thousands and thousands and thousands of hours of repetition.

Get to work, Dillon.

Mitchell should work on the midrange game. That at least seems like a spot where he could develop into a decent shooter. 

It's also why the "development" argument makes me laugh in the context of Mitchell. I actually think RT did a pretty good job of getting Mitchell decent looks at the beginning of the year at the top of the key/midrange area. It's not his fault Mitchell can't shoot. 

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Posted (edited)

I'm gonna assume the fact that neither Mitchell or Hunter have appeared in the portal yet is due to wanting to make sure their next landing spot is secured through backchannels so they don't overplay their hand and end up playing for Boston College or some such next year? Or am I overthinking it? I certainly would find it hard to believe the staff is pushing super hard for either to stay considering the type of skillsets/prospects we are being linked to in the portal. 

Edited by Hookem2147
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3 minutes ago, ztejas said:

His mechanics are terrible. 

RT was consistently getting Mitchell these type of looks early in the year. Around this UCF game, he abandoned it because the results were so bad. When you're air balling these type of shots and the 9-footers against Tennessee people are drastically undervaluing what it takes to become a good shooter. 

His baseline talent as a shooter is really bad. 

 

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I mean we don’t even have to look away from our former teams  to see that yes, players can improve their shot drastically while in college or after when they hit the NBA. I have no idea if Mitchell will do it, but to write off a player with his athleticism is a weird take. I definitely would like to see him back next year. Hunter too for what it’s worth.

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2 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

I'm gonna assume the fact that neither Mitchell or Hunter have appeared in the portal yet is due to wanting to make sure their next landing spot is secured through backchannels so they don't overplay their hand and end up playing for Boston College or some such next year? Or am I overthinking it? I certainly would find it hard to believe the staff is pushing super hard for either to stay considering the type of skillsets/prospects we are being linked to in the portal. 

I read somewhere that Hunter said he was going to go through the NBA eval process like he did last year.  Assumably to get the critic. 

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