I’m sure that happens but I don’t know if that’s the case here, arenas is a really good player
Yates zoom call
- Thread starter DaDirtyLeb69
- Start date
Wonder why Pierre can't be prioritized and we already have him? Find it hard to believe he is not better than Yates. Pierre looks like a mini Jordan to me.
Total guess on my part….but I suspect we are prioritizing Yates shooting. Lowe is an average college shooter and it’s hard to expect Lewis or Jasper to be great shooters as Freshmen. Williams is a solid shooter and Yates is elite. Pierre is a good shooter don’t get me wrong, but he isn’t Yates. Think the staff thinks the teams shooting ability is a little lower than ideal right now.
Yeah, but if Arenas is only a 4 *, he shouldn't have a guaranteed starting spot over a guy like Yates.
The guys doing the rankings knew who Arenas' dad is, so he most likely got a bit of a bump, but is still only a 4* kid.
Yates is a legit, proven guard with great stats, if he can't get a starting position over a 4* hs kid, something is wrong.
Yates also has much higher upside, IMO. Very legit NBA prospect.
With NIL now, I don't think this is ALL about 2025-26.
With NIL now, I don't think this is ALL about 2025-26.
Sounds logical. Pierre is a strong three level scorer. Other than 3 shooting wonder how they compare? I just read that Pierre is not likely since we got Lowe.
Yeah, we need at least one elite shooter and Yates fits that description a lot more than Pierre does.
Koby Brea gave us an edge when we were on offense that made defenses have to work really hard to take him out, we need to find another one like him for the offense to remain potent.
Might not be that easy. Will Wade is involved.
He’s a 5*, always has been. He was ranked 4th in the 26 class and I think 247 has him at 7th after reclassifying to 25. Honestly they could probably start together
Oh, someone posted earlier in this thread saying he was a 4*. If he's a legit 5, I get it.
Yeah he’s a legit 5, I think he’s gonna be really good but we’ll see. He could be a bust
Considering how rebounding was such a weak spot & a major factor in what ended the current team's season, I just can't see how that's wise (or likely)...
Sure, get Folgueiras as your starting PF, but there HAS to be another kid out there who maybe isn't the best all around PF/C with ball handling, etc, but is strong, athletic, and can provide good defense & rebounding in spurts who is willing to come in as a backup PF for a chance to play at UK. I know NIL drives so much now, but there are still kids out there like Almonor, Brea, etc who dream of wearing a Wildcats jersey.
A guy like that could still be cheap on NIL but just gives a little insurance/depth if one of the other bigs gets dinged up
Thats the issue with high school kids and the rankings.
BJ Boston, Justin Edwards and Devin Askew are prime examples of highly rated kids that everyone missed on. Somehow, they were ranked much higher than they should have been.
Also, there are organizations out there, like Klutch, that are obviously tampering with the rankings. They're doing something to get their guys ranked higher than they should be to bring more value to their "clients".
Of course, our previous coach fell for these scams. For someone that should be able to see if a player has it, or not, he sure seemed to get fooled a lot. Turns out, he just looked at rankings and the fact that those kids are somebody's son.
Is it just me or does my memory fail me when I think back to the days when CCC was here and in the year after the title , that team was constructed so poorly, CCC came out after the year was over and said - and I am paraphrasing here - that wouldn't happen again.
Cal took elite talent but I think it always took a backseat to any roster considerations. We're not in that boat any more. I am grateful we aren't. When you stop and look at the way Pope has gone about everything, we're not far away from getting a couple more positional players that fit the style, system, attitude, and personality that will make our roster complete.
A complete roster.
I just have zero worries we're gonna look up like we did with CCC at the helm, and say "WTF? why can't we get a decent SF - even if its just a token piece?" or something similar. I am glad those days are over.
Cal took elite talent but I think it always took a backseat to any roster considerations. We're not in that boat any more. I am grateful we aren't. When you stop and look at the way Pope has gone about everything, we're not far away from getting a couple more positional players that fit the style, system, attitude, and personality that will make our roster complete.
A complete roster.
I just have zero worries we're gonna look up like we did with CCC at the helm, and say "WTF? why can't we get a decent SF - even if its just a token piece?" or something similar. I am glad those days are over.
I don’t know that I would lump Edwards with those other 2 he’s having a great year in the nba lots of 15+ and 20+ point games so he was obviously capable. Been a lot of players here used the wrong way.
WTF does northern KY and Atlanta, TX have to do with it ? Didn't see anything remotely suggesting it.
Poindexter was at Washington when he originally signed there. BOTH of them left for USC.
Yeah, well, that's the problem. Most of these guys seem to explode AFTER they leave Cal's program.
Edwards was not ready for the college game last year, he had some mental things he was dealing with that he has since worked out.
One could argue that wasn't Cal's fault and I would agree. Edwards SHOULD have been great, but he wasn't.
Maybe it was Cal's style, don't know, but he was a bust last year and Cal kept on starting him.
There's a common denominator to all of this, if I could just think of who that might be…
Mini Jordan? As in michael? Lol stop it.
I think Yates is a way better shooter than Pierre. He hasn't been a good shooter most of his career.
Just his three level scoring ability and build. I know Yates has a great three point %. Just wonder if they odd shooting form could hurt him eventually?
Pondexter isn’t coming back to USC, so I think the writing is on the wall with Yates.
Tell me how they play 7 guards who would all expect mins
So you are guessing on him going back to UW, but you are certain he is being let go at USC. A one year contract?
No pondexter isn’t returning to usc, thats a fact. It’s wildely expected he goes back to Washington, and that Yates follows him
disagree, need shooters....
have no proven ones.....Oweh is a scorer, not a shooter, Jasper - unknown, Lewis - unknown, Lowe - poor shooter base on last years stats, Chandler - got hot the last few games, but is that reliable, Perry - unknown
Where's the shooters?
Oweh & Pierre can swing to small forward as well as 2 guard
So, were we able to secure a commitment from Yates with the Care Bear Stare? I know a couple guys out there were not feeling that but if the coaching staff is able to convince Yates on letting the sunshine in, I feel good about our chances.
I agree, we need another shooter.
But I am having trouble wrapping my head around how we get minutes for all these guys.
Oweh is going to play a lot of minutes. That’s most of the minutes at one wing spot.
Assuming Lowe is the starting PG and gets most of those minutes. Lewis gets all the backup PG minutes.
That leaves one wing spot open for a stud shooter, plus Johnson, Williams, and Chandler. I’m not even considering Perry and Noah as part of the rotation.
I’m sure Pope has a plan, but I am trying to add up potential minutes and I am having trouble with that. Some of those guys are going to have to be very patient.
I love the sense of sudden loyalty that Yates has for Pondexter, given that they met each other about 4 seconds ago.
Hey man I agree, it’s silly to me. My little cousin in college is a manager at a McDonald’s now. It doesn’t mean I’m gonna quit my job now and follow him to McDonalds out of loyalty to him
Can you give me your honest grade for Pope's portal performance so far? I know it's early, but it seems like we've missed way more than we've fit.