JG on expanding his game

[HoosierHoopster]

From ITH -- https://www.insidethehall.com/2022/07/19/video-jordan-geromino-talks-expanding-his-game-his-position-for-next-season-and-more/

Expanding his game so he can play the 3 or the 4. Fighting over ball screens instead of defending ball screens. Defending in transition. Working on decision making - spacing, on ball when to shoot, pass, off ball setting actions, when to cut, making the right decision on the perimeter. Jump shot and handle are getting better. Asked if he's trying to play to play small forward, says more trying to expand his game so he can play the 3 and the 4 (good), produce more for the team. Idea of playing the 3 came from him, to expand his game.

About his decision to come back -- "bigger than myself" -- talks about how he trusts Woodson and how strong he sees the program and fighting for a championship (nice). _Still a young kid, so much potential.)

Asked about players breaking out, but not really being talked about, says likes K Banks a lot, he has game.

[DChoosier]

It will be interesting to see how many minutes JG gets. I’m glad he came back, and love his potential, but with Race and Malik minutes will be hard to find at the 4.

During interviews a couple of coaches kind of gave the impression they were not convinced  JG is a 3. Lots of chatter that Banks is doing well at the 3 ( yes, I know, the off season chatter has to be taken with a huge grain of salt). I could also see three guard lineups with X, JHS and Bates at the 1,2.3. Throw in Kopp and JG might really be challenged to get the minutes he wants.  
It’s going to be a battle for playing  and may the best man win.

[go iu bb]

11 hours ago, DChoosier said:

It will be interesting to see how many minutes JG gets. I’m glad he came back, and love his potential, but with Race and Malik minutes will be hard to find at the 4.

During interviews a couple of coaches kind of gave the impression they were not convinced  JG is a 3. Lots of chatter that Banks is doing well at the 3 ( yes, I know, the off season chatter has to be taken with a huge grain of salt). I could also see three guard lineups with X, JHS and Bates at the 1,2.3. Throw in Kopp and JG might really be challenged to get the minutes he wants.  
It’s going to be a battle for playing  and may the best man win.

I agree, he'll really have to step up to get significant PT. At the 4/5 positions, TJD will have the most minutes (25-30). I think Thompson and Reneau will get about the same amount of time (20-25), with Reneau playing both positions as needed. That doesn't leave much time for everyone else, with Geronimo probably getting most of it. 

I see Duncomb getting about the same amount of PT as last season. Banks will also play sparingly unless he can play the 3 as you state. Kopp will play mostly at the 3, I think.

[HoosierHoopster]

1 hour ago, go iu bb said:

I agree, he'll really have to step up to get significant PT. At the 4/5 positions, TJD will have the most minutes (25-30). I think Thompson and Reneau will get about the same amount of time (20-25), with Reneau playing both positions as needed. That doesn't leave much time for everyone else, with Geronimo probably getting most of it. 

I see Duncomb getting about the same amount of PT as last season. Banks will also play sparingly unless he can play the 3 as you state. Kopp will play mostly at the 3, I think.

Time will tell, but I do not see Ren, a frosh, as coming in and playing the same amount as Race, or so displacing JG, a junior. Ren's uber talented, he's got the college ready body, he's really good, but you guys are seriously discounting JG, imo. The dude kills the glass, he's easily the most athletic player on the team, he's a rebounding monster and a returning vet who just played very well in the NCAA tourney, and on a per 40 basis was 11+ boards, (16.6 on per 100 min) - best on team - and 2.2 blocks (3.3 per 100 min) - 2nd best on team, already raised his 3-point shooting to 31% likely improved over summer, and he's coming in honing his skills to play at both the 3 and 4. Ren came off the bench in his loaded Montverde team. He's excellent, but he's a frosh.

[Stuhoo]

1 hour ago, HoosierHoopster said:

Time will tell, but I do not see Ren, a frosh, as coming in and playing the same amount as Race, or so displacing JG, a junior. Ren's uber talented, he's got the college ready body, he's really good, but you guys are seriously discounting JG, imo. The dude kills the glass, he's easily the most athletic player on the team, he's a rebounding monster and a returning vet who just played very well in the NCAA tourney, and on a per 40 basis was 11+ boards, (16.6 on per 100 min) - best on team - and 2.2 blocks (3.3 per 100 min) - 2nd best on team, already raised his 3-point shooting to 31% likely improved over summer, and he's coming in honing his skills to play at both the 3 and 4. Ren came off the bench in his loaded Montverde team. He's excellent, but he's a frosh.

 

Reneau came off the bench for Montverde his junior year there. Last year he was a starter, their second leading scorer, and their leading rebounder.

He's really good, and oughta be really college-ready. I don't see him displacing Geronimo, but I could easily see him and Race in a split at the four and  taking TJD's bench time at the five. That's 30mpg for Trayce at the five, and 25 minutes for Race and Malik at the four/five.

 

 

[go iu bb]

37 minutes ago, HoosierHoopster said:

Time will tell, but I do not see Ren, a frosh, as coming in and playing the same amount as Race, or so displacing JG, a junior. Ren's uber talented, he's got the college ready body, he's really good, but you guys are seriously discounting JG, imo. The dude kills the glass, he's easily the most athletic player on the team, he's a rebounding monster and a returning vet who just played very well in the NCAA tourney, and on a per 40 basis was 11+ boards, (16.6 on per 100 min) - best on team - and 2.2 blocks (3.3 per 100 min) - 2nd best on team, already raised his 3-point shooting to 31% likely improved over summer, and he's coming in honing his skills to play at both the 3 and 4. Ren came off the bench in his loaded Montverde team. He's excellent, but he's a frosh.

I guess we'll see. I'll admit I'm not as bullish on Geronimo as many on this board are while at the same time the opposite is true regarding Reneau.

Let me run this scenario by you. Let's say you need to give Race a rest and your options are freshman TJD or junior Geronimo. Who do you go with? Unless Geronimo makes a huge jump, I go with freshman TJD every day of the week. Obviously, freshman TJD isn't an option but freshman Reneau is and I expect he'll be at least as good as TJD was as freshman.

[cthomas]

Opportunities on a fully healthy team might be hard to come by. But, as we have seen, injuries to starters create opportunities farther down the bench. In the past we have suffered when a main contributor has been out for a period of time. The added depth to this team should mitigate that problem while giving guys like Geronimo expanded playing time.

[Stuhoo]

Sounds like we need a minutes per game thread!

[HoosierHoopster]

2 hours ago, Stuhoo said:

 

Reneau came off the bench for Montverde his junior year there. Last year he was a starter, their second leading scorer, and their leading rebounder.

He's really good, and oughta be really college-ready. I don't see him displacing Geronimo, but I could easily see him and Race in a split at the four and  taking TJD's bench time at the five. That's 30mpg for Trayce at the five, and 25 minutes for Race and Malik at the four/five.

 

 

Good info, thx. I still wouldn't see him coming in at 25 mpg, but if he does then he's extremely good, and that would be a major plus. How well JG and Bates have continued to grow their games over the summer to me remains the key to the season. I see Ren as a serious contributor, but it's still Mont/HS to B1G, and as a frosh would expect more in the 16-18 mpg range

[Stuhoo]

1 hour ago, HoosierHoopster said:

Good info, thx. I still wouldn't see him coming in at 25 mpg, but if he does then he's extremely good, and that would be a major plus. How well JG and Bates have continued to grow their games over the summer to me remains the key to the season. I see Ren as a serious contributor, but it's still Mont/HS to B1G, and as a frosh would expect more in the 16-18 mpg range

Let's put it this way - Dillon Mitchell was Reneau's teammate at Montverde last year, and had almost identical numbers there. Mitchell is pretty much locked in as an expected starter on a top 15 pre-season Texas team.

Dariq Whitehead's numbers were a little better but not all that much better - he's pretty much locked in as a starter on a top ten Duke team.

Our two Montverde players are big time. I fully expect JHS to start and play a lot, and Malik to play a lot whether starting or not.

[go iu bb]

17 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Let's put it this way - Dillon Mitchell was Reneau's teammate at Montverde last year, and had almost identical numbers there. Mitchell is pretty much locked in as an expected starter on a top 15 pre-season Texas team.

Dariq Whitehead's numbers were a little better but not all that much better - he's pretty much locked in as a starter on a top ten Duke team.

Our two Montverde players are big time. I fully expect JHS to start and play a lot, and Malik to play a lot whether starting or not.

That's where I'm at with those two. High expectations for both and I think they'll deliver.

[HoosierHoopster]

1 hour ago, Stuhoo said:

Let's put it this way - Dillon Mitchell was Reneau's teammate at Montverde last year, and had almost identical numbers there. Mitchell is pretty much locked in as an expected starter on a top 15 pre-season Texas team.

Dariq Whitehead's numbers were a little better but not all that much better - he's pretty much locked in as a starter on a top ten Duke team.

Our two Montverde players are big time. I fully expect JHS to start and play a lot, and Malik to play a lot whether starting or not.

I expect him to play a lot and 16-18 minutes is a lot. Like I said, if he plays 25, which is major starter minutes, great, that means he's genuinely exceptional already as a frosh. 

[cthomas]

2 hours ago, Stuhoo said:

Let's put it this way - Dillon Mitchell was Reneau's teammate at Montverde last year, and had almost identical numbers there. Mitchell is pretty much locked in as an expected starter on a top 15 pre-season Texas team.

Dariq Whitehead's numbers were a little better but not all that much better - he's pretty much locked in as a starter on a top ten Duke team.

Our two Montverde players are big time. I fully expect JHS to start and play a lot, and Malik to play a lot whether starting or not.

These two are not the typical incoming freshmen. They've played the highest level competition possible for high school kids. They will without a doubt impact our season. This class, in my opinion, is the launching point for the CMW era.

[str8baller]

These are good problems to have.  Whatever guys don’t crack a lot of minutes will be poised to next year as we lose about 30mpg from each of our 1, 4, and 5 spots. 

[lillurk]

3 hours ago, Stuhoo said:

Let's put it this way - Dillon Mitchell was Reneau's teammate at Montverde last year, and had almost identical numbers there. Mitchell is pretty much locked in as an expected starter on a top 15 pre-season Texas team.

Dariq Whitehead's numbers were a little better but not all that much better - he's pretty much locked in as a starter on a top ten Duke team.

Our two Montverde players are big time. I fully expect JHS to start and play a lot, and Malik to play a lot whether starting or not.

Yeah the ~70th percentile or better outcomes for those two are good enough I don’t want to type them out for fear of getting anyones hopes up

[DChoosier]

On 7/20/2022 at 12:51 PM, Stuhoo said:

 

Reneau came off the bench for Montverde his junior year there. Last year he was a starter, their second leading scorer, and their leading rebounder.

He's really good, and oughta be really college-ready. I don't see him displacing Geronimo, but I could easily see him and Race in a split at the four and  taking TJD's bench time at the five. That's 30mpg for Trayce at the five, and 25 minutes for Race and Malik at the four/five.

 

 

You don’t see Malik displacing JG but then state that TJD/Race/Malik will split the 4 and 5 minutes. If that happens that means JG is moved to the three and Malik has indeed displaced the available minutes at the 4. I’m actually high on JG, am impressed with his unreal athleticism and hope it works out, but in a couple of interviews with coaches they didn’t seem 100% convinced that JG is a three plus being a three means JG has to compete with:

Kopp

Banks (players and coaches have both raved about him but based on prior off-season “he is great” statements I’ll believe it when I see it)

Bates in three guard JSH,X,Bates lineups

Galloway

Competition for minutes will be fierce and our ceiling will be much higher if 2 of Malik, Banks, JG, and/or Bates really break out.

[go iu bb]

14 minutes ago, DChoosier said:

You don’t see Malik displacing JG but then state that TJD/Race/Malik will split the 4 and 5 minutes. If that happens that means JG is moved to the three and Malik has indeed displaced the available minutes at the 4. I’m actually high on JG, am impressed with his unreal athleticism and hope it works out, but in a couple of interviews with coaches they didn’t seem 100% convinced that JG is a three plus being a three means JG has to compete with:

Kopp

Banks (players and coaches have both raved about him but based on prior off-season “he is great” statements I’ll believe it when I see it)

Bates in three guard JSH,X,Bates lineups

Galloway

Competition for minutes will be fierce and our ceiling will be much higher if 2 of Malik, Banks, JG, and/or Bates really break out.

I am very high on Reneau and Bates. I think both will have big seasons.

I agree with you on JG. I'll believe it when I see it as far as him playing the 3.

[Stuhoo]

9 minutes ago, DChoosier said:

You don’t see Malik displacing JG but then state that TJD/Race/Malik will split the 4 and 5 minutes. If that happens that means JG is moved to the three and Malik has indeed displaced the available minutes at the 4. I’m actually high on JG, am impressed with his unreal athleticism and hope it works out, but in a couple of interviews with coaches they didn’t seem 100% convinced that JG is a three plus being a three means JG has to compete with:

Kopp

Banks (players and coaches have both raved about him but based on prior off-season “he is great” statements I’ll believe it when I see it)

Bates in three guard JSH,X,Bates lineups

Galloway

Competition for minutes will be fierce and our ceiling will be much higher if 2 of Malik, Banks, JG, and/or Bates really break out.

I don't want to fall into the trap of pigeon-holing players into positions. There are always going to be lineups with different size/player combinations, and the hot hand in any given game will get extra run.

Maybe the best way to divide Woody's positional combos to put players into three sets:

1. Purely ball-handlers/points (X, JHS),
2. Purely wings (Banks, Gunn, Kopp, Leal), and
3. Players that are able to play on the block and guard the post (Trayce, Race, Malik, Duncomb).

Then there are the players  that are between those three positional sets:  Bates, Gallo, and JG.

I tend to think that JG can be on the court at the same time as two of Trayce/Race/Malik. Not against every opponent, but against some. Against others maybe he plays some four. 

 

[HoosierHoopster]

2 hours ago, Stuhoo said:

I don't want to fall into the trap of pigeon-holing players into positions. There are always going to be lineups with different size/player combinations, and the hot hand in any given game will get extra run.

Maybe the best way to divide Woody's positional combos to put players into three sets:

1. Purely ball-handlers/points (X, JHS),
2. Purely wings (Banks, Gunn, Kopp, Leal), and
3. Players that are able to play on the block and guard the post (Trayce, Race, Malik, Duncomb).

Then there are the players  that are between those three positional sets:  Bates, Gallo, and JG.

I tend to think that JG can be on the court at the same time as two of Trayce/Race/Malik. Not against every opponent, but against some. Against others maybe he plays some four. 

 

I get the push back we keep seeing on the idea of JG playing on the wing -- in addition to playing his typical forward role -- but I'm kind of wondering if people are watching the interview posted in the first clip. What's clear is that he is and has been working on being able to play both spots / roles all summer, as posted, he talks about what he's been working on to be able to bring that to the table. He also responded to a question about whether the idea to move to the 3 came from Woodson, and answered pretty directly that the idea came from him (JG) to grow his game and contribute more to the team - and not to move to the 3 but to allow him to play both as needed. The kid is a beast already, dominates boards and blocks, has been improving his shot and handle, and now he's a seasoned junior.

I will be flat out shocked if he's not playing major minutes, and like you, I tend to think we'll see really intriguing lineups during games (irrespective of starts) that are not fixed by pigeon-holing players into the outmoded idea of 1,2,3,4,5. So many options now -- TJD, Race, JG, X, JHS / Race, JG, Ren, Bates, X / TJD, JG, Bates, JHS, X / TJD, Ren, Kopp, JHS, X / TJD, Race, Ren, Bates, X/ etc.