Sampson?

What are the expectations from him this year? Ive never seen him play, but he has huge shoes to fill replacing Harkless. Is Sampson a starter from day 1? IS he fighting Pointer and Amir for that spot?

Would be very surprised if he isn't starting. He is an athletic freak and at 6'8 can be a nightmare for some teams. Also a tremendous defender. Perfect for our press and will be great running the floor beating other bigs up the court. Very exciting player to watch throws down some crazy dunks. Last I saw him his jumper was looking better then what it was before. He should  be something special

Wouldn't be surprised to see him come off the bench to start, especially if we get Chandler. I think Dom starts over him and Sanchez starts at the 4. But, starting on Lavin's team doesn't mean too much, we saw that with Stith and Polee. I expect him to get major minutes and be our 2nd best player by seasons end.

What are the expectations from him this year? Ive never seen him play, but he has huge shoes to fill replacing Harkless. Is Sampson a starter from day 1? IS he fighting Pointer and Amir for that spot?

I think him and Moe would have been similar statistically if Sampson qualified.  Sampson and Moe put up nearly identical #'s playing as teammates on the USA East team and over several games at IS8  Moe was more finesse and skill and Sampson was more effort and raw athleticism.  If Sampson qualified, I don't think Moe Harkless would have been a sough after pick this year.
At this point, I see Garrett and Sampson starting down low for us with Greene, Harrison, and possibly Pointer joining them.   

High on Pointer Marillac? Me too

High on Pointer Marillac? Me too

I'm higher on Garrett and Branch.  Garrett is going to be tough to keep off the court.  We will play small this season by design.  Even if we land Chandler I seriously doubt he starts.  I see him like a DH in baseball.  When he comes in Dunlap switches out of the matchup into man-to-man or even another zone.  We played the matchup just over 50% of the time last season. The zone we've run the last two years is NOT like the Syraucse 2-3 matchup.  We don't have the luxury of a space eater in the middle.  The center in a 2-3 rarely moves more than five feet in any direction.  We have two guys down low that have to rotate to challenge shooters. GG could barely handle this at 6'7/6'8.  How many times was that kid late or reckless on a close-out?  I can't tell you how many times I just closed my eyes when I saw him barrelling out there...it seemed like an easy pump fake and dribble drive. 

I'm very confident we see Greene-Harrison-Pointer-Garrett-Sampson to start it off.  Sanchez will play a ton as well.  Sampson completes the vision and gives us four athletic, defensive-minded freaks out there at once with Harrison's ability to make things happen.

The X-factor if Wood doesn't qualify to me could be Bourgault.  If he can hold his own down low in the zone--he's obviously physically able to rotate out and keep guards/wings honest--that could be a matchup nightmare for opposing teams that would have to defend him with a power foward in man-to-man.  Remember, he did a postgrad year at Notre Dame Prep, a redshirt year at Monroe, and a full season at Monroe.  He's 6'6, physically mature, and he played for a team that ran a lot of zone.   

I see our frontcourt being Amir at the SF, Sampson at PF and Orlando at C as our most potent offensive lineup.  That of course is sans Chandler.  Chandler would change a lot of things.  There will be a ton of mixing and matching with Pointer coming in at both forward spots, Gift at Center and Bourgault getting some time at sf especially when we need offense. 

I don't think "starting" lineup will be all too important this season.  I see us playing at least 10 guys most games just because of the style we play.  We'll be more aggressive with our zones an presses and Lavin likes to get our bench involved right from the beginning so that second half of the season our entire roster is game-ready. 

Returning to Sampson, he is really aggressive around the rim, and has a better gphandle than might be expected.  His jumper is a bit ugly, but he's real effective if different than Moe.  I've said this before, but Jakarr's game reminds me a ton of Kidd-Gilchrist.  All hustle and energy, ugly jumper, but can do a bit of everything.  Jakarr will see a ton if time.  He's a stud and with ts staff should grow by leaps and bounds as I expect Amir and Pointer will as well.

Real excited about our backcourt this year as we'll.  Dynamic and athletic.  We'll be a lot better than lots of the pundits think.

High on Pointer Marillac? Me too

How can you not like Pointer.?  He hustles all the time, is dangerous in the open court and around the rim, and is a hawk on defense.  He needs to tighten his handle a tad and work on that jumper and he can be dangerous. 

Dunlap switches out of the matchup

Unless he's in Charlotte. Then probably Keady will be making the in game decisions.

Would be very surprised if he isn't starting. He is an athletic freak and at 6'8 can be a nightmare for some teams. Also a tremendous defender. Perfect for our press and will be great running the floor beating other bigs up the court. Very exciting player to watch throws down some crazy dunks. Last I saw him his jumper was looking better then what it was before. He should  be something special

He was our nightmare last year.

Sampson is without a doubt  a starter, and one of the go-to guys this coming season.
I expect him to be the teams leading rebounder and likely second leading scorer

Defense leads to offense...I see a starting line up of Branch (dec), Harrison, Pointer, Sampson and Sanchez....Length and intesity!

There is no way that the top 2 scorers on this team won't be D Lo and Sampson. I would agree with those that have said Garrett too. Garrett is a tough dude and will get his points any way he can. 

Sampson, from what ive seen, is more of a true four than Moe was. He will help against the zone because he plays around the freethrow/elbow area well just like Justin Brownlee did for us. The last I saw his jumper had gotten better and he is somebody who will try and dunk everything around the rim.

Quote from: Marco Baldi on May 18, 2012, 01:36:24 AM

High on Pointer Marillac? Me too

I'm higher on Garrett and Branch.  Garrett is going to be tough to keep off the court.  We will play small this season by design.  Even if we land Chandler I seriously doubt he starts.  I see him like a DH in baseball.  When he comes in Dunlap switches out of the matchup into man-to-man or even another zone.  We played the matchup just over 50% of the time last season. The zone we've run the last two years is NOT like the Syraucse 2-3 matchup.  We don't have the luxury of a space eater in the middle.  The center in a 2-3 rarely moves more than five feet in any direction.  We have two guys down low that have to rotate to challenge shooters. GG could barely handle this at 6'7/6'8.  How many times was that kid late or reckless on a close-out?  I can't tell you how many times I just closed my eyes when I saw him barrelling out there...it seemed like an easy pump fake and dribble drive. 

I'm very confident we see Greene-Harrison-Pointer-Garrett-Sampson to start it off.  Sanchez will play a ton as well.  Sampson completes the vision and gives us four athletic, defensive-minded freaks out there at once with Harrison's ability to make things happen.

The X-factor if Wood doesn't qualify to me could be Bourgault.  If he can hold his own down low in the zone--he's obviously physically able to rotate out and keep guards/wings honest--that could be a matchup nightmare for opposing teams that would have to defend him with a power foward in man-to-man.  Remember, he did a postgrad year at Notre Dame Prep, a redshirt year at Monroe, and a full season at Monroe.  He's 6'6, physically mature, and he played for a team that ran a lot of zone.   

I agree on Branch.  In addition to being a true PG (something we've lacked in the Lavin era), I think folks are overlooking his impact at the OTHER end - SCOUT picked this kid as THE BEST defensive player in the entire 2011 class.   You know, over guys like Sir Dom, Amir, and, who was that 2011 who played for KY last year?  Anthony Davis....

There's a lot to like about Pointer and Garrett.   But we need to be honest in any self-assessment of what we have. 
So I say this carefully, because I like both players a lot, and they were only freshmen last season, playing more minutes than they should have.  So that is a necessary preface.

But we can't win unless they take a major step forward offensively.   Plain and simple.  We didn't have enough scoring last year, and we've lost one of the two reliable options we had.   
We can defend, and we'll be better on the boards because of depth and aggressiveness - but we can't compete like we want to unless second and 3rd options step up.   And their contributions can't only be slashing to the rim, because unless you can knock down open shots, teams are going to pack their D into the paint.  We saw that last year.   

So I think in a lot of ways we go as far as Dom and Amir take us.   Which is kind've exciting to me.  Because I like both players a lot.   
Also, I think it can't be overstated how more rest and a point guard who can get them the ball will improve the looks they get.    They have their work cut out for them, but I'm looking forward to seeing them as much as anybody.  Just my two cents. 

Last year we struggled to score because we had 6 rotation players.  Yes, only two "reliable" options, but this year we shouldn't need to rely on anyone but D'Angelo.  Quality Depth, Deeper Rotation and a D1 Quality PG will yield a better more balanced offense by default. 

Quote from: Marco Baldi on May 18, 2012, 01:36:24 AM

High on Pointer Marillac? Me too

How can you not like Pointer.?  He hustles all the time, is dangerous in the open court and around the rim, and is a hawk on defense.  He needs to tighten his handle a tad and work on that jumper and he can be dangerous.

I love him defensively of course but he needs to tighten his handle a lot, and work a lot on his J. But most importantly he needs to learn how to control his speed, ie. not run 100 MPH all the time, and learn to finish at the hole.

Quote from: MCNPA on May 18, 2012, 03:17:52 AM

Quote from: Marco Baldi on May 18, 2012, 01:36:24 AM

High on Pointer Marillac? Me too

How can you not like Pointer.?  He hustles all the time, is dangerous in the open court and around the rim, and is a hawk on defense.  He needs to tighten his handle a tad and work on that jumper and he can be dangerous.

I love him defensively of course but he needs to tighten his handle a lot, and work a lot on his J. But most importantly he needs to learn how to control his speed, ie. not run 100 MPH all the time, and learn to finish at the hole.

While I love when a guy is an "instant impact" guy, I'm an old codger - someone who remembers when future College Players of the Year like Sidney Wicks and Dave Meyers didn't start for their teams till their JUNIOR years - and future All-Pro players like Swen Nater and Mark Eaton NEVER started in college.   

Instan impact guys are great, but there's also a certain satisfaction to watching a player DEVELOP in your system - going from raw to exceptional over a 4 or 5 year span....

As a UCLA fan, the Bruins have had 8 players win at least one of the "National Player of the Year Awards or be named NCAA tourney MVP:  Walt Hazzard, Lew Alcindor, Sidney Wicks, Bill Walton, David Meyers, Marques Johnson, Richard Washington, and Ed O'Bannon.   5 of them weren't first-year starters.  (Wicks behind Lynn Shackleford, Meyers behind Larry Farmer, Marques behind Keith Wilkes, Washington behind Meyers, O'Bannon behind Tracy Murray).....

I really think Sir Dom WILL be one of those who is truly exceptional by his senior year.

 Sadly, in this day an age, if you aren't developed and ready for the NBa by the end of your sophomore year many look at you as a failure.

 Really, this guy was a top 40 recruit and he's a senior....what the heck is wrong with him?  Like that...