My thing is the guards. Howard Eisley is probably not getting his due. I thought what he and Juwan Howard did in their initial campaign with Brooks and Simpson was first rate. Last season they were able to integrate Mike Smith from Columbia seamlessly, transforming Smith from scorer to consumate PG. This year they get to tutor PG’s, young Frankie Collins, plus Davante Jones, as well as another season from versatile Eli Brooks. That’s a lot to work with. I’m confident Eisley and Howard are up to the task of putting both Collins and Jones in position to succeed. If they do…
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To borrow from the great bacon141, I won’t believe CJ Baird is done with our scout team until I attend his funeral
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Who is Purdue’s nominal PG this year? Eric Hunter?
PG is definitely the weakest spot on the roster. Eric Hunter, Isaiah Thompson, and perhaps Ethan Morton if he takes a step up this year will compete at PG.
Source: Me, Purdue Grad
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I like the way the question was phrased. Even the top Purdue teams have seemed to have a PG you could deem “nominal”. Job well done and good response for this year’s “nominal” candidates!
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Similar to but not identical to a marginal PG.
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Purdue is going to be really damn good. Only one guy in the rotation under 6’4. If they can find a way to have both Williams and Edey on the court together…
If they even try to do this I have 100 Burkhardt Bucks on them not being really damn good.
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Especially with as hyped as Purdue fans are about their top 2 freshman, both of which are 4s. Considering Edey’s propensity to foul and both of their gargantuan size I think you just roll with a 60-40 split. Painter is pretty used to that as is, he’s had two behemoth centers almost every year and never plays them both at the same time
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They would be dumb not to try it. If the conference doesn’t have any bigs that can stretch the D. You can still switch 1 through 4 Ivey-Newman-Hunter-Williams. You still have Sasha/Gillis/Thompson off the bench. See what Furst/Kaufman can do to compliment the bigs. If they can do something you don’t have 2 play them at once.
Williams is switchable?
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Some of the best Purdue teams had the Swanigan/Haas/Hammons trio. Then Hammons graduated and Swanigan/Haas started half the year together and won the Big Ten. I see Williams/Edey much closer to the previous years than what Haarms/Haas were.
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The Williams to Swanigan comparison fits if you’re talking about the Swanigan of today…
I just don’t see that. The current duo is way closer to the other combos mentioned. Swanigan did play PF but he was viable on the perimeter offensively in a way that Williams is not whatsoever. And that 2017 Purdue team only had one other guy taller than 6’5, which as you note is not gonna be an issue this year. If they didn’t have many other viable PFs I could see trying it, but factoring in the talented PFs they have, their need for shooting in general to maximize the Centers, and that Edey will struggle to play much more than 20 MPG anyway, I don’t see it as anything more than an occasional curveball to throw at a team if nothing is working
They have Gillis and the freshman that can play PF. Don’t think it’s worth keeping them off the floor to see Trevion space the floor
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But Trevion is Draymond 2.0 (saw that Reddit thread lol)
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I think experimentation is good but I’m pretty skeptical it works. Both players have pretty strong limitations.
IMO Purdue will pretty much be 2 teams this year. One will play off its surfeit of guards and wings that can shoot and Trevion’s passing ability. They’ll score a lot but struggle to protect the rim. The other will be Ivey creating for himself and maaaybe others while Edey protects the rim. The outcome they’ll want to avoid is Ivey/Trevion inefficiently trading off possessions and not getting stops on the other end.
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I think this is a good point. It’ll be interesting to see Purdue develop an identity over the course of the year. Wouldn’t be a shock if things don’t immediately click and they have disappointing games early on. (They also have a lot of talent, so maybe it just won’t matter. Edey could be a real problem in the Big Ten.)
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I like our team’s ability to counter a two-big lineup there.
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at Rutgers or in the portal?
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