I thought we underachieved the last couple of years, and that was why I was willing for Steve Shields to depart as coach. And, with the talent we had coming back, I thought the new coach, with new enthusiasm from the fans, might have a chance to make some significant noise in his first year. That was before James White and James Reid departed and we get perilously close to the end of the late signing period without our first assistant coach in place. So, what hope I had is getting pretty dim.
Granted, we might still surprise some people. Josh Hagins is a nice piece around which to build a team under any circumstances. Roger Woods is definitely a player. J. T. Thomas is a reliable point guard. Mareik Isom's upside is considerable. They likely account for four solid starters, so there is still some talent there, but all of a sudden our roster seems awfully thin - and awfully short, even more so than before. At the moment, Isom is the only player on the roster over 6-5, and he is essentially a perimeter player and not very husky. Even in the Belt that would be Extreme Smallball. Of course, your starters are going to play 60-65% of your minutes, but when injuries or foul trouble jump up and bite you, that is when you notice the bench.
I know that big men are considered passe in this era of the 3-point shot, but if the other guy has them, you at least have to have someone to guard them. Thankfully, five-points-per-game big men who can play defense are not that hard to find, and that may be all we need this year. But even they are being signed, day by day, every day - and we do not even have our first assistant coach yet. Every day that goes by means the quality of those left is diminishing.
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