01grad wrote:
He’s not an Aundre Jackson type. Besides his skill around the basket, Jackson’s biggest assets were his abilities to drive and also be a threat to shoot the 3. He was able to play a wing type position, and our system, like many modern offenses, thrives on versatility like that. Neither Aundre nor Ingram were traditional 4’s, as some seem to insist on arguing.
Agreed, a big reason a lot of the larger schools (U of I, Iowa) backed off him in high school is because his jump shot didn't develop through his junior year. For LU, playing the four on offense he could be effective, but I feel like that's discounting that a lot of teams in the valley try and spread you out with 4 players. Elijah Childs at Bradley probably plays the most traditional 4, but he could also step outside the paint and regularly hit a mid range jumper/the occasional three. While Negron had to be around the basket to really make an impact on offense.
It's also fair to note given how we switch on defense playing him and Krutwig together could really cause problems. He got burned more than once on switches playing the 5, and Krutwig is still a work in progress as well (though he improved greatly). That doesn't mean he's a bad player by any means, just that it'd be an uphill battle for him to get playing time. I loved his game and wanted to see more, those tip dunks were things of beauty, but I also realize that he'd be playing behind a player of the year candidate for 4 seasons. It's not unlike Clayton getting stuck behind Monte Morris at Iowa State, sometimes you gotta do what's best for your personal goals.