Thoughts On Reese And Hamlet Additions

BillySee58 · April 30, 2019

The first thought many fans had after seeing these signings, and even seeing the offers a while back, was why weren’t we recruiting more big men. And I get that, and also agree that we don’t have the stable of big men that we should. Even if we are going to run out four-guard lineups. But even those these two are not big men, they are going to help out a lot, partially because of their size.

A big issue we had last year was creating offense and creating good looks. We would sometimes go long stretches of basketball without getting really any good looks, or take up the entire shot clock and never get a good look the whole possession. This is what led to all of those halves of 25 or less points. Part of the reason we struggled to get good looks is our lack of height. Short guys need more space for an open look than tall guys. Another reason is lack of quality creators. It was really just Woolridge, and Miller to a smaller degree. Smart is a high usage player but he struggled when he put the ball on the floor.

Reese and Hamlet will help address this. Reese is listed at 6’4”. He needs less space between his man to get a clean look off than shorter guys like Draper and Gibson. Plus his shooting stats were outstanding, so his ability to convert those clean looks is impressive (80 threes in 34 games, 41.9% from three, 86.6% from the line). Also, starting Reese next to Smart will allow Rose to play the two which is where he has gotten most of his best looks. Smart getting back to anywhere near his sophomore form would make this a very dynamic off-the-ball scoring duo from the perimeter.

As for Hamlet, he is no slouch as a shooter either but his game is creating and playmaking with the ball in his hands. Hamlet was very efficient as a shooter (44.8% from three and 83.8% from the line) but his lack of volume illustrates that he isn’t coming here to jack up a bunch of threes, as he made just 26 in 33 games. Hamlet is very good at getting into the lane and pulling in defenders. With guys like Reese, Gibson, and Smart (once he returns to form) on the perimeter, Hamlet will have his choice of quality three-point shooters to find once he collapses the defense. But I think Zachary Simmons may benefit even more from the addition of Hamlet than the shooters. Hamlet does a great job of dishing to his big men once he gets down low, and Simmons is a quality finisher.

There has been speculation about Woolridge’s return. Assuming Woolridge comes back, adding Hamlet and Jalen Jackson will give Woolridge much more rest throughout games, and should lead to a much more rested and less worn down Woolridge come conference play and tourney play. But Hamlet is clearly not just here to give Woolridge rest. I think the coaches not only believe they can play together, but I think we may see them use more lineups with two ballhandlers going forward. Having two players who can create offense and create good looks can help prevent these stagnant phases that we saw so much of last year towards the end of the season.

So in short, we still lack quality size but these guys do address two very key areas that we struggled with last year, in impressive fashion as they both are quite good at what they do.

Edited April 30, 2019 by BillySee58

RiseUNT · April 30, 2019

Meh

Wag Tag · April 30, 2019

Great points on creating offense for the shooters and how important space is for these guys! Really like the commits but will be disappointed if we don’t sign a 6’7 6’8 banger. We have to have somebody besides Zach that can set a frig n pick at the top of the key so he can stay around the hoop. With three strong scoring guards playing I don’t think you need another scorer. Just a guy that can set picks get a few rebounds and bring us some physicality!