Tafara Gapare


Cusealum05

Well-known member
And Robert Wright, the 2024 Philly point guard we offered a couple months ago and who’s been killin it in every tournament he plays. City Rocks won the GymRat tournament and Trey was MVP.
Unless Trey has explicitly told his dad / the staff he wants to do his own thing and not come here, we should have locked him in already. I don’t get it.
 

ThePearl

Well-known member
Unless Trey has explicitly told his dad / the staff he wants to do his own thing and not come here, we should have locked him in already. I don’t get it.
I think some people question if he has the athleticism. He doesn’t have a typical basketball body and he’s not especially quick. But he’s a player. His City Rocks teammate Mulready seems similar. Taller than Trey, not quick or an overwhelming athlete, but he seems like a very good player. Both him and Trey are strong and can shoot, pass, and dribble. Neither is easily categorized as a typical point guard or a typical shooting guard, but they both just make plays. Mulready is a stat stuffer and a tough physical kid. There was some talk of possible Syracuse interest awhile ago but I haven’t seen anything in a long time. Him and Trey have been doing a lot of winning lately with the City Rocks.
 

Cusealum05

Well-known member
I think some people question if he has the athleticism. He doesn’t have a typical basketball body and he’s not especially quick. But he’s a player. His City Rocks teammate Mulready seems similar. Taller than Trey, not quick or an overwhelming athlete, but he seems like a very good player. Both him and Trey are strong and can shoot, pass, and dribble. Neither is easily categorized as a typical point guard or a typical shooting guard, but they both just make plays. Mulready is a stat stuffer and a tough physical kid. There was some talk of possible Syracuse interest awhile ago but I haven’t seen anything in a long time. Him and Trey have been doing a lot of winning lately with the City Rocks.
I hear you, but I’ll gladly take “players” instead of athletes who need to be taught how to be basketball players. I’m not too familiar with Mulready but I’ll def look into him. But again give me players, I’ll gladly use a scholarship on Trey and I would use one on Gus as well.
 

ThePearl

Well-known member
I hear you, but I’ll gladly take “players” instead of athletes who need to be taught how to be basketball players. I’m not too familiar with Mulready but I’ll def look into him. But again give me players, I’ll gladly use a scholarship on Trey and I would use one on Gus as well.
Bus is even more so a guy who doesn’t look right but is very productive. I agree about players. Some of the “athletes” don’t have a good feel for the game and can’t be counted on to go find a way to win a game.
 

MassaCusetts

Well-known member
I hear you, but I’ll gladly take “players” instead of athletes who need to be taught how to be basketball players. I’m not too familiar with Mulready but I’ll def look into him. But again give me players, I’ll gladly use a scholarship on Trey and I would use one on Gus as well.
But SU’s diminished athleticism has been arguably the biggest issue they’ve had the last few years. And you have to ask whether or not the style they play fits just getting “players”. I would argue it doesn’t. Teams like Villanova (for instance) run things that make that work much better than SU does. “Tweeners” make me nervous with SU. Trey has clearly gotten a lot better in the last year, and there is every chance he just wants to go do his own thing. But I just would challenge the idea that he’s someone that right now looks high level enough to help SU get back to being a top 25 program every year, so much so that you need to lock him up early. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that take is “wrong” (obviously) and I respect the opinion. I just feel like I want to see more personally.
 
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Cusealum05

Well-known member
But SU’s diminished athleticism has been arguably the biggest issue they’ve had the last few years. And you have to ask whether or not the style they play fits just getting “players”. I would argue it doesn’t. Teams like Villanova (for instance) run things that make that work much better than SU does. “Tweeners” make me nervous with SU. Trey has clearly gotten a lot better in the last year, and there is every chance he just wants to go do his own thing. But I just would challenge the idea that he’s someone that right now looks high level enough to help SU get back to being a top 25 program every year, so much so that you need to lock him up early. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that take is “wrong” (obviously) and I respect the opinion. I just feel like I want to see more personally.
I think you make a great point, and I would say the roster make up last year was the issue. I don’t want a team full of unathletic guys but I also don’t want a team full of raw athletes that need to be coached up and transfer out before they are effective. Last year Symir was the only guard who can get the ball past half court, this year I think we will have a really talented back court between Judah, Girard in a more natural role and Symir. Roster needs to be a balance, I’ll take Copeland, Trey and Elmarko as the back court next year assuming Judah goes pro. And I don’t think we r getting JP, so I’ll take Carey who is super athletic assuming he comes back from his injury ok, mounir and a guy like Gus who can bang people around, let him go in there and fight with a guy like Bacot.

Long winded way of saying roster needs to be balanced and I agree with the system we run we do need players that fit, even if that system is not looking so effective against the 3 these days.
 

ThePearl

Well-known member
“Player” to me isn’t the opposite of athletic, it means they can make a good play in a variety of ways, and you can hand them the ball and they can create a good shot for themselves or others. Last season Benny was the kind of athletic player who couldn’t make many good plays. Hopefully that was just discomfort as a freshman and he’ll be a different player this coming season.

Devendorf told a story on his podcast about late in a tight game during a timeout Boeheim gave instructions to the team about what he wanted done. As the team headed back on court, Boeheim pulled Devendorf back and told him privately, “just go win the f*ckin game.” We’ve had a long line of guards and some forwards who could do that. Last year’s team didn’t have that kind of guy. Joe couldn’t penetrate and create. Buddy could go one on one but he couldn’t get to the basket or create for others or do much of anything else. Neither could handle the ball against pressure. I think Judah will become a “just go win the f*ckin game” kind of player.
 

MassaCusetts

Well-known member
I think you make a great point, and I would say the roster make up last year was the issue. I don’t want a team full of unathletic guys but I also don’t want a team full of raw athletes that need to be coached up and transfer out before they are effective. Last year Symir was the only guard who can get the ball past half court, this year I think we will have a really talented back court between Judah, Girard in a more natural role and Symir. Roster needs to be a balance, I’ll take Copeland, Trey and Elmarko as the back court next year assuming Judah goes pro. And I don’t think we r getting JP, so I’ll take Carey who is super athletic assuming he comes back from his injury ok, mounir and a guy like Gus who can bang people around, let him go in there and fight with a guy like Bacot.

Long winded way of saying roster needs to be balanced and I agree with the system we run we do need players that fit, even if that system is not looking so effective against the 3 these days.
Well and I think that effectiveness defending the 3 comes down to having height and athleticism everywhere. You think about the evolution of the game even in the last 10 years…you used to have all these teams that would put out a single “shooter”, or maybe 2….and it was a big deal when kids made something from “NBA range”. Now, some teams have 5 shooters (to varying degrees, but certainly threats), and numerous kids with range out to 25’ or more. Think about how much that changes the zone when it used to be cover enough ground to contest, but mostly dare teams to shoot. I still think you can play zone effectively, but you have to stick to having kids that fit. I’m not even sure how suddenly 6’11”, 190 lbs centers started to fit.
 

MassaCusetts

Well-known member
“Player” to me isn’t the opposite of athletic, it means they can make a good play in a variety of ways, and you can hand them the ball and they can create a good shot for themselves or others. Last season Benny was the kind of athletic player who couldn’t make many good plays. Hopefully that was just discomfort as a freshman and he’ll be a different player this coming season.

Devendorf told a story on his podcast about late in a tight game during a timeout Boeheim gave instructions to the team about what he wanted done. As the team headed back on court, Boeheim pulled Devendorf back and told him privately, “just go win the f*ckin game.” We’ve had a long line of guards and some forwards who could do that. Last year’s team didn’t have that kind of guy. Joe couldn’t penetrate and create. Buddy could go one on one but he couldn’t get to the basket or create for others or do much of anything else. Neither could handle the ball against pressure. I think Judah will become a “just go win the f*ckin game” kind of player.
But Devo “fit” as a 2, and yes, he could go make a play. And he was a McDonald’s AA who was as good a guard offensively as SU has probably ever had. Is a kid like Trey that yet? And I appreciate it if someone says “I think he is”. In fairness, Buddy could too in a very old school, YMCA, back you down sort of way. SU doesn’t run stuff such that you could really just throw 5 good players that don’t fit in a neat and tidy positional box. The perfect example I think of is Jermaine Samuels at ‘Nova. Great college player, and I think he will find a way to stick in the NBA eventually. But what position is he? Where would that kid fit at SU the way they play? I’m just not sure he would and that’s my concern with tweeners….which as you’re probably gleaning isn’t actually a problem with those players….I have an issue with our system.
 
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ThePearl

Well-known member
But Devo “fit” as a 2, and yes, he could go make a play. And he was a McDonald’s AA who was as good a guard offensively as SU has probably ever had. Is a kid like Trey that yet? And I appreciate it if someone says “I think he is”. In fairness, Buddy could too in a very old school, YMCA, back you down sort of way. SU doesn’t run stuff such that you could really just throw 5 good players that don’t fit in a neat and tidy positional box. The perfect example I think of is Jermaine Samuels at ‘Nova. Great college player, and I think he will find a way to stick in the NBA eventually. But what position is he? Where would that kid fit at SU the way they play? I’m just not sure he would and that’s my concern with tweeners….which as you’re probably gleaning isn’t actually a problem with those players….I have an issue with our system.
I’m not sold on Trey at all. He doesn’t look like a Syracuse player in the zone because of his stumpy legs. But I wouldn’t scream nepotism if we offered him. He’s going to be a good player somewhere and maybe he could be with us too. But we are after other guards I’d much rather have. I think Mulready is a little better fit because he’s taller and rangier. He’s probably not quite good enough either but he’ll be good for somebody.
 

MassaCusetts

Well-known member
I’m not sold on Trey at all. He doesn’t look like a Syracuse player in the zone because of his stumpy legs. But I wouldn’t scream nepotism if we offered him. He’s going to be a good player somewhere and maybe he could be with us too. But we are after other guards I’d much rather have. I think Mulready is a little better fit because he’s taller and rangier. He’s probably not quite good enough either but he’ll be good for somebody.
Yeah I agree with you. I FREELY admit to having nepotism/last name burnout!
 


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