Karnowski, Olynyk, Dower and Harris

[CDC84]

With Gonzaga losing out on Trent Lockett, it appears highly unlikely that the Zags are going to be able to land a scoring small forward who can be an immediate difference maker. Who knows...maybe the staff will come up with someone. But it seems unlikely at this stage.

I know some folks on this board don't like this idea, but I really feel that Mark Few is going to have to seriously consider playing Elias Harris at small forward at times this coming up season. Between the four frontcourt players above, there just isn't enough minutes to go around.

The normal solution would be to redshirt a player, but there just isn't a redshirt candidate in this group. Harris is a senior, Dower a junior, Olynyk has already redshirted, and Karnowski is just too dang good.

It would be a horrific waste of Gonzaga's frontcourt talent to not play these four guys as much as possible. Especially when you consider that Gonzaga really doesn't have a viable returning scoring threat at small forward. I just don't see how they are going to be able to get these guys minutes without one of the frontcourt guys playing "out of position" some of the time.

At a certain point you need to play your best players. The obsession with trying to fit players into a neat little position box can leave you out of the winner's circle.

[Zaga]

What a great problem for Gonzaga to solve. Too many good players.....Should make the practice sessions even more valuable to see who earns the minutes..... My 2 cents

[zag67]

Possibly some 3

I think that the main key is to tell the 4 players to go out and play 110% when on the court and let the coaches know when they are tired. Then if you do decide to use Harris at the 3, you plan on some zone defenses to for not allow the other team to use speed to break down our use of size.

We have a super set of players and options that should be hard to defend our "big" team, defensive team, 3 pt shooting team, high/low offensive team and ETC.

Just think what the coaches have to be doing right now to try and decide how to use the players we have.

[jazzdelmar]

3

harris at the 3 is a necessity, for all parties. willing to give up some points to have sam and pk in the lineup. see kelly as a sub either 4 or 5. its just time. just do it. edi will be a spark off bench.

[JPtheBeasta]

I tend to agree. To dismiss the idea out-of-hand is selling Harris a little short. To those who say he's too good of a rebounder, I say it will be much harder for a 3 to keep him off the glass than a PF (players are allowed to move closer to the basket from the outside when a shot is put up, by the way :] Harris is our most athletic big and well suited for this.) He has also shown a better understanding on defense and should be better at defending the perimeter than the first experiment with this. For those that don't think his handle is good enough, compare it to Edi or Hart- I propose that there isn't much of a drop off (how many times did we see either of the latter break down their guy off the dribble last year?). He was also coming off of injury the first time around, as well.

[KStyles]

The normal solution would be to redshirt a player, but there just isn't a redshirt candidate in this group. Harris is a senior, Dower a junior, Olynyk has already redshirted, and Karnowski is just too dang good.

A redshirt Junior. Like Olynyk, he couldn't even be an option.

It'd have to be Elias or PK, and like you said, neither of them would make much sense to redshirt.

[cjm720]

Agree with the OP. On the flip side, I could see Few being somewhat cautious to avoid getting in foul trouble.

I'd love to see: Pangos, Bell, Draganis, Harris, KO, Dower, Karn get 85% of the minutes.

[rijman]

CDC84, Good point on Harris and the bigs.

Along this line I couldn't help but think the player less likely to gain from PK's arrival is KO who just redshirted and was likely hoping for a lot of PT this coming season. I'm not saying KO isn't a team player and won't be happy we landed PK, but he stands to lose PT from PK's arrival after not playing last season, which isn't good for him. I also couldn't help but think that landing PK further solidifies Spanglers choice in his own mind to leave and play closer to home.

Having too many good players can be a good problem to have if you can keep everyone happy and buying into the program. If the bigs are sharing PT and winning then everyone can be pretty happy, but if they aren't winning...

[cggonzaga]

How many impactful 3s do we even see in a season? Not too many. I am actually less concerned about E getting in foul trouble guarding the 3 than the 4. He struggles guarding bigger players down low. Get him on the perimeter and if he gets beat that's the worst case scenario (at least no foul) unless he constantly gets beat and is giving up major points.

There is no question in my mind he can easily play the 3 offensively. He's a matchup nightmare because guys guarding him will normally be smaller so he can either post them up or shoot over the top of them. My only concern would be ballhandling.

I agree with CDC. In order for us to reach "top" potential we need to play our best players. In my opinion that is:

Guards:

Pangos
Bell
Dranginis

Small Forwards:

Harris
Edi

Bigs:

Dower
Kelly
Karno

[CDC84]

I wish to emphasize that I am only suggesting that Elias might need to play at small forward some of the time to create more minutes for the other frontcourt players.

[jpwils]

Kelly O could also play some 3 in varying roles

Seems like Kelly O could play high post or perform pick n roll out front on offense . The better the pick, the better the options for KP or Bell or Dranginis! St Mary's certainly got alot of mileage with this the last few years.

Don't see Harris as well on the pick n roll but see him also being able to play some facing basket and drawing mismatches posting up smaller 3's with KO having the height to make an excellent entry pass to Dower, Harris, or Karnowski.

We need to keep Harris out of foul trouble as much as possible on D.

[zag944]

At a certain point you need to play your best players. The obsession with trying to fit players into a neat little position box can leave you out of the winner's circle.

A big part of this of course, is determining who the best players are.

I think Harris, Bell and Pangos are all givens. I think Dower is close.

But saying that a big man should pop over to the 3 so all four of them can play may be selling Edi (who consistently improved), Draginis (who has supposedly looked like one of our best players in practices), and Hart short. Moving a big man to that position probably wouldnt be fixing a logjam...just displacing it elsewhere.

[Reborn]

I agree with CDC that Harris should play some minutes at the 3. I believe he will too.

[maynard g krebs]

I agree that we'll see some of this,because KO and PK are both guys that can shoot from the perimeter and are good passers. In the past I was opposed to Harris seeing time at the 3 partly because Sacre and Dower are most effective close to the basket, and mostly when they get the ball in the post they are going to try to score in a one on one situation. Playing those 3 (Sacre, Dower, Harris)together would create a logjam in the middle.

With KO and/or PK in the game, their versatility and ability to play away from the basket make this a lot more feasible than in the past.

[bullzag23]

A big part of this of course, is determining who the best players are.

I think Harris, Bell and Pangos are all givens. I think Dower is close.

But saying that a big man should pop over to the 3 so all four of them can play may be selling Edi (who consistently improved), Draginis (who has supposedly looked like one of our best players in practices), and Hart short. Moving a big man to that position probably wouldnt be fixing a logjam...just displacing it elsewhere.

No reason that Drangs can't play as the main backup at the 1/2 spots as well. GBJ and Pangos will need to rest at some point so there is PT there. Like others have said it's not like we see many impact 3's anyway, especially once we hit the WCC.