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Where Does men's team Stand After Summer


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ROUNDTABLE: Where does Auburn basketball stand after the summer?

Christian Clemente • AuburnSports

Staff

@CClemente__

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Auburn basketball wrapped up summer practice at the end of July before taking a couple of weeks off for the end of summer and classes starting. Some of the AuburnSports.com team was in attendance for nearly every Auburn basketball practice this summer and got a firsthand look at the team and its newcomers.

So, where does Auburn basketball stand after the summer? Who stood out? Answers to that and more from Jay G Tate, Bryan Matthews and Christian Clemente.

Note: Auburn basketball resumes practice on Tuesday.

Which players stood out the most over the summer?

Jay's Answer: I was blown away by a few players, but center Walker Kessler was the very best for me. I wasn't sure what to expect after a solid-yet-unspectacular freshman season at North Carolina. Tall? Sure. Good? Sure.

Quick to the hole like a small forward? No, I wasn't expecting that.

I kept looking for some significant weakness in Kessler's game, but it's clear that he doesn't really have one. He can shoot — including enough three-point range to make him a legitimate threat from outside the arc. I watched him finish at the rim authoritatively with both his right and his left hand. He's not a ferocious rebounder per se, but he reads caroms well, boxes out consistently and gets up quickly for balls. He looks like the complete package to me.

If there's one knock, perhaps it's that Kessler tends to get down on himself quickly when he makes a mistake. He doesn't mope; he chastises himself to the point where coaches or teammates have to remind him that it's one mistake in one summer practice. He takes the game veryseriously, you could say. He looks like a future star to me.

BMatt's Answer: It's Kessler for me too. I agree with everything JG said and I'll add that he's just a lot more coordinated than you'd expect from a long 7-footer. That's a lot of arms and legs moving quite smoothly. I like his 3-point range but it's his touch around the basket that stands out to me the most. He reminds me a little of Kevin McHale with his body control around the basket.

Jabari Smith really stood out too. For his abilities, of course, but I really liked how mature he played. He did a lot of things like rebounding, playing defense and communicating that you don't often see from a true freshman.

Christian's Answer: I’m looking at three of the newcomers: Jabari Smith, Wendell Green Jr. and Walker Kessler. First off, Smith might just be better than advertised. Rivals rated him as the No. 4 player in the 2021 recruiting class, but even that feels kind of low. He is without a doubt the most talented college basketball player I’ve watched in-person, and he’s going to make a massive impact for Auburn year one. When you combine his size, speed and shooting ability he becomes a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses. I think there’s a good chance he’s Auburn’s best 3-point shooter this season.

Coming in from Eastern Kentucky Wendell Green Jr. looked sharp at point guard for Auburn this summer. Green was strong at Eastern Kentucky averaging 15.8 points and five assists per game as a freshman, but that was at Eastern Kentucky. His game seemed to have translated well and he was comfortable in a SEC practice. Granted, that’s practice, but he still looked better than I personally expected. His 3-point shooting and playmaking ability were both very, very good. 

Walker Kessler is a very rare combination of size and talent that can’t really be explained until you watch him play in-person. Most players above 7-foot are clumsy, slow and struggle to run the floor. Kessler might be at his best when he’s running the floor in a fastbreak. I like the addition of Kessler even more after getting to see him operate in Bruce Pearl’s system. He should end up being fantastic for Auburn this season.

Who took the biggest step forward from last season?

Jay's Answer: I didn't see any massive improvement from any of the returners. I know Christian was really high on Chris Moore this summer and, yeah, he looked better than I remember. His shooting was more accurate than we saw last season, but I still don't understand what he is or what he does best. I think he's a physical guard (Mustapha Heron) in an undersized power forward's body. That may sound a lot like Malik Dunbar. Moore doesn't have that nasty streak — at least not yet.

BMatt's Answer: Nobody stands out as a clear answer but wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be Moore. He has one of the best-looking 3-point shots on the team and is poised to push Devan Cambridge for that backup spot at the 3. He can also play the 4 when Pearl wants to go with a smaller lineup. I like how well he rebounds for his size. 

Christian's Answer: It’s all about Chris Moore for me. I wasn’t sold on him being a solid option as the backup 3, but he seems like he’ll be great off the bench for Auburn this year. He showed flashes last year, see: the Missouri game when he dropped 11 points on 4-for-4 shooting and 3-for-3 from deep in 14 minutes, but he was never a huge contributor. I think he could be a huge contributor off the bench this year. He looks slimmer and in much better shape which should help him keep up with some smaller guards. But he also has the size and the experience to play inside and get rebounds. Also, there’s a reason his nickname in practice was “3Mo,” his shooting stroke is smooth as butter.

Who's your X-Factor for this season?

Jay's Answer: I'm thinking it'll be Wen Green, the transfer from Eastern Kentucky. He's not a crazy athlete, but he's a good shooter and an aggressiveshooter as well. His teams tended to do well in the scrimmages, too. Some of that was due to Pearl putting fellow point guard Zep Jasper with non-communicators like Al Flanigan and Jaylin WIlliams much of the time. Some of that was due to Green being smart in terms of discerning good risks from bad risks in real time.

What stood out to me was Green's willingness to take difficult shots — and make difficult shots. In that way, he reminds me of Samir Doughty. If he can bring that Samir flair to the game floor, man, that could put this excellent team over the top.

BMatt's Answer: I'm going with Jaylin Williams. He can play the 4 or the 5 and maybe the 3. He's made steady improvement over his first two seasons and I'd expect another step forward this year. Minutes will be a little tougher to come by with Smith, Kessler and Cardwell, but he could give Auburn a real difference-maker coming off the bench. He also gives Bruce Pearl the opportunity to go with a big lineup if he wants to play Williams, Smith and Kessler/Cardwell together. When was the last time Auburn was able to put that much talented size on the floor together? 

Christian's Answer: This might be a little bit of an out-of-the-box pick, but I’m going with Georgia transfer K.D. Johnson. Looking at the starting lineup I feel confident that Green and Zep Jasper will be a solid point guard combo no matter who starts. I know what I’m getting out of Allen Flanigan. And I already talked about how I feel about Smith and Kessler. For what it’s worth, I really like Johnson and think he was a fantastic pickup. He’s my X-Factor in the sense that if he plays as good as I think he can, he pushes this team from say, SEC contenders to SEC champions. He was a tenacious defender in summer practices and his offensive game was on full display last year at Georgia when he averaged 13.5 points per game off the bench. If he can mesh well into this starting lineup I think he could end up being what pushes this team over the top.

Who starts at point guard?

Jay's Answer: They can be interchangeable depending on what Pearl wants on a given night — Green with deep shooting and Jasper with defense and ball-handling composure. I see Jasper as the more complete player right now.

BMatt's Answer: Green has caught my eye the most watching their matchup, but Jasper arrived later and plays a very aggressive style of defense. I think this is going to be a terrific battle for the starting position and I expect both will play a lot including sometimes on the floor together. I guess I'm going with Jasper but I don't have a strong opinion on this question and wouldn't be surprised at all if it was Green with his energy and long-range shooting.

Christian's Answer: Since both Jasper and Green announced they were coming to Auburn I’ve gone back and forth and back and forth on this. Initially, I liked Green. Then I saw how talented the rest of the starting five was and thought maybe Jasper and his defense could be better as a starter. But now, after looking back at my summer practice notes and seeing Green’s team win basically every scrimmage game, I’m back with Green.

They both excel in certain areas that I think will be huge for Auburn. 

Jasper brings the experience and his incredibly strong on-ball defense that earned him the “Honey Badger” nickname at College of Charleston. I think Jasper is a little quicker, too.

Green is a playmaker, though. There’s a reason his team won most of the scrimmage games — he does what it takes to win. He has that takeover mode in him where he can just be simply dominant. His court vision is nearly as good as Sharife Cooper’s. Which is saying a lot. 

Overall I think the minutes will be pretty much even no matter who starts, but I’m giving Green the nod.

Who needs to improve?

Jay's Answer: Devan Cambridge needs to start playing better defense, communicating on the floor and enhancing his leadership skills. As it stands right now, he's a largely aimless — albeit talented and well-meaning — player who sometimes helps his team with hot shooting yet often hurts his team with mental lapses. He must be better. This team needs something special off the bench. Cambridge can be that guy. 

BMatt's Answer: Maybe it was just bad timing on my part, but every time I saw Devan Cambridge play this summer, he struggled shooting from 3-point range. He brings a ton of experience and is so fun to watch on the break, but that 3-point shot could use more consistency. I think KD Johnson is the likely starter along with Allen Flanigan on the wing so Cambridge will likely have to contribute off the bench.

Christian's Answer: I’m going to go with Jaylin Williams. Pearl thinks very highly of Williams and so do I. He’s one of Auburn’s most experienced players but you wouldn’t be able to tell it by watching practice. Williams needs to be more assertive. He needs to communicate more on the court and he needs to believe in himself. He’s an incredibly talented player, but sometimes he just hides in the shadows and doesn’t make as big of an impact on the game as he could. If he can become just a little more consistent and unlock that next level in his game I like his chances at an SEC Sixth Man of the Year award.

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Moore and Franklin were honestly the guys I most consistently expected to hit wide open 3s, aside from Powell and Flan in the first half of the season. Good that he’s keeping that up. 
 

If Wendell can just stay in front of his guy on D, I don’t see a world where he doesn’t create a real gap vs Zep. In previous years, being an overall better player might have mattered more, with Jvon and Sharife able to output high assist games even without consistent Js. But now?

The ball is gonna flow through the front court so much, you won’t really need a floor general. You’d ideally like to have as much consistent shooting as possible for when guys inevitably have to double 

Green-Flan-Jabari-Jaylin-Walker is going to spread you to EVERY inch of the court. And 4 of the 5 can operate out the face up/mid range/post imo. The kick out 3 is there whenever they want it imo

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22 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Moore and Franklin were honestly the guys I most consistently expected to hit wide open 3s, aside from Powell and Flan in the first half of the season. Good that he’s keeping that up. 
 

If Wendell can just stay in front of his guy on D, I don’t see a world where he doesn’t create a real gap vs Zep. In previous years, being an overall better player might have mattered more, with Jvon and Sharife able to output high assist games even without consistent Js. But now?

The ball is gonna flow through the front court so much, you won’t really need a floor general. You’d ideally like to have as much consistent shooting as possible for when guys inevitably have to double 

Green-Flan-Jabari-Jaylin-Walker is going to spread you to EVERY inch of the court. And 4 of the 5 can operate out the face up/mid range/post imo. The kick out 3 is there whenever they want it imo

We need an  “I’m so excited I’m shaking “ emoji on here man!

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1 hour ago, toddc said:

We need an  “I’m so excited I’m shaking “ emoji on here man!

I think it'd take a miracle of misfortune for this not to be our best season honestly. 5 losses to me seems really possible, with the blend of experienced guys that can hit the ground running, and dudes who know the game behind some of our star young players. If someone comes in and plays on the level of our big 3...you could see less than that

I really like KD Johnson's potential in this system. Either is a 2 guard that is the least accounted for player in the lineup, or the guy to come off the bench against the lesser guards on a squad. 

Edited by Dual-Threat Rigby
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31 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

I think it'd take a miracle of misfortune for this not to be our best season honestly. 5 losses to me seems really possible, with the blend of experienced guys that can hit the ground running, and dudes who know the game behind some of our star young players. If someone comes in and plays on the level of our big 3...you could see less than that

I really like KD Johnson's potential in this system. Either is a 2 guard that is the least accounted for player in the lineup, or the guy to come off the bench against the lesser guards on a squad. 

I like Johnson too, and he really looked good in several games for the mutts last year. Unfortunately it was mostly against us. 😝 

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36 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

I think it'd take a miracle of misfortune for this not to be our best season honestly. 5 losses to me seems really possible, with the blend of experienced guys that can hit the ground running, and dudes who know the game behind some of our star young players. If someone comes in and plays on the level of our big 3...you could see less than that

I really like KD Johnson's potential in this system. Either is a 2 guard that is the least accounted for player in the lineup, or the guy to come off the bench against the lesser guards on a squad. 

Considering the bet I had with Realtor before he got banned, barring injuries I would be very disappointed if we didn't win at least 25 games this season. With the talent that we have with the experience coming back, this SHOULD be close to a SEC Championship type of season.

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1 minute ago, tgrogan21 said:

Considering the bet I had with Realtor before he got banned, barring injuries I would be very disappointed if we didn't win at least 25 games this season. With the talent that we have with the experience coming back, this SHOULD be close to a SEC Championship type of season.

30-10 in 2019, 25-6 in 2020, I wouldn’t be SHOCKED if they finished between those two ends with a more through OOC than either. However, keep in mind they finished undefeated OOC in the latter and only had one loss in the former. Had a rough FT deferential vs Zion’s Duke. 
 

 Bruce wins these games

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Also, disappointed but not really surprised at them mentioning Cambridge being the one that needed to improve. I was so high on him 2 years ago and really thought he was going to be the leader of the team last year only to underachieve all year. Hopefully the light will come on for him, though, and he'll have a great year but I'm honestly not expecting it.

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13 minutes ago, toddc said:

I like Johnson too, and he really looked good in several games for the mutts last year. Unfortunately it was mostly against us. 😝 

We had really small guards (height or weight), and he just is STOUT. You’re not gonna be able to put some scrub 160 pound PG on him. If he can master the drive and kick (or dump off), he’s gonna make life hell and make our backup bigs life cozy 

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1 minute ago, tgrogan21 said:

Also, disappointed but not really surprised at them mentioning Cambridge being the one that needed to improve. I was so high on him 2 years ago and really thought he was going to be the leader of the team last year only to underachieve all year. Hopefully the light will come on for him, though, and he'll have a great year but I'm honestly not expecting it.

He seems to be really shaky when it comes time to put the ball on the court and dribble. And he’s not consistent enough outside (I would assume). Really hard with how much two way talent seems to be on this roster currently 

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2 hours ago, toddc said:

He reminds me a little of Kevin McHale with his body control around the basket.

Love this comparison. 

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It’s great to have two sports, and hopefully three with baseball, to get pumped about.

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Well I’m officially in can’t wait mode for basketball season after reading that article. Sounds like we have 2 guys that have a very rare combo of skill and size. You add to that the depth of experience and playmakers we have coming back and can put around them and it does get hard to not get excited about this team. If Jabari and Kessler take defense as seriously as reported then this could be an elite defensive team. A starting 5 of Kessler, Jabari, Flan, KD, and Green could really push folks around. 
 

Having guys like Cardwell, Moore, and Jaylin coming off the bench is just crazy. 

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I was surprised when one of the writers thought Jabari will have the best 3 pt shot on the team.

I think if we can shoot the outside shot, and  I feel the inside is now our strength, that if we have solid bench players like Moore, Cardwell, and Johnson, then we really have a chance to win a lot of games.

THe key is how well this totally new team will mesh early enough to get a lot of OOC wins, before the SEC starts...

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I am so excited about this season that about half way through we should allow Realtor back on the Forum  for a little while so we can rub it in his face. 

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I'll go out on a limb and say we finish higher than 22 in the rankings. Trying not to get too heady but the reports on Kessler and Jabari out of practice have made it hard to stay grounded. 

I see where Memphis is #7 and they were in the news yesterday cause Emoni Bates committed to playing there. Amazing to me that Penny's name is still carrying weight after his terrible start at Memphis. He has had top level recruits every year and so far all he has to show for it is an NIT title. I wonder how long he can go on underachieving and still pull in top 5 classes?

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What makes me fell good about this years team is we seem to have strong players both at starter and backup across all 5 positions especially since many players can play multiple positions.

Kessler, Cardwell, Williams, Stretch at Center

Smith, Williams, Moore, Kessler at PF

Flanigan,  Moore, Smith, Cambridge, Franklin at SF

KD Johnson, Flanigan, Cambridge, Jamal Johnson, Moore at SG

Green, Jasper, Jamal Johnson in a pinch PG 

Bruce has all kinds of options because the big men are not just big but are fast and agile. Kessler and Smith with their diversified skill set where they can play inside or outside and go to the rack really opens up the floor for everybody else. The length of this team should also create a defensive monster once they know each other and work together as a defensive unit. I could see more use of the zone because of this length then we are used to at Auburn. Moore may have the best stroke on the team with other teams having to stay hones because of Smith and Kessler and having multiple PG's I can see him getting a lot of clean looks as a 3 point sharp shooter.

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34 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

What makes me fell good about this years team is we seem to have strong players both at starter and backup across all 5 positions especially since many players can play multiple positions.

Kessler, Cardwell, Williams, Stretch at Center

Smith, Williams, Moore, Kessler at PF

Flanigan,  Moore, Smith, Cambridge, Franklin at SF

KD Johnson, Flanigan, Cambridge, Jamal Johnson, Moore at SG

Green, Jasper, Jamal Johnson in a pinch PG 

Bruce has all kinds of options because the big men are not just big but are fast and agile. Kessler and Smith with their diversified skill set where they can play inside or outside and go to the rack really opens up the floor for everybody else. The length of this team should also create a defensive monster once they know each other and work together as a defensive unit. I could see more use of the zone because of this length then we are used to at Auburn. Moore may have the best stroke on the team with other teams having to stay hones because of Smith and Kessler and having multiple PG's I can see him getting a lot of clean looks as a 3 point sharp shooter.

Jamal is no longer on the team. He transferred. Slide KD into your 3rd option at PG.

But i totally agree with this post. Its the depth of this team that is something we have not had under Pearl previously. We really need BOTH of those PGs to come in ready to compete at a high level. 

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I am surprised Alabama is rated so high, with really only 1 quality player returning in Shakelford. They did bring in some recruits.

 

I also wish Auburn U would update the basket ball roster. School is in, and we know who is on the team. Geez, need to keep that site updated guys....

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That and Zep is going to be the first off the bench for both Guard spots. Whether it's him or Green starting, both are going to play huge minutes.

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I think CBP has this new era of transfers and hschool recruiting figured out. Get some highly rated hschool players, some hschool players that can grow into the system/quality bench players , and bring in high ceiling transfers with multiple years of eligibility left. This team really checks every box for a quality team that could go very far.

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I think we’ll be better than last year, and we’ll have one of the most talented frontcourts in the nation. The goal should be competing for a conference title. Unlike many here, I think there are still significant questions about our backcourt to be answered, so #22 seems about right to me for now. There are five other SEC teams with similar roster talent. 
 

Edit: I believe we have an advantage over those five in the coaching department. 

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