2023 4* FIU Transfer SG Denver Jones Signs With AU!

[Rednilla 5,391]

1 minute ago, ellitor said:

most of his AAU & HS career he has been a SG.

Okay, now that I didn't know, and it puts a whole new spin on things. I *was* counting on getting at least adequate PG play because I thought Aden was a natural point (who had been playing the position most of his life) who, barring injury, would likely pick up the position quickly enough and well enough to not need Tre to do much more than play the backup. I have a question about how the rotation will work, but it's probably better answered on the other thread I brought it up on.

[Cardin Drake 1,842]

I don't think Bruce would have let Wendell get away if he was worried about Tre and Aden handling the point.   BTW, for everyone still unhappy about JP going to Tennessee, he shot 24% from the 3 point line last year. (Not that he's not still a pretty good player.)  Can't overstate how important getting Jones was.  Now we need a solid 3 who can hit the 3 point shot, and I feel pretty good about this team.

Edited April 9, 2023 by Cardin Drake

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,682]

7 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

I just want a sniper at the 3 even if we had to sacrifice some defense. Sec basketball was awful to watch this past year because you had 2 good offenses and a bunch of junky trash offenses. And really a lot of the sec defenses got overrated because you were always going up against a bad offense unless you played mizzou or bama. College basketball it’s a lot easier to play good defense because of no defensive 3 seconds. You can take chances on guys who are not plus defenders who are shot makers and/or 3 point snipers. Buuuuut Bruce always places a premium on defense so I’m sure if baby flan leaves which seems pretty likely a clone of his in terms of state of play in Oquendo will be towards the top of his wish list as a replacement…. I’m not saying have all traffic cones on defense buuuut it’s ok if we have a couple of guys who aren’t known for their defense if they are knock down shooters.

Yeah Ferguson had some pre-March pod that said the SEC was either the lowest or second lowest “power” conference in terms of perimeter shooting. I may have to go back and find that, but it’s probably no coincidence that Auburn or Alabama, arguably the two most 3 happy programs over the last half decade, have been the best SEC team fairly often since 18-19. Just not many other teams placing an emphasis on that 

[TexasTiger 12,964]

12 minutes ago, Cardin Drake said:

I don't think Bruce would have let Wendell get away if he was worried about Tre and Aden handling the point.   BTW, for everyone still unhappy about JP going to Tennessee, he shot 24% from the 3 point line last year. (Not that he's not still a pretty good player.)  Can't overstate how important getting Jones was.  Now we need a solid 3 who can hit the 3 point shot, and I fell pretty good about this team.

Are you referencing Justin Powell? He was a 42.6% 3pt shooter last year.

[Cardin Drake 1,842]

Texas Tiger, Julian Phillips, the 3 that we were after.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,682]

1 minute ago, Cardin Drake said:

Texas Tiger, Julian Phillips, the 3 that we were after.

Thought you meant Justin lol…whoops

[Cardin Drake 1,842]

Well, apparently I shouldn't have abbreviated.

[MCPeePants 230]

Wow.  Am I the only one surprised as hell that Justin Powell was 6'6"??

[Rednilla 5,391]

5 hours ago, KansasTiger said:

While I do post in football and recruiting, I'm more active here, and living in basketball country for as long as I have now definitely plays a part in that.

Yeah getting an experienced PG to essentially fill gaps while Aden comes along is going to be tricky. Would have been perfect if we had someone like Mark Sears to fill that role.

I know you post elsewhere, but you seem more authoritative in your assertions with the round ball. And it does make sense, given that would seem to be most of the knowledge there to be picked up in Sportstown, Kansas... unless you're talking about Pat Mahomes' hair, of course.

Okay, maybe geography shouldn't be a factor in my respects for the knowledge of others, especially considering how little some of these dumbass bammers around here know (even about their own damned team), but you've impressed me as having more knowledge than the average AU fan, especially those of us who didn't start paying attention until Bruce showed up.

Not exactly a badge you can wear or anything, but verbal recognition at least.

I do really hope we don't end up with Tre Donaldson as our best option at point. Don't get me wrong, I love Tre, and if he can learn to play defense, he's got starter potential I think, but he ain't there yet. With E informing me of Aden Holloway's lack of experience running the point, that seems like a pretty big concern...and the more I think about it, the less I see Bruce not bringing in at least a stopgap, if for no other reason than to not have our 3 man running point because something went wrong with the freshman's eligibility and there's nobody else there, like we did three seasons ago.

[KansasTiger 3,248]

38 minutes ago, Rednilla said:

I know you post elsewhere, but you seem more authoritative in your assertions with the round ball. And it does make sense, given that would seem to be most of the knowledge there to be picked up in Sportstown, Kansas... unless you're talking about Pat Mahomes' hair, of course.

Okay, maybe geography shouldn't be a factor in my respects for the knowledge of others, especially considering how little some of these dumbass bammers around here know (even about their own damned team), but you've impressed me as having more knowledge than the average AU fan, especially those of us who didn't start paying attention until Bruce showed up.

Not exactly a badge you can wear or anything, but verbal recognition at least.

I do really hope we don't end up with Tre Donaldson as our best option at point. Don't get me wrong, I love Tre, and if he can learn to play defense, he's got starter potential I think, but he ain't there yet. With E informing me of Aden Holloway's lack of experience running the point, that seems like a pretty big concern...and the more I think about it, the less I see Bruce not bringing in at least a stopgap, if for no other reason than to not have our 3 man running point because something went wrong with the freshman's eligibility and there's nobody else there, like we did three seasons ago.

Thank you, sir. I've had to watch ALOT of non auburn basketball before BP, living in Kansas and all. The arrival of BP and Auburn basketball relevance was an answered prayer. And when Auburn beat KU in 2019's run to the final four? Let's just say I was dancing in the streets. I had a bunch of kstate fan friends borrow Auburn gear and we all went to the bars in Lawrence to watch the games. We got some death stares...totally worth it.

I didn't know about Aden's lack of experience either. I agree that a veteran stopgap would be ideal. I think Tre may come along as a shooter, but I worry about his ability to facilitate as well as we need our starting PG to do.

[ellitor 33,109]

22 hours ago, Cardin Drake said:

I don't think Bruce would have let Wendell get away if he was worried about Tre and Aden handling the point.  

Bruce may end up being right but it's still a gamble to rely the PG position on a guy in Tre that has shown flashes on O but not much on D and in a true freshman like Aden, while extremely talented, hasn't played PG much.

[ellitor 33,109]

22 hours ago, Cardin Drake said:

Texas Tiger, Julian Phillips, the 3 that we were after.

Phillips was never expected to be a 3 point specialist FWIW.

[ellitor 33,109]

Quote

 

Tigers Ink Transfer Guard Jones

AUBURN, Ala. – Denver Jones has officially signed his National Letter of Intent to join the Auburn men's basketball program for the upcoming 2023-24 season.
 
The 6-foot-4, 190-pound shooting guard is a transfer from Florida International University, who averaged 20 points, 3.8 rebounds per game during his sophomore season. Rated the No. 26 overall transfer in the country by 247Sports, he also shot 35.7 percent from behind the 3-point arc, 86.4 percent from the free throw line and 43.4 percent from the field.
 
Originally from New Market, Alabama (near Huntsville), he started and played in all 27 games of the season for the Golden Panthers, scoring in double figures in 25 of those contests. He registered a career-high 30 points at Rice on March 4. Additionally, Jones ranked fifth nationally in mid-range field-goal percentage.
 
During his freshman campaign at FIU, he was named Conference USA Freshman of the Week and led the league in free-throw percentage (89.6).
 
Jones began his collegiate career at Garden City (Kan.) Community College. There, he garnered all-region second team, all-conference first team and Jayhawk Conference Freshman of the Year honors. He averaged 19.1 points per game and shot 40 percent from long range.
 
The son of Ernest and Jennelle Jones, he finished his prep career at Memphis (Tenn.) Day Academy and was tabbed all-area, first-team all-region and second team all-state. His older brother, Dallas Jones, played college basketball at South Alabama and Texas Wesleyan.

 

 

[Rednilla 5,391]

Okay, so his time in Memphis was at a private school, not like he had some kind of deal and had to transfer from UMemphis to a JUCO. That makes a heck of a lot more sense.

With his size, if his game projects well to the SEC, would he be likely to leave after just one season, or might we get 2 years out of him? I'd really rather he stay two years and then go in the first round, but somehow I gotta believe if he's going to go in the first round in two years, he's probably going in the first round in a year, too, and if he has a first-round draft grade, he'd be crazy *not* to go...

[ellitor 33,109]

3 hours ago, Rednilla said:

would he be likely to leave after just one season, or might we get 2 years out of him?

@Rednilla I haven't seen it speculated on by anyone informed 1 way or the other yet.

[GTNupe11 2,034]

Ok, I understand the talk about Aden not having experience playing point but I'm sure if Bruce does not bring in another PG from the portal he'll be the best ball handler and passer on the team come summer and it won't be close. The kid is just that good. If he needs to be thrown into the fire early and often then so be it. I think he'll be able to handle it. It's not like asking Justin Powell or Allen Flanigan from years past to run point...both of whom failed to do so when Sharife was ineligible for all that time. 

Edited April 12, 2023 by GTNupe11

[ellitor 33,109]

7 hours ago, GTNupe11 said:

Ok, I understand the talk about Aden not having experience playing point but I'm sure if Bruce does not bring in another PG from the portal he'll be the best ball handler and passer on the team come summer and it won't be close. The kid is just that good. If he needs to be thrown into the fire early and often then so be it. I think he'll be able to handle it. It's not like asking Justin Powell or Allen Flanigan from years past to run point...both of whom failed to do so when Sharife was ineligible for all that time. 

@GTNupe11 Regardless nearly every team that has made a run in March lately has had a veteran PG contributing significantly.

[AuburnNTexas 7,158]

3 hours ago, ellitor said:

@GTNupe11 Regardless nearly every team that has made a run in March lately has had a veteran PG contributing significantly.

Arkansas PG was a 6'6" freshman and they made a run. They got better as season progressed as their young players improved. I am not against an experienced PG but I think Aden will surprise people and with an improved Donaldson I think we will be ok at PG. Under Bruce players like Donaldson usually show a good bit of improvement from year one to year two.

My worries are a backup SG even though we might need that with KD as backup, a starting and backup SF, and either a backup or starting PF.  Right now we have a lot of available scholarships but not enough bodies. Especially since we are not sure if Flannigan and Williams will be here next year. I am assuming Moore will be back but not sure how healthy.

PG - Aden or Donaldson

SG  - Jones with KD as a backup

SF - Flannigan ? or Moore 

PF - Williams ? 

C - Broome with Cardwell as backup assuming Cardwell does not follow Wes.

[GwillMac6 20,692]

3 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

Arkansas PG was a 6'6" freshman and they made a run. They got better as season progressed as their young players improved. I am not against an experienced PG but I think Aden will surprise people and with an improved Donaldson I think we will be ok at PG. Under Bruce players like Donaldson usually show a good bit of improvement from year one to year two.

My worries are a backup SG even though we might need that with KD as backup, a starting and backup SF, and either a backup or starting PF.  Right now we have a lot of available scholarships but not enough bodies. Especially since we are not sure if Flannigan and Williams will be here next year. I am assuming Moore will be back but not sure how healthy.

PG - Aden or Donaldson

SG  - Jones with KD as a backup

SF - Flannigan ? or Moore 

PF - Williams ? 

C - Broome with Cardwell as backup assuming Cardwell does not follow Wes.

The writing is on the wall with flan. His dad just left for a lateral job in conference. J will by all accounts will be back along with kd. Cardwell seems to be the one who is most likely to leave with how hard we are going after a backup 5.

[ellitor 33,109]

51 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

Arkansas PG was a 6'6" freshman and they made a run.

Their main PGs in their tourney run were JRs.

53 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

with an improved Donaldson I think we will be ok at PG.

He's going to have to learn how to play D. Something he hasn't shown yet.

55 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

backup SF

Looks like the staff is comfortable with C-Mo & Lior platooning there.

56 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

since we are not sure if ... Williams will be here next year

He's expected back after going through draft evals.

 

[cole256 17,084]

I remember him! Another Northwest Alabama kid. Man it's almost like somebody said we need to recruit this area more! Wide open and a bunch of talent. Huntsville will be the number 2 biggest city in Alabama

[bigbird 60,573]

On 4/12/2023 at 9:57 AM, AuburnNTexas said:

PG - Aden or Donaldson

SG  - Jones with KD as a backup

SF - Flannigan ? or Moore 

PF - Williams ? 

C - Broome with Cardwell as backup assuming Cardwell does not follow Wes.

Flan won't be here. 

[KansasTiger 3,248]

2 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Flan won't be here. 

Need a new 3! Sending all my positive vibes we can pull Cleveland. I have heard little in regards to updates if we have a legit shot.

[toddc 13,194]

 

[toddc 13,194]