Article: Transfer Portal Target: USC’s Desmond Claude

I would actually prefer him at the one, if we didn’t have Lee. But I am skeptical that those two can play together since both excel on the ball, neither is a catch and shoot player, and neither defends at a high level.

 

Gotta trust the staff but the shooting doesn't seem like what we need.

 

Doesn’t shoot many though. Pullin was able to improve his 3 point shooting 5 percentage points under Golden. If Claude did that he’d be at 35% and while not insanely good, certainly fine.

 

"Claude is taking a visit to Florida this week, beginning on Thursday," Travis Branham said, via the "College Basketball Show" on Tuesday. "Florida is frankly the team to beat. When Denzel Aberdeen hit the portal, things really opened up for Florida. Todd Golden is in big need of an impact guard, and Desmond Calude absolutely fits that bill. There sounds to be some heavy mutual interest in this pairing. Heading into the weekend, Florida is absolutely a team to watch. There have also been discussions of teams like Ole Miss, North Carolina, Kansas, BYU and some others who have expressed some interest in him. However, they're all taking a back seat to the Gators."

 

If he can D like Martin, I'm all for it.

 

I don't remember who it was, but a couple days ago this Internet guy who seemed to really know his stuff said Lloyd is going to be a big-time scorer in college. That's encouraging, but I agree, Golden is not big on throwing freshman guards into the fire.

 

I share your skepticism but apparently CTG doesn't!

 

Love the sound of that!

 

Crickets on the visit today.....

 

I'll confess I have a bit of a bias against guards who can't shoot. I think it really restricts what you can do offensively. Golden's obviously earned the benefit of the doubt at this point, and if he thinks Claude brings meaningful value to the team then I get it, but it's a bit of a hard sell for me.

 

I'm with you. Though I'm still kinda onboard with Claude despite the poor-ish shooting. The low volume is concerning, too.

Lee is solid from deep, but not lights out and doesn't take the metric ton we're used to our guards taking (36.6% w/ 5.4 attempts/game last season). If* Condo and Haugh step up their deep ball and start taking more shots at a good clip, then it opens up the middle for Claude (and Lee) to do their thing: get to the rim, but *that's a lot to gamble on, and it takes one or both of those bigs away from the boards.

We took 27.5 threes per game last season as a team.

Lee: 5.4
Claude: 2.3
Haugh: 2.6
Condo: 1.6
Chins: zippidy
That's a total of: 11.9 3fga /ga

Unless Klavs get more run and starts chucking like a mad man, or Lloyd is a phenom, or unless we pull some volume shooter that I'm not aware of... We're gonna have a different offense next year. That doesn't mean worse. Just different. Low volume and mediocre percentage isn't a great match on paper, but In Todd we Trust.

 

Expect Haugh to shoot 5 or more per game. There are also 2 Browns, Isaiah and AJ, that can shoot.

 

16 more attempts need to be found just to match last year's 27.5 and we were pretty average in terms of attempts.

AJ took 4.8 last year @ 28 mins. So maybe 3.5? That helps. Add 2 for Tommy. 2-3 for Isaiah. Another for Condo... We're now at ~20 attempts...

No doubt we'll shoot more that 20, but who? Our best shooters look to be coming off the bench.

 

Walter Clayton, Jr. was a special player you can't expect more than once in a generation. Of course our offense will have a different look.
Take a look at Eric Fawcett's article on Xaivian Lee, and I think a lot of worries will be put to rest. His pick and roll ability and his assist rate will generate lots of points, not to mention his own shooting and scoring ability. AJ Brown, who shoots 3s with great efficiency but doesn't particularly look like a guy with a quick release or ability to simply create, will benefit greatly. If he moves without the ball and gets open like Lee Humphrey, he'll score off a ton of catch-and-shoots.

 

Not out of the ordinary really. AJ Brown committed almost a week after his visit and there were crickets then too

 

Agreed. I'm super bullish on Lee and I think I'm more bullish than many on Claude. I don't worry about CTFG finding a way to generate offense - I'm just fascinated by how he's putting it together and curious about what it will look like.

 

Walter Clayton, Jr was just a taller version of Teddy Dupay. I believe Dupay is still the state of Florida's all-time leading scorer - averaging 40-45 ppg.

Florida/Donovan did get Anthony Roberson followed by Lee Humphrey.
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As for Xaivian Lee, the frontcourt of Florida's will get a lot more easier looks at the basket. Players like Chinyelu, Handlogten, etc. should get more buckets inside!

Should Florida also land a second, tall point guard in Desmond Claude, that will make FLorida's offense that much more versatile in a long season. It could be an upgrade from Aberdeen.

 

next years team will have a significantly larger amount of shooting (hopefully scoring also) coming from the bigs if everyone comes back. Golden has already talked about it. If we are shooting 27 threes a game then Condo/Haugh and the other bigs have not improved. They all need to be more offensive minded to attract NBA attention. Think about how we struggled 2years ago with guards taking it to the basket against us,..that’s likely what you see more of from us. Team is gonna look very different,..doesn’t mean won’t be good.

 

In this day and age of NIL, it's probably the norm. You don't simply commit and get the standard scholarship package.

Yeah, after watching some video, I believe Claude is an outstanding passer and also excels in pick and roll plays. Most players use their dominant hand in delivering passes. Claude has the ability to shift the ball to either hand and deliver it at speed in traffic. Chins, Condo, and Handyman need to be ready to receive.