I have ZERO use for athletes that cannot put the ball in the hole. High School & college coaches drule over them & I have no clue why. So what if you get 3 steals & a dunk. If you can't score st some point it will cost your team.
How do we use Whitney?
- Thread starter Lempface
- Start date
Whitney is the perfect two year player under Cal. Very skilled but will need a year under his belt in the college game. Would/will be a stud Soph.
Rem the article a month or so ago claiming Cal Should play him at the 4. It's almost like they were preparing us for this
Need multi tool glue guys with the makers. Whitney can be that guy.
Easy to get caught up in positional #’s
Whit is a modern tweener of sorts imo
Not overly skilled enough to be a 2. Can defend a two. More a 3 on the offensive side.
Tough enough to guard 3/4’s in college game.
Were somewhat lacking at the 4-5 thats why he’ll “fill in” at the 4
Whit is a modern tweener of sorts imo
Not overly skilled enough to be a 2. Can defend a two. More a 3 on the offensive side.
Tough enough to guard 3/4’s in college game.
Were somewhat lacking at the 4-5 thats why he’ll “fill in” at the 4
I think Cal sees a little bit of MKG in Diallo & Whitney. MKG couldn’t shoot, but he was a slasher, defender and phenomenal finisher on the break. The biggest difference to me is their ability to dribble. MKG had a good handle. Diallo was going to make a highlight dunk or kick it off his leg into the third row. I suspect Whitney will do the same.
I never want to see any UK player struggle, but Whitney is Diallo Pt 2. I hope he focuses on being a defensive stopper and tenacious rebounder. That’s the only way I see him being a consistent contributor to this team.
1st game and everyone is an expert on this kid. Did you ever stop and think he might have been a little nervous or just had a bad night.
They cant all be first year stars lol Whitney will be just fine. He’s a glue-tool guy. Kid just needs some tussin’ lol He’ll toughen up.
I mean who here really thinks he should be our 1-3.... 1-4 option on the offensive side?
Glue-Tool guy yall
I mean who here really thinks he should be our 1-3.... 1-4 option on the offensive side?
Glue-Tool guy yall
Poythress as a freshman vs Duke is the best he ever looked. But Cal wanted a 6'8 and 235lb SF and it's obviously for Poythress growth as a player. 6'8 235lb PFs are a dime a dozen especially for the NBA but Cal knew for Poythress to have a chance at the next level hed have to be a 3 so he shoehorned and forced it on him. Works for most guys, but not him. He shouldve used Poythress like he eventually used PJ. A 4 that is allowed to shoot the open 3. Same thing Whitney should do.
But because Whitney projects as an NBA 3 hes going to force him to work through his mistakes and I get it but I think hed be a killer small ball 3.
In the Blue White game, Whitney had 12 points (including 3 dunks), 8 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocked shots. Yet, he had no stats in the exhibition game. While he did not look good last night, it's way, way too early to write him off.
Totally agree with the poythress comparison. Cal will get him to focus on being a finisher and not a creator. He'll be fine. Won't be a standout this year but we don't need him to be
I disagree that Whitney is a better prospect than Diallo. Hami is arguable Cal's greatest failure so far as far as player development goes. Dude has Zion level athleticism but was a complete disaster here. Athletes like that don't come around very often.
By the way, things were too crowded for him most of the night. The space that he'll be best at operating in was clogged up with Richards/Montgomery/Sestina combinations for a lot of the game.
The type of stuff he'll bring to the table isn't needed in an exhibition against Georgetown where you're playing with lineups and combinations. He'll do the ugly stuff. Defense, rebounding, deflections, transition, drawing fouls, keeping plays alive, etc.
He's also a good mid-range shooter. Using him as the screener in PnR or PnP would be tough to guard as he'll either sprint to the rim for a lob or take a half step and shoot the jumper.
He'll be at his best as a small ball 4 with Hagans, Maxey, IQ and Sestina/Montgomery.
The type of stuff he'll bring to the table isn't needed in an exhibition against Georgetown where you're playing with lineups and combinations. He'll do the ugly stuff. Defense, rebounding, deflections, transition, drawing fouls, keeping plays alive, etc.
He's also a good mid-range shooter. Using him as the screener in PnR or PnP would be tough to guard as he'll either sprint to the rim for a lob or take a half step and shoot the jumper.
He'll be at his best as a small ball 4 with Hagans, Maxey, IQ and Sestina/Montgomery.
not true.
His only accurate position is defensive 3. His offense is like super undersized 5. It really doesn't matter if he is a 4 or 3. The offense of 4 is similar to 3 in Cal's line up. If you look at Cal's 4....he expects you to shoot some threes, break down a player off dribble, and also do some post ups (on offensive end). Basically everything... Poythress didn't have any of those. That;'s why he never capitalized that. He played 4 in his last year..and guess what, it's not some amazing offense that you proclaim he would be.
Poythress struggle is his own fault.
Cal's biggest issue has been not successfully recruiting a true SF for 16/17 seasons. Let Briscoe come off as a back up for Ulis / Fox. Since Briscoe was always very good at running half court offense, but when he was asked to defend gifted SF, he was simply outmatched, and not to his fault.
Also, Kahlil Whitney being a 4...
"let's say that is what needs to happen". If you guys believe 6'6" guy as a PF...that's good. But maybe he should show more than 0 rebound against NAIA team. Same thing for Brooks (1 rebound). So many of you have argued based off your own opinion. If you're 4, and can't even get 2-3 rebounds in 20 minutes against NAIA team, we have HUGE issue!!!
"let's say that is what needs to happen". If you guys believe 6'6" guy as a PF...that's good. But maybe he should show more than 0 rebound against NAIA team. Same thing for Brooks (1 rebound). So many of you have argued based off your own opinion. If you're 4, and can't even get 2-3 rebounds in 20 minutes against NAIA team, we have HUGE issue!!!
This makes no sense. How is that supposedly his"only" accurate position? Can you explain what you mean by that statement?
He defended the four spot every bit as well or better than he did the three. And he clearly looked more comfortable and better overall when he was at the four. Hell, even in his NBA stints he's played exclusively at the four, because the NBA also recognized that the four is really his most "accurate" position. Pretty much everyone (except you) now does. Even Cal finally came around and accepted it by the end of Poy's career.
It's just that Cal had the idea in his head that he was gonna try to turn Poy into a three, but it never really worked ...and even he finally gave up on it.
Last edited:
I think you are missing the point completely. And NBA actually agrees with me, because he isn't in the NBA...hahahahaha
My point is, your emphasis on him being a 4... ah, no he isn't. He isn't anyone. He ideally can defend from 2-4. That's the only thing he does good. He isn't a 4. he isn't a great rebounder nor can he do the things they need the 4 to do in NBA.
You can keep saying Cal put him in the wrong spot, but he didn't have ideal spot anyways. You put him where you think he can add value to the team. when he first came in, we though Wilter would flourish at the 4, but that didn't happen.
He basically ended up playing 3/4 in college. Cal put him in different position that he can add some value too. that's all. He was basically last resort position.
Let's all take him out back and beat the sh*t out of him.......
Jeez, tough crowd. [laughing]
Jeez, tough crowd. [laughing]
No one is claiming to be an expert or writing him off. We are expressing concerns because generally from a top recruit you don't see two completely lack luster performances that don't give any indication the kid will live up to it. It's concern and discussion.
If a world class swimming recruit takes to the pool and posts over a minute on his first two 50m free appearances, and he isn't injured, people are gonna wonder.
There are plenty of guys that are athletic that just don’t put it together . Hami might have even athletic but he definitely wasn’t as skilled as Zion .
Nobody really plays ANY defense during a Blue-White game. If our Bigs don't improve soon, we will have a 4-guard team.
GBB!!!
They will improve, but I'm still hoping for a small ball lineup.
Put Whitney or Brooks at the 4 and run your opponents out of the gym.
Yep. If the issue was only that he was missing his shots, I wouldn't think much of it, as we already knew he was a poor shooter, and that very likely could be explained by him simply being "nervous and having bad night."
But that he's also appeared afraid to dribble, and didn't get a single rebound or steal in 22 minutes against NAIA competition, well that's a bit more concerning and suggests holes in his game that go beyond just nerves.
Clearly not the same skill level but Hami is a freak athlete. How he wasn't at least a lockdown defender or dominant rebounder, I will never understand. Cal doesn't seem to like running sets for non-shooting wings but he has to start finding ways to get slashers involved. So far it looks like Whitney is having the same issue in Cal's offense.
Cal’s offense worked for MKG, who was a non shooting wing player. The difference between MKG and Whitney/Hami is that MKG could dribble in traffic. He was best finisher on the ‘12 team. Hami was just as prone to kick the ball into cheerleaders as he was to get to the rim. I strongly suspect that Whitney’s handle is not very good. Wings who can’t dribble make for suspect slashers.
Totally agree with all your points. MKG was the one exception because his motor was bananas. I just feel like from a system standpoint, we are better off recruiting the four star Tyler Herro, Devin Booker, Kevin Knox and Johnny Juzang skilled-type players over the less skilled athletic freaks. Cal makes those guys into stars. I suspect Dontae Allen will be another of those guys once he gets healthy.
A
anon_013cn8yrfncx2
Guest
Right because High school players come with guarantees! Not to mention SGA and Tyler who were vastly underrated. Whitney has not played a single regular season game and you are calling him a bust. That’s truly pathetic.
Very talented athletically wise but I'm not seeing the very skilled right now but like some of you it was only ONE game.
i agree 100% with you. I’m not a fan of non-shooting wings. MKG did have a high motor. (I do think most of a player’s motor/intensity comes from confidence.) MKG had confidence in his ability to dribble. Hami/Whitney struggle dribbling the ball and I’m sure Whitney feels the pressure to produce.
I think this team will shoot well as a team. I’d be fine if Whitney never attempted an outside shot or drive to the goal and just decided to go after every rebound plus be a shut down defender. He’d score 10 pts a game on put backs. He is an elite athlete. There’s not a lot of sex appeal to offensive rebounding and defense. But ... he would carve out a role and become indispensable.