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Momcilovic vs not

J

JonathanW2

Senior
Aug 6, 2025
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877
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Is anyone else "on the fence" about adding Momcilovic?

I mean, I have been one of the biggest proponents of adding a good (40%+) 3pt shooter. And he certainly fits that. Although I was wanting that at the 2G. I would kind-of like to see how Kam and Hawthorne work out at the 3.
My concerns with Momcilovic is that he offers nothing other than 3pt shooting. His rebounding is very bad for a forward (3.1, 3.3, 3.1 all 3 years at Iowa St, playing 27.5-30.5mpg), 3.0 per30min this past year. He is not known as a good defender either.
Kam's rebounding wasn't much better last year (2.1/gm, 3.4 per30min). But he is a good (+) defender.
Hawthorne we know almost nothing about, but he looks athletic, and is supposedly a good shooter, and we hope can put the ball on the floor and attack the rim some (maybe a slightly lessor version of Ament).
 
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B

Bleedin Blue in Ohio

All-Conference
Feb 3, 2013
486
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I believe Hawthorne can be a future star but I am not willing if I'm Pope to trust his career and UK season on is Hawthorne ready in 2026/27. Mom/Williams at the 3 would and allow Hawthorne to continue to develop. There will be minutes for Hawthorne to play at both the 3 and the 4 and hopefully after season he is ready to be the starting 3 in 2027/28.
 
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philstat

philstat

Heisman
Jan 3, 2004
10,895
10,346
56
JonathanW2 said:
Is anyone else "on the fence" about adding Momcilovic?

I mean, I have been one of the biggest proponents of adding a good (40%+) 3pt shooter. And he certainly fits that. Although I was wanting that at the 2G. I would kind-of like to see how Kam and Hawthorne work out at the 3.
My concerns with Momcilovic is that he offers nothing other than 3pt shooting. His rebounding is very bad for a forward (3.1, 3.3, 3.1 all 3 years at Iowa St, playing 27.5-30.5mpg), 3.0 per30min this past year. He is not known as a good defender either.
Kam's rebounding wasn't much better last year (2.1/gm, 3.4 per30min). But he is a good (+) defender.
Hawthorne we know almost nothing about, but he looks athletic, and is supposedly a good shooter, and we hope can put the ball on the floor and attack the rim some (maybe a slightly lessor version of Ament).
Click to expand...
He’d be our best player.
 
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BlueSince92

BlueSince92

All-Conference
Jul 2, 2025
10,758
3,389
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Those aren't totally unreasonable concerns. But Momcilovic is a whale of an outside shooter, who also shoots plenty well enough inside and plays good enough defense that you can leave him in all game without undue problems. He'd be absolutely devastating in Pope's wide-open offense if things started clicking as far as our starters really knowing their roles. He's not the ultimate answer by himself: we still would need some kind of additional reliable guard with range to be something special. But as far as whether we should be yay or nay on Momcilovic, we should absolutely yay him like he'd be one of our top three players because he would be.
 
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U

UKgrad22

Senior
Apr 9, 2026
393
953
93
Reality of it is, if he wants to come here we should be ecstatic. If you’re not excited about the prospect of adding him to be your starting SF, idk who you’d get excited about at this point.
 
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MdWIldcat55

MdWIldcat55

Heisman
Dec 9, 2007
21,396
85,733
113
Definitely want Momcilovic. But I do think people are being too one-dimensional about what he means: They are basically just penciling him in for 40 minutes and imagining that as Kentucky's entire attack.

Even with him i think Kam Williams will have an excellent year -- yes, scoff all you want but he went from making a big adjustment to injured. We never saw his full talent. And Hawthorne is going to be more of a factor than some seem to believe. And Trent Noah could recover his shot, and develop into a more physical, better rebounding Cameron Mills. And of course WIlkins will be a big key at the 2. So, Kentucky's wing attack would present a lot of different looks with Milan as part of it, and could be pretty effective.
 
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TFCat11

TFCat11

Heisman
Mar 25, 2019
6,191
11,347
108
The OP is just “kicking the can” to get a head start on the inevitable…

He knows, even though he won’t admit it, that Pope has ZERO chance to get Momcilovic away from UofL or St. John’s, so he’s floating this “trial balloon” of an excuse to soften the blow for when the time comes…

And by doing so, shamelessly making a complete fool out of himself 👍🏼
 
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S

SenseMaker_Cats

All-American
Jul 3, 2025
1,466
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TFCat11 said:
The OP is just “kicking the can” to get a head start on the inevitable…

He knows, even though he won’t admit it, that Pope has ZERO chance to get Momcilovic away from UofL or St. John’s, so he’s floating this “trial balloon” of an excuse to soften the blow for when the time comes…

And by doing so, shamelessly making a complete fool out of himself 👍🏼
Click to expand...
Wouldn’t spending time kicking a can around delay the inevitable?
 
A

Anon267536

Sophomore
May 13, 2026
112
178
33
TFCat11 said:
The OP is just “kicking the can” to get a head start on the inevitable…

He knows, even though he won’t admit it, that Pope has ZERO chance to get Momcilovic away from UofL or St. John’s, so he’s floating this “trial balloon” of an excuse to soften the blow for when the time comes…

And by doing so, shamelessly making a complete fool out of himself 👍🏼
Click to expand...
Go back to your cave gollum
 
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RedwoodHigh

RedwoodHigh

All-Conference
Nov 18, 2025
824
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Bleedin Blue in Ohio said:
I believe Hawthorne can be a future star but I am not willing if I'm Pope to trust his career and UK season on is Hawthorne ready in 2026/27. Mom/Williams at the 3 would and allow Hawthorne to continue to develop. There will be minutes for Hawthorne to play at both the 3 and the 4 and hopefully after season he is ready to be the starting 3 in 2027/28.
Click to expand...
Hawthorne will get 20+minutes a game & probably be a starter most games.
 
CrimsonCats_rivals

CrimsonCats_rivals

All-Conference
Mar 22, 2022
1,703
3,477
61
I’m not on the fence about adding him. Even if Kam and Hawthorne have better physical ceilings, I think he’s clearly a more productive college player for next year.

I do share your concerns that his potential impact is becoming overstated when you have people acting like he vaults us into surefire championship contention though. He’s much more of a premium specialist than a well rounded player.

Since it’s specifically been mentioned in this thread, I think his defensive metrics from last year are likely a mirage. Iowa State has a great defensive coach with a strong system in place, as well as good individual defenders at multiple other positions. They were largely able to hide him by giving him easy assignments whenever possible, but the actual tape shows him being slow with sloppy technique when he actually was challenged on that end. Playing for a coach who doesn’t seem to have much of a defensive scheme and surrounded by guys at the 1,2, and 4 with reputations as suspect defenders at best, I’d expect him to get exposed a lot more theoretically playing for us this year. That being said, since that’s looking like a probable weakness anyway, maybe adding him and just seeing how many teams we can out score might be the best strategy at this point instead of looking for more balance.
 
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J

JonathanW2

Senior
Aug 6, 2025
583
877
93
CatBearPig said:
Yeah, I wouldn’t want Kevin Durant either because he’s not a good rebounder.
Click to expand...
Durant is not a bad rebounder, that's just not what he does. He actually rebounded 11/gm at Texas. In NBA 7 boards & 4 & a half assists per game, and also a good defender. Momlicovic does NONE of those other things even half as well as Durrant. Not even 1/3 as well.
 
J

jeffky

All-American
Sep 22, 2017
3,649
7,010
113
JonathanW2 said:
Is anyone else "on the fence" about adding Momcilovic?

I mean, I have been one of the biggest proponents of adding a good (40%+) 3pt shooter. And he certainly fits that. Although I was wanting that at the 2G. I would kind-of like to see how Kam and Hawthorne work out at the 3.
My concerns with Momcilovic is that he offers nothing other than 3pt shooting. His rebounding is very bad for a forward (3.1, 3.3, 3.1 all 3 years at Iowa St, playing 27.5-30.5mpg), 3.0 per30min this past year. He is not known as a good defender either.
Kam's rebounding wasn't much better last year (2.1/gm, 3.4 per30min). But he is a good (+) defender.
Hawthorne we know almost nothing about, but he looks athletic, and is supposedly a good shooter, and we hope can put the ball on the floor and attack the rim some (maybe a slightly lessor version of Ament).
Click to expand...
Thinking Think GIF by Rodney Dangerfield
 
J

JonathanW2

Senior
Aug 6, 2025
583
877
93
Padsfs07 said:
He's not just a good shooter. He is the best in the country. Also, with our improved ballhandling - Kam can slide over to the 2 or Momcilovic could slide to the 4 for spurts. Also, rating-wise, his defense wasn't bad (and better than Williams was last year)
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Kam's ballhandling at the 2 is a scary thought. Defensively I think he could do it. This is why I hoped the lights-out 3pt shooter would be a 2G, or a swing (2G/SF). But at this point, maybe we can't be too picky.
 
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R

RationalKentuckyFan

Freshman
Apr 29, 2026
53
86
18
JonathanW2 said:
Is anyone else "on the fence" about adding Momcilovic?

I mean, I have been one of the biggest proponents of adding a good (40%+) 3pt shooter. And he certainly fits that. Although I was wanting that at the 2G. I would kind-of like to see how Kam and Hawthorne work out at the 3.
My concerns with Momcilovic is that he offers nothing other than 3pt shooting. His rebounding is very bad for a forward (3.1, 3.3, 3.1 all 3 years at Iowa St, playing 27.5-30.5mpg), 3.0 per30min this past year. He is not known as a good defender either.
Kam's rebounding wasn't much better last year (2.1/gm, 3.4 per30min). But he is a good (+) defender.
Hawthorne we know almost nothing about, but he looks athletic, and is supposedly a good shooter, and we hope can put the ball on the floor and attack the rim some (maybe a slightly lessor version of Ament).
Click to expand...
If we don't pick him up than what is your alternative or do you think the team is a contender as it's built now and just don't want to add anyone? Really curious what your thinking is here.
 
C

CatBearPig

All-Conference
Apr 26, 2024
801
1,774
93
JonathanW2 said:
Durant is not a bad rebounder, that's just not what he does. He actually rebounded 11/gm at Texas. In NBA 7 boards & 4 & a half assists per game, and also a good defender. Momlicovic does NONE of those other things even half as well as Durrant. Not even 1/3 as well.
Click to expand...

Durant is an *** defender. His defensive rating is 114.9 and avg 7 rebounds at 7 feet tall in a 48 minute game. He’s a scorer period; just like Momcilivic.
 
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