'14 IL SG Grant Prusator (3/26/2014, LOI)

[BrokerZ]

I'm honestly not sure what I should think about this signing. JUCO kids scare me a little because you don't know what kind of competition they've faced to compare against their numbers. He has a few 30 point games, but also a few single-digit games at the same time. There's just not a lot of information out there to get me up to speed enough.

I guess the chips will fall where they fall.

 

[Bluethunder]

I'm honestly not sure what I should think about this signing. JUCO kids scare me a little because you don't know what kind of competition they've faced to compare against their numbers. He has a few 30 point games, but also a few single-digit games at the same time. There's just not a lot of information out there to get me up to speed enough.

I guess the chips will fall where they fall.

This is one of those cases where you have to have a little faith in the coaching staff. They know what want to do on offense/defense, they know what piece(s) would be missing and now they feel they have identified a piece to help fill a need.

While he wasn't highly recruited out of high school, some of that could be due to his height. Someone mentioned that in high school he was only 5'10", and has grown a little since then. You don't see a lot of 5'10" shooting guards playing at high levels in college. Point guards yes, shooting guards no. Maybe his lack of height scared a few off.

 

[GuardShock]

He also played PG in high school according to an article I read somewhere.

 

[sycamorebacker]

From the film, I would be a little concerned by his athletic ability, but he looked like he had a good handle, which is crucial. His J looks really nice, with perfect arch; and he doesn't need to get set to shoot it. You have to remember it was a highlight film, but he appeared to be able to shoot off the dribble.
As mentioned above, #18 in IL all-time HS 3's with 282. And as far as his scoring average, you have to consider that he was just a freshman.

 

[Daveinth]

Someone mentioned Dawon and my first thoughts were he is someone to replace Eitel could be wrong but thats who I see him replacing .

 

[bigsportsfan]

Someone mentioned Dawon and my first thoughts were he is someone to replace Eitel could be wrong but thats who I see him replacing .

This could mean a million things. Maybe the other recruits don't shoot well. Maybe we finally realized we have never had enough outside shooting in the Lansing era. Our best hope is that this guy is bigger than advertised, and the other new guys can actually shoot. I'm good with it. No team has ever said "We have too many shooters."

 

[BlueSycamore]

Someone mentioned Dawon and my first thoughts were he is someone to replace Eitel could be wrong but thats who I see him replacing .

My thoughts are he isn't here to "replace" anyone. He will be here to provide something we have not had for several years. Not just a shooter but a "Maker". A flat-out "shooter/maker". Our reliance on 5th year seniors to provide that option has not passed the muster this just ended season, or the one before that, or since I can remember? Nothing meant to be a personal attack on the players; just a fact. Glad we are going in a new direction.

 

[bigsportsfan]

My thoughts are he isn't here to "replace" anyone. He will be here to provide something we have not had for several years. Not just a shooter but a "Maker". A flat-out "shooter/maker".

Great line. There have been several lately. Brokerz's "reverse Mahurin" in the Etherington thread was classic.

 

[Sycamore Proud]

I'm a little surprised no one has said this, so I will. Maybe this is part of sending a message to "others" who seem to have problems following team rules. Maybe just a coincidence. Likely no part in this at all. The guy can shoot--we need that; you can never have too many shooters.

 

[bigsportsfan]

My thoughts are he isn't here to "replace" anyone. He will be here to provide something we have not had for several years. Not just a shooter but a "Maker". A flat-out "shooter/maker". Our reliance on 5th year seniors to provide that option has not passed the muster this just ended season, or the one before that, or since I can remember? Nothing meant to be a personal attack on the players; just a fact. Glad we are going in a new direction.

On the other hand, whatever we try to accomplish on offense has resulted in people like Eitel and Printy standing around until Jake penetrated and threw it to them. Hopefully there will be new sets for people to get more open.

 

[Southgrad07]

http://www.ihigh.com/menbkbchamp/broadcast_576584.html?silverlight=1


Here's the link to his national JC tourney game where he had 32. First off you can tell a couple of things pretty easily from watching this one. First off he is a true sniper! Perfect form and moves well without the basketball. A lot of his shots don't even hit the rim! I like guys who just run off screens for days and this guy is as good as it gets at it. Gets his shoulders square very quickly after coming off them and has a quick release. He will be able to get shots off at this level. Now for the bad part...Its also obvious he is well undersized for a SG and struggles to stay in front of dribble penetration. Not much a vertical either (not as concerned about that). Be very interesting to see how guards MVC guards. Im being nice here lol

His team didn't impress me much and Grant will actually benefit from playing with a more talented group of players. That team took a ton of bad shots! Lots of one on one dribble drives and ignoring open teammates. Didn't see Grant force much though, which is a plus. Its hard to project what type of impact he will have due to the lack of size and defensive ability. One thing im confident in saying is this guy will be able to fill the role of "3pt specialist". Whether he becomes more than that is yet to be seen.

 

[SycamoreBlue3209]

We all love Jake but lets be honest, he wasn't Mr. Speed on offense. Our tempo should be very different with Tre and Brenton running the point. A PG that moves the ball quicker will be much better for a pure shooter to get open looks. Although Eitel and Printy had nice strokes, it's not like they were coming off screens for open up looks. I'm exciting to have a guy that will move!!

 

[Bluethunder]

One thing I was happy to see in an older write up on him from his high school AAU games was the fact that he had a game where he hit three 3 pointers, and the article mentioned that the other team than keyed on stopping him. However he still hit about 4 more from deep, mainly due to his bball IQ and his ability to move without the ball and get open. I have seen a lot of games where the smarter players were able to play just fine against quicker players because they had a better understanding of the game than others on the court.

Lets hope that is the case with this young man.

 

[BlueSycamore]

One thing I was happy to see in an older write up on him from his high school AAU games was the fact that he had a game where he hit three 3 pointers, and the article mentioned that the other team than keyed on stopping him. However he still hit about 4 more from deep, mainly due to his bball IQ and his ability to move without the ball and get open. I have seen a lot of games where the smarter players were able to play just fine against quicker players because they had a better understanding of the game than others on the court.

Lets hope that is the case with this young man.

Where was it that we first heard the term "better understanding of the game than others on the court" and saw what it really amounted to? Now I remember, its the guy in your avatar picture.

 

[SycamoreStateofMind]

I'm not sure a quick release would have done him much good say vs. a team like Wichita. They were so long - would be more a question of what kind of range he has. Teams with length don't let kids sit on the 3 point line, I don't care how well you move without the ball.

In addition like has been mentioned how well does the kid matchup?? Who is he going to guard?? We ask this a lot of players that come into this system - to play for Greg Lansing you've got to be able to defend. It's the reason Eitel didn't play more in his career.

 

[sycamorebacker]

I'm not sure a quick release would have done him much good say vs. a team like Wichita. They were so long - would be more a question of what kind of range he has. Teams with length don't let kids sit on the 3 point line, I don't care how well you move without the ball.

In addition like has been mentioned how well does the kid matchup?? Who is he going to guard?? We ask this a lot of players that come into this system - to play for Greg Lansing you've got to be able to defend. It's the reason Eitel didn't play more in his career.

Defense certainly -- but A LOT of his effectiveness is his handling. How many times did Eitel penetrate and shoot a J or hit the open man or finish at the rim?

 

[SycamoreStateofMind]

'14 IL SG Grant Prusator (3/26/2014)

Defense certainly -- but A LOT of his effectiveness is his handling. How many times did Eitel penetrate and shoot a J or hit the open man or finish at the rim?

To answer your question, rarely! However, if your insinuating that Eitel didn't finish around the rim or handle the ball or make passes while driving or whatever else because he was a minus ball handler I'm going to strongly disagree.

Eitel didn't try and do too much - he knew his role and he played his role. He didn't try and drive into the lane and score because he wasn't asked to do that! He has career stats that would clearly indicate that he was a role player playing his role - let me go ahead and qualify that for you.

So if your going to bring Eitel into this just know that Eitel was in fact one of the better "handlers" that we had - he rarely if ever scored at the rim but he also didn't turn the ball over - 18 on the season and only 2 games with more than 1 turnover. (Turned it over 20 times the previous year) For the record 6 games with more than 1 assist. Finisher at the rim or inside the 3 point line he was not - but that had NOTHING AT ALL to do with his ability to handle the ball, he was a plus ball handler.

Eitel not playing didn't have anything to do with his inability to finish inside the lane or make plays at the rim - it was stricktly defense and matchups.

 

[hans1950]

I would have to agree that Eitel was a good ball handler but he wasn't really a guard either in that he played forward in high school but was forced to be a guard in college because of his size.The new guy has always been a guard and probably is better at penetrating from that perspective.Same as SSOM I wonder who he's going to guard at this level.Apparently the plus outweighs the negative or Lansing wouldn't have pulled the trigger on him.We''ll have to wait and see.

 

[Sycamore Proud]

Does it really matter if he is 6' or 6-1 or 6-4? Yes, I guess it does. But, if he is as good a shooter as some shere believe, it won't make too much difffeence. Does anyone else rembember Billy Keller as 5-10? He had a pretty good career for someone who was too little to play the game. Then maybe you also remember the Pacers once introduced him as 10 feet tall. He could do it all. If you are a true shooter it's not the size of the body that is importanat. It's the size of the heart.

 

[sycamorebacker]

To answer your question, rarely! However, if your insinuating that Eitel didn't finish around the rim or handle the ball or make passes while driving or whatever else because he was a minus ball handler I'm going to strongly disagree.

Eitel didn't try and do too much - he knew his role and he played his role. He didn't try and drive into the lane and score because he wasn't asked to do that! He has career stats that would clearly indicate that he was a role player playing his role - let me go ahead and qualify that for you.

So if your going to bring Eitel into this just know that Eitel was in fact one of the better "handlers" that we had - he rarely if ever scored at the rim but he also didn't turn the ball over - 18 on the season and only 2 games with more than 1 turnover. (Turned it over 20 times the previous year) For the record 6 games with more than 1 assist. Finisher at the rim or inside the 3 point line he was not - but that had NOTHING AT ALL to do with his ability to handle the ball, he was a plus ball handler.

Eitel not playing didn't have anything to do with his inability to finish inside the lane or make plays at the rim - it was stricktly defense and matchups.

Well let me see --- no, I don't remember anyone on here asking why Eitel is not playing PG. He was an average ball handler at best.