Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Jayden Dawson vs Rylan Griffen - Did Bill Self Find the Better Fit for His System at Kansas?

Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Locked on Jayhawks, why the addition of Jaden Dawson from Loyola Chicago is a much better fit than when Kansas added Ryland Griffin from last offseason. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What's going on? Derek Johnson here. This is Locked On Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day. Thank you to every dayers catching each and every episode. We are free and available wherever you podcast as well as a YouTube where you can like and subscribe to the show. And on today's edition of Locked On Jayhawks, we are going to compare and contrast

Starting point is 00:00:44 Jaden Dawson coming into the program this offseason as a pickup for KU basketball and Bill South from Loyola Chicago compared to what they were getting last offseason from Riley Griffin. What can we learn from that? Is this a better fit for KU and kind of hindsight 2020 to figure that stuff out. We'll also get to our KU superlative of the day, which is something we're going to do with, you know, who is the best at this among the players on the current KU basketball roster. First, today's episode of the show is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances

Starting point is 00:01:16 with Monarch Money use code locked on college at Monarch money.com for 50% off your first year. Okay, so Jayden Dawson, I think he's going to play similar to the Ryland Griffin role, so to speak. Like Ryland Griffin was mostly used as the three for KU, but kind of a shooting guard that could play the two or the three because of a more slight frame and not the best rebounder. You didn't really want him having to play the four. Maybe there were some minutes here or there over the course of the season, specifically when KJ was out.

Starting point is 00:01:51 But I do think I want to make a comparison and contrast about, you know, because it's easy. And I think this is helpful from a standpoint of, okay, you know, you get all excited for these transfer additions, these prospects, but then you forget about the ones from years past that it didn't really work out as well. And so even though I think Ryland Griffin came in as the better player, like, you know, that maybe ranked higher

Starting point is 00:02:18 maybe better in a vacuum, it doesn't mean he's the better fit for this team or for Bill's self. And so obviously we, you know, kind of await another portal edition or multiple and competition to see where Dawson kind of shakes out. Like, is he going to be a fifth starter? Is he going to be the first guard off the bench? Is he going to be an eighth man? Like that'll kind of be determined on what else happens with the roster and how he

Starting point is 00:02:39 performs during the off season. But I do think from a standpoint of looking more toward adding fit and the role that he would specifically play, I think it's interesting. This is kind of being the two, three floor spacer for you. Now in taking these stats, I don't want to compare what Dawson did last year at Loyola Chicago to what Ryland Griffin did last year at Kansas.

Starting point is 00:02:59 I want to compare because you're trying to see, okay, is there something we missed or is there something good about Dawson coming into the program? So I want to compare Rylan Griffin, his last year at Alabama, to what Jade and Dawson did last year at Loyola, Chicago to see if we maybe did miss something, you know, that we weren't aware of. So I did a little compare and contrast between Jade and Dawson and Rylan Griffin. If you're

Starting point is 00:03:24 watching on YouTube, you'll see this, I guess, graphic, I guess. And the thing about these two players, there are some similarities. So Griffin, 11 points per game at Alabama, was a more efficient player. His effective field goal percentage closer to 58%. Jaden Dawson's closer to 53%. Rylan also did a better job getting into the free throw line, though that's not necessarily a big strength of either team. Yours is interesting. If you just look at the raw rebound numbers, Griffin actually

Starting point is 00:03:51 averaged more at Alabama. But if you look at the rebound rates, Griffin was a better offensive rebounder. Dawson is the better defensive rebounder by a little bit. So I guess you kind of walk away from this going okay, you know, that doesn't make me feel great necessarily. But then it's the rest of the stuff. You just see a much more complete player in Jaden Dawson. Dawson had a 13% assist rate. Griffin was at 11.5% so a little bit of an edge there to Jaden Dawson. Dawson 1.7 basically assisted turnover rate 72 72nd percentile,

Starting point is 00:04:27 Ryland Griffin at 1.3, which is closer to average at 54th percentile. Steel rate. Jayden Dawson's steel rate is almost double that of what Ryland Griffin's was. And to be clear, Dawson didn't have a super high steel rate. Part of that, Loyola Chicago plays more of a, they don't play a defense that's going to try to get a ton of steals. Like they're going to try to just keep you in front of you. But he had a, about a nationally average steal rate. Griffin was only in the 12th percentile. And looking back on it, as we talked about kind of the defense that Bill Self wanted, that is a big one right there. Also the block rate, Jaden Dawson, 93rd percentile for guards at the two and a half percent block rate. Ryland Dawson, 93rd percentile for guards at the 2.5% block rate.

Starting point is 00:05:05 Ryland Griffin was down at 1%, so 2.5 times what you got there. And you'll get the Hakim rate, which is again the combination of the block and steal rate. Jaden Dawson in the 87th percentile, Ryland Griffin in the 26th percentile. So as we look at the cross comparison, yes, maybe Griffin was an even better shooter of the two coming in. I do think it's important also to keep in mind that Griffin was on a team with even more spacing, a team that is a built juggernaut on the offensive end of the floor that's going to give him more open shots when he was in Alabama than say, Jaden Dawson,

Starting point is 00:05:36 a Loyola Chicago who had to be kind of the guy on an offense that doesn't run like Alabama. So that explains some of the shooting differences, but you're getting a lot better complete player passing ability, defensive ability when you're looking at Jayden Dawson. You look at the offensive windchairs, the defensive windchairs, okay, Griffin more on the offensive end, Dawson more almost three times as much,

Starting point is 00:05:56 a little more than that, on the defensive end of the floor. And this should have been the red alarm when we were looking at Griffin when he first came to KU. I think we shrugged it off and said, oh, but he had a good defensive game in the sweet 16 against North Carolina. And we were like, yeah, whatever. You look at the on-off offensive and defensive rating for Dawson team overall was a little

Starting point is 00:06:15 over three points better per 100 possessions when he was on the floor. They were about a half point better defensively per 100 possessions for Island Griffin at Alabama. The team was about three points better offensively when he was on the floor. Alabama was about 10 points worse when he was on the floor on the defensive end. And so you look at that and you say that check mark should actually be over with Jayden Dawson

Starting point is 00:06:39 because it's the better number. That's a big alarming one too. Now I do wanna take a look at the shooting comparison as well. Because you're talking about Griffin being the better shooter, right? So with Dawson, you're talking about 50% on twos, Rylan was 57. But that's not a super apt comparison, because the twos that Dawson is taking are like, kind of earn it twos. Whereas with Griffin, most of his twos were transition, easy layup and dunk twos based on the Alabama offense. And so obviously at the rim is gonna look better

Starting point is 00:07:12 for Ryland Griffin, but you start to look in the areas where that's a little less the case. Okay, in the paint Dawson struggled. So that's a check mark to Ryland Griffin. Mid-range, Jada Dawson about four percentage points better. Kansas does, Bilsoff doesn't prevent his players, I guess, from digging mid-range, Jaden Dawson about 4% points better. Kansas, Bilsauf doesn't prevent his players from digging mid-range shots. Obviously Griffin is the better 3-point shooter, but the volume of the amount of 3s that they're getting up is pretty close to equal there.

Starting point is 00:07:40 The big difference was Griffin was better on above the break threes than Dawson was at Loyola Chicago. But Dawson actually the better corner three point shooter between the two. Neither was particularly great, neither was particularly horrible at deep threes. Oddly enough, Dawson not a great free throw shooter. Griffin came in as a good free throw shooter but didn't shoot him while at Kansas.

Starting point is 00:07:59 So that is what it is. But I find this interesting, the bottom line number. PER, which is a kind of a measure of efficiency for a player and that takes in all sorts of different numbers into PER. I honestly don't really know everything that goes into PER, but it basically is a, yeah, it's an overall counting stat number efficiency

Starting point is 00:08:18 of how efficient a player is. And interestingly enough, Dawson actually ended up with a higher PER at Loyola Chicago than Ryland Griffin had at Alabama, even getting to play in a hyper efficient, very effective offense where there is the most ideal floor spacing and transition play and open shots that you're going to get.

Starting point is 00:08:39 But again, I go back to the idea here that you go back to the defense side of the ball, you go back to the idea here, that you go back to the off or the defense side of the ball, you go back to the the passing ability, you go back to the I guess he's a slightly better defensive rebounder. And I also keep in mind that like, the slightly better defensive rebound numbers for Jaden Dawson came with Dawson having to be more of like the two guard for Loyola, whereas maybe Griffin's playing more three. Point being, it is just a much more complete player. Even though Griffin has the higher ceiling for the better shooter, what's going to get you on the court and endear you

Starting point is 00:09:17 and have your trust level with Bill Self? It is the other things. It is playing defense. I think Dawson is a better fit for Kansas to that notion. Now, Griffin could have a lot of success at his next stop if they ask him to be who he is. The problem is, Bill Self in Kansas wanted Ryland Griffin to be something different than what he was. And I think with Jade and Dawson, if he's just who he is, it is a better fit for Kansas around him. Now, I've also made the comparison for how Billff is building this roster to the 2019-20 team. I've made the comparison that Dawson is in that situation, your shooting guard is spacing the floor and Isaiah Moss.

Starting point is 00:09:54 Why don't we compare and contrast with what Isaiah Moss brought to the table his final year at Iowa before he joined that Kansas team compared to what Jaden Dawson is bringing to the table. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by Monarch Money. Ever check your bank account and wonder where all my money goes? Between dining out, online shopping, and entertainment, it's easy to lose track. That's where Monarch Money comes in, your personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances.

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Starting point is 00:10:52 That's MonarchMoney.com. Locked On College is the code for half off your first year with Monarch Money. Thanks for joining us here on Locked On Jayhawks. Don't forget to make Locked On College Basketball your second listen every day or Locked on college football as well. So I have a comparison between Jaden Dawson and Isaiah Moss, who is somebody that I think is interesting in the role he played for that Kansas team where he was the floor spacer on a team that had a dunk, everything,

Starting point is 00:11:29 good defensive center in your doka. That's what you're hoping Flory can be. It had your all-American guard in Devon Dotson. That's what you're hoping Peterson can be. Obviously the game's different there, but the type of role. If you're talking about that secondary ball handler who's a good defender, that was Marcus Garrett. I think Melvin Council kind of tries to fill that role

Starting point is 00:11:46 on this year's team. Trey White is the wing that you had with, you had Christian Brown, Ohtak Baji that you worked on the wing. And then Isaiah Moss on the 2019-20 team, his role is I think gonna be kind of similar to Jaden Dawson's role. And so I wanted to make a comparison.

Starting point is 00:12:01 I think I said before the break to his time at Iowa, I actually wanted to compare, because we're comparing his role specifically, I wanted to make a comparison. I think I said before the break to his time at Iowa, I actually wanted to compare, because we're comparing his role specifically, I wanted to compare his one year at Kansas and what he brings to the table in comparison to that. So for comparing Dawson to Isaiah Moss in his one year that he played in Lawrence, you're looking at Moss being a guy who shot about 51%

Starting point is 00:12:24 on his effective field goal rate. Well, Jayden Dawson shot better than that at Loyola Chicago. Dawson was better getting to the free throw line than Isaiah Moss was in his year at Kansas. The defensive rebound rate is identical. Dawson at Loyola Chicago, 10.4 defensive rebound rate. Moss at Kansas, 10.4 defensive rebound rate. The assist rate, Moss 14.2%, Dawson 13.2%. So there's some interesting comps there,

Starting point is 00:12:50 although Dawson did a better job avoiding turnovers than Moss did just one year at Kansas. The steal rate close, Dawson 2%, Moss 2.2%. Dawson actually better shot blocker, which there is kind of a heavy correlation between guards when they can have like decent block numbers. I remember that used to be like an NBA draft thing. And it was such a big deal with like Dwayne Wade, for instance, he was so good at blocking shots for a guard. That really tells a tale

Starting point is 00:13:15 about how good you are in the defensive end if you're a guard that like blocks that there's a weird correlation there. One thing that's interesting the usage rate for Dawson much higher than Moss, that'll be half something that he has to adjust to, but it's just something that he was required to do as one of the best players on Loyola Chicago that you won't have to do as much at Kansas. And you look at the on-off D rating for Isaiah Moss, and this is a guy in Moss who, you know, he was obviously more impactful on the offensive end in his ability to kind of space the floor and what he provided from that standpoint of things. The odd off ratings that I had on there, I believe were actually from his Iowa days when there were seven and a half points worse on the defensive end, whereas that was on the

Starting point is 00:13:59 offensive defense stuff there. So, you're again getting a better defender, I think, in Dawson than what you had with Isaiah Moss coming in. But Moss, is he the better three point shooter? I think that's kind of an interesting comparison that you could have between these two guys. So Dawson actually, you know, comes out pretty well in some of these. Like if you look at two point percentage, it's close enough. but like Dawson better than Moss in two point percentage. Dawson 10 percentage points better than Moss at the rim, better in the paint,

Starting point is 00:14:32 eight percentage points better in the mid range. The three point percentage for Moss was 34.8%. And then you're looking at Dawson, okay, slightly above that with Moss a little bit more threes attempted, both guys were really good from the corner. Moss was a little bit better from above the break. Moss was also better on deep threes that was a little bit lower volume.

Starting point is 00:14:56 Moss also a better free throw shooter, but you total it up. The effective field goal percentage actually better for Dawson. The true shooting percentage actually better for Dawson and the P. the PR better too. And so I messed this up again, again, this should say 2018, 19 for Iowa

Starting point is 00:15:13 for those numbers for Isaiah Moss. So some of the numbers that we talked about earlier were Moss's numbers at Kansas. These numbers right here, these shooting numbers or Moss coming in from Iowa. And so if you're just comparing the shooting numbers for Moss coming in compared Iowa. And so if you're just comparing the shooting numbers for Moss coming in compared to what Dawson did, you're talking about the Dawson

Starting point is 00:15:31 is as kind of as good of a shooter as him and compares favorably in a lot of areas. And then we go back to the idea that yes, like you're talking about somebody in Dawson who is a better defender who is probably a more complete player than Isaiah Moss. And even though that role gets scaled down a little bit at Kansas with the players around you, I think that is encouraging to say, okay, if we're making this 2019-20 comparison with KU, can Peterson be as good as Devaugh Dodson? I mean, there's a chance he could be better. Like if Peterson, Peterson

Starting point is 00:16:01 could end up being like the best player in the country, right? But still Dotson was like a top 10 player in the country. So if we just want to say, can he be as good as that? Like that's still very high expectations to have on someone. Can Flory be as good as Doak? I don't know. Doak was a top five, six player in the country that year. I think Flory is going to have a really good year

Starting point is 00:16:19 and take another step forward. I don't know that I'd be predicting that. So if you're just making the comparison, you're already a little worse off there. That team had Ochai and Christian Brown, even though Christian Brown is a freshman and Ochai was still inconsistent at that point. That's probably better than what you have on the wing right now with Trey White, even though I like the fit of Trey White as well.

Starting point is 00:16:37 Again, Marcus Garrett probably going to be a better defender than Melvin Council. The offensive end, you could actually say Council might actually give you a little bit more punch than Garrett. But overall, you I don't know, maybe you take Garrett right now without seeing Council. But I do think this scenario where like I think Dawson could be better than what Isaiah Moss was that year. And the beauty of that team is that even if you're not as good as that team, but you compare favorably and that you're 95% of that team, that team was so far ahead of the rest of

Starting point is 00:17:04 the pack, like if you look at Ken Palm adjusted EM, that even if you're a little worse version of that, you're still one of the five best teams in the country. Okay, and so you might be better in this position, specifically, and so I really like this Jaden Dawson pickup. I like the role that he's gonna play for KU, and I do think as we've talked about Kansas

Starting point is 00:17:22 needing to work this portal more for fit necessarily. That's something they've done well. And I think Jayden Dawson kind of exemplifies that in a very perfect way for KU. We're going to finish up the show here with a little KU basketball superlative of the day on today's episode. Who's the fastest player on this Kansas basketball team? Thanks for joining us here on Locked on Jayhawks. Thanks for making it your first listen every day.

Starting point is 00:17:52 We're gonna have another compare and contrast episode on tomorrow's show. We're gonna be comparing Melvin Council to AJ Storr. That might sound silly, you have a guard, you have a wing, but kind of similar ideas in a little bit about their game being good in transition, being athletic. And I think Kansas, you're going to like that comparing contrast to favorably to say that, okay, this is going to be a better fit than AJ Stor as well. Maybe we'll compare him to Tyshaun Taylor also on Friday's episode of the show. You're not going to want to miss that one,

Starting point is 00:18:18 going out with a bang on the week. We're going to take a look at the top head coach candidates to replace Bill Self when he retires, right? So if Bill Self retired today, or if he retired at the end of next year, who would be the guys on the shortlist? Who would I hire? Who's tier one, tier two, tier three candidates? So you're not going to miss that show with the top coaching candidates to replace Bill Self whenever he is done. And who knows, maybe Bill Self will coach five, six more years and that list will be

Starting point is 00:18:44 completely different by the time we get to that point in time. he has done and who knows maybe go self-coach five six more years and that list will be completely different by the time we get to that point in time. All right so our KU superlative of the day is who is the fastest player on the team for KU and I do think you can have an argument between a couple guys but I think it comes down to a couple guys here so I think Peterson's a good athlete I don't know that I'd say he's the fastest guy on the team. McDowell and Shelby probably wouldn't argue them. I think Troy White's a good athlete for a wing, but not gonna argue him. Calderon's a good athlete, but again, not gonna argue him.

Starting point is 00:19:13 Tiller, foot speed's not necessarily like, you know, he's got a little bit of footwork and quickness, but I don't think he's like the fastest guy in the world. I think this comes down to Melvin Counsel where Elmarco Jackson for the fastest guy on the team, you watch them highlight some of the tape of Melvin Council, that dude can go. And there's a reason why there have been some comparisons from Bill Self from CJ Moore from other people of no comparing

Starting point is 00:19:36 Melvin Council and Tyshaun Taylor, the lengthy guard who has that sort of speed is kind of the reason why now Marco Jackson, I think at his best, would probably be the fastest guy on the team. The question for El Marco comes down to how does coming off the Achilles injury affect that speed? Like, is there gonna be a year of buffer? Is he just never gonna have the same amount of speed,

Starting point is 00:20:01 but he's still gonna be fast, just not 99th percentile in the country, fast and quickness, which is what he might have had. That'll be an interesting question here. So I think the safe answer might be to pick Melvin Council because you don't know coming off the injury. But if you did say El Marco is back to what he was before the injury, then I think El Marco Jackson will be the fastest player on the team. Now we'll say, if the competition here, if it wasn't just who's the fastest in a vacuum, who's the fastest among anything, if you were saying who is the fastest player for KU, like on a curve compared to the position they play in the country or in the conference, whatever,

Starting point is 00:20:39 you might be able to argue Flory Budunga, right? Maybe it would still be El Marco or Melvin Council. I don't know. But if you were just saying like compare El Marco Jackson to the rest of the point cards across the country, okay, he ranks the 10th fastest. So Melvin Council ranks the 15th fastest, right? Whatever it is. And you were saying, where is Florida doing a rank among the fastest centers in the country? You probably have a real like

Starting point is 00:21:02 not counting like your small ball centers who are really like wings or power forwards that have to play there. You probably have a real argument the floor is in that conversation. And again, like, even though I don't think it's in discussion for this, like, I still think Darren Peterson's a good athlete. And like, I still think Jaden Dawson and Trey White are good athletes. Calderon's a good athlete. That if you're talking about, you have good athletes

Starting point is 00:21:39 surrounded by guys who are insanely fast, insanely quick. I think this team's going gonna finally get back to what, I don't know, it's been like a handful of years since we really had this. You probably would have to go back to the 2019-20 team. Like even the national title team for Kansas, that was coming off a year in which they got blasted in USC and it was the four of the five same starters

Starting point is 00:21:59 from off season in which Bill South said, we need to like overhaul the athleticism, right? They haven't had like an uber athletic team in a handful plus of years. And I think they're going to get back to it this year. I think Council and Jackson are going to be driving forces at the point guard position. But I think you're going to have as athletic of a center as anybody in the country, which can help you in transition. Because if your center is getting up and down the floor, that's usually the really dangerous guy in transition. Because if you're getting out to a one on one, or a two on two, and you've got a center and they're two guys getting quickest back

Starting point is 00:22:29 on the defensive end or like guards and wings, you're gonna be able to throw up a lob the floor and he's gonna feast all day in transition. So I don't know for this episode though of Locked on Jayhawks, you can find our show anywhere you get your podcast, including on our YouTube page. Again, more compare and contrast on tomorrow's show and a head coaching episode coming out to Friday. See you next time with Locked on Jayhawks.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Jayden Dawson vs Rylan Griffen - Did Bill Self Find the Better Fit for His System at Kansas?

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