Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Land Their First 2023 Transfer in Towson Sharpshooter Nicolas Timberlake

Episode Date: April 19, 2023

Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks basketball team have their fist transfer portal addition for 2023 with Towson shooting star Nicolas Timberlake, who shot over 40% from 3 his last two seasons in the CAA. Why Timberlake is a perfect fit for KU, where it puts the Jayhawks as a team and what could be next for them.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this bonus episode of Locked on Jayhawks, Spring Bill strikes again. Kansas lands Nicholas Timberlake over Connecticut and North Carolina. The sharp shooting guard from Towson. Let's break down his game for KU and what it means for the Jayhawks moving forward. You are Locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can hear me as well, Monday through Friday, 3 to 6 p.m. on KLWN in Lawrence.

Thanks for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day, free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. We have a show scheduled for tomorrow doing a deep dive on Hunter Dickinson. But, you know, bonus episode because Nicholas Timberlake commits to KU. Now, if you missed it, we had an episode, I think it was from five days ago. So you can easily find it. Highly recommend it. Doing a full deep dive on Nicholas Timberlake.

This one's going to be not quite as deep of a conversation and more about the impact for KU. So if you want to learn more about Hunter Dickinson, check that out on our how Nicholas Timberlake would fit in with KU video from less than a week ago with Locked on Jayhawks. Today, though, we're discussing bonus episode here. Nicholas Timberlake committing to KU earlier today. He went on his visits to North Carolina, went on the visit to Kansas, went on the visit to Connecticut, said he was going to be committing later this week. It seemed like a true up-in-the-air decision of where is he going to go?

It seemed like most people were thinking Kansas or UConn, but he ended up choosing Kansas. And I think some people were speculating UConn just because that was the last visit. But he seemed like a kid who was taking everything into account, ends up picking Kansas. And I think some people are speculating UConn just because that was the last visit, but he seemed like a kid who was taking everything into account, ends up picking Kansas. It's their first transfer, transfer portal pickup for this off season. It is also, um, the best shooter probably that they have on their team now. So, I mean, big deal in both of those regards and spring bill strikes again clearly there were other high level schools that were interested in this kid now he looks to

finish off the transfer class because ideally for kansas this is a piece of the transfer class not the the headliner right and that'll be important moving forward especially as they have some big players coming in to visit let's get into uh more on nicholas timberlake how he fits at kansas what it means for the school. First, though, this episode of Locked On JTU by FanDuel Sportsbook. Grand slams, no hitters, double plays are back, and there's no better place to get in on the MLB action

than at FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Because right now, new customers can step up to the plate with a no-sweat first bet up to $1,000. Just go to fanduel.com slash locked on, sign up, place your first bet, and get up to $1,000 back in bonus bets if you don't win. You can bet on your favorite same-game parlay, players to hit home runs, strikeouts, over-unders, all sorts of stuff. Makes the Royals games a little more fun because they're not doing so hot right now.

So, you know, you can be like, ah, they're probably not going to win, but I can bet on who's going to get a ahead or how many strikeouts they're going to have. So don't miss your chance to get a no sweat first bet up to $1,000. When you join FanDuel today, just go to FanDuel.com slash locked on to sign up. FanDuel, an official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball. Okay. To the Nicholas Timberlake here. Nicholas Timberlake choosing Kansas.

And if you are unfamiliar with Nick Timberlake's game, he is a 6'4 guard. He's more of a shooting guard type. He can handle it a little bit. Averaged almost two and a half assists per game last year. So, you know, he can bring it up for you and maybe initiate a few things but for the most part kansas is going to use him as an off guard especially with duane harris on the roster and el marco assumedly taking up backup point guard minutes who knows maybe they'll take an arterial

morris or somebody like that that even furthers their idea that he is more of a two guard or maybe in like a maybe even in some lineups we'll see duane har El Marco and then Timberlake at like a small three man for like small minutes of time just to throw out some extra offense athleticism I don't know he actually is a pretty good athlete there's some videos of him like dunking and stuff but he's a two-time all CAA pick the 2020 CAA six man of the year he was 2023 CAA all tournament experienced player he's played five years of college basketball this will be a sixth year of college i relate this to when ku landed jaylen coleman lands when ku landed jaylen coleman lands i know you look at it at the end of the day and he was like the eighth man on that team but an eighth man on a team that won the national title and he was pivotal in a few moments of the season

whether it was just coming in hitting a key three for you in that one three getting over the hump or a game like george mason where he had like over 20 points and he kind of helped you avoid a big upset losing at home to George Mason I view him in that light but if you remember when Jalen Coleman lands was brought on Ochag Baji was testing the process and they didn't know he was going to come back and so he was almost Ochag insurance in that if Ochag would have stayed in the draft I don't know that Jalen Coleman lands starts he might have but he certainly would have been playing every night as part of the rotation in more minutes. And I think because this team, I don't view them as having an Ochai-Gbaji, I view Nick Timberlake in being what the role of Jalen Coleman-Lanz would have been had Ochai not

come back for that next season. Now, when you look at his game, you're talking about a guy that progressed each year at Towson. He went from six and a half points per game to about six points per game to then 12 points per game, then 14 and a half, then almost 18 points per game this last season. For the course of his career, over 1,500 career points, and he made 233 career threes. That's good for about 38%, also 79% from the line. But his last two years he really exploded his last two seasons he averaged 14 and a half 17 and a half points per game and in 2021 to 22 he shot 40.6 percent from three on 5.6 attempts per game and also 80 at the foul line

this past season 41.6 percent from three on 6.7 attempts per game. Very high volume, both an 84 and a half percent from the line. This guy's a knockdown shooter. He is one of the best shooters that was available to you in the transfer portal. You watch some of his tape. He's getting shots off the dribble. He's getting shots on set shots. He's getting shots with spot up shooting.

He's shooting deep threes from 25, 26 feet. He's making some tough ones in there. You added a lot there. And again, if you want to check out that episode of the deep dive, I did some comparisons. Grady Dick is a better player than Nicholas Timberlake overall. I mean, he's a lottery pick. Like that's not disservicing anybody.

But Nicholas Timberlake, you could argue, a sixth-year Nicholas Timberlake is a better overall complete shooter than Grady Dick was as a freshman at Kansas because he knows how to work without the ball a little bit more. He's just experienced. He's played more at this level. And when you look at it, yes, one was playing in the CAA, the other in the Big 12.

Timberlake was in the 94th percentile in spot-up shooting last season. Off screens, he was in the 55th percentile, which is listed as good. Off handoff, 68th percentile, very good pick-and-roll ball handler, so occasionally can do that. 77th percentile, he is just a really good shooter. Now, you do have the one worry, he did not defend very well. He was in just the fourth percentile, you heard me right, fourth percentile for defense a season ago, and that was in the CAA. Now, maybe in a role at Kansas where he's no longer the go-to guy every time and on a better team he's going to put a lot more effort in and if he can even just be a below average to an average defender that's more than good enough with his offense but that's going to

be the key for him to get more playing time as well because if the defense is really that bad he might only be a guy who's playing 10-15 minutes a game because of the fact that Bill Self still values that defense if he does do you know if he does become even just an average defender like Isaiah Moss was maybe a below average average defender at times if he can just be that Isaiah Moss was a starter by the end of the season playing 20-25 maybe higher than that minutes per game to stretch the floor and so that'll be the key for Nicholas Timberlake to determine whether he's just a role player or if he's a starter minute level guy or at least adjacent to that. And it would behoove Kansas if he was that starter level guy, because you look around

the roster, not a ton of three point shooting all up and down the team. He would be that guy for them. Let's finish up with more of his impact on KU with Locked on Jayhawks. So obviously, if you have a roster with DeJuan Harris, Elmarco Jackson, your two guards, DeJuan can hit threes consistently and set shots. Elmarco, not as much his game as a freshman that you expect to be there. Ernest Uday, any of the centers, KJ, you don't expect them to be big three-point guys. If you're bringing on some of these wings, like we've talked about some of the wings they've targeted whether it's Hakeem Hart or Harrison Ingram a lot of the wings we've talked

about they're low 30 three-point shooters now Jalen Tyson that's a different conversation and maybe we'll have a deep dive on him coming up here but um he allows you to basically have more margin for error with the other transfers you take because it was going to be one thing to be like well are we really going to be okay with bringing on this wing who's only shooting 32 from three and it's like now it makes it a lot easier to say yes because you have nick timberlake to kind of raise your floor of what your three-point game can be doesn't mean that you still completely are like, ah, we don't care about shooting now.

We got one guy. You need more than one guy. You do. But it raises the margin for everyone else in terms of what you can have, whether he is a starter or a bench player. It also creates, I think, real competition for El Marco Jackson, which is good. He's a freshman.

As much as I think El Marco is going to come in and be a good player, you don't know. They're freshmen. I thought MJ Rice was going to come in and be a good player you don't know they're freshmen I thought MJ Rice was going to come in and be a key player didn't end up happening right so it gives you basically an opportunity that if El Marco it does take him longer you have that veteran option to go to and you should push El Marco which competition is always a good thing KU was desperate for shooting they got it with Nick Timberlake so even if the defense isn't great and he ends up being a 15 minute per-per-game guy

off the bench, guess what? KU needed bench scoring. He would accomplish that. Guess what? KU needed three-point shooting. He would accomplish that. You trust Bill Self on the defensive end. They have DeJuan Harris, the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year,

Ernest, KJ, Zuby. A lot of these guys should be good enough defensively that having one guy like this, it's not going to hurt you too much on the defensive end. Now, as far as where this leaves KU with the scholarship numbers. So right now they have two open scholarships. If Kevin McCuller were to come back, you would have one open scholarship. If Kevin McCuller were to stay in the draft and Kyle Cuff were to eventually transfer out,

you would now have three open scholarships. So anywhere between one to three more takes is what KU can have at this point in time. But maybe the safe number to assume is with two. Now, keep in mind, I think there have been a few schools that have maybe tested this a little bit. And who knows, maybe KU would want to avoid this with the NCAA stuff. But I feel like it's only a matter of time before more schools do this. The idea where you have a kid who's a walk-on, not on scholarship, but because of NIL, you basically pay him enough and more that he uses that money to pay for the school and gets more money on top

of it so could kansas realistically add another scholarship in that way like wouldn't technically be a scholarship yeah of course they could um but that basically means that with this combo guard if it means more like like like for sure kansas is going to use one scholarship on a wing that's without a doubt and then you look at hunter dickinson then if you don't get hunter dickinson i don't think there really might be a backup plan in terms of hey let's get this other center i think it might just be like let's adjust and get either a combo guard or a wing at that point in time and i think that's where we're at so big time get for kansas nicholas timber like helps fill a lot of their issues with some of those shooting woes and possibly

possibly being another starter that can space the floor next to them. It's a really good get for KU, but they're not done here. Told you to be patient. Patience paid off. All right, that'll do it for this bonus episode of Locked on Jayhawks. Hunter Dickinson deep dive on tomorrow's show. You can find us wherever you find any of your podcasts.

You can hit me up on Twitter at DJohnson Radio, and you can also find us on YouTube, like, and subscribe to the show. Have a good rest of your day. We'll see you next time.