Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Updated Top 10 Availabe Options for Kansas Jayhawks Basketball in the Transfer Portal

Episode Date: April 26, 2023

Updating the top 10 overall transfer portal options available for Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball such as Hunter Dickinson, Max Abmas, Jaylon Tyson, Primo Spears and more.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 today's Locked on Jayhawks, updated top 10 transfer portal options for KU to go after. Who's still available? What fits well with KU? Let's discuss on today's show. 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. KLWN and Rock Chalk Sports Talk in Lawrence. Thanks for making Locked on Jayhawks your first listen every day. We're free and available wherever you get any of your podcasts. And on today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, we're going to be going over the updated top 10 transfer portal options for KU that are available right now. Obviously, Ken, this is seeing some other guys commit, maybe cut lists that don't include KU.

So this isn't necessarily the top 10 overall that are available across the country. Like I got like Taryn armstrong for instance probably by a lot of sites and places seen as top 10 transfer option available right now he hasn't picked a school or what he's going to do if he's going to go pro or whatever um but specifically for guys that either are position specific like positions that ku needs at this point maybe guys that have uh interested KU to this point maybe guys that haven't cut their list yet like for instance even like a Matthew Cleveland or Tyler Perry um like Tyler Perry to me was somebody who was a lot of interest I don't think

KU ever really showed much interest with Matthew Cleveland maybe they showed a little interest but um with that one like he already cut his list and and it appears he's going to be going somewhere else those guys are not going to be on this list even though in theory if KU was interested they would be on this list so it's kind of more of an art than a science and how we're putting together this top 10 list with that said let's get into it uh first up for tier four we're going to start with Oliver and Kamla and Kamla is a 6'8 forward with one year left to play from Tennessee. Averaged about 10 and 5 per game. A really good defender.

Can defend at the 3. Can defend down low at the 4 or 5. Really strong physical player who comes in with Power 5 level experience. Would be a good player for you. The question here of why he's Tier 4 and not higher is the fit. He's not a great three-point shooter. Low 30% on very low volume and that even comes after that explosion game against duke otherwise the percentage and the

volume would have been even lower but that was impressive for him to put up 27 points against duke and that is a positive in his notion he's up 51 from the field so efficient at getting to the rim and everything like that but for a team that does have questions about the shooting and needing to space the floor that's why he is tier four he's more of an option to me of like well you know we just need to get a good player in here and we're just going to steer into the all-in on the defensive side of the ball then that would be the way to go if you miss out on some other targets but also the reason he's tier four is i don't necessarily know he's going to be in college basketball next year there is some talk about whether he'll be in a professional setting and that he is going to like go overseas to play ball because so he's a he's originally from

finland and how some of those leagues work over there i don't know if this is every league but there are a lot of leagues overseas that um they have a limit to the amount of like American or non local players they can have. So like if the league is in, you know, for instance, and again, I don't know which countries are like this and which aren't, but let's say the league is in Finland. Like maybe they can have, if they have 12 people on the roster, maybe they can have a max of three from America, three from other countries. The other nine have to be from Finland. Right.

So that helps guys like this who, in the case of Nkamoa, for a team in Finland, for instance, they could bring him on and be like, wow, we got this good American player to come over here, but it doesn't count against the amount of American players they can bring over, and then they can get another really good one to kind of be their ringer, right? So that's why he has a lot of possibility there and that's why uh he is tier four because it makes it a little less likely that he'll be in college basketball next season jayden bradley is also on this list bradley is uh really interesting i might do a deep dive on jayden bradley like next week or something um because this is a guy that you know you look at

the stats 6.4 points per game 3.1 assists.6 rebounds, played about 20 minutes per game for Alabama. The efficiency wasn't great, 39.2% from the floor, 31.8% from three on a very low volume, like 7 of 22 from three. So half of three per game, 69.5% from the free throw line, half a steal per game. The numbers don't jump off the page. Now, again, that's in 20 minutes per game, 69 and a half percent from the free throw line, half a steal per game. Like the numbers don't jump off the page. Now, again, that's in 20 minutes per game. So if you extrapolate out some of those and like a 30 minute per game role, then you're

looking at more like nine, 10 points per game, four and a half assists per game, which still those numbers don't jump off the page, but they're a little better. But he is a six foot three. He was a freshman guard for the number one overall team in the country. And he was able to start 22 games on that team. He's a former, I forget if he was a four or five star, he was right freshman guard for the number one overall team in the country and he was able to start 22 games on that team he's a former i forget if he's a four or five star he's right on that borderline like top 30 recruit in the country those are the type of guys you expect to take a leap in year two right i mean wayne selden type of efficiency numbers like 39 from the field 31.8 from three like those are similar to what selden did as a freshman he eventually took a step up

this is a guy you would be taking as like a long-term play and I don't necessarily hate that for KU because you're talking about you know if Jaden Bradley comes in you still have Elmarco Jackson who I guess that was around the same recruit Jaden Bradley is so maybe they're competing with each other Nick Timberlake DeJuan Harris to where if Jaden Bradley ends up being your third or fourth guard and he has another year to progress and then in a year from now what if el marco jackson's uh one and done and nicholas timberlake goes and then jayden bradley's your other starting guard i don't hate that you have three years left of eligibility there and and this is really impressive here this uh 70th percentile on the defensive end he's a solid transition guard that would be helpful for kayu here's the write-up on the athletic has a really

good uh write-ups on a bunch of guys like the top uh available uh transfers in the portal right now and they're a really glowing review about bradley who they right now have the number five available transfer uh recruit in the country now some sites value one year guys some sites value the longevity which the athletic does because he has three years left but here's the write-up bradley is a former five-star recruit whose situation reminds me of davion mitchell transferred from Auburn to Baylor if Bradley puts in the work and ends up in the right system he could explode like Mitchell did like Mitchell at the time Bradley has defensive potential elite speed with the ball and concerns about shooting Bradley actually put up better numbers as a freshman though um he made the all-freshman

team started 22 games didn't shoot it great struggled to finish at the rim he had a share of sloppy turnovers but some of that is playing in the sec as a freshman his passing where he's probably furthest along right now he has a good sense for how to set up teammates his tools to become a pro if the shooting improves you need to get into a program with good track uh record of player development okay boom like i'm sold like if that's your fourth guard and he has potential to be a pro in a few years okay let's do it so uh that's why he's he's on here but the reason he's not a higher tier is the shooting and because it could be more of a long-term play in that regard and is kansas just better off saying yeah we'll take some money then we'll just open up another

scholarship and take another really good player short term the year after that might be a good play to Primo Spears is on tier four here. We did a Primo Spears deep dive on yesterday's show, so I don't need to go much deeper into Primo Spears, but basically, yeah, a guy who could possibly be your fourth guard, be an improvement over what you had off the bench from Joe Yesfu and Bobby Pettiford. There are certain concerns there, which again, hit up the deep dive for that but good enough to at least be in the top 10 overall list here uh i don't know if this is proper way to pronounce this guy's name but simus lucosius i don't know if it's shimish or shimish whatever uh but he is someone i haven't talked about and i started digging a little bit more into him

and i found myself impressed enough to put him in the top 10 here so he's a six foot seven wing. He has two years left to play. That's a positive. The numbers are a guy who averaged 11 and a half points, four rebounds, three assists, kind of filled up the stat sheet. 47% on two point shots, about 38% on three point shots on five attempts per game. Good free throw shooter over 80% both seasons. And this is his write up in the athletic.

Again, another impressive one. Every once in a while, you'll come across a player who makes you perk up in your seat and get excited about studying the film. That's Lucocious. Before Butler, Lucocious played in the highest league in Germany, and he's the son of a coach. He's the type of player that gets coaches to say the international game is ahead of us in teaching the game. He really knows how to move without the ball, read screens and read defenses.

After shooting only 26.5% from three as a freshman, he bumped that up to 37.8% this year. I believe he has potential to go even higher. He's got a high repeatable release and is always on balance. The real fun happens when he puts the ball on the floor, bodies bounce off him and the way he moves with the ball and his footwork reminds me some of Jaime Jaquez that's a nice little comp there um and when you look at the synergy profile this is interesting too Lukosius 95th percentile in spot-up shooting he's shooting 47 overall on spot-up shots with 1.28 points per possession which you know that would by far rank like the number one offense if that was your play every time in the country um specifically though if you're just looking for spot up threes not just spot up shots on everything but spot up threes only he was 36 of 81 that's a

pretty good sample size 44.4 percent from three in spot up threes he was also 88th percentile on the defensive end of the floor so a smart defender who's a good team defender I think is the best way of putting it the reason he's not in the higher tier honestly like I kind of want to put him in tier three I really do I really do I just couldn't get it there because I'm like well KU's not really pushing for him so maybe that means something like is it because he's not that dynamic like he's not super athletic he's not super long he's 6'6 230 uh he's not a good iso score like at 6'6 230 are you wanting to play him at the four but he's only getting four rebounds per game like i don't i don't know i i don't know so i i'm gonna put him in tier four even though a lot of me for all those

reasons the spot up shooting the the team defense actually being really good like wants me to put him in tier three and the last guy we have in tier four is Noah Thomas. And we talked about him in the top 10 guards. Good score from Niagara. You have to worry about the jump up in competition, which is why he's tier four. But his defense was really, really good at Niagara. His spot up shooting was good. He was able to create off the bounce and get some isolation for you.

Just a good overall shooter and score that if he's your fourth guard off the bench, you feel pretty good about it. But again, you do have that worry about the jump up in competition let's get to tier three in a moment this episode of locked on jayhawks is brought to you by built bar looking for a delicious snack but don't want all the sugars and calories then you need to try the best tasting protein bar ever built if you want to eat snacks during the day, you know, you get hungry over your work day or something, but you don't want to compromise on taste. You want something healthy. Built bars are perfect for you. They're a hundred percent real dark chocolate or covered in it, I should say. And they come in unbelievable flavors like churro, peanut butter, brownie, and cookies and cream.

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You can thank me later. All right, on to three. We have, obviously, four tiers here. Tier three features Raekwon Battle. So Raekwon Battle is a – originally, he started his career at Washington, and that shows that, clearly had like power five potential I guess uh six foot five it's a good size for you he'd probably be somebody who you play him a bit at the two but I feel like mostly for KU they'd be playing him at three at this point in time based

on the roster construction where you play a lot of you know Timberlake and El Marco at the two and then Timberlake may be playing some at the three with battle I guess um but he was all big sky this past season year before he was the sixth man of the year in the big sky but this was really his one breakout year this isn't a guy who he's had like you know three great years of success or two great years of success that would lead to this it was really this one breakout year last season his fourth year of college at Montana State he averaged 17.7 points per game 2.9 rebounds per game he's pretty much just a scorer. He doesn't have any other stats. So the 17.7 points per game, the 2.9 rebounds per game,

no other stat is over one per game except for turnovers, which is one and a half. But efficient score too, 52% on two-point shots, 35% on almost four and a half threes per game, 83% at the free throw line. For his career, he's at 84 on free throws and uh 53 on two point shots so really good score he had that big game against kansas state in the ncaa tournament with i think it was like 27 25 something like that um that's just

kind of what he is he's a really good scorer that can make a big impact. So that would obviously be helpful for KU because they need scoring, they need shooting, boom, he would be able to fit both of those things. The reason he's not in Tier 2 and the reason he's in Tier 3 is because the defense is bad. It's just that the offense carries the day there. 75th percentile and spot up shooting 67th percentile in transition play he was good in pick and roll he was good off cuts he was good off of screens he shoots it really well off the bench um he just has a really good

shot ability and he's somebody who you feel like could really fill it up for you the problem again is that the defense was in the 29th percentile and i i said this with nick timberlake you need the offense you need the shooting you figure out the defense later especially because you have defensive insulation one with bill zelf being your coach two with dewan harris big 12 defensive player of the year back three with you know good rim protectors with like earnest due days you'll be edged for and kj adams inside you should have good defensive insulation but that's fine if you bring on nick timberlake what happens if you have nick timberlake and rayquan battle two poor defenders playing next to each other does that become a problem then like it's one thing to have one guy that you can cover up for is it okay if you have two I don't know so that's why he's tier three but clearly

the offense would uh help them out Jalen Tyson is in tier three here again a guy I thought about making tier two and and honestly you know what I kind of want to just because of the position like KU really needs wings which is why let's uh spoiler alert I'm gonna have Max Acemas in tier two that's why i feel like well max ace miss is another level than jaylen tyson but you could argue just from positionality fit tyson should be in tier two for that really good shooter um we're gonna have a jaylen tyson uh deep dive i think uh coming up i don't know maybe he later this week maybe from he would be just such a good fit for this team.

Ability to shoot, ability to defend, like perfect fit, just in that regard. So we'll talk more about him in his deep dive later this week. Our last tier three one is Tyron Lawrence. He's a recent recruit from or transfer from Vanderbilt. I mean, he has it in the last name, Lawrence. It works out right. Six, four guards. You can play him at the two, maybe even some three.

36% from three, including being in the 90th percentile in spot up shooting. That works. He also was a solid defender. More ball handling, more shooting, more solid enough defense, more athleticism, more quickness. Okay, sure. Sign me up for tier three. Okay, finishing up with tier two and tier one in just a moment with Locked on Jayhawks. Tier two, I mentioned, features Max Acemas. tier three uh okay finishing up with tier two and tier one in just a moment with locked on jayhawks tier two i mentioned features max ace miss it sounds like it's going to be like texas or kansas state where he goes um so this is one that i don't know how realistic it is same with like tyron

lawrence i don't i don't know how realistic it is him going to ku but they haven't actually released like a finalist list yet at least as of now when i'm recording so who knows realistic it is him going to KU, but they haven't actually released like a finalist list yet, at least as of now when I'm recording. So who knows, maybe it is still open enough that the KU could get involved. So I don't know, get in there, KU, like at this point in time, you've lost out on some wings. Well, instead of, you know, going in on a bunch of wings, what if you just played with a bunch of three guard lineups and you had Max Aismith at the two and Nick Timberlake at the three or, know el marco at the three or two i don't know just have athletic like three guards out there like we've seen baylor kind of do in the past

that would be kind of fun do it with max ace miss so ace miss obviously elite shooter elite score can do it off the bounce can do it in spot up gives you another ball handler out there it's not a great defender he actually was kind of like just like an average defender so uh it's not as as big of a deal as like maybe with rayquan battle for instance um but yeah i don't know how much ku is fully in on this and i wonder how much of that has to do with their pursuit of our guy in tier one is hunter dickinson you know if they're going chips all in on hunter dickinson and that's both a literal and metaphorical way of speaking metaphorically that they're doing everything in their power to get hunter dickinson literally that they are using like most of their nil funds

on hunter dickinson to reel him in and with max a smith i would imagine he's going to command a big nil to where you're probably not getting both maybe if you miss out on dickinson and a smith hasn't made a finalist list that maybe you can get in on him and kind of pivot to what you're doing but i wonder if that has something to do with it nonetheless tier one is hunter dickinson for obvious reasons he would make anything that happens this offseason a win for ku it wouldn't matter what happens it would just be a win for ku at that point in time um just completely raises their floor, completely raises their ceiling, makes it easier for everyone around them because you can play him next to KJ Adams with his shooting ability.

You can have more opportunities for Nick Timberlake running same-side actions as him in case there's a double team and getting him open shots. It's going to make life easier on DeJuan Harris and Omarco Jackson and all these guys start the roster for ku this is just an automatic tier one with hunter dickinson and obviously ku is approaching it as that like he is by far the one guy they're putting on a pedestal and going after hunter dickinson is the one guy that is being placed above everyone else,

and that is why he is in Tier 1 on here. If I was including McKenzie Mbako, by the way, I don't know, he'd probably be either Tier 2 or Tier 3 in this for what it's worth, but this was just the transfer portal. All right, that's going to do it for this episode of Locked on Jayhawks. We'll be back tomorrow.

We're going to actually do a KU football NFL draft primer, and then on Friday, we're going to actually do a KU football NFL draft primer. And then on Friday, we're going to probably release a Jalen Tyson deep dive. Again, things can be fluid because at this point in the year, like there could be some big news. What if somebody KU is chasing commits elsewhere? What if KU gets a commit from someone,

then we'll talk about that instead, but that'll be the plan. Otherwise, unless one of those things happen, you can find our podcast, wherever you find any your Locked on Jayhawks podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. You can hit me up at DJohnsonRadio on Twitter. You can also tune in to Rock Chalk Sports Talk Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 on KLWN and Lawrence, including RCST Trivia.

We'll be back tomorrow. Have a good rest of your day. Later.