1. I think Heide is a good but not great defender. I think Gillis was also a good but not great defender. I think Heide is certainly better at defending wings but Gillis is roughly as good at defending bigger players which is where he'd be mostly playing.
2. Queen got 26ish points yesterday. So it's not like Berg or Furst slowed him down in the slightest. Neither did TKR to be fair but the offensive threat Gillis brings would help us on the offensive end way more than Berg or Furst have. And we'd get similar defensive production.
3. What is Berg or Furst a threat to do? Gillis at least has the reputation of three point shooting which means he draws out bigs on offense in a way the other two are not which could open things up for TKR. UCONN took everything we did away except Edey so I'm not sure that's any more and indictment of Gillis than Loyer or Smith or anyone else on the team. They made the correct choice that Edey can have his and they'd lock everyone else down.
4. Duke didn't take Gillis because Edey transferred over so I'm pretty sure they saw some individual talent in him without Edey. The fact that Painter would have taken him back shows he did too. No one is saying Gillis is shooting 50 percent from three or is dominating, but he absolutely would have helped this team and no he wouldn't take minutes away from Heide. That person was Jacobsen but he's hurt because that slides TKR to the 4 which is what is going to happen next season anyways.
5. You didn't like the idea of a portal 4 next season either because again you thought it would take minutes from Heide. I like Heide. I am glad he's here. I think as a senior he's going to be a, wait for it, Gillis-like performer who hits threes and plays good defense and rebounds. I think he has a chance at stardom but he's going to need to be a lot more consistent and aggressive than he's shown so far. I think it's not a guarantee he's going to be so good that we can't let anyone else come and take minutes at the 4 lest he lose some minutes there.
We rolled into this season with Jacobsen and TKR with Heide as a viable option against smaller 4s and then Berg and Furst for spot minutes and that was a viable plan where you don't necessarily need a Gillis like player.
But now we see that Jacobsen is hurt, Heide is still inconsistent (to be fair so is Colvin), and Berg and Furst for different reasons are struggling to provide meaningful minutes. So yeah, having a player like Gillis would help this team. Is that an indictment of anyone? No. Painter didn't run him off, and no one could have predicted a freak broken leg. But yeah, Gillis would have helped and it's a bit mind boggling to me anyone would disagree.
1. Not sure we actually know if Gillis is better at defending bigs, as we did not see him much, if at all, with TKR at the 5 and Gillis at the 4. He always had Zach backing him up. So tough to compare IMO.
2. Gillis is slower than Heide and would play the 4, so if he played with TKR, I think we are slower as a team and not sure he’s getting a ton of open 3s, but with Braden anything is possible, I suppose. Gillis would have been downright bullied by Queen or JuJu. Did you not see Broome dunk on him?
3. Yeah, he’s a better shooter than those two. But also 4-6 inches shorter, would be a mismatch on the defensive end if teams are at 2 bigs 6’10+. But I can understand your point here, just don’t think it’d work that much better, maybe a bit.
4. Duke took Gillis cuz he showed he was a good shooter from 3 (50%) and possibly be a good complement to Flagg or their other pieces—maybe be an enforcer and a veteran who wouldn’t get shook in big time games. And Paint would take him, Morton and edey back. He said so in an interview. But it wouldn’t guarantee Mason was going to play his usual 20/g minutes.
5. Gillis isn’t a 4 for this team. They’d play too slow and be smaller. And what transfer is coming to a team with no guaranteed playing time, potentially not that much $$ and to be the 4th-6th option on option? Not sure why a lot of posters think these guys grow on trees and that they’d absolutely want to come here under those circumstances. We also had no room, but next year we will. And through ten games in his sophomore season, Heide is,
wait for it, already “Gillis like” by averaging similar, if not better numbers as sophomore Gillis did through his first ten games and shooting very similar %s and is looking like he’s only getting better. Heides athleticism gives him morning an advantage as well, can block shots, grab boards and go in for the oop on fast breaks or near the hoop.
But all good, my mind is just boggled since I disagree.
