Can AJ make the jump to AA

[TopSecretBoiler]

I was comparing JJ to AJ and I think it's within the realm of possibility for AJ to make All American status. AJ's field goal percentage is extremely high and trending upwards. His blocks per game are also sky high. His rebounding needs a little boost and his free throw percentage needs to go up a few ticks. Also would be nice for him to have less turnovers. The biggest difference is the minutes per game. AJ is averaging in the mid 20s where JJ was already over 30 as a Junior and 35 as a Senior. Part of that is we have better depth now but part of it his AJ's foul trouble. I still feel strongly that he can be one of the most dominant players in CBB when he wants to be. Can he make the jump this year?

 

[punaj]

I think you hit the nail on the head with minutes. Purdue just has too much depth for AJ to get enough minutes to get the AA type numbers. That said, if for some reason he averaged 30-35 minutes per game, I think his numbers would be crazy good.

 

[QuadBoiler2014]

I was comparing JJ to AJ and I think it's within the realm of possibility for AJ to make All American status. AJ's field goal percentage is extremely high and trending upwards. His blocks per game are also sky high. His rebounding needs a little boost and his free throw percentage needs to go up a few ticks. Also would be nice for him to have less turnovers. The biggest difference is the minutes per game. AJ is averaging in the mid 20s where JJ was already over 30 as a Junior and 35 as a Senior. Part of that is we have better depth now but part of it his AJ's foul trouble. I still feel strongly that he can be one of the most dominant players in CBB when he wants to be. Can he make the jump this year?

The thing with the baby boilers was it was pretty much the 3 stars and then a bunch of role players. Even including Grant and Kramer in there, those guys weren't the main focus of the team.

If we had a duo or trio of NBA caliber guys and then a bunch of role guys that basically just pass to the better ones, I think you would see a differnce.

That is not this Purdue team. AJ is going to be drafted, but he isn't that far off from the rest of the team. We have 7 guys on the team that could make a legitimate case for getting 30-35 min a game. Painter has never had that before.

AJ does limit himself a but with fouls, but it has gotten better. If he could go out there and play for 35 min and Painter had him shoot 15 times, then I could see AA numbers. But that's not how we are set up.

 

[CRBoiler]

With the conditioning we have heard happened this off-season, and reports about times in the mile among other things seeming to confirm it, I think it will come down to whether or not a few players separate themselves. If so, they'll get more minutes and better per-game stats. If not, then it will be better to spread the minutes around and use the fresher legs depth provides as an advantage.