Transfers and An NBA Draft Declaration
Since the end of the season five Georgia Tech players have announced that they were transferring and one has declared for the NBA draft.
Just after the season Amaree Abram announced that he was transferring. Abram transferred in from Ole Miss last year and seemed like the most promising of the transfers after having a decent freshman year in the SEC. In the end he barely played this season. He got some playtime in the first couple of games of the season, but played fewer than 30 minutes total in the ACC season. It seems like he and Damon Stoudamire didn’t get along well and that caused the lack of playtime. I’m intrigued to see where Abram ends up. He was a solid recruit who had a decent freshman year and is clearly talented. I think a low level power school could take a shot on him or he goes down a little bit to an AAC or A10 school or similar. He has two years of eligibility left.
On March 25th Ebenezer Dowuona announced that he was transferring. Dowuona transferred in last season when it seemed like the Yellow Jackets were desperate for a big man to fill minutes. The surprising rise of Baye Ndongo left only backup minutes for Dowuona and he seemed to lose out to Tyzhaun Claude for the remaining minutes. He then got hurt late in the season which ended his year. Dowuona played about at the level as was expected from his time at NC State. His size is useful, but he doesn’t particularly do anything else at an ACC level. Centers are always at a premium in the portal, but I don’t expect any major conference team to bite unless they’re desperate. Moving down would help Dowuona by getting him consistent playtime and making his size a bigger advantage. He has one year remaining.
Last week Tyzhaun Claude announced he was transferring. He transferred in last season from Western Carolina. We thought that he had decent skill in the post, but would be limited due to his size. That was exactly what happened. He played hard and had some big moments this season (he put up 19 points in that nailbiter over Howard and he put up 38 huge minutes in that overtime win at Clemson. His post defense on PJ Hall and Ian Schieffelin was instrumental). But for the most part he was limited to spelling Ndongo when he needed a breather and had a limited role in the offense. He was excellent at Western Carolina before coming to GT so he’d definitely succeed dropping a level. The one worry though is that he would need an NCAA waiver to have eligibility and it’s not clear how lenient they will be this offseason.
The next announced transfer was Deebo Coleman earlier this week. Coleman came in as a heralded recruit who was a sharpshooter with serious potential as an offensive playmaker. The shooting came in as expected, but the rest of his offensive game never developed the way some thought it would. This year he mostly played the 3-and-D role and was a decent, not great, defender. He is strong and he could finish inside when he got to the rim, but struggled to beat defenders off the dribble. This season started off promisingly with big games in the win against Georgia Southern and a huge 24 point performance in the loss to UMass-Lowell. But after that he cooled down and his role diminished as the season went on. It’s not clear to me if he lost confidence or if Stoudamire just chose to shift focus on offense to other players (like Naithan George and Baye Ndongo). Coleman seems like a great person and a solid veteran leader. I’ll be cheering for him wherever he ends up.
And yesterday Tafare Gapare announced that he was transferring. Gapare came in last season as a very raw power forward from UMass. I thought he made some strides this season and had a decent chance at a breakout year next season. His size and athleticism made him useful on defense, although he was prone to lack of focus and got discouraged when he made a mistake. He did not have the best skill offensively, but he showed some promise and was actually a good player in chaos situations. When the defense had time to set up though he struggled. Gapare went off in the overtime win against Penn State in NYC and went on a decent run at the end of the season where he was playing 20+ minutes per game. I’m a little surprised and disappointed in this one. I think Gapare would be a useful piece next year and he seemed to be developing some. I’m not sure what’s next for him. With two years to play does another major school take a shot on his potential? I don’t know. I wish him the best of luck though, he seems like a great guy.
And finally, this week Miles Kelly announced that he was declaring for the NBA draft. Kelly declared last year as well before getting feedback from the NBA and coming back to college to work on improving his stock. Kelly was still a good player, but it was a disappointing season. He struggled with shooting at points (which was his calling card) as evidenced by his FT% dropping from 90% to just 73% this year. He also didn’t improve much in his shot creation which was a point of emphasis for him based on the NBA feedback. Kelly could still return (or return to college and transfer somewhere else). I doubt that Kelly’s draft stock improved after this season so I suspect he’ll be back in college. I would love for him to come back. He’s a good college player who’s close to being really, really good. I’d love to see him make that leap at GT.
So where does that leave the roster? By my count GT has 10 scholarships currently accounted for with Miles Kelly potentially being 11. Baye Ndongo, Naithan George, and Kowacie Reeves played solid minutes last year. Lance Terry redshirted last year due to an injury and is expected to return. Ibrahima Sacko and Ibrahim Souare were freshmen last year who didn’t see much playing time (Souare redshirted), but neither have announced a transfer yet so I expect them to back. Throw in the four recruits and that’s 10. I think that both Kyle Sturdivant and Carter Murphy technically have another year of eligibility (or potential one), but it seems like neither will return. So that leaves two or three spots for a transfer depending on what happens with Miles Kelly. Of course that can change at any moment with one of these players transferring.