re: LSU Basketball Recruiting Thread: 2024 (And Beyond)

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The most likely scenario is that Baker was brought in to play the majority of the minutes at the 5 because McMahon wants a big who can step out and be a consistent threat from 3

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I agree with you. As I mentioned, he was recruited to be poor man's KJ 2.0 (stretch big, offense oriented). The reason I mentioned that McMahon could be lacking in his rotations/lineup aspect of coaching is that he took a ridiculously long time to give Dean a chance and even then let Baker play more than he should.

We know why Baker was recruited here. But at some point as a HC you have to recognize when one player is better than another. 5 minutes left in a SECT game is way too late.

The reason I only provided those two options was because to me those are the eventual conclusions down the road.

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Baker started the season playing that role relatively well.

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Nicholls flat out exposed him by playing a 2-3

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once he finally came to the conclusion that Baker could no longer effectively play the stretch 5 role

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Maybe adapt your scheme and rotations to fit your players strengths instead of forcing a scheme on players that can't do it and playing a worse player because you want your scheme to work?