From what I've heard, I fully expect Hutty to leave, and who could blame him. And no, it doesn't make any sense to me either. If I was Drew I'd be begging him to come back. He seems like a great fit for the frontcourt next year with Alston, Rubin and Welch. We could really use his size on defense allowing Rubin or Alston to play as more of a rover and hunt down blocks. And on offense, when he is not hesitant he does a lot of great things.
My suspicion is, he's slow, and Drew wanted to play fast this year, even though that was abandoned within weeks because it completely failed. It seems to me Drew's worst qualities as a coach are his petulance and stubbornness. The former is not surprising given his youth, and the latter was not helped by the "wunderkind" status bestowed upon him last year when he underachieved with 90% of Porter's best team coming back.
That being said, I would be thrilled if the three super-seniors come back. The issue is, can they accept roles in which they can be successful, or is Norris going to play 40 minutes of ineffective ball every game again? Will Drew recognize that he plays better off-ball and be able to actually implement that? Will Welch be OK off the bench -- Kennedy too if his health doesn't improve (speaking of which, if he's coming back, why not shut him down at this point)? Will Kennedy get the push/motivation to become the playmaker we all thought he could be?
The main target in the portal should be a experienced backup PG -- doesn't need to be a guy with huge upside, just a reliable ballhandler and a decent on-ball defender. Next priority should be trying to convince Hutty to come back, and try to get Wes Rubin to re-commit. Could we use another lengthy wing?
I'm telling you, the issue is not as much about the roster as Drew needing to mature as a coach, and I think a shakeup on the staff might be necessary to achieve that. Is the roster perfect? Of course not, but anyone can see Drew is not putting them in positions to succeed. Rotations make no sense, basic issues take way too long to correct (see the press issue from earlier), and more inexperienced coaches run circles around him in-game, both with adjustments and working the refs.
And Drew's petulance seemingly causes him to play favorites and get into weird interpersonal conflicts with players. For example, it's crazy to think about now, but Saint Thomas actually was one of Drew's guys at the beginning of the season, and we were all mystified at how he was getting so much PT despite playing so terribly. Fast forward a few weeks and the relationship blows up like a pair a jilted lovers. That's the downside of Drew's "player's coach" thing, it just gets weird because eventually there is only so many minutes available, and some players will really resent when the buddy-buddy act goes away. Drew himself has mentioned multiple times now that he has struggled to get the team to focus in practice/walkthroughs.
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