I'd love to see lewis take the next step, I just don't get why two years in his defense is so lousy. He's too strong and athletic to be a poor defender.
***Official 2018-19 Transfer Thread***
- Thread starter Messi
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I agree with everything you said except Lewis not having opportunity to crack the rotation. Prohm gave THT and Haliburton plenty of minutes as freshmen. If Lewis played well enough, he would have seen the court.
It sucks to say that, because I've been pulling for Lewis to turn the corner and make it hard to leave him on the bench. I was really high on him when we got him and still think he can produce at a high rate for us. I'd love to see him develop like Naz or Matt did.
Opportunity. I think he could have worked his way through it last year if he could have seen the floor more.
He wasn't better than the NBA first rounder, and a future NBA player (or Wigginton and Shayok, who are undoubtedly pros somewhere). You can be pretty good, and still not be good enough to steal minutes from that group.
I merely stated the opportunity was there had he shown to be clearly better. I didn't imply anything about it being easy.
I think it is usually pretty easy to figure out who your seven best guys are.
Better right now or not, Lewis is a year or two behind Moss developmentally. I'd rather give him the benefit of the doubt (and playing time) over bringing in a Hawkeye. Loyalty counts for something and we've had players transfer out for less than what Lewis has had to endure
Let's remember Prohm has invested 2 years in developing Lewis and wants him to succeed at ISU. If he didn't think he would get an opportunity to do so the next two years he would have told Terrence and he'd likely have transferred to a place where he could play.
I doubt Prohm would want to take Moss a player he doesn't know other than scouting against him twice at the expense of Lewis.
It is not an either/or discussion. If we were to land Moss (big if) he is our grad transfer to play alongside Lewis as much as in front of Lewis. Both on the floor at the same time would be fun on the offensive end
I thought I was responding to a conversation where it was. Maybe not. At any rate, I think we have better options than Moss if we can land them.
If he didn't want to take someone at the expense of Lewis, they wouldn't be trying to get Tucker. You add the best players you can regardless.
What if he doesn't want to transfer? Prohm hasn't showed him the door, evidence that there is still faith. So what if he wasn't good enough to steal minutes last year from a guy who will be a first round pick in the draft this year in THT, Wigginton who is one of the highest ranked recruits in program history, or Shayok.
He does need to find his niche this year. If his dreams and desire are to be a traditional 2 or 3, then I agree he should transfer. Prohm and Hoiberg before him used guys with similar builds and skill sets as undersized 4's. I'm thinking a Hogue/Ejim role would be best case for Lewis. Unless he is putting up Shayok numbers next year, his game has to have more dimensions that your prototypical 3.
The difference in impact next years and ability between Tucker and Moss especially to play the SF is pretty wide in my opinion.
I figured he was Nebby's to lose but UNLV certainly makes sense and their PT is wide open.
Even if I made the post a few pages ago about why Moss is a better player right now, I do not know why you would have to think of them as mutually exclusive.
We have a ton of wing/guard playing time open. You can never have too many guards.
If some of the higher profile graduate transfers do not work out and Prohm wants Moss as a bench gunner/troll job on Iowa, I would not see why not. Lewis is a smart kid and knew the risks in coming to a high-major school -- basketball is like any other job or life in general. You have to earn your spot. Be ready to compete for it everyday or it goes away.
