Purdue adds Jahaad Proctor, a grad transfer from High Point, who previously transferred from Iona. 6'3" SG, averaged 19.5 ppg on 33.1% 3 point shooting last year. Oddly from the prior year, his scoring went up by about 3 ppg, but his 3pt shooting went down, both in frequency and efficiency, as he started shooting about two more 2s per game, which also led to an additional 2 FTAs per game. So he's a more well rounded scorer than just a shooter.
It's very interesting... I was pulling for more of an established "space the floor" shooter, because I think we have the potential to go with some pretty massive lineups.
Emmanuel Dowuona (6'10" Center) will be coming off his RS year. The hope is that he'll be able to at least be able to take 10-15 minutes without being a liability. With Tre Williams' (6'9" 280# Center/PF) continued development and working on his conditioning, the hope is that he'll be able to take as many minutes as are available at the 5, and potentially at the 4 if he develops a little range.
I think there's a goal to put Williams and Haarms on the floor at the same time. Haarms has already shown SOME ability to hit from 3pt. Back in the Biggie/Hammons and Biggie/Haas days, Purdue tried to play some high-low with two bigs between them, but none of the three were truly athletic enough to excel in that lineup. IMHO Williams is a little quicker than Biggie and should get even better as he drops some weight, and Haarms is FAR more athletic than either Hammons or Haas.
So I think Purdue, if it proves to work, might play twin towers a bit next year. Offensively Williams can play the low post, and Haarms can be a 7'3" stretch 4. They can also play a high/low game with some PnR, where Williams is tall enough and a good enough passer to get the ball to Haarms going to the basket. Defensively, if you're up against a team with two bigs, you just let Williams defend the bruiser and Haarms defend the more athletic/rangy of the two. It's the first time I remember that Purdue actually has the roster to play two bigs successfully at the same time.
Then if you add Wheeler (6'9" athletic wing) out there, you could have a starting 5 in the 6'9" (Tre), 7'3" (Haarms), 6'9" (Wheeler), 6'4"/6'3" (Sasha or Hunter), and 6'6" (Eastern). That would be probably both the largest AND the most athletic lineup I've ever seen from Purdue. But that means you have to have Haarms or Williams as a legit perimeter threat, along with Wheeler and whoever is the 2 guard. Because it's not going to be Eastern at PG. They need to space the floor.
Which brings me back to Proctor. If you have Williams and Haarms on the floor at the same time, it doesn't give a ton of room for players to drive to the rim. We know Nojel Eastern isn't going to be a 3pt sharpshooter. If you have Williams/Haarms on the floor, clogging up the lane, and Eastern/Proctor on the floor with them? You might not have the shooting to take advantage of the bigs, and you'll get defenders sagging and causing trouble for passing lanes into the bigs.
Hopefully Proctor can return to his shooting form from 2 years ago. I think that opens up a lot of room for a 2-big lineup to operate.
