How much of a positive impact could Kyle Wiltjer.....

[ACE]

...have had on this UK team. Surprisingly, I don't recall hearing his name mentioned anywhere this entire year. Is it possible that, being surrounded by so many great athletes, that his experience, 3 ball, free throw shooting, etc. could have made a significant difference? We all know he is a defensive liability, but he had some nice positives to go along with the experience that we so desperately could have used.

[UKMustangFan]

Very little. This team's major issue has been their defense. Wiltjer would've only made that aspect worse.

[ACE]

Very little. This team's major issue has been their defense. Wiltjer would've only made that aspect worse.

If the major issue is defense, then, perhaps he wouldn't have hurt too bad there(trading poor defense for poor defense) and would have been an upside on offense? Wiltjer was a 40% 3 point shooter(this team is 32%) he was 80% free throw shooter(this team is 68%)....I think he "could"have been a big help especially in road games where our youth has performed so poorly.

[Voice of Reason]

This has been mentioned a few times in other threads. I won't say Wiltjer would have had zero impact, but not far from it. Perhaps a game or two where he got hot and hit some three's he would have helped. Nothing more than that IMO.

[LOOGY]

Wiltjer couldn't guard my Grandma. If you can't play defense on this team then you sit. He would only be playing around 5 min a game max. Wouldn't make an impact at all.

[SvFan4life]

While I think his overall impact would have been limited I do think his FT ability would have definitely helped this team. We would have had a player who could consistently shoot them and some of UK's losses could have been avoided by better FT shooting.

 

His defense makes him a liability and he'd be fighting for minutes.

[Irish Cat]

He saw the writing on the wall. If he thought he was good enough to contribute this season than I believe that he would still be here. Outside of knocking down an open three, he can't do anything that someone else on this roster does way better.

 

You can't compare Wiltjer's individual shooting stats to the team average, a better comparison would be the team average from last year to this year which is .346 to .325. Last season percentage wise Poythress, Hood, and Mays all shot better from outside the arc than Wiltjer did so you cannot completely attribute the difference in shooting percentages simply to the absence of Wiltjer.

 

Currently, while less prolific, Andrew Harrison is shooting a better percentage than Wiltjer did last year, and Polson is shooting almost as good as Wiltjer did his freshman year. Let's not forget that Wiltjer dropped 6.5% between his freshman and sophmore seasons. I'd guess a large part of that was the absence of the top two draft picks which enabled him to get completely open looks at the basket.

[kypride]

ZERO. UK needs a passing point guard who is a plus defender. Kyle is neither.

[jvdfc]

Little to none.

[gametime]

So the idea is improving this UK team by taking Randle off the floor and hoping things would have been better with Wiltjer eating those minutes........

[ACE]

So the idea is improving this UK team by taking Randle off the floor and hoping things would have been better with Wiltjer eating those minutes........

 

No, that's not the idea at all.....most criticisms toward this team have been along the lines of poor/horrible free throw shooting, youthful inexperience, average shooting, quitting on the road(youth), lack of mature leadership. I personally believe Wilter "could" have been an asset in areas of weakness. Not a cure all by any means. The athletes around Wilter would have helped cover his weaknesses.

[gametime]

No, that's not the idea at all.....most criticisms toward this team have been along the lines of poor/horrible free throw shooting, youthful inexperience, average shooting, quitting on the road(youth), lack of mature leadership. I personally believe Wilter "could" have been an asset in areas of weakness. Not a cure all by any means. The athletes around Wilter would have helped cover his weaknesses.

 

Maybe I wasn't clear enough in my stance. Wiltjer wouldn't have played more than 5-7 minutes a game max on this team. No way you take Randle off the floor for more than a breather here and there if Wiltjer is option 2 at PF...

[malachicrunch]

Maybe I wasn't clear enough in my stance. Wiltjer wouldn't have played more than 5-7 minutes a game max on this team. No way you take Randle off the floor for more than a breather here and there if Wiltjer is option 2 at PF...

 

I agree. I love looking at your um, posts...

[Wireman]

He would raised their points allowed average by 5-7 PPG.

[ACE]

Maybe I wasn't clear enough in my stance. Wiltjer wouldn't have played more than 5-7 minutes a game max on this team. No way you take Randle off the floor for more than a breather here and there if Wiltjer is option 2 at PF...

I don't disagree with that at all. I just thought there might be 7-15 minutes a game available to fill the SF or PF position when the matchups are favorable(of course, I understand KW's lack of favorable matchups). It just seems to me virtually every player on the team has shown periods of very inconsistent play and there would have been periods of time(maybe very few) where KW could have really helped. Of course, I could be wrong............wouldn't be the first time.