re: Should Will Wade look for a traditional center or continue to play small ball?

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For me the key is WW needs to fundamentally change his defensive philosophy. I am a big WW fan and I am a believer that he has this program on the right track to be a consistently successful one by any measure.

But he needs to change what he's doing systemically on defense because in his 3 years here we have not been very good defensively, even with KBW.

Basketball is trending away from post play almost to the point of it becoming extinct. Rim protection is good to have when teams or dribble driving around you very easily, which is what is happening to us all to often. Get better at that and rim protection is not as paramount.

KBW was that rim protector, but teams also took advantage of him on switches and drove him a lot, in fact it was the main game plan for some teams and they were pretty successful exploiting it.

It would be good to have one, but I've seen teams win championships without one. My solution again is to be better overall defensively so as not to be so reliant on a rim protector to have to bail you out.

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I agree 100%. It's not a player change that is needed as much as a philosophy change.

For the OP, there is a middle ground between playing with a "traditional center" and "small ball". Wade doesn't want to play "small ball". But he also doesn't want a stiff down low who can't get up and down the court. More than anything, Wade want's superior athleticism 1-5. The guy playing the "5" has to be able to get up and down the court quickly. Reath and Epps could do that. Naz and KBW could do that. Wade isn't going to sign a 7'0 plodder. He'd much rather a 6'9 guy who can get out and run.

Leblanc is going to be a boost defensively. He's not exceptionally tall (relatively speaking). But he has great length (long wingspan) and good timing. The timing and tremendous anticipation is what makes a great shot blocker. It's why Mickey was so good despite being only 6'7 himself.

Ultimately, next year's group is only going to go as far as their defense takes them. Wade is going to have to find a way to balance his desire for creating tons of turnovers with the ability to simply just force tough shots. They can't be so reliant on steals as they have been. THAT (IMO) was the biggest reason why this team was flat out awful on defense this year. Waters was among the nation's leaders in steals each of his two seasons and that mitigated some otherwise poor defense just enough to allow LSU to win close games (games that probably shouldn't have even been close because of how good LSU was offensively). Those steals were gone this season and LSU's defense suffered mightily because of it.

Smart can create his own scoring out of nothing. Days is as efficient a scorer as their is...if he can stay out of foul trouble. Manning showed flashes before the injuries took him out of SEC play. Cam Thomas is touted as one of the better pure scorers in the freshman class. (If he returns) Watford is a great scorer (as long as he's not trying to do it as much off the dribble). I don't worry about the offense. IF everyone who we think will be returning does AND LSU shows much more commitment to defense, then this team should be in that group of 20-30 teams to start the season that have real Final Four potential.

Saw the Watford thing. He will not get drafted. But could do the G league. Smart will not get drafted either. He is talented enough to get a G league gig as well.

Not this shite again Lester Earl. You knocked Tremont Waters, now you're knocking Javonte Smart. Javonte actually improved his assist to turnover ratio thru the year and ranked at the top of the SEC in that category.

You tried throwing shade every chance you had two years ago as they team proved you wrong over and over again going 16-2 in SEC play and advancing to the sweet 16.

Stay close Lester it's going to be a fun ride.