Lewis to Transfer

[1801olney]

Alex Kline ‏@therecruitscoop 1m1 minute ago

La Salle guard Khalid Lewis will transfer & is eligible immediately, per a source.

[23won]

Cuts down on our depth next year but it is a net positive for all IMO. Good luck to Khalid on is new school choice.

[MisterD]

That sucks. He had a role here, although probably much smaller than he'll be able to find elsewhere. Hope he finds a Partin-esque situation.

[scarletexplorer]

Best of luck, always played hard. Maybe Shuler gets more of a look now, or Harris if G is really committed to rotating four guards.

Frees up another scholarship for G to land another top-100 transfer.

[calsufan]

I find it really strange for him to transfer so late. And he only has one more year left. I wonder what the back story is?

[La Salle 08]

After going to Prague too? Agreed Cal, weird.

Earned his degree already, has a chance to get another somewhere else, good on him. Good luck Khalid.

[explorer88]

I agree timing is very, very odd.

4 guard set takes a hit.

[scarletexplorer]

So if we run the 4 guard, you presume that Price/Roberts/Stukes and now Brown(?) will be the four starters? Then you bring in Shuler and Harris from the bench. Eugene when we want to go smaller, and Washington otherwise?

That's a thin bench.

[Deleted]

That leaves 7 eligible scholarship players, not counting freshmen. Figure Harris will have to play as a freshman just to have depth.

[thelasallelunatic]

Weird timing...I thought we'd get thru the offseason unscathed from the transfer bug biting us. I would think that with 1 year left, Lewis would've transferred immediately following the season. I don't think playing time was going to be an issue as the 4 guard sets open up minutes for everybody.

[MisterD]

He could have simply seen how practices were going and realized his role wasn't what he expected it would be. Which ... I hate losing him, but if we'd be risking Shuler down the line to make Khalid happy this year, I'll take this result.

[lasalle69bestever]

"I'll take the result". Me too. IMO, Khalid kept the ball in his possession too much. And I love to see it open time up for Shuler.

[calidelphia]

This is a big hit for the defensive play of the guard unit. It really signals a change in the scheme and dynamic. Without Peterson or Lewis we lose our best 2 defensive players. This team may be very aggressive offensively and rely on shooting % in that case. Congrats to Khalid on his diploma and good luck in his last year of eligibility and post grad studies. He always gave the team 100% effort and I really respected his game and ability to knock down half court shots at will.

[explorerman]

This situation has been in play for longer than people think.. actually surprised that it came to fruition at this late time..

[thelasallelunatic]

what's the back story to all this?

[Kovy]

Really surprised by this. By the end of last season Lewis was clearly ahead of Stukes on the court. I'll be interested to see why he decided to leave, especially this late.

[blueandgold]

Jul 6, 2015 13:37:13 GMT -5 calidelphia said:

I really respected his [...] ability to knock down half court shots at will.

Were we watching the same guy?

His percentages certainly improved from '13-'14 (26% FG / 21% 3PT) to '14-'15 (37% / 33%), but there were always four better shooting weapons around him.

Loved watching him on the defensive end and he'll be missed there, but this may be addition by subtraction on offense.  Probably a wash overall for La Salle.

Speaking of FG% - out of the 7 guys who averaged 20+ minutes last season, Zack (45%) and Wright (52%) were the only players besides Stukes (45%) to shoot above 40% (Peterson was next right at 40%).  Crossing fingers some others join Stukes on the right side of 40% this year or we may be in for a long season before the much anticipated '16-'17 team.

[MisterD]

Jordan is probably a true 40%+ shooter who was forced to take way too many shots while being the other team's focal point.

[stlexplorer]

Herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee's Johnnie!!!!

[luhoopsfan]

Are there any late signings/transfers about to be announced?

[a10champion15]

We know this year isn't going to be great. Still expect to find La Salle somewhere in the midpack. Going to miss Lewis on the defensive end. Always gave 100%.

The bright side is this opens more minutes for Shuler and Stukes who are our big pieces moving forward.

Our 4 guard lineup perhaps takes a little hit but for the most part I bet we just see Shuler with Stukes more often. I really hope this kid is as good as some suggest.

The offense can only be better this season with having more spacing and now more experience. I think sometimes many of us forget how young our backcourt was last season. Curious to see without Zack, Wright, Lewis and DJ how much of our defense struggles.

[calidelphia]

Jul 6, 2015 17:58:43 GMT -5 blueandgold said:

Jul 6, 2015 13:37:13 GMT -5 calidelphia said:

I really respected his [...] ability to knock down half court shots at will.

Were we watching the same guy?

His percentages certainly improved from '13-'14 (26% FG / 21% 3PT) to '14-'15 (37% / 33%), but there were always four better shooting weapons around him.

Loved watching him on the defensive end and he'll be missed there, but this may be addition by subtraction on offense.  Probably a wash overall for La Salle.

Speaking of FG% - out of the 7 guys who averaged 20+ minutes last season, Zack (45%) and Wright (52%) were the only players besides Stukes (45%) to shoot above 40% (Peterson was next right at 40%).  Crossing fingers some others join Stukes on the right side of 40% this year or we may be in for a long season before the much anticipated '16-'17 team.

Strictly talking about half court shots. 2-2 last year iirc.

[rp01]

I heard a rumor that the four guard, one center lineup we used during the Sweet Sixteen run in 2012-2013 will be used again in the coming seasons, as Giannini probably realized its the reason behind our success (the last two seasons were still partially successful in my opinion). Lewis did not find his rhythm here and probably can be a star at a lower level Division 1 school... hopefully it works out well for him. However, the lineup this season, assuming Johnson does not get the capability to play right away, will probably look somewhat like this:

1 - Shuler (small chance will start, more of a shooting guard, we also have Karl Harris who will be an incoming freshman and Rohan Brown who has been extremely underplayed and overlooked the last three seasons)
2 - Stukes (for sure)
3 - Roberts (his numbers actually weren't too impressive, but most likely will start, maybe Rohan Brown can finally get a starter role potentially)
4 - Price (for sure)
5 - Sakhniuk (he played on a national team, no matter what, coach will make sure he starts)

I think we can all agree Washington did not look like he was ready to play at all last year, and showed small glimpses of potential. Ulvydas is also apparently not polished yet, so it looks like we have zero big men. Maybe Coach G will try to mimic the success Davidson had with 4 guards, 1 forward last season? We will need to play tough defense and shoot at high percentages, however, or it will not work out.

Does anyone else think Rohan Brown has done very well last year and the year before but has continued to see very limited minutes for some unknown reason?

[rp01]

We can all agree that La Salle will not have a great season, and it is definitely better if Johnson sits on the bench this year, instead of a crappy win-now situation. This season will be bad, but it will clear the path for at least 2 great seasons within the next 3 years.

[a10champion15]

Rohan had some good games and works well against undersized teams however he doesn't particularly play any position well. He is a good role player to have and he will get more minutes this season. Hopefully he takes a step forward. We will need him to give us some depth and quality play. I don't expect La Salle to be bad just another mid pack A10 team. If the A10 taught me anything it is that depth is overrated and your backcourt paves the way to success.

It really is impossible to know what to expect from Shuler, Washington and Sahkniuk. All we really have is what people tell us and very small sample sizes. Both Josh Verlin (who said Lewis transfer is addition by subtraction) and Jon Roth spoke highly of Tony. Shuler and Sahkniuk both have had their praises as well.

Starting line up probably will be Price, Stukes, Roberts, Sahkniuk and Washington. I wouldn't mind it because supposedly Sahkniuk is a forward who can stretch the floor and has a nice shot. Shuler will probably come to sub Sakhniuk or Stukes. That will be our main rotation with Rohan probably getting 15 minutes or so while Harris and Rokas receive some junk time. Basically, you will always have 4 guys on the court who can shoot.

[theneumann64]

We'll really miss Lewis's defense in my opinion. And given the timing, and him only having 1 year of eligibility left (meaning all the transfers really don't effect him), I'm a little puzzled by the whole thing.

I'm not going to say he was the person we could least afford to lose or anything like that, but I do think it's a fairly significant loss. Either way, I wish him well going forward.

[MisterD]

I'll echo Ryan here. I'll miss Khalid and I think he's our most painful transfer in a long time, but it would hurt 10x more if he had 2 years left instead of 1. Next year, everything has to go 90th percentile for us to think postseason and I don't think Lewis' D tilts our odds all that much.

[baskets123]

I feel we may get some better possessions on the offensive end.Then you lose some good defense. So you do not lose anything but depth.This will give us another spot to get a transfer or commitment to the program.he will probably go to a school like Iona where he will get playing time and probably a NCAA tournament team.

[sweat83]

Jul 6, 2015 16:34:13 GMT -5 thelasallelunatic said:

what's the back story to all this?

Maybe the back story is that both Shuler and Stukes performed better in practice than KL, and he saw the writing on the wall? Rothstein had good things to say about both of them. Also, in the 4 games oversees, no mention of anything regarding KL's performance, that I can recall.

I understand the desire for more PT, but its not like he's projected to be a pro prospect.

In any event, I'm disappointed in the decision, and I wish him well.

[Deleted]

I'm not a stars and charts guy, however I will point out Lewis posted this very telling horoscope on twitter yesterday.

"You can forge a new path if you grab this opportunity while it lasts."