Strengths:
He's one of those point guards with excellent strength, a strong upper body and low center of gravity. We like him as a distributor. Will use his body to get into the lane and finds teammates. He can play honestly behind the 3-point line. Should be a solid assist man.
Weaknesses:
Gaines isn’t overly vocal. He tends to defer instead of command his team. The next step is seeing himself as the main cog and the guy who runs the offense. There’s a residue of combo guard that still remains in his game. Good not great overall speed.
Bottom Line:
Our take is that Gaines is pursued at the highest level for a number of reasons. Physcially, he’ll be ready to come in and play minutes as a freshman; there’s little doubt about that. We see him as a point guard that finds a home in a BCS league. Look for him to continue learning the position but playing his final two years as a starter.
Notes
Travel Team: Georgia Stars…
@Dmcdonaldhoops: Kenny Gaines has added offers from Va Tech, Florida State, Charlotte, Colorado, Arkansas, Alabama, Auburn, Texas Tech, and West Virginia.
To me that says a lot to what the coaches think Mayfield’s impact will be next (3) year. Thinking positively maybe he is more of a PG than SG or SF. Thinking negatively maybe he just didn’t prove to have the potential the coaches were looking for in practice last year.
I am surprised to see so many SGs being recruited regardless. Looking at the 2012-2013 roster I’d think C, PF, SF would be the priority, in that order.
RT @CollegiateHoops: Kenny Gaines '12 of Whitefield Academy (GA) visited Clemson, Georgia & Georgia Tech. He said he wants to make his decision by late August.
To me that says a lot to what the coaches think Mayfield’s impact will be next (3) year. Thinking positively maybe he is more of a PG than SG or SF. Thinking negatively maybe he just didn’t prove to have the potential the coaches were looking for in practice last year.
I am surprised to see so many SGs being recruited regardless. Looking at the 2012-2013 roster I’d think C, PF, SF would be the priority, in that order.[/quote]
Mayfield is a SG with PG background. I don’t want to go with the negative perspective, so perhaps we just haven’t seen many SFs we like and think we can get, or we don’t plan to use a true SF position player extensively.
The positions of seniors for 12/13 are C, C/PF, PF, and SG/PG. So I agree, having only 1 SF so far on 12/13’s roster, I’d say priority is at least the positions you mention if not that order. I’d say C and PF are a clear must for that year’s recruiting, so it’s either SF or SG. But if we only went with one C or PF that year, then it is def SF and SG.
To me that says a lot to what the coaches think Mayfield’s impact will be next (3) year. Thinking positively maybe he is more of a PG than SG or SF. Thinking negatively maybe he just didn’t prove to have the potential the coaches were looking for in practice last year.
I am surprised to see so many SGs being recruited regardless. Looking at the 2012-2013 roster I’d think C, PF, SF would be the priority, in that order.[/quote]Maybe, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that. It may be that the coaches are just going after higher level recruits at SG because we can afford to miss at this position for '12. But if a dynamite recruit does come, great! Our coaches seem to value versatility quite a bit, so finding a SG might also potentially cover the PG and SF spots, or Mayfield might play more SF if a great SG comes in (or T. Williams earns the spot, etc.).
The other thing to keep in mind is that 2012 recruits would be freshmen when Mayfield is a junior. This is what we should really aim for in recruiting, a freshman/sophomore backup to a junior/senior starter (assuming the freshman isn’t a better player right away). This helps you avoid situations that we’ve faced several times in the last few years when a few recruits fell through, and injuries or transfers left us with zero depth at a position. I’d like to get to the point where we are not fretting that a decent recruit either won’t come here if an upperclassman is at their position, or that it necessarily means the upperclassman is not good enough to play. They might value playing time, but they don’t need the entire depth chart cleared for them in order to get playing time.
Edit: Forgot Mayfield is a soph, not a junior transfer. Still, he’d be a junior versus the freshman 2012 recruit.
Kenny Gaines picked up offers from Miami and Marshall this weekend. He also mentioned that South Carolina, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Iowa, Marshall, Arkansas, College of Charleston, Missouri, Virginia Tech, Colorado, Miami, Louisville, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and West Virginia as the schools recruiting him.
RT @KennyGaines23: My Top Five…(no set order) University of Georgia, University of South Carolina, Clemson University, University of Iowa, & Georgia Tech.