Georgia Tech Basketball: The Problem With A Possible Graduate Transfer Big Man Coming To Georgia Tech

It is not that anyone should be against the possibility of Georgia Tech picking up a graduate transfer big man to bolster the frontcourt rotation, but doesn’t anyone else see the potential problem with it?

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets /

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

It was reported on ajc.com by Ken Sugiura that the Jackets have received interest from two frontcourt players who possibly would like to spend their final year of eligibility playing ball at Georgia Tech.

Richmond Spiders forward Alonzo Nelson-Ododa and Arkansas-Little Rock forward James White are both on the Georgia Tech radar after both players listed Tech as a potential transfer spot.

It is not like both players would not be able to help the Georgia Tech cause right away.

Nelson-Ododa is 6-foot-9, 235 pounds and is second on the Richmond Spiders’ all-time blocks list with 185 rejections to his credit.

He averaged of 6.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks in 27 games last season.

For his career Nelson-Ododa averages 5.5 points on 43.4% field goal shooting with 4.8 rebounds and 2.0 blocks.

James White averaged 11.9 point, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks for Arkansas-Little Rock in 15 games last year. His season was cut short because of a stress fracture in his tibia.

For his career, White averages 9.6 points, 5.0 rebounds ad 1.1 blocks.

They both will obviously bring some experience to the floor for the Yellow Jackets, and add some frontcourt depth to go along with Charles Mitchell, Nick Jacobs, Ben Lammers, Abdoulaye Gueye, and incoming freshman Sylvester Ogbonda.

In the end, doesn’t bringing in another frontcourt player with experience essentially slow down the growth process of recruits Ben Lammers and Abdoulaye Gueye?

We are not even going to factor Sylvester Ogbonda into this situation because history has pretty much shown that he will more than likely not see much time in his freshman year given the depth and experience ahead of him, unless he proves to be some kind of phenom.

In the eyes of a lot of fans, part of the problem with the Yellow Jackets is that the player development is atrocious.

When you bring in graduate transfers, there is no way that you would expect Brian Gregory not to play them just because of the simple fact that they are going to bring front court game experience to the table.

But that also means that frontcourt players that Gregory has recruited are possibly going to miss out on the opportunity to gain game experience and improve on their games.

At this point, shouldn’t Lammers and Gueye both be in a position to be able to contribute in 2015-16? And if they are in a position, should Tech seriously be looking at bringing in another big man for the rotation?

It is understood that depth is a good thing, but overkill in a certain area could stunt the growth of players.

If anything Brian Gregory should be looking to bring in another outside shooting threat to go along with VA Tech transfer Adam Smith.