A quick look at NBA mock drafts out there suggests that Arizona State transfer Remy Martin will, in fact, be in Lawrence for the 2021-22 college basketball season.
[Martin, who committed to KU on Monday night,][1] will be going through the pre-draft workout process, but his situation is one that seems to be a player in pursuit of feedback from NBA officials rather than dogged, do-or-die pursuit of a spot in the league.
If that’s the case, Martin is an automatic starter for the Jayhawks next season. His blend of speed, skill and experience provide a deep and talented Kansas roster with a couple of things it was missing.
His 3-point shooting prowess, which seems to have unlimited range and complete confidence, is merely an added bonus to the ball handling, quickness and been-there-done-that vibe that Martin will bring to the program.
With that in mind, here’s a quick look at a couple of different projected lineups for the Jayhawks, one with both Ochai Agbaji and Jalen Wilson coming back for another season and one that projects Agbaji to stay in the draft.
> PG – Remy Martin
>
> SG – Ochai Agbaji
>
> 3G – Christian Braun
>
> 4 – Jalen Wilson
>
> C – David McCormack
That, to me, is the absolute best starting lineup KU can put on the floor heading into next season. Not only is it a veteran group, but it has good size, speed, toughness, athleticism and scoring potential inside and out.
I think it’s easy for people to jump to conclusions about newcomers playing monster roles. And, in Martin’s case he absolutely will. But automatically taking a guy like Braun out of the starting lineup seems a little premature to me. Braun has been with the program for two-plus years now and knows what it takes to play for Self. All nine of those newcomers will be experiencing that for the first time, and there, no doubt, will be a little adjustment period there.
Besides, if Braun makes the kind of jump that many people believe he can make — especially as a consistent 3-point shooter — it will be awfully hard to keep him off the floor at any point in the game.
Add to that the fact that the second unit behind that group of five is pretty stacked, too, and it’s easy to see why KU, which was already a top 10 team in most people’s eyes heading into next season, jumped into the top five after news of Martin’s commitment on Monday.
In that scenario, the second unit would feature even more quickness, with Dajuan Harris, Joseph Yesufu and Bobby Pettiford all subbing in at the guard spots and freshmen Zach Clemence and KJ Adams playing behind Wilson at the 4 and Cam Martin and Mitch Lightfoot sliding into McCormack’s spot at the 5.
The only two scholarship players I haven’t mentioned yet are reclassifying freshman guard Kyle Cuffe Jr., who may be a solid redshirt candidate in Year 1, and juco transfer Sydney Curry, who would provide KU with bonus size and muscle inside but likely will not have a huge role right away.
Now, let’s say Agbaji gets the kind of feedback he’s looking for and decides to leave KU. Like most people, I think Agbaji is more likely than Wilson to stay in the draft.
If that winds up being what happens — whether you think it should or shouldn’t — the lineup would likely look something like this:
> PG – Remy Martin
>
> SG – Joseph Yesufu
>
> 3G – Christian Braun
>
> 4 – Jalen Wilson
>
> C – David McCormack
All you’re doing there is sliding Yesufu, the Drake transfer, into Agbaji’s spot and hoping he can pick up the scoring slack you would lose by seeing Agbaji leave early.
One other thing to consider if that winds up happening is the fact that KU then would have yet another scholarship to offer and could go out looking for another pure shooter in the transfer portal to make up for what they would be losing with Agbaji leaving town.
Agbaji, Wilson and Martin all have until early July to make their final decisions, so this remains a bit of an ongoing process.
But the addition of Martin, provided he does in fact make it to campus, definitely provides some early clarity for KU’s starting lineup and rotation heading into the 2021-22 season.
[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2021/may/17/arizona-state-transfer-remy-martin-commits-kansas/
