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If I had to bet, it's Evan Taylor of Lehigh.

EDIT: It's Evan Taylor.

Can't wait to hear!

He shoots a very good percentage from three. Good numbers overall regardless of competition. Really looks like a good addition on paper. If he signs and we get a big man along with Lawrence coming back, I will be very optimistic.

Crystal Ball shows him to Vandy.

Where is the transfer crystal ball located at?

Confirmed--it's Evan Taylor.

Stack has a fetish for swingmen. Seriously, though, he's a good prospect.

Here's more from the Hustler: https://vanderbilthustler.com/2023/04/1 ... an-taylor/.

Great! Glad to have him- for a year.

AuricGoldfinger wrote: ↑Wed Apr 19, 2023 3:31 pm If I had to bet, it's Evan Taylor of Lehigh.

EDIT: It's Evan Taylor.

Looks like he has a covid season left so this will be his only season at Vandy. First blush look is that for Lehigh he was very heavily used - played almost 32 mpg on average and took 27.5% of shots while he was on the floor - which means he put up a lot of shots and was on the court most of the time. He has good height at the wing - listed at 6'-6" and is a good shooter - hit 42% of his threes after hitting 41% last season. Not one dimensional though, as he took more shots from inside the arc than he did outside of it - though his shooting percentage from 2 was not great, he probably was forced to create more offense than is most efficient for him (this is similar to Manjon, who had a poor efficiency at UCD due to his having to shoot and score a lot for them).

He was good from the line last season at over 80% and didn't turn the ball over very much - just 10.4% of his possessions. He is not much of a creator, but did grab 21% of available defensive boards, which is very impressive for a skinny 6'-6" player.

This looks like a great pickup - pull back his shots to 20% and make him a 3rd option behind Lawrence and Manjon and you have a dangerous wing scorer who can put up 15 points but will likely give you 9-11 most nights by letting the game come to him. I wouldn't be surprised if this is an automatic upgrade over Stute. He almost certainly is an upgrade over Thomas, by a pretty good margin. He is a totally different player than Wright is, but this gives us a legitimate option at the 3 next season should we decide to play Smith at the 4.

Welcome to the team!

Shots a little slow. He will need to be quicker in sec but he’s gotta be an upgrade over Thomas just in size alone

Jason94 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 19, 2023 5:42 pm

AuricGoldfinger wrote: ↑Wed Apr 19, 2023 3:31 pm If I had to bet, it's Evan Taylor of Lehigh.

EDIT: It's Evan Taylor.

He is a totally different player than Wright is, but this gives us a legitimate option at the 3 next season should we decide to play Smith at the 4.

The obvious answer of course is "it depends on the match-ups at the time", but do you see Smith at the 4 as being a viable option very often?

geeznotagain wrote: ↑Wed Apr 19, 2023 7:23 pm

Jason94 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 19, 2023 5:42 pm

AuricGoldfinger wrote: ↑Wed Apr 19, 2023 3:31 pm If I had to bet, it's Evan Taylor of Lehigh.

EDIT: It's Evan Taylor.

He is a totally different player than Wright is, but this gives us a legitimate option at the 3 next season should we decide to play Smith at the 4.

The obvious answer of course is "it depends on the match-ups at the time", but do you see Smith at the 4 as being a viable option very often?

Yes - part of the reason Stute left I would imagine is that besides not being featured as an offensive go-to guy, his PT was being taken up by Smith at the end of the season. Smith is listed at 6'-8", which is plenty tall enough, and he can play a stretch 4 on offense. The one thing he will have to improve on is his defensive rebounding, but understanding that he was just a freshman last season and is probably the player who most likely will exhibit a big jump is important in what we might expect of him next season.

In addition, unless things change, he is the most experienced player we can play at either the 4 or 5 spots right now. The only other option in the post is Dort who missed a ton of time due to injury and didn't play much when healthy, or the freshman Lang. I do expect this will change and that we will bring in at least one post player from the portal, but at this moment any experienced true post we bring in will be the favorite to start at the 5 next season, and we will still need someone for the 4 unless we bring in 2 experienced post players.

Another lefty!

Welcome Evan to the Vandy family!!! Looks like a good addition to raise Vandy standards!

Very good and more evidence coach us focused on VU

Hoping this is a Jordan Wright replacement and not a Tyrin Lawrence replacement.

bernstml19 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2023 8:19 am Hoping this is a Jordan Wright replacement and not a Tyrin Lawrence replacement.

1) He couldn’t replace Ty (which is part of your point, I think).

2) I will be legitimately shocked if Ty isn’t back next season. Testing the NBA waters is part of his development plan, much as it was for Pippen after his sophomore season. Ty clearly has a strong relationship with Stack, and next year will be Ty’s team. He has a chance to solidify his NBA aspirations with another year of development in this system, and he’s smart enough to realize it.

EDIT: No disrespect to Evan Taylor, by the way. This is a great pickup! High percentage, high volume shooter who also has some ability to slash and keep defenders honest. He simply isn’t the same type of player as Ty.
Just watched some film on Taylor. Is it just me, or is he reminiscent of Matthew Fisher-Davis? He also stood 6’5, wore #5, was a high-percentage shooter, and seemed to have similar moves and shot release.

UltimateVUFan wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2023 11:48 am

bernstml19 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2023 8:19 am Hoping this is a Jordan Wright replacement and not a Tyrin Lawrence replacement.

1) He couldn’t replace Ty (which is part of your point, I think).

2) I will be legitimately shocked if Ty isn’t back next season. Testing the NBA waters is part of his development plan, much as it was for Pippen after his sophomore season. Ty clearly has a strong relationship with Stack, and next year will be Ty’s team. He has a chance to solidify his NBA aspirations with another year of development in this system, and he’s smart enough to realize it.

EDIT: No disrespect to Evan Taylor, by the way. This is a great pickup! High percentage, high volume shooter who also has some ability to slash and keep defenders honest. He simply isn’t the same type of player as Ty.
Just watched some film on Taylor. Is it just me, or is he reminiscent of Matthew Fisher-Davis? He also stood 6’5, wore #5, was a high-percentage shooter, and seemed to have similar moves and shot release.

There are some physical similarities between the two players, but from a game standpoint, MFD was primarily a player who spotted up behind the arc and let it fly. He didn't venture inside the arc much and wasn't a great finisher either. Taylor last season compares to MFD's junior season, except with fewer threes (at better accuracy) and less twos (but with worse accuracy). Probably similar athleticism, but Taylor seems to have a mid-range jumper off of a couple of bounces and was less reliant upon the three point shot. Rebounding is also a massive difference. Taylor has been really good on the defensive boards the last three seasons and would have led our team in defensive rebounding if he had the same rate and PT in each of those seasons. I'm not sure how this is possible, and it could have to do with the level of competition, but those rebounding numbers are eye opening.

Taylor appears to be an excellent replacement for pretty much any player we lost except for Robbins. Very good start to our portal forays.

Jason94 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2023 12:58 pm

UltimateVUFan wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2023 11:48 am

bernstml19 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2023 8:19 am Hoping this is a Jordan Wright replacement and not a Tyrin Lawrence replacement.

1) He couldn’t replace Ty (which is part of your point, I think).

2) I will be legitimately shocked if Ty isn’t back next season. Testing the NBA waters is part of his development plan, much as it was for Pippen after his sophomore season. Ty clearly has a strong relationship with Stack, and next year will be Ty’s team. He has a chance to solidify his NBA aspirations with another year of development in this system, and he’s smart enough to realize it.

EDIT: No disrespect to Evan Taylor, by the way. This is a great pickup! High percentage, high volume shooter who also has some ability to slash and keep defenders honest. He simply isn’t the same type of player as Ty.
Just watched some film on Taylor. Is it just me, or is he reminiscent of Matthew Fisher-Davis? He also stood 6’5, wore #5, was a high-percentage shooter, and seemed to have similar moves and shot release.

There are some physical similarities between the two players, but from a game standpoint, MFD was primarily a player who spotted up behind the arc and let it fly. He didn't venture inside the arc much and wasn't a great finisher either. Taylor last season compares to MFD's junior season, except with fewer threes (at better accuracy) and less twos (but with worse accuracy). Probably similar athleticism, but Taylor seems to have a mid-range jumper off of a couple of bounces and was less reliant upon the three point shot. Rebounding is also a massive difference. Taylor has been really good on the defensive boards the last three seasons and would have led our team in defensive rebounding if he had the same rate and PT in each of those seasons. I'm not sure how this is possible, and it could have to do with the level of competition, but those rebounding numbers are eye opening.

Taylor appears to be an excellent replacement for pretty much any player we lost except for Robbins. Very good start to our portal forays.

After seeing some film, we are again in agreement. MFD is more of a pure shooter while Taylor can handle the rock and slash and drive in a very SEC athlete style. Very crafty when he gets into the lane with the ball to shoot or dish off. That can help break down a defense. Can help open up the three-line for other guys.