How Alabama basketball is dealing with restricted depth at point player
HOOVER, Ala.– With Labaron Philon’s return draft choice still in limbo, Alabama basketball presently has one true point player on its roster heading into the summer season.
The Crimson Tide lost starting point guard Mark Sears this offseason and is still waiting to see whether Philon stays in the NBA Draft or chooses to go back to school. That leaves junior Aden Holloway as the lone point guard on the lineup.
While that might seem like a scary proposition on paper, Nate Oats doesn’t appear too worried about his team’s existing depth at the position.
During a look at the Regions Custom pro-am on Wednesday, Oats specified that he feels returning guards Latrell Wrightsell Jr. and Houston Mallette could chip in at point player together with Holloway. Still, Wrightsell and Mallette are both coming off of injuries, while Holloway (6-foot-1, 180 pounds) played specifically off the bench last season.
On Wednesday, Oats called that “a bit of an issue.” Nevertheless, he noted that his system does not always need a real point player to manage the ball.
“You go back to our 2nd year [at Alabama] and how we had fun with Herb [Jones],” Oats stated. “We began Herb and actually kind of had 3 2-guards around him– [Josh] Primo, [Jaden] Shackelford and [John] Petty. Keon Ellis began a little bit too. All 3 of those guys, none of them were point guards. We can play where you’ve got a huge producing wing, you take a look at some of what we’ve done, maybe what we’re bringing in, what we’re looking at.”
Beyond Holloway, Mallette and Wrightsell, Miami transfer quard Jalil Bethea (6-foot-5, 190 pounds) also appears like a feasible option to manage point-guard duties. Oats also highlighted inbound freshman forwards Davion Hannah (6-6, 180) and Amari Allen (6-8, 180) as players capable of handling the ball. Alabama is also interested in California State University Northridge transfer Keontae Jones. The 6-foot-6, 192-pound wing averaged 13.1 points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.1 helps.
“We do not always need to play with just a point guard with the way we play and how we have multiple handlers playing as quick as we do,” Oats stated. “I think you can have fun with a 3 or a 4 managing the ball a lot, being a developer for us with how well some of those guys shoot it off the ball, too.”
Alabama’s lineup currently sits at 11 scholarship players, 2 listed below the NCAA limitation. Oats said he’s wanting to add a minimum of one more player before the start of the season.
“There’s still some decent guys out there,” Oats stated. “If we went into the season with just those 11, I believe we ‘d be fine, however as you saw in 2015, some injuries occur, you require some stuff.
“So we’re still looking. We’re taking a look at a couple guys. We’ll see who’s pulling their name out of the draft that’s still in the website. There’s choices out there like that.”