Everything went right in his first season. Just about everything went wrong in coach Josh Pastner’s second season at Georgia Tech. And now, with the Yellow Jackets’ 2017-18 season in the past, Pastner has begun honing in on his third season.
“I think we can be good,” Pastner said. “We need to take the next step.”
In a Friday interview with local media in his staff conference room, Pastner laid out some of the plans for the Jackets over the next several months. He wouldn’t specify a win total for the coming season, but gave an idea of where he wants to lead the Jackets.
“I really think in Year 3, we need to be in the mix, somewhat, of discussion for the (NCAA) Tournament,” he said.
That would be akin to what the Jackets did in the 2016-17 season, when the Jackets were on the tournament bubble until losing four of their final six regular-season games and their first-round game of the ACC Tournament. An ACC team in the conversation for the tournament likely would be in the high teens for wins and, at the least, would presumably make the NIT if it didn’t make the NCAA field.
Among the objectives for the offseason:
1. Return guards Jose Alvarado and Curtis Haywood back to health.
Alvarado, who fractured and dislocated his elbow in mid-February and then had surgery on it, was to get the cast removed this past Friday. Pastner said Alvarado should be ready to practice by the time summer workouts.
Haywood, who didn’t play in the final 11 games of the season because of a stress reaction in his shin, was to have surgery Tuesday to have a rod inserted into his leg. The hope had been that the time off would have enabled his shin to heal on its own, but that did not prove the case. After surgery, a recovery of eight to 10 weeks is expected.
The health of both players is important, as both were starters before their injuries. Among returnees, Alvarado is the only viable option at point guard and Haywood proved a legitimate 3-point threat.
2. Fill out the roster.
With the transfer of guard Justin Moore, Tech has one available scholarship spot. It could be two if guard Josh Okogie, who declared for the NBA draft last week but left room to return, decides to stay in the draft. Pastner said he and his staff will recruit with the idea of signing two players.
With center Ben Lammers’ career finished, finding a post player would be preferred, but Pastner’s focus will be the two best players available. If Okogie returns for his junior season, there would obviously be just one addition.
It could be a high-school senior, a transfer or a graduate transfer. One possibility is a senior who has signed with a school, but who gets released from his letter of intent after a coaching change. (Georgia’s two signees, JoJo Toppin of Norcross High and Amanze Ngumezi of Johnson High in Savannah, apparently will stay with the Bulldogs after the firing of coach Mark Fox and the hiring of Tom Crean.)
“In a perfect world, if we had multiple scholarships, I would love to have a transfer big come in and sit out like Shembari (Phillips) did.”
Phillips, a shooting guard, sat out this past season as a transfer from Tennessee and will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.
3. Improve 3-point shooting.
Tech finished this season 325th this season at 31.8 percent after ranking 266th in the 2016-17 season at 33.1 percent. Pastner sees effective 3-point shooting as a pillar for the Jackets’ success, as it has been for two teams that he wants to model the Jackets after, Notre Dame and Virginia.
Tech figures to shoot more effectively with the return of Haywood and Alvarado (both 37 percent from 3-point range) and the graduation of guard Tadric Jackson (28.6 percent). Incoming freshmen Michael Devoe and Kristian Sjolund have reputations as accurate perimeter shooters.
And part of improving the 3-point shooting will be recruiting better shooters in the 2020 class and beyond.
“I’m just telling you, the whole thing is 3-point shooting and guard play,” Pastner said.
4. Develop the roster
Rising sophomore forwards Evan Cole and Moses Wright both came off the bench to log heavy minutes in the final games of the season. Both now have an offseason to gain strength and raise their skill level. Both had trouble defending without fouling. Ballhandling was an issue. Wright shot 30.7 percent from the field.
They’ll now be asked to contribute more significantly and consistently. Pastner wants to see Wright improve in his effort day to day and within practices.
“One of those two needs to be a breakout guy,” Pastner said. “I think Moses is either going to be our 12th man-type guy or he’ll be our first, second or third best player. It’s going to be one or the other. It’s not going to be anywhere in between.”
5. Rejigger the schemes.
With the addition of Phillips and freshmen Khalid Moore, Devoe and Sjolund and the departure of Lammers and Jackson (”They were a little more on the plodder side,” Pastner said), Tech will be the fastest and most athletic that it has been in Pastner’s three seasons. Pastner played at a slower pace in part to take advantage of Lammers’ ability to pass out of the post.
With the increased speed, Pastner said, “we’ll have to utilize that more and that will include pressing and how we want to play offensively.”
It doesn’t necessarily mean that Tech will go away from the Princeton-style scheme heavy on cutting and spacing. And whether or not Okogie returns, and who else Tech signs, will be factors, as well. Pastner said he wants to have a clearer idea when summer workouts begin, likely in June.
“I don’t look at it as a Princeton method,” Pastner said. “The NBA plays how we play now. It’s the same type of system what what we do. It’s basketball. You can play with great pace with it. But it doesn’t work if you don’t have the shooters, and I that’s what I keep saying.”
6. Keep on the path.
Pastner said he is “obsessive” and “highly motivated” to get Tech back into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010 and to a point where the Jackets appear in the tournament routinely. He takes hope, again, from Notre Dame and Virginia.
“That’s what we want to do,” he said. “That’s what we need to do, and that’s our goal is to get to that point, and I believe we can do it.”
