And I just don't see Atiki turning that corner for next season. Pope talked about working with him as a defensive 4, & I have no doubt that that's Atiki's best destination eventually. But the kid can't even stay alive 10 minutes most games as a 5, nevermind as a 4. He either needs a RS developmental year, or he's just gonna find himself outside the rotation once again in his Sr season.

As for Dawes — while he'd give us a great 2-way PF who kinda plays above the rim (yes — kinda) — we really need a good athletic 4 or 3-4 who can run & jump with the best of em. I think we can reasonably land that sorta kid in the Portal. (Pope's swung & missed on several every year. That 4 for Duquesne — who shut down Richie & helped big on Fouss — is a perfect example of a guy who wouldn't give you much in way of box score numbers necessarily (so therefore might be quite affordable in the Portal were he to find himself there) & yet he could be a big difference-maker in games for us. Picking up a guy like Dawes would not alleviate our kinda desperate need for a guy like that, imo.)

As I've been pretty outspoken about: Noah makes much more sense as a mismatch 3 than he does as a 4 (which is where we were forced to play he & Richie most of the season).

If Jax returns, though, I think it probably does leave us little option but to play Noah at the 4 once again, though. There'll be a logjam at the 2 & 3.