Tennessee will welcome six newcomers to the 2019-20 basketball roster, and while at least two of those newcomers will have to wait on the NCAA to determine their eligibility for the upcoming season there is still a lot to be excited about with the new faces on the team. A balanced class of additions, there are three guards and three bigs in the mix, nicely replacing the departing members of last season's team.
Josiah-Jordan James, 6-6, 206, guard - Talk about a young man with blood flowing through his veins. His father, four of his uncles, and his older brother all played college basketball. His mother is a former Division I basketball official. This young man knows the game and knows it well. Although not the quickest guard, he uses his average speed in conjunction with his well-developed physique to attack the rim, although he does so looking for opportunities to create for others. He's an aggressive rebounder who can use his frame and leaping ability to box out against larger forwards. He attacks the rim with the mindset that he's going to destroy it or anything in his way, but he's also a smart player capable of pulling up and using a solid mid-range shot to score. However, he has a glaring offensive weakness in that he isn't a consistent threat from three, an area Barnes and staff will need to work with him on in order to make him a more complete guard. As a defender, he can guard the one through the four, and indeed he averaged over five blocks per game as a senior. James can also be a bit careless with the ball and his ball handling as well, so he'll need to clean these areas up if he's going to operate at the point guard position as the staff is currently envisioning for him. A 5-star recruit, fans will, of course, worry about whether or not he will elect to go pro after his freshman season, but at this time it's likely his game is lacking enough in polish that he will need more than one season in Knoxville to secure a first-round selection.
Davonte Gaines, 6-6, 164, guard - Gaines had a strong senior campaign with 18 points, 8.8 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 4 steals, and 2.5 blocks per game. He followed that up with a year in prep school at Hargrave Military, where he averaged about 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists per game. Gaines is lanky and will desperately need to add onto his long frame, but he's a strong finisher at the rim with good speed and athleticism to get up and down the floor. Gaines is also another strong defender. No surprise with Rick Barnes assembling the team. He lacks a polished shot at this point and more frequently needs others to create for him rather than displaying a regular ability to create for himself. However, further physical development may help him develop the tools to become more of a playmaker in his own right. For now, Gaines is a lengthy slasher and quality defender. That said, short of injuries or a huge summer/fall of development, this is a young man heading directly toward a redshirt season to work on his physique and tools.
Victor Bailey Jr., 6-4, 190, guard - Where James and Gaines lack in the shooting department, Bailey picks right up. Indeed, the Oregon transfer played a fair bit in Eugene the last two seasons, averaging 41.5% on his field goals, 38.3% from three, and 88.9% from the free throw line. Generally regarded as a three-and-D player, he averaged 17.9 minutes per game in his 73 games played for the Ducks. While characterized by some as a point guard, I've found little about his game to suggest that this is a fair way to look at his skill set. In fact, there's significantly more about his background that suggests he's a shooting guard at heart as he hasn't done much at this point in his collegiate career to suggest he's a facilitator for others. Another quality defender, he's more of a glue guy than a defensive playmaker, not necessarily forcing a lot of turnovers but smothering his man to limit scoring and passing opportunities. It's reasonable to assume that Tennessee will file an appeal on Bailey's behalf for immediate eligibility, but there certainly seems to be less optimism about his chances of being granted immediate eligibility than there is with another player to be discussed later in this article.
Olivier Robinson-Nkamhoua, 6-8, 210, forward - Originally hailing from Finland, he played for the Finnish under-16 team in 2016 as a point guard, so his growth into a forward is a slightly more recent development, and his development into a 4-star basketball recruit becomes even more impressive when you consider the fact that he missed his junior season with a broken leg. He came back strong, however, averaging 17 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game, utilizing his 7-foot wingspan, decent athleticism, and skill set that mixes together guard and forward tools. While his athleticism won't necessarily blow anyone away, he has a reasonably complete game that allows him to do many of the same things that made Grant Williams a star in Knoxville. In fact, Robinson-Nkamhoua is likely to be a significant part of the plan to replace Williams next season. I think it's fairly likely he avoids a redshirt.
Drew Pember, 6-9, 190, forward - An ESPN 4-star recruit, Pember is a long forward with some guard skills in his tool chest. Pember is an effort player more than someone with unique length or elite athleticism, but he turns that effort into quality shooting, decent passing and distribution, and a defensive skill set that enables him to hold up against guards and forwards alike. The glaring weakness for Pember right now is, well, weakness. He's in pretty desperate need of added strength, and because he's a quality shooter he has an underdeveloped back to the basket post game. He could also stand to do a better job of boxing out on rebounds, but that should come with added bulk on his frame. He can score from pretty much anywhere, rebounds relatively well for a guy as slender as he is, and typically averages multiple blocks and steals per game. The lack of strength should see him redshirting as a freshman to fill out short of a particularly strong offseason in the weight room.
Uros Plavsic, 7-0, 240, center - The big Serbian will help fill a big void left by the departure of Kyle Alexander if he's granted immediate eligibility, which the coaches seem to think is a good possibility. Plavsic came to the US from Serbia ahead of his senior season and played his lone season of American high school ball in Chattanooga, averaging 9.6 points and 7.5 rebounds a game for his Hamilton Heights Christian Academy team that won the NACA national championship. Prior to that, he played in Serbia and crossed paths with current NBA players Nikola Jokic and Ivica Zubac. Plavsic is an effective low-post player with a solid defensive game, and he addressed one of the bigger concerns coming out of high school when he packed on roughly 30 pounds as a redshirt freshman at Arizona State. He's athletic enough to run the floor effectively and has a three-point shot in his offensive arsenal, albeit not an exceedingly effective one. He's shown himself to be almost as effective on the offensive glass as the defensive, an area Tennessee found themselves struggling with at times last year. Big areas for improvement at this point for Plavsic are floor awareness and increasing his aggression without it killing him with fouls. If he's eligible, it's difficult to imagine that he doesn't start right away.
