Illinois Hoops Recruiting Thread

[jamarvelous31]

If it's just a $ issue, then I agree there's nothing to discuss. But most people resisting bringing in another quality guy seem to be saying there just isn't room on the roster, and that's what I personally disagree with.

I think we're in better shape now than we seemed at this point last year. But there were some huge surprises (both positive and negative, but very much net positive IMO) last year that I don't think are likely every year, so I think we likely need to be quite a bit better going into next year to have good odds of finishing higher.

Stoj has until 05/27 to drop out of the draft and 5 new players are coming in the next 2-3 weeks. Seems reasonable to let the staff make sure they have bodies on campus before they pivot to filling a hypothetical hole in the back half of the roster.

I don't think people are saying there isn't room, it's that this isn't fantasy football and adding someone to a talented roster is a balancing act that the staff has earned trust to do.

 

[tatupu70]

Ty would've likely been our best, most versatile defender and 2nd best rebounder if he had stayed. That alone would've gotten him more than spot minutes at the end of the bench. He probably wanted to be a for-sure starter, which they couldn't promise him, so he left.

I think another poster already said this, but the legend of Ty Rodger's defense is funny on here. For sure he was a very easy to like player that gave 100% effort all the time, and he was also a great rebounder. But he was not a great perimeter defender in the games I watched, and the metrics show him to be slightly above average.

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

It's not about adding a 9/10th guy. It's about adding a piece that pushes Davis or Morillo down to that 9th man role.

Maybe, I just have higher expectations but I think when you look at what Illinois has retained and added already and compare them to the rest of the NCAA that it's time to push your chips in and go all in on competing for a title.

I love the retention and the returnees but it's easy to to just look at the final four appearance and forget that the team struggled in February. They got an awesome draw and took advantage but wins over Penn, VCU, and Iowa in March aren't super impressive, but a lot of the issues that showed up in February still exist(lack of defense/athleticism on the perimeter) and an offense that tends to stagnate and rely on a lot of one-on-one and iso stuff to create shots(look at how the ball stagnated against UConn).

Injuries happen and freshman don't translate all the time. What happens if Coleman or Morillo don't pan out right away? What happens if Vaaks gets injured? Does anyone think that you're going to beat Duke, Florida, or UConn playing Jake Davis significant minutes?

Nothing is going to guarantee success but the NCAA looks wide open and adding a significant piece at guard could be the different between seriously competing with the likes of Duke or ending up like Purdue and having a successful season but still end up being kind of disappointing and never a true threat.

The problem is what you're asking for is really not feasible. Duke and the Coach Cal teams of the 2010s have always been the exceptions.

Is there room to add a rotational 8th/9th man? IMO, yes, and it's kind of the missing piece at the moment.

Does it need to be a guaranteed starter and 5 star level transfer? No. There's just too much talent at the top of this roster for that to be the case. Staff tried to make it work with Blackwell, which would've been a monster addition, but it didn't work out (for whichever reason -- not going to speculate). That should tell you enough about how things stand as it pretains to that scenario.

 

[Fly Illini Fly!]

I think there's 3 groups of people here for viewing our roster:

1) we did a Blackwell-replacement level addition, as consolation for the insane possibility that we would've landed him

2) We need a #9thMan. (use soph Jake as an example: 2-3ppg on 5-10min)

3) The roster is good as is, we shouldn't need any more additions.

I'd place myself in the second grouping. However, #1 is quite unrealistic given our projected starting group.

 

[I-L-L 1318]

Ty would've likely been our best, most versatile defender and 2nd best rebounder if he had stayed. That alone would've gotten him more than spot minutes at the end of the bench. He probably wanted to be a for-sure starter, which they couldn't promise him, so he left.

Rebounder for sure...defender I question. The Elite 8 year he was often a liability when he picked up a guard and now throw in the knee injury. Just think it was a big question mark.

 

[Illinirog1970]

If it's just a $ issue, then I agree there's nothing to discuss. But most people resisting bringing in another quality guy seem to be saying there just isn't room on the roster, and that's what I personally disagree with.

I think we're in better shape now than we seemed at this point last year. But there were some huge surprises (both positive and negative, but very much net positive IMO) last year that I don't think are likely every year, so I think we likely need to be quite a bit better going into next year to have good odds of finishing higher.

I know that, in this age of instant gratification for both the team and the players, its difficult to look ahead but we will have a real dearth of big men next year as our three solid big men will assuredly leave the program. It takes a while to integrate into Underwood's system and bringing a starter-level big man in to rotate with the current front line would set us up nicely for next year.

Neither Tommy nor his brother maintained their health over their career so another big shouldn't be thought of as a ninth man but a rotational front court player for this coming year. There has to be another big man somewhere in Europe who could fill that bill.

If its a money issue that's another issue. In any case I'm sure they're waiting for the Stoyacovic (sp?) decision before moving on someone else. And I'm sure that the Coach knows his roster better than any of us and will adjust as necessary. It likely won't happen today.

 

[altgeld88]

Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk | People | Sidley Austin LLP

www.sidley.com

For those who are unaware, Sidley Austin is one of the most high-powered elite law firms in the country.

Taking his initial steps in the Josh Whitman path to power conference AD. Love that he's in M&A; I feared seeing "Compliance" under his "Capabilities" listing, the kiss of death for a young attorney.

I'm fortunate to have seen what was probably the peak of his Illini career: his 20+ mins of tick at the 5 v. Maryland here in DC in '22. That was the game immediately after the heartbreaking, nationally-televised home loss to Purdue on MLK day. Kofi was injured and Curbelo was slowed by a virus. We lost, alas.

 

[EyeoftheIllini]

Many people keep saying Ty can’t shoot? We knew he couldn’t before, but do any of the insiders have any insight into his development? Did he get better? Just curious. Even if he did, considering the level of recruits we are now pulling in, he was still behind the 8 ball.

I think the role he likely would have had here might answer your question about shooting.

 

[EyeoftheIllini]

Ty needed to use this year (and next year, if 5 for 5 is finalized) to maximize his earning potential. He wasn’t going to get the amount of money for the role he would be expected to play at Illinois. He needed to get his bag now.

I highly doubt that as one of the final adds to the roster, the “bag” Ty got from Boise was very big. I think the move was all about playing time. And the good news for Ty is that he should have every opportunity to start and play big minutes. And his clearest route to take advantage of that opportunity is as part of Boise St’s backcourt, which I think Ty might have found very appealing.

Other than Ty, their guard options are likely starter Damari Wheeler-Thomas, a grad transfer from North Dakota St; sophomore AG Neto, who averaged almost 20 minutes off the bench for Broncos last year; and two very lightly used returnees. They also have an incoming freshman SG. Their likely starter at SF is 6-7 junior Peanut Carmichael. They brought in a lot of length with now seven guys 6-8 or taller on the roster.

Boise State does have a few Illini/Illinois connections. Returner Spencer Ahrens was recruited by Illini at some point. Ty’s potential backcourt starting mate DWT is from Elgin (Larkin). Another returner Ethan Lathan is from Rockford, though he came to Boise via AZ Compass Prep. Ty will also get to forge new relationships with a couple of foreign born players. Likely transfer starter Dovydas Butka is from Lithuania and incoming freshman Kaur Tomann is from Estonia. And fun fact about Tomann, though he didn’t play there because of a torn Achilles, he joined Long Island Lutheran for his senior year. That is of course where Curbelo played.

 

[wc_illini]

I think there's 3 groups of people here for viewing our roster:

1) we did a Blackwell-replacement level addition, as consolation for the insane possibility that we would've landed him

2) We need a #9thMan. (use soph Jake as an example: 2-3ppg on 5-10min)

3) The roster is good as is, we shouldn't need any more additions.

I'd place myself in the second grouping. However, #1 is quite unrealistic given our projected starting group.

There's a gap between your #1 and #2 options. I think there's room for a (proven) key bench player- 6-8th man, 12-15mpg, gives us better options in case of injury, keeps our team more fresh through the season

 

[NarrowJ]

Well, it could win you a game or two in the regular season. That itself is a difference in a seed line.

We're already projected as a 1 seed by most. How many seed lines do you think we should try to move up from there?

On a more serious note, I've taken up too much space here with my opinion on this already, but just to summarize my thoughts:

- I think we will add one more, but it isn't going to be anyone super high-profile
- The 9th/10th on our F4 team last year were Lee & Petrovic, so surely that production won't be hard to repro
- Adding another bench piece doesn't move the needle as much as people are saying (NC favorites with vs #20ish without)

 

[Emerson Bigguns]

It's not about adding a 9/10th guy. It's about adding a piece that pushes Davis or Morillo down to that 9th man role.

Maybe, I just have higher expectations but I think when you look at what Illinois has retained and added already and compare them to the rest of the NCAA that it's time to push your chips in and go all in on competing for a title.

I love the retention and the returnees but it's easy to to just look at the final four appearance and forget that the team struggled in February. They got an awesome draw and took advantage but wins over Penn, VCU, and Iowa in March aren't super impressive, but a lot of the issues that showed up in February still exist(lack of defense/athleticism on the perimeter) and an offense that tends to stagnate and rely on a lot of one-on-one and iso stuff to create shots(look at how the ball stagnated against UConn).

Injuries happen and freshman don't translate all the time. What happens if Coleman or Morillo don't pan out right away? What happens if Vaaks gets injured? Does anyone think that you're going to beat Duke, Florida, or UConn playing Jake Davis significant minutes?

Nothing is going to guarantee success but the NCAA looks wide open and adding a significant piece at guard could be the different between seriously competing with the likes of Duke or ending up like Purdue and having a successful season but still end up being kind of disappointing and never a true threat.

The primary issue remains. Our top 8 are really good players. There are still a lot of teams out there looking for starters. There is no one out there who could come to Illinois and be presumed to start at this point. The starting 5 are REALLY good.

The staff is waiting, because currently, most players are actively shopping themselves for starting spots. Lee and Ty left to find PT. That's the #1 reason guys at the tier we would be shopping, jump into the portal. For top players, it's top dollar, for guys who have been role players, it's PT to try to become a top dollar kind of guy next year.

We've spent on top dollar guys, and we don't have much guaranteed PT to offer right now. Could a guy come in and compete with Jake, Z, and the freshmen for minutes? Sure, but Obviously Z is going to play a LOT, and Jake was a starter for much of last year, fits extremely well into his role, and has not only earned the trust of the staff and his teammates, but is viewed as a team leader. Stealing his minutes is going to be VERY difficult. So you are left trying to recruit guys who really just want to play, to a roster where they are going to have to beat out a 6'7", top 50, "Swiss army knife" kind of player for any kind of consistent minutes, or wait until someone gets hurt.

Winning aside, it's not a very attractive sell. The staff is being patient, because they know that's what they have to do. There is no reason for them to be chasing their tails running after mid-tier players who are ultimately going to say, "no thanks".

Wait until later in the cycle, see who is left when the best seats are taken, and go from there. Instead, maybe spend a little time in Europe mining for gems...

 

[lstewart53x3]

Well, it could win you a game or two in the regular season. That itself is a difference in a seed line.

If we had anybody to come in and get the ball past half court outside of Keaton, I think we win the Wisconsin game at home. Playing 6 guys was very hard - but it’s what you face when the guys at the end of the bench are essentially unplayable. You don’t want that to be the case.

If you take Justin Harmon off the team when TSJ was out, I think we lose one or two games that we didn’t.

Except Justin Harmon wasn’t the 9th man on that team, he was the 7th. Freshman DGL was 9th. He averaged 5.2 minutes/game, 1.7 points (mostly in garbage time), and shot 34% from the field / 22% from 3.

 

[CoalCity]

The primary issue remains. Our top 8 are really good players. There are still a lot of teams out there looking for starters. There is no one out there who could come to Illinois and be presumed to start at this point. The starting 5 are REALLY good.

The staff is waiting, because currently, most players are actively shopping themselves for starting spots. Lee and Ty left to find PT. That's the #1 reason guys at the tier we would be shopping, jump into the portal. For top players, it's top dollar, for guys who have been role players, it's PT to try to become a top dollar kind of guy next year.

We've spent on top dollar guys, and we don't have much guaranteed PT to offer right now. Could a guy come in and compete with Jake, Z, and the freshmen for minutes? Sure, but Obviously Z is going to play a LOT, and Jake was a starter for much of last year, fits extremely well into his role, and has not only earned the trust of the staff and his teammates, but is viewed as a team leader. Stealing his minutes is going to be VERY difficult. So you are left trying to recruit guys who really just want to play, to a roster where they are going to have to beat out a 6'7", top 50, "Swiss army knife" kind of player for any kind of consistent minutes, or wait until someone gets hurt.

Winning aside, it's not a very attractive sell. The staff is being patient, because they know that's what they have to do. There is no reason for them to be chasing their tails running after mid-tier players who are ultimately going to say, "no thanks".

Wait until later in the cycle, see who is left when the best seats are taken, and go from there. Instead, maybe spend a little time in Europe mining for gems...

I dont think there will be much mining for gems required if illinois goes Euro for a roster piece. Misko probably has them lined up in an orange and blue display case in order of position, price, and ability.

 

[blackdog]

There's a gap between your #1 and #2 options. I think there's room for a (proven) key bench player- 6-8th man, 12-15mpg, gives us better options in case of injury, keeps our team more fresh through the season

Its been pretty heavily implied that bringing someone else in for that role risks losing one of the people currently in those spots. Seems not worth it when the guy most likely to leave would the one the staff thinks has one of the highest ceilings (Morillo).

 

[Mobi]

It's not about adding a 9/10th guy. It's about adding a piece that pushes Davis or Morillo down to that 9th man role.

Maybe, I just have higher expectations but I think when you look at what Illinois has retained and added already and compare them to the rest of the NCAA that it's time to push your chips in and go all in on competing for a title.

I love the retention and the returnees but it's easy to to just look at the final four appearance and forget that the team struggled in February. They got an awesome draw and took advantage but wins over Penn, VCU, and Iowa in March aren't super impressive, but a lot of the issues that showed up in February still exist(lack of defense/athleticism on the perimeter) and an offense that tends to stagnate and rely on a lot of one-on-one and iso stuff to create shots(look at how the ball stagnated against UConn).

Injuries happen and freshman don't translate all the time. What happens if Coleman or Morillo don't pan out right away? What happens if Vaaks gets injured? Does anyone think that you're going to beat Duke, Florida, or UConn playing Jake Davis significant minutes?

Nothing is going to guarantee success but the NCAA looks wide open and adding a significant piece at guard could be the different between seriously competing with the likes of Duke or ending up like Purdue and having a successful season but still end up being kind of disappointing and never a true threat.

I don't disagree with you. It might just happen since presumably they are still looking for an European guard.

 

[Emerson Bigguns]

Its been pretty heavily implied that bringing someone else in for that role risks losing one of the people currently in those spots. Seems not worth it when the guy most likely to leave would the one the staff thinks has one of the highest ceilings (Morillo).

The key to sustained success is giving some runway for our youngsters to grow. Of our top 8, 4 of them are almost certainly out the door next year. (The twins, Andrej, and Jake...unless the proposed 5 in 5 rules change that)

It is very possible, and I'd wager likely that Mirk and Vaaks will also strongly consider the NBA. (almost certainly go to the combine) Both are among the best freshmen in the country last year, who will be playing college ball this fall. Both will be given a ton of opportunity to showcase their facilitation skills this season, in an NBA style offense, surrounded by really good players. They both have the size and skills to attract plenty of attention from scouts.

I wouldn't bet the farm on Coleman being here either... He has the pedigree and skill set to be a potential one and done. He has a very NBA friendly skill set, and decent enough length. If he shoots the ball anything close to what he did in HS (which was completely absurd), he could be a lottery pick.

Sooo...

We will be looking at a near full re-load. Getting Morillo fully bought in to this program should be a top priority. No matter what his contribution is this year, he will have a massive opportunity the following year. When you consider the big picture, it's not hard to see why the staff is reluctant to continue big game hunting. I have no doubt they will continue to look for depth to mitigate injury risk, but they want these young guys to get their feet wet too.

I know Davis and Zens are already committed to enrolling in a few weeks. Brown should follow suit. Getting them on the floor with our vets will give the staff a much better idea of how they will hold up against B1G opponents. They can then assess what they might need to find before practices start.

Hopefully, Morillo and Coleman are of a similar mind, though they may have opportunities to compete internationally this summer, which they should take advantage of if offered. The more they compete with and against other elite young players, the more ready they will be for the bright lights of the B1G.

 

[Mobi]

Its been pretty heavily implied that bringing someone else in for that role risks losing one of the people currently in those spots. Seems not worth it when the guy most likely to leave would the one the staff thinks has one of the highest ceilings (Morillo).

One of the reasons we have not found our "backup European guard" just yet.

 

[wc_illini]

I really don’t think people are “resisting bringing in another quality guy”, in fact it’s being said we likely will. I’m just saying it’s not gonna wreck our season if we don’t immediately go out and find the next Justin Harmon. Justin Harmon or 3ppg sophomore Jake Davis are not saviors that are going to vault us to a guaranteed NC.

We're already projected as a 1 seed by most. How many seed lines do you think we should try to move up from there?

On a more serious note, I've taken up too much space here with my opinion on this already, but just to summarize my thoughts:

- I think we will add one more, but it isn't going to be anyone super high-profile
- The 9th/10th on our F4 team last year were Lee & Petrovic, so surely that production won't be hard to repro
- Adding another bench piece doesn't move the needle as much as people are saying (NC favorites with vs #20ish without)

I'll just ignore the bold parts since you're continuing to misrepresent what I'm saying. We're #5 at sportsbooks and close to #4 UConn. If that's "correct", then moving the needle bumps us up to a 1-seed. Depending on if/when we have injuries, it could even mean a 1-seed instead of dropping down to a 3-seed, or a deep run instead of an early exit (see Malachi Smith). That's why I gave examples of solid transfers (similar/higher rated than Harmon) who came to be 7th men at UConn and Houston.

The coaching staff is not going to recruit over players they have promised not to recruit over
...
If the staff thought that there is such a player, they would go after them.

I agree that they shouldn't break promises, so what's done is done. I don't think Duke, UConn, or Michigan would make much of a promise to a #47 recruit, though maybe we aren't quite "there" yet. And I'm not saying anything about Morillo specifically- I'm merely talking about how much talent the top programs accumulate. And I'd much rather be us than UK, BYU, or Indiana, so I'm not complaining at all. I trust we can maintain our ranking/$ ratio while we continue to increase our resources and recruiting.

None of us could possibly know if a proven key reserve actually is or isn't available (here or overseas) and if we have/haven't already promised that PT. I'm just saying such guys have existed (so it isn't an impossible ask of a player) and I think one would be worth adding.

 

[jamarvelous31]

One of the reasons we have not found our "backup European guard" just yet.

Are the #9thman folks even in agreement with what position we need?

Thought we needed a backup backup power forward?

 

[wc_illini]

The key to sustained success is giving some runway for our youngsters to grow. Of our top 8, 4 of them are almost certainly out the door next year. (The twins, Andrej, and Jake...unless the proposed 5 in 5 rules change that)

It is very possible, and I'd wager likely that Mirk and Vaaks will also strongly consider the NBA. (almost certainly go to the combine) Both are among the best freshmen in the country last year, who will be playing college ball this fall. Both will be given a ton of opportunity to showcase their facilitation skills this season, in an NBA style offense, surrounded by really good players. They both have the size and skills to attract plenty of attention from scouts.

I wouldn't bet the farm on Coleman being here either... He has the pedigree and skill set to be a potential one and done. He has a very NBA friendly skill set, and decent enough length. If he shoots the ball anything close to what he did in HS (which was completely absurd), he could be a lottery pick.

Sooo...

We will be looking at a near full re-load. Getting Morillo fully bought in to this program should be a top priority. No matter what his contribution is this year, he will have a massive opportunity the following year. When you consider the big picture, it's not hard to see why the staff is reluctant to continue big game hunting. I have no doubt they will continue to look for depth to mitigate injury risk, but they want these young guys to get their feet wet too.

I know Davis and Zens are already committed to enrolling in a few weeks. Brown should follow suit. Getting them on the floor with our vets will give the staff a much better idea of how they will hold up against B1G opponents. They can then assess what they might need to find before practices start.

Hopefully, Morillo and Coleman are of a similar mind, though they may have opportunities to compete internationally this summer, which they should take advantage of if offered. The more they compete with and against other elite young players, the more ready they will be for the bright lights of the B1G.

I appreciate your perspective. I think this is a better counter-point to my opinion that we should look to bring in one more 6-8th man than most of the other posts.

Whether we should be "all-in" on this year vs developing the roadmap to the future is certainly a tough tradeoff. And I have no issue with waiting a few weeks to see how guys look together.

 

[RML]

A 7'7" 310 lb balkan project would do nicely

Only if he's a threat from deep. We can't have defenders in the paint.

 

[Joel Goodson]

The primary issue remains. Our top 8 are really good players. There are still a lot of teams out there looking for starters. There is no one out there who could come to Illinois and be presumed to start at this point. The starting 5 are REALLY good.

The staff is waiting, because currently, most players are actively shopping themselves for starting spots. Lee and Ty left to find PT. That's the #1 reason guys at the tier we would be shopping, jump into the portal. For top players, it's top dollar, for guys who have been role players, it's PT to try to become a top dollar kind of guy next year.

We've spent on top dollar guys, and we don't have much guaranteed PT to offer right now. Could a guy come in and compete with Jake, Z, and the freshmen for minutes? Sure, but Obviously Z is going to play a LOT, and Jake was a starter for much of last year, fits extremely well into his role, and has not only earned the trust of the staff and his teammates, but is viewed as a team leader. Stealing his minutes is going to be VERY difficult. So you are left trying to recruit guys who really just want to play, to a roster where they are going to have to beat out a 6'7", top 50, "Swiss army knife" kind of player for any kind of consistent minutes, or wait until someone gets hurt.

Winning aside, it's not a very attractive sell. The staff is being patient, because they know that's what they have to do. There is no reason for them to be chasing their tails running after mid-tier players who are ultimately going to say, "no thanks".

Wait until later in the cycle, see who is left when the best seats are taken, and go from there. Instead, maybe spend a little time in Europe mining for gems...

Misko special

 

[NarrowJ]

I'll just ignore the bold parts since you're continuing to misrepresent what I'm saying. We're #5 at sportsbooks and close to #4 UConn. If that's "correct", then moving the needle bumps us up to a 1-seed. Depending on if/when we have injuries, it could even mean a 1-seed instead of dropping down to a 3-seed, or a deep run instead of an early exit (see Malachi Smith). That's why I gave examples of solid transfers (similar/higher rated than Harmon) who came to be 7th men at UConn and Houston.


I agree that they shouldn't break promises, so what's done is done. I don't think Duke, UConn, or Michigan would make much of a promise to a #47 recruit, though maybe we aren't quite "there" yet. And I'm not saying anything about Morillo specifically- I'm merely talking about how much talent the top programs accumulate. And I'd much rather be us than UK, BYU, or Indiana, so I'm not complaining at all. I trust we can maintain our ranking/$ ratio while we continue to increase our resources and recruiting.

None of us could possibly know if a proven key reserve actually is or isn't available (here or overseas) and if we have/haven't already promised that PT. I'm just saying such guys have existed (so it isn't an impossible ask of a player) and I think one would be worth adding.

I mean bottom line here is I’m trusting the D1 coaching staff that just took us to a final four over wc_illini from the message board. It’s all it boils down to, really.

You say we need another player to be truly great? I don’t agree with that opinion and your continued lengthy essay style posts that reiterate the same lame points over and over and over again while ignoring our final four team didn’t even have a 9th man isnt going to convince me otherwise. At this point you are just polluting the thread with redundant walls of text that say the same thing as the last.

Say we add a mid major guard, and Coleman or Morillo opts out of his LOI (easy to do nowadays and insiders have said this would happen). How do you feel about the team then?

 

[FreshlySqueezed]

I'll just ignore the bold parts since you're continuing to misrepresent what I'm saying. We're #5 at sportsbooks and close to #4 UConn. If that's "correct", then moving the needle bumps us up to a 1-seed. Depending on if/when we have injuries, it could even mean a 1-seed instead of dropping down to a 3-seed, or a deep run instead of an early exit (see Malachi Smith). That's why I gave examples of solid transfers (similar/higher rated than Harmon) who came to be 7th men at UConn and Houston.


I agree that they shouldn't break promises, so what's done is done. I don't think Duke, UConn, or Michigan would make much of a promise to a #47 recruit, though maybe we aren't quite "there" yet. And I'm not saying anything about Morillo specifically- I'm merely talking about how much talent the top programs accumulate. And I'd much rather be us than UK, BYU, or Indiana, so I'm not complaining at all. I trust we can maintain our ranking/$ ratio while we continue to increase our resources and recruiting.

None of us could possibly know if a proven key reserve actually is or isn't available (here or overseas) and if we have/haven't already promised that PT. I'm just saying such guys have existed (so it isn't an impossible ask of a player) and I think one would be worth adding.

You're right about one thing. We, as in us on this message board, don't know.

But we have an entire staff whose job it is to know and they haven't added anyone yet, so I'm going to go way out on a limb here and say one is currently available that our staff likes enough to add.

Good freaking lord - it's not that complicated and I, for one, trust the staff over 99.9% of people posting about it on the internet.