Transfer Rules: Davonte Gaines
Kim English brings his third George Mason transfer to Friartown
Happy Easter, Friartown. Unfortunately I’ve aged out of Easter egg hunts but I do bring good news on this holiest of Sundays, Providence has received another transfer portal committment, this time from 5th year senior Davonte Gaines. This will be Gaines’ third collegiate stop, as he started his career at Tennessee (where English was an assistant and lead recruiter), followed English to Mason after two years, and will not finish his college career with the coach he’s come to know so well. When reached for comment Gaines heaped praise onto Kim English; “I have been with Coach Kim for my whole college career,” Gaines said. “Two years at Tennessee, two years at Mason and now heading into my fifth year at Providence. I have been able to grow not only as a player around coach Kim but also as a person. His passion and desire to win is unmatched and I have been grateful to play for him for 4 years. Excited to see what this next chapter holds not only for myself but also for him…’
The 6’7 Gaines started 23 games for the Patriots last season, missing 10 games in January due to a hand / wrist injury. When he played, he was an effective 3-and-D wing, averaging 7.3 points (38.2% FG, 34.3% 3PT, 74.4% FT), 6.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists. His game reminds of a lesser version of Justin Minaya. Not an overly explosive offensive player, but can hit an open shot when given time and space and has an NBA-body capable of locking down the opponents best player.
His shot chart shows me a player that is either going to hoist from deep or try to get to the hole. 3 midrange attempts over an entire season is statistically insane, but not necessarily a bad thing. Gaines will be a rotation player for the 2023-24 Friars, probably in a 6th or 7th man role, and so long as English isn’t overly reliant on him for offense, he should be a nice piece to add to the puzzle. On the whole, I see a couple clear pros and cons with this addition.
The Pros:
Players love playing for Kim English: Gaines is the third George Mason player to join Kim English at Providence. He joins former Patriots Josh Oduro and Justyn Fernandez. This is a good thing. Just read that quote above from Gaines and you’ll know all you need to about the relationship English builds with his players. Elite recruiter. If you’d like to see the other side of this coin just look at how many Friar players have joined the new Georgetown staff. I would like to see English land a non-George Mason transfer coming up here soon though…
Gaines’ Experience: Gaines has played in 101 college basketball games in his career, logging 53 starts across his time at Tennessee and George Mason. We heard for years the previous coach talk about ‘getting old’ and leaning on experienced players to pull out close games. This is true and an effective way to build a winning team. Assuming Hopkins, Carter, Oduro, Pierre and mystery player #5 are the starters, with Corey Floyd Jr. and Gaines the first players off the bench, that is a first 7 that employs 2 5th year seniors, 2 juniors and 2 sophomores so far. Extremely seasoned group. Experience wins.
The Cons:
(Potentially) Mismatched Skillset: Gaines was brought in to be a ‘3-and-D’ player, but he doesn’t actually shoot the 3 that well. 34.3% on 102 attempts over the course of a season is fairly… average. If you want to say ‘Divine Friars, cut the kid a break, he had a HAND injury’, I’ll allow that, fair enough. Gaines did shoot 40.2% on the same 102 attempts during his junior season at GMU.
However, Gaines averaged just over 4 attempts per game from deep (and just over 3 attempts his junior season), which tells me that the George Mason offense was not fully bought into him as a prolific shooter (for reference, Noah Locke attempted just under 6 attempts per game for the Friars this season and shot 38.5%). If Gaines stays healthy, he will see far more than 102 attempts from deep this season for Providence, how he performs from deep with an increased workload (and expectation) is one of the early key indicators of just how successful this team can be.
George Mason North? Gaines is the third player from last season’s George Mason Patriots team to join Kim English in Friartown. That’s all fine and well, and speaks to point #1 above. English is a players coach through and through. However, this is about winning games, and George Mason didn’t exactly do that at a world-beater pace last year. I present to you the 2022-23 Atlantic 10 standings:
George Mason was an average team is a below average conference last season. The step up in competition to the Big East is significant. You have to account for an offseason of player development, and obviously Bryce and Devin Carter will be taking a majority of the shots for this team, but the level of top end talent on this roster is something to keep an eye on as English fills out the last few scholarship spots.
Lastly, it was mentioned earlier this week that redshirt freshman Quante Berry officially entered the transfer portal. The deadline for portal entry is May 11th, so there’s still roughly a month for these unexpected storylines to develop. Although Berry put in a ton of work in the offseason to improve his shooting and physical development, the backcourt at Providence was getting pretty crowded and he likely saw the writing on the wall in terms of playing time opportunities. The updated roster matrix through Easter Sunday is below.
