Texas Tech basketball: Potential starting lineups for 2020-21
Davide Moretti, Nimari Burnett, Jonathan Kuminga, Joel Ntambwe, Marcus Santos-Silva
Let’s dream a little bit, shall we? Think about what Texas Tech would look like if Jonathan Kuminga stuns the basketball world and reclassifies to the class of 2020 so that he can come to Tech and play with his brother, Joel Ntambwe.
That scenario isn’t a far-fetched as it once may have seemed. Though the 6-foot-8, 205-pound forward is currently the No. 1 player in the class of 2021, there’s been enough talk about the possibility of him graduating this summer to suggest that he is mulling that option.
In fact, just this week, Adam Zagoria of the New York Times reported that Kuminga is working towards trying to graduate this summer. Should that happen, there could be a seismic shift in the college basketball landscape.
Jonathan Kuminga is working hard academically to graduate high school this year, sources said. From there he would be eligible for the 2021 NBA Draft.
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) May 5, 2020
Upon graduation he could make decisions about next year as far as college, G League, prep, etc.
More from Wreck'Em Red
- Texas Tech football: Red Raider fans need to know about these Mountaineers
- Texas Tech football: Red Raiders land first commit for class of 2025
- Texas Tech football: Why have the Red Raiders struggled on the road under McGuire?
- Texas Tech football: Why the Red Raiders can compete for a Big 12 title
- Texas Tech football: Plenty of questions remain as conference play arrives
So what would a starting lineup look like if Kuminga joined his brother in Lubbock? In a word…dominant.
With the two 6-foot-8 half-brothers playing side-by-side and joining Santos-Silva in the frontcourt, Tech would have the most athletic and physical set of forwards in the Big 12, if not the entire country.
Remember too that both Kuminga and Ntambwe are good shooters from outside the paint and even behind the arc (Ntambwe shot 38.6% from deep in 2018-19) meaning that they could help Moretti space the floor. So imagine a world where Tech can put Davide Moretti on one wing, Kuminga on another, and Ntambwe in the corner and then let Burnett go to work off the dribble. Oh, and Santos-Silva, who had 92 offensive rebounds this past season, would be hanging around to clean up messes.
Of course, the motion offense doesn’t work that way and the players on the floor would be asked to do more than just stand in one spot and wait for Burnett to get the ball to them. But that simplified scenario gives us an idea of how impossible such a lineup would be to defend.
Next. Remembering Bob Knight's trip to the salad bar. dark
In the end, we put too much emphasis on who starts games. That’s especially true for Texas Tech basketball fans because the Red Raiders substitute players as frequently as any team in the nation.
What truly matters is who is on the floor to finish games (we learned that lesson the hard way in 2019-20). But still, it is fun to think about all the possibilities Beard will have when he starts to put the puzzle together for the 2020-21 season.