Alabama Basketball: If Nate Oats wants full roster, one of these guys will do

Nate Oats and Alabama Basketball may or may not need another player for the ’21-22 roster. The expected departure of Jaden Shackelford through the Transfer Portal will leave Nate Oats with an open scholarship.

Oats does not have to use it. Given all the current talent on the roster, distributing minutes will be a challenge. Alabama Basketball already lost a member of the 2021 class before he ever made it to Tuscaloosa. JUCO transfer, Langston Wilson was a future Crimson Tider until Nate Oats had no room for him. It is too late to get Wilson back. He will play for the Washington Huskies.

With the impact of the Portal, college basketball now has a revolving door that creates fluid and unpredictable roster situations. It is not likely Oats will add a player that will get only a few minutes a game.

If, however, a player addition can fill a team need, Oats should not hesitate to add a new player. Alabama Basketball fans have plenty of suggestions. There are several good players still available. Another capable ball-handling guard who can score would be protection against losing Jahvon Quinerly or J.D. Davison to injury. Many Crimson Tide fans are hoping Oats can land 7-footer, Kofi Cockburn from Illinois. Cockburn is a powerful player, but he does not fit the Oats’ five-out scheme. Cockburn does not shoot threes and at a 55.3 percent average, he is liability at the foul line.

If Oats want another big, 6-feet-11 Dawson Garcia (Marquette) might be a better option. As a freshman, Garcia made threes at a 35.6 percent rate. Garcia’s foul shooting percentage was 78.3 percent.

Alabama fans are also excited about the possibility of Minnesota guard, Marcus Carr. At 19.4 points per game, Carr was one of the top players in the Big Ten last season. A big negative for Carr is last season he made threes at just 31.7 percent.

A better guard choice would be Cedric Russell from Louisiana. Russell entered the Portal late (like Shackelford) and it is not known how much the Tide staff has been on him. He will be a super-senior, that averaged over 17 points per game last season. Better still, he made threes at a 40 percent rate.

A home-run get for Nate Oats would be 6-feet-8 wing, Kevin Obanor from Oral Roberts. Obanor is a perfect fit for the Nate Oats’ system, having shot 46.3 percent from outside the arc last season. He is also a strong rebounder and excellent at the foul line. Competition for Obanor is stiff. He is from Houston and per Jeff Goodman, Texas Tech and Texas A&M want him, along with Arizona, Arkansas, North Carolina and others.

Note: Player stats in this post are from sports-reference.com

Alabama Basketball will be fine without adding another player. But it could be better with the right addition.