Nojel Eastern tweets that he's transferring to Michigan
— Nojel Eastern (@NEblessed_20) May 14, 2020
?? Eastern is listed at 6'7" and 225lbs. He played 25 minutes/game for Purdue last year, shooting 42%, 49.5% from the line, and averaging 5pts and 4 rebs.
He had a more productive Sophomore year than his Junior year, 49.5% from the floor, 65% FTs, 7.5pts and 5.5 rebs.
At that size, he's most likely going to be in the 3/4 rotation at Michigan, most likely in the mix with Livers and Johns.
If he's eligible this upcoming season, he will likely be a/the primary ball-handler. Its the role he likens himself to, and the one he played before losing Painter's confidence this past season.
Should we cue the Eastern Michigan jokes? Call him EMU!
Wow - not a shooter but what a defensive backcourt next year with Eli and Nojel
I think he's sadly sit one, play one. We will be nice to have next year though
Is transfer roulette only applicable in football? Who knows if he gets approval somehow..
I think we’d prefer he sits a year. Michigan needs experience on the 21-22 roster big time, not another open scholarship for a freshman.
Year in residence waivers were being approved at a >60% clips last I saw. Could play out either way.
Aces
Embed issues a few times, but I think I've got it now.
Yeah I was a little quick on my snark. Forgive me.
No worries. I actually hadn't read your original comment as snark, but rather that you were complimenting me for an informative title!
Wow that was fast.
Well this came out of nowhere
Will he be able to ply immediately?
Was this a pandemic-related toilet paper joke?
No, he will not be able two-ply this year...
Two ply is garbage, up your game
How many plys are you using?
A very welcome surprise.
It was said in another thread that he has to sit a year. Is that accurate?
He'd have to get a waiver. Haven't seen anything to justify that.
I assume he would only have to say that someone sneezed on him and he didn't feel safe on Purdue's campus anymore.
/s (maybe?)
He's brutal offensively, but is very solid defensively.
Ring any bells?
Not sure how I feel about this. He's a taller, better rebounding, worse in all other areas Simpson who has to sit a year and only has 1 year left. The athleticism and defense is nice, but not near Simpson as a play maker and is one of the worst shooters in the country.
He plays great defense and can handle the ball which already makes him far more valuable than Nunez. I think this is a good move whether he is available this year or not.
I'm just glad that we'll have another upperclassmen scholarship guy in a few years. With all the attrition this off season we were at risk of having to recruit a 5-6 player class every four years if we didn't figure out a way to smooth the scholarship situation.
UM is going to need to add like 6-7 players for 21-22, so adding a veteran defender with Big Ten experience will be helpful and mean its not 6 true freshman to recruit
I think this maybe had something to do with his decision. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-basketball/news/matt-painter-matt-haarms-nojel-eastern-transferring-purdue/k96qh6w1jkx517gjitweyzc8u
Damn, didn't realize Painter was such a butthurt douche bag.
Everything he said is true.
Painter is probably my favorite opposing big ten coach.
It's laden with opinions and personal bias (which are hard to say can be the "truth") and comes across as a butthurt, whiny rant.
"But when it's obviously not better for you academically or basketball-wise, I feel for them. Matt was going to do that, but he also got his degree from Purdue. Jelly is walking out of here without his degree. That's not smart, but I'm really biased."
So he's saying it's worse academically and basketball-wise when he doesn't even know where they're going and admits it's just a homer bias he has towards Purdue?
He is right that these guys aren't NBA players (not because they're transferring but because they weren't even good enough to beat out guys that also aren't NBA players which is why they're transferring).
Interesting that he dogs their work ethic on the way out though. Not sure what the tact was there.
Exactly. Nothing sugar coated. I heard his interview on the Dakich show and loved it.
It very well may be true, but you don't say the quiet part out loud.
Looking through Torvik quickly, he took 3 3s last year so absolute no outside threat (anyone who saw him play the last couple of years knows that). Surprisingly, he's not terrible in the far 2s category. Took 100 of them and shot 32.7% which is a higher volume and percentage than Livers and Simpson.
Not sure exactly where he fits in because he can't really be off the ball on offense with 0 shot. Assist rate isn't terrible (obviously not to the level of Simpson) but his turnover rate is a bit high as well.
He's a good enough ball handler and passer to initiate the offense. That's his role on offense. On defense, he guards the other team's best wing. Good addition to the roster, even with some clear deficiencies.
This is what the blog said about him in Feb. DPOY candidate sounds pretty damn good.
"The other point guard type person is 6'7" Nojel Eastern, who could easily be mistaken for a power forward or NFL tight end. Eastern was the guy who induced us to add a brick to the team overviews but he's improved his shooting a fair bit. This only gets him to 33% in the midrange, but that's a lot better than, say, Rob Phinisee.
Eastern's problem is that for all his sizey size and bulky bulk almost two-thirds of his shots are other twos, and he never shoots threes. When he does get to the line he's 49% once there. He's got a 20 assist rate… and a 23 TO rate.
On the other hand he's a defensive POY candidate in the league. He's a bad offensive player who should be hidden more than he is—the perfect guy to slot in next to Carsen Edwards. That pairing was as major reason Purdue was an Elite Eight team last year, and sundering it is a major reason they're one game above .500 this time around."
https://mgoblog.com/content/hoops-preview-purdue-2019-20-part-two
He shot 65% at the line as a sophomore. So he kinda figured it out for awhile, before losing it again last season.
FR: 20-48, 0.417
SOPH: 65-100, 0.650 (51-73 0.699 in conference games)
JR: 16-33, 0.485
He just didn't get many attempts as a freshman or junior. So there's a little hope. But I'm just happy to see a warm body with Big10 experience. His assist to turnover ratio over 40 minutes is 4.3 : 2.4 last season. Not terrible.
Well, did not see this coming. Not sure how I feel about this. I mean, he's probably a 2? He's like Simpson, but long and a worse shooter. I don't think he's made a 3pt shot the last two years at Purdue. Is he immidately eligable? Man, program really got caught with their pants down with not getting Christopher and loosing DDJ.
He has made more career 3’s than Branden Dawson, who is also behind Luke Wilson and CJ Baird and tied with all of us.
Yeah, but Dawson wasn't a guard. And he was a fantastic rebounder and rim protector, and still shoots better overall than Eastern. I don't know, it's just weird to have that bad of an offensive player a major player in a guard rotation.
WTF does Branden Dawson have to do with anything? Talk about an arbitrary reference. Different position and a different type of player.
He will be a less offensively skilled version of Charles Matthews.
Pretty good PTBNL in the Spike Albrecht transaction
I thought he would be a perfect fit at EMU
I like this, especially if he has to sit a year. His shot is broken, like broker than broken. Take a year to fix his shot and he's a really good Big Ten player. He a good defender and can handle the ball at his size.
my buddy, purdue grad and big bball fan, told me that eastern plays lefthanded. but he really is ambidextrous. when he tested the nba waters last year, the celtics told him that he is right handed and he should start shooting exclusively right handed.
so maybe he takes this year off and starts shooting righthanded.
I think his shot gets fixed at this point, but either way he can help the team, whether it is this year or next.
I’ll take that bet on his shot 93grad. Guy is going to be a senior in college. It isn’t getting fixed. He is a mess with his mechanics. Watch how he shoots FT. It’s a cross between throwing up and dancing.