It’s always hard to see Syracuse lose one of its best players. Especially when it’s someone as fun to watch as Judah Mintz. Syracuse.com’s Mike Waters reported earlier today that the sophomore has played his final game for Syracuse and will not be returning to the team next year.
Last offseason we went through the saga of “Will Judah Return” and he ended up deciding to come back. Adrian Autry needed Mintz on the floor this past season. He was the anchor and leader of this SU team. As Autry moves into his second year as head coach and transforms the roster, it starts to become more and more clear that Syracuse’s leading scorer just doesn’t fit in with what he is trying to build.
Why It’s Best For Syracuse That Judah Mintz Leaves
Judah Mintz is one of the best slashers in all of college basketball. His ability to get to the rim and get to the free-throw line is elite. The issue is that just isn’t what the Orange need when you look at the rest of the roster. JJ Starling is locked into the starting shooting guard spot. With Starling’s shooting issues, he was most effective as a slasher this season. Mintz and Starling just didn’t work together as well as everyone hoped. Neither one of them can be a true point guard, and because of that the offense just stalled in the halfcourt.
Syracuse was starting two shooting guards and that was apparent throughout the entire season. Mintz’s departure means that Adrian Autry can focus on getting a true point guard and a better shooter in the portal that’ll complement JJ Starling’s game.
Why It’s Best For Judah Mintz To Move On
It’s been clear that Mintz returned to Syracuse this year to improve his draft stock. The main thing that the guard needed to work on was his shooting. After going just 30% from deep his freshman year, NBA scouts said he needed to be more consistent. The opposite happened, with Mintz regressing and shooting just 28% from three in his sophomore year. If the one thing he needed to work on didn’t get better, then it makes sense for him to go somewhere else to try and improve.
As stated above, Mintz was forced to be the point guard this season and play out of position. If he can go somewhere else and play more off-ball and serve as the secondary ball handler, like Joe Girard after transferring to Clemson, then Mintz can improve his draft stock.
