Auburn’s offseason overhaul has Steven Pearl seeing a little bit of Hollywood in his own gym.
At last week’s AMBUSH event, Pearl joked that his new-look Tigers resemble the Los Angeles Lakers after a busy summer that sent Auburn into the transfer portal, international recruiting and the high school ranks to add eight new players. The comparison came with a grin, but the roster construction is real: Auburn has stacked multiple pieces at the wing and frontcourt spots, giving Pearl plenty of options to sort through before the season.
“We kind of look like the L.A. Lakers don’t we.
It’s pretty crazy,” Pearl joked at last week’s AMBUSH event. “If you look at those positions with TD (Thomas), Caleb, Mantas, KO, Adam, you’ve got multiple guys that can play multiple positions, which I think is exciting.
“TD is a guy that I think could play the three and four for us. I think Adam could have stretches where he could play some two, but he also plays some three and four because of his ability to shoot the ball.”
The Tigers added Owen Freeman out of Creighton, Thomas Dowd out of Troy and Adam Olsen out of South Alabama at the wing spot. Auburn also brought in Lithuanian point forward Mantas Rubštavičius and 3-star wing Caleb Williams to round out that group for the upcoming season.
Dowd arrives with a strong résumé from Troy, where he averaged 14.4 points per game last season and led the Sun Belt Conference with 10.1 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-8 Dothan, Alabama native has one year of eligibility left.
Pearl also pointed to Williams as the summer’s biggest surprise so far. The Auburn coach said the freshman has shown toughness, versatility and a feel for the game, even if the shot hasn’t fully caught up yet.
“Caleb is not scared. He’s here to compete.
Not shooting it as well as he would like, but he’s got a deadly mid-range game. He can finish around the basket through contact,” Pearl said.
“He doesn’t shy away from it. I think he could be a guy that could potentially play some one if we needed him to, as crazy as that may sound.
Caleb has some ability because he’s a really good passer too. He can pass with both his left hand and right hand.”
That depth is what makes Auburn’s roster so intriguing. Pearl said the frontcourt is loaded with players who can score, rebound and stretch the floor at the SEC level, but the real separator will come on the defensive end.
“Those guys all provide a tremendous amount of flexibility at multiple positions, which is obviously important. It’s all going to be based on what positions they can guard,” Pearl added.
“That’s the most important thing where you decide offensively where they can play. Can they guard guards or can they only guard bigs?
That’s one of the things we’re trying to find out this summer through the things we’re doing in practice.”
The Lakers comparison may have been a joke, but Auburn’s summer makeover has given Pearl a roster with plenty of interchangeable parts - and a lot of decisions to make.
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