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The Curious Case of Paschal Chukwu
For the second year in a row a player who was pegged for a starter’s role and major minutes in the upcoming season has left the Providence program. Last year it was Josh Fortune announcing his intention to transfer on the Friday before Memorial Day. This year it was Paschal Chukwu a week before Memorial Day. Fortune started at the shooting guard position and likely was going to continue doing so in what would have been his junior season at Providence before announcing his intention to transfer, having his mom declare it was so that he could be closer to home and then opting to go to Colorado — a school further from his home in Virginia than Providence. Now that Paschal Chukwu has picked a new home and will get his change of scenery I thought it would be interesting to examine the entire situation and some of the comments made by Chukwu’s high school coach.
Chukwu ending up at Syracuse shouldn’t be surprising because he will fit well there on the court in the middle of the vaunted 2-3 zone that Jim Boeheim has crafted at the Cuse. He also will apparently prefer the larger school environment that Providence couldn’t provide. Some consipracy theorists believe Syracuse was the school he wanted to attend from the beginning and that the rest was a smokescreen. That theory has been aided by Chukwu’s Fairfield Prep coach Leo Redgate commenting in a Daily Orange story where he praised Mike Hopkins — Syracuse’s designated head coaching replacement for Boeheim — for keeping “in constant contact…and always fe[eling] having Chukwu at SU would be mutually beneficial.” I’m not quite sold that the other visits were all a smokescreen and that Chukwu was destined for Syracuse from the beginning.
Some of Redgate’s other comments in that article linked above are unfairly critical of Cooley and Providence, in my opinion.
“I’m not trying to put down Providence, but not once was he given the ball,” Redgate said. “I think that’s important, if you’re just going to sit him down at the block and hope he gets rebounds, then you’re wasting his time because he’s so much more than a 7-foot-2 player.”
Is Redgate saying that the Friars should have featured a 7’2 stringbean in their offense? Was he supposed to get the ball before LaDontae Henton? Did he want Cooley to run the offense — an offense that Chukwu struggled to learn –through the freshmen big man? I understand advocating for your player and trying to defend him against people questioning his ability based on his paltry statline — has anyone met that straw man in person? — but he could have easily done that without taking any shots at Cooley in the process.
“I’m very confident that after he sits out the year at Syracuse, we’ll see a dramatically different stat line than what Paschal saw at Providence,” Redgate said.
This comment is technically true. But I have been saying to anyone that would listen that Chukwu was on pace for a breakout year in his 3rd year in college anyway. He was set to see major minutes at Providence as a sophomore this season — likely in the 25 minutes/game variety. His stats would have gone up and playing with a guard like Kris Dunn only would have helped him do that with all the easy looks he would have gotten. But to hear Redgate tell it, the Friars were stunting Chukwu’s development. I don’t buy it.
But Chukwu, if simply given the ball, could show a dynamic that has yet to be exposed. Redgate noted that at Fairfield Prep, Chukwu would constantly get the ball in the short corner, pump fake and throw down a “monstrous dunk.”
Chukwu is a more skilled big man than he showed last year at Providence. That is true. Part of that is because he wasn’t physically ready to be able to show off some of those skills. Another part is that he had a 5th year senior ahead of him. Neither of those things should be held against Providence. I watched Chukwu play at Fairfield Prep. He was a dominant player. He also regularly played against teams that had a 6’6 player as their center. Chukwu may well develop into that kind of dominant player at the college level but he certainly wasn’t ready for the kind of role Redgate described in his comments. I don’t even think he would have been quite ready for that role in the 2015-16 season either.
There should be no animosity towards Chuwku. He made a decision he believes is in his best interest and I hope he has a successful career at the Cuse and moves on to the NBA. I do believe he is an NBA-level talent. Chukwu needs to continue to add strength to his frame and that will allow him to showcase those skills that Redgate described. The late announcement of the transfer is something that hurt Providence, to be sure. Redgate’s comments are, in my opinion, unfair to Cooley and Providence. But the player has moved on and so should the fans.
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13 responses to “The Curious Case of Paschal Chukwu”
Looks like the youthful plaque of instant gratification has a few adult conspirators as well. Shameful comments by Redgate. This is why we have so many disillusioned kids, guys like this one. If I ran Fairfield Prep I’d be having a strong heart to heart with the man about not speaking about that which you were not around to observe or contributed to at Providence. Reckless and immature.
Chukwu would have gotten just what he wanted next season with the Friars. Now he sits for a year (a year he obviously doesn’t need according to Redgate) for a future with Syracuse that is far less certain in November of 2016 than it would have been in November of 2015 with Providence. Dumb.
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The more I read about this the more it upsets me. Initially I believed him when he said it wasn’t a good fit for him. I thought he wanted the big time college atmosphere. Now when I read he’s thinks they’ll develop him better and when writers cite Christmas’ development, I’m like HE AVERAGED 2 PTS A GAME AS A FRESHMAN TOO!!. He had a chance (albeit a slight one) to be drafted or be playing professionally in 2016. Now that’s out the window for him.
Rant over… good luck to this kid
Why should we not have animosity towards him? He transferred late, screwed PC out of getting a viable replacement at center and has a mouthpiece bashing the program and our coach out the door. Cooley didn’t deserve this, Dunn didn’t deserve this, we didn’t deserve this and this stiff will get will deserve everything coming to him from PC fans.
Why do all the PC bloggers try to defend this awful human being and marginal talent?
Because he isn’t an awful human being or a marginal talent. Its fine to be upset at the fact that he announced late and his high school coach is seemingly bashing Cooley and Providence but this isn’t a bad kid. He is young and making decisions that he thinks are in his best interest. Why do fans insist on hating players they don’t know?
That’s what fans do… they love them when they’re producing and they hate them when they go or don’t produce. Imagine the reaction Dunn would’ve gotten had he gone. They would’ve roasted him. And he’s a projected lottery pick… So the animosity toward Chukwu doesn’t surprise me.
Doesn’t surprise me either but it also doesn’t surprise me that PC writers/bloggers are being more level-headed about it.
I don’t think Dunn would have been roasted at all if he left. I also believe you can’t personalize things the way WTF2 has done, although I agree with him that we can feel some “anger” about it, sure, absolutely. Paschal is 18+ and he should be held reasonably accountable for how he handled this, BUT calling him an “awful human being” is way over the line. Hate the sin, not the sinner kind of thing, IMO.
Thank goodness we didn’t have to find out…
So screen name Mike Hopkins is defending new Syracuse recruit Paschal Chukwu. That doesn’t seem surprising.
While I don’t agree with calling him a awful human being or a marginal talent however because he transferred late, leaving his teammates and coach in a bad situation and now letting his high school coach trash PC without saying anything I don’t know how PC fans could not have hard feelings towards him.
He may not be a awful human being but he lacks character at this stage of his life and seems to be very immature person.
He’s 19. How mature were you at age 19? And that ain’t my screen name. I use my real one. I’m not defending Chukwu. I’m saying people need to move on and get over it. It drives me a little nuts when fans all of the sudden make these snap judgments about a kid’s character and/or maturity once he leaves or does something they don’t agree with. I don’t agree with the way he left PC so late. I don’t agree with his high school coach seemingly trashing Cooley and PC. But that isn’t enough for me to definitively say that a 19 year lacks character and maturity.
The Mike Hopkins comment was a joke. Just commenting on the coincidence
I don’t see how it drives you nuts that I have come to the conclusion that he lacks character and maturity. He left seemingly overnight without addressing his teammates. Only telling his coach he wants a different college experience. Then stays silent as his HS coach rips a man and team that did nothing but give him a scholarship and develop his game while not letting him get embarrass himself at times. Maybe I’m wrong but people are judged by their actions. I don’t think its a unfair label at this point in time
[…] big man Quadree Smith in June but they clearly want another big body up front to help offset the inexplicable transfer of 7’2 rising sophomore Paschal Chukwu who was in line to start for Cooley’s Friars in […]