Syracuse men’s basketball: Breaking down (and overreacting to) how SU can use Eddie Lampkin as an initiator

A look at the Orange’s new center

When the Syracuse Orange added Eddie Lampkin into the equation this offseason, I was extremely skeptical.

My first thought was that it would help SU on the glass, but would hemorrhage points out of the pick-and-roll defensively. After all, Lampkin’s former team, Colorado, was 11th in the Pac 12 in pick-and-roll defense last year.

While the defense is still a question mark, as he’s not mobile or a rim protector, we now have an extremely clear vision of what Adrian Autry is hoping to do with Lampkin. He’s a unique personality and a unique player, and one that has evolved from the bruiser that he was in his early years at TCU into a high-post, top of the key initiator in year five at Syracuse.

In his three years at TCU, Lampkin put up 55 total assists, but after transferring to Colorado, he moved back down the floor, and put up 82 assists in one year. Now, Autry has doubled down, and given Lampkin the responsibility of running SU’s offense from the top of the key, allowing point guard Jaquan Carlos to move off the ball.

“I just want to go dancing again,” Lampkin said of adjusting to his new role after Syracuse’s first exhibition against Clarion. “My teammates trust me with the ball, and I just feel way more comfortable having the ball at the top of the key, wherever, getting it off the rebound, at the block, anywhere.”

Let’s take a look at the different ways that Syracuse used Lampkin in that exhibition.

Here’s the second possession of the game for Syracuse. Four players touch the ball as the Orange get into their action, with Lampkin screening for Lucas Taylor, and then getting a spain screen from JJ Starling to take his man away from the basket, and create a little bit of space in the restricted area, and a potential kickout three if nobody follows Starling.

Jaquan Carlos is stationed in the corner, and as soon as he gets the ball, he knows exactly what he’s going to do, drive and dish, and because it’s now a three-on-two in the low post, he has two options on who to pass to, so he gives to Petar Majstorovic in the dunker spot for the layup.

This isn’t exactly offense flowing because of Lampkin, more an example of offense flowing through him. But, if the handoff for Taylor is being denied, he can pivot and twist into a different ball-screen look, or, he can have Taylor get a flare screen from Majstorovic on the far side and fade into a wing or corner three.

Because Lampkin has become such a willing passer from this position, all of these ideas are unlocked.

Here’s an example of Clarion doing a better job guarding the initial handoff, as Carlos isn’t a shooter so you don’t have to deny, instead going right under the screen. So Carlos flips into a pindown for Taylor, who gets the handoff with his defender far enough behind that it forces him to switch onto Lampkin, who easily rolls to the basket for a slam dunk.

If defenses were to deny this action, with the paint open, then Taylor (or Carlos) can just cut directly to the basket, and have Lampkin feed a pass in there.

Here, Lampkin has multiple options of who to screen, between Taylor, Carlos, and then finally, Starling, who gets the pass and the setup for the pick-and-roll. It gives him time to probe the defense and get downhill for a short jumper.

All of these actions came on the first few possessions of the game, showing how creative Syracuse is willing to get with Lampkin this year.

Later in the first half, Lampkin’s biggest highlight of the day was an action where he screened off Carlos’ man and delivered a wrap-around, one-handed bounce pass to his cutting point guard for an and-one layup.

Getting Carlos into the lane this easily is going to be extremely helpful for Syracuse, who will hope to spray the perimeter with shooters. Whether they run zooms and DHO’s at the elbow, or have Lampkin send in passes like this, the space generated on the outside for SU’s shooters while the defense collapses on two high-end passers cannot be overstated.

One thing that Carlos is elite at when getting into the paint is sending skip passes at the last possible moment. He tried this at the end of the first half of SU’s exhibition, but just missed Elijah Moore on the wing.

A few actions I could see Syracuse running with this in mind

Darnell Brodie, like Lampkin, is a 6 foot 11, 270-ish pound big man with a penchant for finding passing lanes. At Drake, Darian DeVries would run his son Tucker off of dribble handoffs, using Brodie’s wide frame as an effective screen. While SU doesn’t have a player as good as Tucker DeVries, I think this action, that gets him moving to the baseline, is one that Syracuse can look to run.

Lampkin can play the role of Brodie while Carlos runs around a few screens from players on the weak side and at the top of the key to grab the ball from Lampkin with momentum toward the baseline. This allows Carlos to effectively weaponize both his speed and his eye manipulation, with presumably Chris Bell and JJ Starling on the weak side waiting for a pass on the wing or in the corner to quickly be ready to shoot the ball if Carlos gives them a pass.

Finally, you can substitute out Conor Enright for Donnie Freeman on the strong side, and if the defense doesn’t want to allow the Orange to get into this action, Lampkin would love nothing more than to send a bounce pass to a cutting Freeman for a slam or a chance down low.

Now, I’m not suggesting that Syracuse goes full on Princeton, but I think that some of the actions that the Orange ran on Saturday had elements of Princeton. SU has the personnel to run the point series and get players moving and thinking quickly. Watching the above video, you can how many different ways you can score out of the series.

For years, Syracuse fans have complained about the lack of off-ball movement in the offense, and bringing in a big man who passes like Lampkin is one way to signal that you’re ready to change that.

“That’s what I envisioned,” Autry said after the first game. “Being able to have a guy that can move the ball through the frontcourt, and that’s why he was really important for us to get.”

Clarion didn’t provide much resistance on the defensive end, as Syracuse was able to get everything it wanted, but the offensive structure was significantly better, and that’s the reason for excitement.

My major concern about an offense centered around Lampkin is turnovers. The Buffs ranked 11th in the Pac 12 in turnover rate last year despite starting point guard KJ Simpson having a 13.8 turnover rate. Lampkin himself had more turnovers than any Syracuse player last year.

He attempts a lot of risky passes within these actions, more so than a lot of other high-post passing bigs, as he’s still getting used to the role. It would be dangerous to entrust the offense entirely to him, which is another reason why Carlos is so important, as a truly elite playmaker.

Syracuse has the talent to be a top-20ish offense in college basketball this season if things click. Between shooting from Bell and company, Starling’s secondary on-ball scoring, Carlos and Lampkin’s playmaking, and Freeman’s all-around skillset, that’s a five that will have a lot of ways to attack you.

If the Orange figure out how to best balance their different looks, it could be an exciting change in the 315.