Nojel Eastern Putting in Work

Three giant holes were left with the departure of Carsen Edwards, Ryan Cline and Grady Eifert. Three true Purdue guys, that all brought different skills to the court for us. Carsen a guy who could get a bucket at anytime and create his own shot.

Cline the definition of a three and D guy. Lastly, Grady, Mr. Effort who put his game together nicely and actually lead the nation in offensive efficiency at one point this season.

Most people look for players coming in as freshman or grad transfers to fill these holes instead of looking at the roster we have already put together. There are a few players that are set to make a jump, especially offensively.

Nojel is set to make a jump this year. With Coach Painter, you generally see a nice jump from Sophomore year to Junior year.

Nojel Eastern,according to his mother’s Twitter, is putting in work. She has consistently posted videos on Twitter of Nojel putting in work.

A few things I have taken from these videos is... ff

First thing, he is gigantic as a point guard. Most of the teams are going to have to put a forward on him, then he will be too fast for most forwards. Nojel still had a strange hitch in his shot, but his % went way up from mid-season to the end of the season, at times he hit clutch free throws late in games.

Second thing I noticed his jump shot is finally looking okay. He is shooting threes in the workouts and looking fluid. Even if he just gets his mid range shot consistent he will be a much more viable offensive option, as he can get to the bucket and post up smaller players at will.

Lastly, he looks more fluid in dribbling the ball in these drills. I get it, he has no one guarding him, but at times last year he still seemed like it wasn’t natural. these drills are making it look so natural to Jelly.

(Thank you Momma Eastern for the videos!)

Personally, I am more than excited for Jelly. The First Team All-Big Defensive Member is going to put together a solid offensive game over these next two years and help carry our young guns we have coming in.

Losing Carsen, Cline and Eifert stinks, but with guys like Eastern, Wheeler and Haarms coming back we shouldn’t be too worried. They will help fill that scoring void. I am excited for the 2019-2020 season already.