Alabama Basketball: Preview of Crimson Tide 2020-21 depth chart

Forwards

Starters: John Petty jr./Herb Jones/Jordan Bruner

I expect Alabama to play positionless basketball in 2020-21, as they don’t have a single player on the roster who’s official position is listed as center. This being said, they will likely start three forwards; John Petty jr., Herb Jones, and Yale transfer, Jordan Bruner.

I would fully expect John Petty Jr. to be one of the starters at forward for Alabama in 2020-21. Named to the Second-Team All-SEC in 2019-20, Petty is an impressive talent who withdrew his name from the NBA Draft on Monday.

Petty’s playstyle fits perfectly with Alabama’s second-year head coach, Nate Oats, who puts an emphasis on three-point shooting. With that, I would expect Petty to be even better in his senior season.

In addition to Petty, I would also expect Herb Jones to star who like Petty, withdrew his name from the NBA Draft this offseason. Jones is one of the best defensive players in College Basketball and was named to the SEC All-Defensive Team last season, for that reason.

Jones’ offense is still a work in progress as his free throw shooting is inconsistent at best with a 62.5% free-throw percentage, an abysmal 7.1% three-point percentage, and a respectable 48.4% field-goal percentage.

The final forward for Alabama will be 6’9″, 194lb Yale transfer, Jordan Bruner. In 2019-20 with Yale, Bruner averaged 10.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game, while shooting 44.3% from the field, 32.3% from beyond the arc, and 76.6% from the free-throw line.

For a 6’9″ forward, Bruner is an impressive shooter who is known to shoot threes, and with Nate Oats’ offense, he will likely shoot even more threes with the Crimson Tide. I would expect Bruner to be the closest thing to a center Alabama has, even though he is not officially listed as one.

Behind Petty, Jones, and Bruner I would expect to see Alex Tchikou, Keon Ambrose-Hylton, Juwan Gary, James Rojas, and Alex Reese all get time at the forward positions. Alabama is absolutely stacked at forward, and because of it, they have an unreal amount of depth to go with it.

Alex Tchikou and Keon Ambrose-Hylton are both four-star recruits whose freshmen years will both be in 2020-21. Both Tchikou and Ambrose-Hylton have the ability to make a huge impact for the Crimson Tide, and for that reason, I would expect both to get some time off the bench.

Then there’s Juwan Gary and James Rojas who both missed the 2019-20 season due to torn ACLs suffered prior to the start of the season. However, I would expect both to get time off the bench in what would be their second season playing for Alabama but is actually their first due to injuries.

Finally, there’s Alex Reese who didn’t have the best season in 2019-20. Reese is a 6’9″, 245lb forward, who in 2019-20 averaged 8.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game, while shooting 39.1% from the field, 29.8% from three, and 66.7% from the free-throw line.

Because of this, I would expect Reese’s minutes per game to go down significantly from 22.8 last season.

What do you think, what will Alabama’s depth chart look like in 2020-21? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter at @MJTrav627!