Early signs promising as St. Johns looks to debunk shooting concerns

Rick Pitino isn’t of the belief that shot-making will be a problem for St.John’s this year. In Monday night’s open practice at the Garden, which included a lengthy scrimmage, it didn’t appear to be.

RJ Luis, Brady Dunlap, North Texas transfer Aaron Scott and freshmen Jaiden Glover and Lefteris Liotopoulos all showed promise from beyond the arc.Simeon Wilcher is expected to be one of the Johnnies’ top weapons from downtown as well, although he only took a few jumpers during the scrimmage Monday, as he was handling point guard duties with Utah transfer Deivon Smith out due to a shoulder injury. One of the narratives with the roster that Pitino put together is that it was short on shooters, since the two top newcomers, Kadary Richmond of Seton Hall and Smith, aren’t known for their outside shooting and the team lost quality shotmakers in Daniss Jenkins, Jordan Dingle and Nahiem Alleyne.Richmond hit one 3-pointer in the scrimmage.  “I don’t think that’s a weakness.The only weakness is just them meshing with each other, because they all can play,” Pitino said.

“It’s not like five guys meshing, it’s 11 guys meshing.[Shooting] is not a weakness.

If anything, it’s been a strength so far.RJ has gotten a lot better.

We’re going to get Kadary and Deivon shooting the ball much better with our player development, too.” One of the stars of Monday night’s scrimmage was Glover, the 6-foot-5 freshman wing out of The Patrick School (N.J.).He scored 19 points and hit four 3-pointers.Glover missed summer workouts due to a wrist injury, but has been coming on of late, to where Pitino expects he will be a contributor this season. “Jaiden’s very talented, he just doesn’t totally know how to move without basketball.

Doesn’t understand the fundamentals great.But in terms of having a great attitude, in terms of having a great body, in terms of having a great game, he’s really good,” Pitino said.

“I think he’ll play this year. “...