You don't think Grayson can play that role? He is going to be the engine to this train next year. He will be a junior all American. He's the alpha male and has earned it. He will be the leader on the floor- amile and Matt will also fill that void but make no mistake this is Grayson's team.
I think you're mistaking best and most important player with team leader. Will Grayson have a leadership role. Absolutely, he's an important player on the team and he's now one of the experienced guys. Does that necessarily mean he's the guy who'll take guys under his wings, get guys organized, inspire guys through more than his play, keep others engaged even when he's personally struggling, etc. etc. -- eh, I'm sure he'll do some of it, but not sure if that stuff is necessarily his strength. Obviously, none of us are in the lockerroom, a big part of the roster isn't even on campus yet, and none of us know how Grayson will mature as person -- so I'll concede the point that this is just speculating. With that said, other than the difference between Grayson being a jr. v. a soph., basically everything you just said about Grayson was true last year as well -- i.e., being the engine of the team, an AA, etc. applied last year. Yet, despite that, even after Amile's injury -- I rarely heard anyone say Grayson had become the team leader in any sense other than by example. The role fell on the shoulders of Marshall and, to a lesser extent, Matt. And, before you say well that's a difference in age, I would argue that if -- for instance -- Tyus was still on campus, Tyus would have been the undisputed on-court leader instead of Marshall. Also, even ignoring tripping, there were certainly some moments where Grayson not only wasn't a leader -- but needed someone to reign him in. Like, for instance, when Thornton seemed to be trying to give Grayson some quasi-encouragement / criticism after a TO against Ga Tech, I still remember Grayson giving Thornton a small shove and forcing Scheyer to intervene to get Grayson away. That doesn't really shout team leader to me.
I hate the comparisons of Grayson to Laettner -- b/c I don't think Grayson's nearly as ridiculous as Laettner was. But, I would say in this context, it is worth noting that Laettner was the engine, AA, alpha male, [fill-in generic platitude] of both title runs -- and yet I don't think anyone other Laettner (or maybe Brian Davis) would have called Laettner the leader of those teams. Hurley was the undisputed leader.
In the end of the day, I am not trying to be overly critical by any means. I think he's a fine kid and a great player. But, in this regard, everything I've seen and heard about Amile suggests to me that he's going to be the guy who gets everyone on the same page, mentors guys like Harry Giles & Tatum, rallies the troops through more than his play, etc. etc. And it's hard to fill that role from the bench.
