THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Next year's Zags? Your guess is as good as mine

Nope, sorry.

Can’t help you, at least not yet.

For everyone in the region who has written, tugged on my sleeve or sent up smoke signals …

The truth is that I really can’t tell you who will fill out next season’s roster at Gonzaga — let alone who might get the most playing time, and at what positions.

I understand the curiosity (we shouldn’t call it panic just yet), since the Zags are one of the very few schools to have its entire starting five declare for the NBA draft.

Maybe they’ll all leave, either to be drafted or play professionally in Italy, Greece — or maybe the G-League.

If Gonzaga had a preseason game scheduled tomorrow, I’m guessing that the starting lineup would be Nolan Hickman, Hunter Sallis and Dominick Harris in a three-guard look, with Anton Watson at forward and 7-foot LSU transfer Efton Reid in the middle.

Not sure where we’d find Ben Gregg, Kaden Perry (assuming his back problems are resolved), or freshman Braden Huff, who is fresh off being named Illinois’ Mr. Basketball.

No small feat, that one.

SURE, I can take a few wild guesses at where we might find some additions to that list of definite roster members.

How about Drew Timme?

Gonzaga will either be a somewhere-in-the-hunt team or a Final Four contender, depending on whether or not Timme returns to Spokane after going through the draft process.

I’ve flippantly said all along that Timme will come back, but that was before the possibility of a good-bye wave became a serious thing.

Now?

Call me a little shaky on the prediction, just like everyone else.

Probably just nerves.

I do think Julian Strawther will return to school after hearing what’s up in the NBA, simply because he’s a year or two away from that level of play.

Strawther may have help, especially defensively, at small forward — that’s if Texas Tech’s Kevin McCullar pops out of the transfer portal.

The 6-6 McCullar, who might as well come to Gonzaga because he actually plays like a bulldog, has narrowed his choices to the Zags and Kansas.

Mark Few and his coaches can hope that McCullar has seen enough of Allen Fieldhouse, and decides on moving to a different part of the country.

LET’S SAY Timme and Strawther come back, but the Zags lose Chet Holmgren, Andrew Nembhard and Rasir Bolton from last year’s cast.

They’d be in good shape at guard with the natural development (and God-given talent) of Hickman and Sallis.

Plus …

Harris was on his way to a potential breakout sophomore year when he suffered a broken foot, but he’s been itching to get back at it — and Harris represents the team’s best likely 3-point threat (assuming Bolton does leave).

Watson has improved every year he’s been at Gonzaga, and the same is true of Strawther.

Even if McCullar drifts off to KU — I mean, what have THEY done lately? — we’re talking about a pretty good gang of Zags.

I’m leaving the freshman Huff and lightly experienced talents like Gregg and Perry out of this discussion — just for the moment — because they’ll need time to earn solid minutes.

ON THE other hand, we do need to focus on Reid, who has had far less notoriety but could be asked to do many of Holmgren’s jobs in the next couple of years.

Big men generally are slow developers — even the mega-gifted Holmgren showed improvement from month to month — so looking just at Reid’s very modest numbers as a freshman at LSU doesn’t necessarily mean too much.

He's a big kid at 238 pounds, and arrived as a 5-star prospect from IMG Academy in Florida.

Reid was certainly durable, playing in all 34 games, but …

In just 19.1 minutes, he averaged 6.3 points and 4.3 rebounds.

Remember, though, 7-footers with skills (Reid was the third-ranked center in the nation coming out of high school) can turn into truly dominant players.

Then there’s the fact that LSU was a dysfunctional program, as all 11 scholarship players have transferred out since the firing of coach Will Wade.

Gonzaga clearly believes it may have landed a gem.

Few’s take: "Efton is going to be a great addition to our program, and somebody that is not only going to help us right away, but has great potential for development moving forward.”

Zag Nation will be hoping fervently that Few is correct.

Oh, yeah, and besides that …

Maybe the entire Zag Universe should be praying that the guy with the mustache doing those cool casino commercials decides he’d enjoy another winter or two in Spokane.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball which is published monthly during the offseason.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”