I spent tonight with Coach Cal and Coach Antigua at the Reebok Breakout Classic in Philadelphia. And by “spent tonight,” I mean that I sat in the same gym with them. Far away.
That provides an appropriate context for the report that follows. They’re the talent evaluators. I’m just a guy sitting in the cheap seats. There’s surely a reason for that. The one game I saw tonight was the Camp’s all-star game—not typically the best showcase for team basketball, but it did bring together a collection of UK targets: Josh Perkins, Emmanuel Mudiay, and Rashad Vaughn. [Karl Towns didn’t play in the all-star game despite attending the Camp; no idea why.]
Overall impressions from this group of prospects:
* When looking at these kids as a group, I felt an overwhelming desire to feed each of them a burger. I hope Reebok makes an edible shoe. They were all so skinny and frail looking. No real big bodies in the whole crew of all-stars.
* The shooting was probably the worst I’ve seen at this event (been going since 2007). Other than Rashad Vaughn, I’ll be shocked if anyone from the Class of 2014 hits a single three-pointer in college. (Only a slight hyperbole.) To this proud alumnus of the Kyle Macy Basketball Camps in Lexington, the various shooting forms displayed by this crew inspired the Keystone Beer Face all night— elbows jutting out, legs splaying out in different directions, shotput releases at shoulder-level, falling backward and sideways while shooting, and many of those offenses simultaneously. It was a horror show.
Of the Kentucky targets, I liked Vaughn the best by far, but even that endorsement carries some reservations:
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Rashad Vaughn (6’6 SG) —I loved Vaughn at this event last year as a rising junior. He seemed to have a nice sense of when to drive and when to pull-up for jumpers—basically, a level of control and awareness to his game that many of the older players didn’t seem to share. This year, he seemed a little slower and totally one-dimensional: interested only in chucking 3s.
Make no mistake, the kid has a pretty shot. The Doron Lamb comparison is easy for UK fans (this one, at least), but I didn’t see that Vaughn has the ball-handling and overall quickness/smoothness that Lamb possessed. But simply on the shooting form—boy, oh boy, that’s a pretty looking shot! And he can hit it from NBA range easily. He hit 4 in a row tonight – a streak which ended when he started gunning from 30 feet on the next 2 possessions -- and ended up with 9 total.
Other than the outside shooting, Vaughn didn’t show much tonight. He played a little selfishly, perhaps trying to impress the coaches a bit too much. His passing was lazy, and he displayed some regrettable body language—a combination of “too cool for school” and displeasure at mistakes by his teammates (some of which were actually caused by his own bad passes).
Listen, I still want him. The raw materials are there. Cal can smooth out the rough edges, especially after the kid gets on a real strength and conditioning program.
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Emmanuel Mudiay (6’5 PG) – Mudiay is a big PG who seems very comfortable posting up smaller defenders and creating space for himself more with his size/strength than his speed. [Soon after I first formed that thought tonight, he executed a gorgeous, smooth spin move to slice through the lane. After that, he went back to more of the power game.] That’s not to say he doesn’t have speed. He seems plenty quick. But he seems distinguishable from the other PGs in the class by his size. He can play through contact, which will be useful in the DDMO.
His FT shooting was cringe-worthy tonight, and his outside shot is riddled with flaws in form. He seemed to force passes a lot tonight, but, to be fair, that could have been a normal 17-year old’s desire to show off in an all-star game. His ballhandling seemed fine but nothing out of this world. He did not strike me as an explosive leaper… and I say that about a guy who pulled off a 360 dunk in transition tonight. It just seemed like the lowest possible lift you could get for a dunk, and he stretched his arms up to make the play. Hard to describe, I fear, but I hope you get my point.
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Josh Perkins (6’3 PG) – I hated Perkins from the moment he stepped on the court. Sorry, Darryl. He came out chewing a white straw or a lollipop stick, and he kept it in his mouth through most of the first half. That seemed to reflect his attitude toward defense, which was lazy at best—a real straight-back “defender” who never got into a stance, really. For a pass-first guy, like I thought he was, I thought his passing was really lazy and often reckless, as he tried to slip the ball into gaps that weren’t there. Those gaps will only close quicker in college. I have to think he would adjust fine, but it was hard to watch tonight. His outside shooting was pretty bad, but he only attempted a few perimeter shots, so it’s a small sample size.
On the positive side, he definitely has a quick first-step when he elects to use it, and he displayed good instincts on occasion tonight in finding guys cutting toward the basket. I don’t mean to sound overly negative about it. There were positives to be found. I just expected a lot more out of him, based on Internet chatter.
Overall, I worried – again, based only what I saw on this one night -- that Perkins might be a guy who gives away as much as he gives to the team.
Other players of note that I’ll be interested to follow:
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Romelo Trimble (6’3 PG) (Maryland commit) – my favorite player of the night by far. He reminds me of George Hill of the Pacers. The overall theme of his game seemed to be control and methodical breaking down of the defense; he was very effective at dribbling past the perimeter defender to the FT line, not picking up his dribble, and responding to whatever the defense gave him from that juncture—floaters, passes to cutting teammates, whatever. He threw great lob passes from all over the court; he has a solid, stacked upper body which allows him to absorb contact when he drives. And he really squares his shoulders nicely on every shot, and it makes you think that even the misses should have gone in. He had great range from 3; he probably hit two from NBA range. I also liked his unselfishness—a rare trait in an all-star game. For instance, he had a breakaway dunk, but he elected to slow up, let his big man catch up to the play, and then threw the ball to the big off the backboard for a monster alley-oop. I just really liked him.
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Josh Martin (6’8 PF) – this guy had the highest arc’ing FT shot I’ve ever witnessed. I’m not sure I could throw it that high in the air if I tried. And he did it as part of his natural FT rhythm. Can’t wait to watch more of that in college. [Washington has offered, apparently, and he’s from Washington.]
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Chinanu Onuaku (6’11 C 2015)—intriguing big man prospect. He seemed to move well enough, and you can’t teach 6’11. He wasn’t a shot blocker in the limited action he saw tonight, and most of his offense consisted of put-backs and dunks/lay-ups. Still, I’ll be interested to watch his development as a junior in HS and see whether big programs come calling next year. [ESPN shows him with offers from UConn, Rutgers, Maryland, and a host of other big schools (mostly East Coast); he’s from Maryland.]
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Corey Sanders (6’0 SG? 2015) – this guy has big hops, and he will create his own highlight reel in college. He played a little selfishly and displayed bad body language and bad shooting form. But he can jump. Murray State is recruiting him, and that seems about right.
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Johnnie Vassar (6’1 PG) – quick PG with good passing instincts and excellent hops. He was fun to watch. Cal and Illinois are listed on his ESPN page, but it doesn’t sound like he has offers from them yet; Yahoo lists him with offers from DePaul, USC, and SMU.
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That’s it for this year. Remember, I don’t purport to be Doc or anyone else who has a real eye for talent. I probably both over- and under-value attributes that make players successful in college. Thank heavens for all of us that Cal and Coach O were there and don’t rely on these boards for their recruiting insights!
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