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By: Ron Ball
As pool play winds down, so do the opportunities to see new players however I took advantage to get a better feel on some I had already seen.
First up was an early morning game featuring Skal Labissiere.* I was able to catch 2 of his games today. This tall rangy 2015 kid has plenty of hype. From my point of view, the best aspect of him is that he is just a rising junior. Offensively his skills are limited due to a lack of physical strength. He can't hold his space against shorter but stronger players. Defensively he alters shots with a long reach but the lack of strength hurts him on the glass where he losses opportunities because he can't hold ground. He did display very good hands, sees the court well, gets the ball down the floor and moves well but his high ranking is clearly based on the potential rather than results. The areas of concern will resolve with maturation. Cal has shown he can develop big men and Skal has the tools so the limitations are this point are of no concern.
More impressive to me was his teammate Malik Monk. This rising sophomore (class of 2016) is a scoring machine and destined to be a highly coveted recruit. At 6-2 this athletic shooting guard possesses outstanding athleticism. In the morning game he tallied a 16 points, including hitting three treys. He reportedly holds offers from FL, LSU and Arkansas.
Equally impressive in this early morning contest was opponent rising junior Danjel Purifoy. This 6-6 SF/SG out of Alabama current holds an offer from Kentucky. Like Monk, he scored 16 points with all coming inside the arch. I will be interested to see him in the future.
I made a point to watch as much of Luke Kennard as possible today and succeeded. After watching him yesterday I was lukewarm on him. Not now. Put me firmly in the camp of wanting him. The southpaw showed up today with a strong morning game and hit a wide range of shots as well as getting up and down the court. He runs off screens well and can light it up from long range.* He is a solid athlete and reminds me a lot of Marshall Henderson in how he plays the game. Certainly he does not share the antics. And it doesn't hurt that his family bleeds blue.
Those dropping on my radar today included Devin Booker and Kelly Oubre. Booker had a couple poor performances and seemed to be forcing the game more than playing it. As for Oubre, I like his game but don't love it. Off course those are my opinions and* likely the Calipari brain trust disagrees.
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