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Like the kid, he’s smooth with it and has a complete skill set
2024 NBA Draft Thread - the hawks might be on the clock
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by addict4sneakers,
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Amari Bailey stinks
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Terrence Shannon Jr. 
Great to see the progression
Great to see the progression
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Looks like potential
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I am fairly certain Emoni Bates' teammates don't like him very much 
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I am fairly certain Emoni Bates' teammates don't like him very much
He's been given a **** hand, but we also keep giving him excuses. Maybe he's just not good.
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I am not talking about his talent at all.
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I am fairly certain Emoni Bates' teammates don't like him very much
It’s that chin hair. If I was in college and saw a dude rocking that I’d hate him for no reason
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HOU$TON
formerly convertibleburt
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Unnecessary.
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Stephen Abdul-Chamberlain. GOAT of all GOATs
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Rookie of the Week: Shaedon Sharpe, SG, Portland
(Note: This section won’t necessarily profile the best rookie of the week. Just the one I’ve been watching.)
The mystery meat of the 2022 NBA Draft, the Trail Blazers selected Shaedon Sharpe seventh despite him not playing one minute in his lone season at Kentucky. His first 15 games have shown why the Blazers made that leap of faith, as Sharpe has been able to credibly fill a rotation spot. Already, he has nine double-figure games, including 20 against Brooklyn on Friday, and several highlight dunks.
At the moment, Sharpe offers two clear plus weapons: a sweet shooting stroke and superior leaping ability. Sharpe has made 47.2 percent of his 3s thus far, and while that figure surely will regress, the eye test says his shooting stroke with his feet set is the real deal.
If anything, he should be launching a lot more often than he does. Sharpe has only tried 5.9 3s per 100 possessions, barely a third of his field goal attempts. Sometimes he seems unready to shoot when he catches the ball, like here when he passes up an open 3 and instead bails himself out by making a more difficult stepback.
Sharpe’s profile also includes the ability to attack in straight lines and finish at the rim with his leaping ability. Watch here, for instance, as he grabs a rebound, pushes it up court and uses a screen and a hesitation move to glide through the paint and smoothly finish at the at the cup:
Sharpe’s upside is clear, but for now, some weaknesses limit his utility. His motor can weirdly shut off a times, and he’ll seem content to float around off the ball for long stretches. That’s a shame because he could do so much damage as a cutter, flying in for alley-oops (or more conventional finishes) with his hops.
As a ballhandler, Sharpe’s game is limited by severe tunnel vision. Right now, he is just a play finisher, not a play starter; amazingly, he has just six assists the entire season. To really capitalize on his abilities, Sharpe will have to advance his capabilities off the bounce and figure out what the other four players on the court are for. His 0.9 assists per 100 possessions is second-to-last in the NBA, ranking only ahead of Detroit rookie big man Jalen Duren, and mind-blowing for a guard.
Here, for instance, is a clip that amalgamates some of the work Sharpe has left to do: He’s unready to shoot despite being wide open and drives into three players and throws up a heavily contested shot instead of hitting an open Jusuf Nurkić.
With all that said, Sharpe’s ceiling is really high — he’s only 19, remember — and his shooting gives him a finite floor. He’s already useful enough to deserve the minutes he’s getting. The question is whether he can develop his motor and feel enough to become more of a primary offensive option.
(Note: This section won’t necessarily profile the best rookie of the week. Just the one I’ve been watching.)
The mystery meat of the 2022 NBA Draft, the Trail Blazers selected Shaedon Sharpe seventh despite him not playing one minute in his lone season at Kentucky. His first 15 games have shown why the Blazers made that leap of faith, as Sharpe has been able to credibly fill a rotation spot. Already, he has nine double-figure games, including 20 against Brooklyn on Friday, and several highlight dunks.
At the moment, Sharpe offers two clear plus weapons: a sweet shooting stroke and superior leaping ability. Sharpe has made 47.2 percent of his 3s thus far, and while that figure surely will regress, the eye test says his shooting stroke with his feet set is the real deal.
If anything, he should be launching a lot more often than he does. Sharpe has only tried 5.9 3s per 100 possessions, barely a third of his field goal attempts. Sometimes he seems unready to shoot when he catches the ball, like here when he passes up an open 3 and instead bails himself out by making a more difficult stepback.
Sharpe’s profile also includes the ability to attack in straight lines and finish at the rim with his leaping ability. Watch here, for instance, as he grabs a rebound, pushes it up court and uses a screen and a hesitation move to glide through the paint and smoothly finish at the at the cup:
Sharpe’s upside is clear, but for now, some weaknesses limit his utility. His motor can weirdly shut off a times, and he’ll seem content to float around off the ball for long stretches. That’s a shame because he could do so much damage as a cutter, flying in for alley-oops (or more conventional finishes) with his hops.
As a ballhandler, Sharpe’s game is limited by severe tunnel vision. Right now, he is just a play finisher, not a play starter; amazingly, he has just six assists the entire season. To really capitalize on his abilities, Sharpe will have to advance his capabilities off the bounce and figure out what the other four players on the court are for. His 0.9 assists per 100 possessions is second-to-last in the NBA, ranking only ahead of Detroit rookie big man Jalen Duren, and mind-blowing for a guard.
Here, for instance, is a clip that amalgamates some of the work Sharpe has left to do: He’s unready to shoot despite being wide open and drives into three players and throws up a heavily contested shot instead of hitting an open Jusuf Nurkić.
With all that said, Sharpe’s ceiling is really high — he’s only 19, remember — and his shooting gives him a finite floor. He’s already useful enough to deserve the minutes he’s getting. The question is whether he can develop his motor and feel enough to become more of a primary offensive option.
Prospect of the Week: Keyonte George, 6-4, Fr., SG, Baylor
(Note: This section won’t necessarily profile the best prospect of the week. Just the one I’ve been watching.)
Sometimes you watch a player and just think, “I’m not sure yet, but I’m interested.” That’s particularly true for one-and-done candidates like Keyonte George, the Baylor freshman who is averaging 14.4 points and 5.0 assists thus far. Our Sam Vecenie had him projected to go sixth in his most recent mock draft.
George isn’t some Wembanyama-ish sure thing, but he’s interesting. Let’s start with the bad news and then work up from there: George is 6-foot-4, not a freak athlete and not a point guard. That’s a tough needle for a potential lottery pick to thread; the scoring and feel need to be outstanding to offset it. His pathway to success has footprints — think Bradley Beal or CJ McCollum — but it’s a narrow lane.
Watching George play in high-profile games against Virginia and UCLA this weekend, you can see why he might be able to break through anyway. He has a clear instinct for scoring, especially shooting pull-ups, and his 3-point shot looks good enough to be a reliable threat at the next level. We’ll get more data on that as the season goes on, but through five games, he’s made 12 of 37 from 3 and 12 of 15 from the line.
However, what stands out is that George doesn’t just have his head down looking for buckets; he uncorked several plus passes in the two games over the weekend. The fact that he’s averaging five assists a game while playing off the ball is a strongly positive indicator. George also showed enough on the defensive end to suggest he might hold his own there against pro twos, although I doubt this will ever be some huge strength of his. And on the flip side, he’s also had some bad turnovers and struggled to get all the way to the cup on his own steam.
This type of mixed bag is hardly atypical for a freshman one-and-done playing his first college games, and it’s far too early for me to bang the gavel with some kind of final proclamation on his outlook. One of the biggest parts of the evaluation will be seeing how he progresses as the season wears on and whether the trends we’ve seen in this small sample of games continue.
Nonetheless, he’s marked himself as a player to watch: highly touted coming in and producing at a fairly high level for a good team. Given the ferocity of Baylor’s schedule — the Bears play Gonzaga in two weeks and have the usual ferocious slate of Big 12 games — we’ll have plenty more evaluation opportunities.
(Note: This section won’t necessarily profile the best prospect of the week. Just the one I’ve been watching.)
Sometimes you watch a player and just think, “I’m not sure yet, but I’m interested.” That’s particularly true for one-and-done candidates like Keyonte George, the Baylor freshman who is averaging 14.4 points and 5.0 assists thus far. Our Sam Vecenie had him projected to go sixth in his most recent mock draft.
George isn’t some Wembanyama-ish sure thing, but he’s interesting. Let’s start with the bad news and then work up from there: George is 6-foot-4, not a freak athlete and not a point guard. That’s a tough needle for a potential lottery pick to thread; the scoring and feel need to be outstanding to offset it. His pathway to success has footprints — think Bradley Beal or CJ McCollum — but it’s a narrow lane.
Watching George play in high-profile games against Virginia and UCLA this weekend, you can see why he might be able to break through anyway. He has a clear instinct for scoring, especially shooting pull-ups, and his 3-point shot looks good enough to be a reliable threat at the next level. We’ll get more data on that as the season goes on, but through five games, he’s made 12 of 37 from 3 and 12 of 15 from the line.
However, what stands out is that George doesn’t just have his head down looking for buckets; he uncorked several plus passes in the two games over the weekend. The fact that he’s averaging five assists a game while playing off the ball is a strongly positive indicator. George also showed enough on the defensive end to suggest he might hold his own there against pro twos, although I doubt this will ever be some huge strength of his. And on the flip side, he’s also had some bad turnovers and struggled to get all the way to the cup on his own steam.
This type of mixed bag is hardly atypical for a freshman one-and-done playing his first college games, and it’s far too early for me to bang the gavel with some kind of final proclamation on his outlook. One of the biggest parts of the evaluation will be seeing how he progresses as the season wears on and whether the trends we’ve seen in this small sample of games continue.
Nonetheless, he’s marked himself as a player to watch: highly touted coming in and producing at a fairly high level for a good team. Given the ferocity of Baylor’s schedule — the Bears play Gonzaga in two weeks and have the usual ferocious slate of Big 12 games — we’ll have plenty more evaluation opportunities.
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