The curious case of Danny Wolf

[Exp0sed]

As some may know, there's an U-20 Euro championship going on atm

Israel has been the surprise of the tourney and is currently playing in the Semi-finals
among their ranks there's a young freshman from Yale, an American\Israeli Center named Danny Wolf

he is putting on a dominating run despite barely being able to get off the bench at Yale
he is doing this with a Jokic-like game, aided by his passing and rebounding

I only managed to find this clip and it's in Hebrew, I don't speak the language so Idk what the commentators are saying but still:

Watch on YouTube

;t=92s

is there something to learn here about the state of American basketball?
it's not like Yale is some elite program, how does a guy who barely plays at Yale with clearly a very unique game not find a bigger role on such a program?

can't find stats for this but I looked at some of the games and his numbers are very impressive and he's arguably a leading candidate atm for this tourney's MVP

he's a legit 7'0, with a soft touch and elite passing and clearly he can play as he's dominating in this U20 Championship

to be clear, I don't think he's an NBA level prospect or anything, i'm just trying to understand how a 7'0 19 year old guy with his skillset can't find a real role at Yale and what does that say about the development aspect in these American programs

thoughts?

edit: i'm watching the the Semi-Finals rn and Wolf has 17 pts and 18 rebs after 3 quarters, continuing his dominating run

[NuggetsWY]

As some may know, there's an U-20 Euro championship going on atm

Israel has been the surprise of the tourney and is currently playing in the Semi-finals
among their ranks there's a young freshman from Yale, an American\Israeli Center named Danny Wolf

he is putting on a dominating run despite barely being able to get off the bench at Yale
he is doing this with a Jokic-like game, aided by his passing and rebounding

I only managed to find this clip and it's in Hebrew, I don't speak the language so Idk what the commentators are saying but still:

<<youtube cut>>

is there something to learn here about the state of American basketball?
it's not like Yale is some elite program, how does a guy who barely plays at Yale with clearly a very unique game not find a bigger role on such a program?

can't find stats for this but I looked at some of the games and his numbers are very impressive and he's arguably a leading candidate atm for this tourney's MVP

he's a legit 7'0, with a soft touch and elite passing and clearly he can play as he's dominating in this U20 Championship

to be clear, I don't think he's an NBA level prospect or anything, i'm just trying to understand how a 7'0 19 year old guy with his skillset can't find a real role at Yale and what does that say about the development aspect in these American programs

thoughts?

edit: i'm watching the the Semi-Finals rn and Wolf has 17 pts and 18 rebs after 3 quarters, continuing his dominating run

It took Jokic a long time to get respect for his game too. Big men that can't/don't build their game around JUMPING just don't get respect. He needs to work on his three point shooting IMO and he needs players around him that move a lot -- then we'll see how he progresses.

Post Script: I like that short clip though.

[Exp0sed]

As some may know, there's an U-20 Euro championship going on atm



Post Script: I like that short clip though.

like I said, he's obviously not an NBA prospect or anything and he's got alot of work to do on his game but I find it kind of mind boggling that a guy who just led his team to the U-20 Eurobasket finals, only got 7 mpg at Yale as a freshman

I mean it's Yale..

[arusinov]

As some may know, there's an U-20 Euro championship going on atm



Post Script: I like that short clip though.

like I said, he's obviously not an NBA prospect or anything and he's got alot of work to do on his game but I find it kind of mind boggling that a guy who just led his team to the U-20 Eurobasket finals, only got 7 mpg at Yale as a freshman

I mean it's Yale..

And why is it obvious that he's not an NBA prospect?
The kid is over 6'11" and runs floor and handles ball really well for anyone this size.
He also strong guy with really good positioning for rebounds.
And this before speaking about his Jokic-like assists, and scoring potential (efficiency is still not here, but he shows ability to score in multiple ways... and he's still just 19 years old)

Is it still about "NBA prospect is someone who can jump really high twice in row"

[Exp0sed]

like I said, he's obviously not an NBA prospect or anything and he's got alot of work to do on his game but I find it kind of mind boggling that a guy who just led his team to the U-20 Eurobasket finals, only got 7 mpg at Yale as a freshman

I mean it's Yale..

And why is it obvious that he's not an NBA prospect?
The kid is over 6'11" and runs floor and handles ball really well for anyone this size.
He also strong guy with really good positioning for rebounds.
And this before speaking about his Jokic-like assists, and scoring potential (efficiency is still not here, but he shows ability to score in multiple ways... and he's still just 19 years old)

Is it still about "NBA prospect is someone who can jump really high twice in row"

I suppose ur right, I guess I said that just because I simply don't know this kid or anything about him

like u say, despite his efficiency (which he can work on) he did show in the few games I watched in this tourney that he can score in multiple ways and has range and soft touch (even if he can't do it consistently) and he did have only a couple of assists and slightly more TO's than assists which means that despite being able to pass he can't really do it at a high enough level and consistency but he is 19, that's true

he's actually very similar to Jokic (in style not quality) and despite playing below the rim he had a decent amount of steals and even some nice blocks which just like the Joker are based on his good timing and coordination meaning - blocking when when the attacking player is still going up and not at the height of the jumper

perhaps he can grow to be a bench player and find a role even in the NBA someday, who knows

I suspect that a 19 year old Jokic would not be sitting on the bench in Yale, it may took some time for him to get to where he is but he was playing against grown men at those ages - and playing very well

but I think it's fair to say he wasn't given a fair shake at Yale, because he can't jump etc. which was the point of my post - how can there still be such a huge bias in the NBA and college when Jokic is basically the 3 time MVP?

obviously in Europe the situation is different as this kid was called up to the national team and given a major role despite those limitations, while being basically ignored at Yale

maybe there's plenty of young American ballers who fit this bill as well but are being overlooked by coaches? i suspect there are

[arusinov]

I suppose ur right, I guess I said that just because I simply don't know this kid or anything about him

like u say, despite his efficiency (which he can work on) he did show in the few games I watched in this tourney that he can score in multiple ways and has range and soft touch (even if he can't do it consistently) and he did have only a couple of assists and slightly more TO's than assists which means that despite being able to pass he can't really do it at a high enough level and consistency but he is 19, that's true

he's actually very similar to Jokic (in style not quality) and despite playing below the rim he had a decent amount of steals and even some nice blocks which just like the Joker are based on his good timing and coordination meaning - blocking when when the attacking player is still going up and not at the height of the jumper

perhaps he can grow to be a bench player and find a role even in the NBA someday, who knows

I suspect that a 19 year old Jokic would not be sitting on the bench in Yale, it may took some time for him to get to where he is but he was playing against grown men at those ages - and playing very well

but I think it's fair to say he wasn't given a fair shake at Yale, because he can't jump etc. which was the point of my post - how can there still be such a huge bias in the NBA and college when Jokic is basically the 3 time MVP?

obviously in Europe the situation is different as this kid was called up to the national team and given a major role despite those limitations, while being basically ignored at Yale

maybe there's plenty of young American ballers who fit this bill as well but are being overlooked by coaches? i suspect there are

Look... This Israel U20 was not supposed to be a good team. Actually Israel U20 made to Euro U20 Semifinals 4 times in row (with 2 Championships, 2nd place before them, and 4th last year) But in those tournaments we had Deni Avdija (Washington Wizards), Yam Madar (signed $800,000 per year in EuroLeague team Fenerbahce from Turkey last week), Tamir Blatt and Yovel Zoosman known to have European level potential or at least guys like Noam Dovrat (was seen as draft 2nd round potential before series of injuries) and 7'1" Gilad Levy, and some shooters and forwards and defensive-minded players...

This time it was Noam Yakov which is good PG - very quick, and smart... but smallish and not good shooter (he was bench player for Hapoel Jerusalem which got to 2nd/3rd tier European tournament Final-4 this season). The only other somewhat interesting player - Ron Zipper which is mostly shooter but totally can't connect on this tournament (21.6% 3P ... hm...) It's hard to get a lot assists when you and PG are only guys which can score. And by the way playing in Serbia Jokic had 3.2 ast / 2.1 tov - nothing like triple double per game he posts now.

So no one expected Israel to be anywhere close to medals before Wolf appeared.
Now. Just to be clear. A lot of players at Euro U20 are not on D-1 level... But I've also seen a lot D-1 players (including important players in strongest conferences) which were totally invisible and useless in Euro-20 competitions.

And Wolf is literally top-3 player in the tournament and exhibits super-impressive skills... Up to the level that there're talks about adding him right now to Israel NT preparing to pre-Olympic tornament, and trying to check whether he would be interested to join Hapoel Holon (the team which was in SemiFinals of 2nd/3rd tier European tournament in 2021/22 and last 16 in 2022/23)

And truth to be said - while Israeli league is not one of best in Europe, huge majority of D-1 players would never get any playing time there.

[Exp0sed]

Look... This Israel U20 was not supposed to be a good team. Actually Israel U20 made to Euro U20 Semifinals 4 times in row (with 2 Championships, 2nd place before them, and 4th last year) But in those tournaments we had Deni Avdija (Washington Wizards), Yam Madar (signed $800,000 per year in EuroLeague team Fenerbahce from Turkey last week), Tamir Blatt and Yovel Zoosman known to have European level potential or at least guys like Noam Dovrat (was seen as draft 2nd round potential before series of injuries) and 7'1" Gilad Levy, and some shooters and forwards and defensive-minded players...

This time it was Noam Yakov which is good PG - very quick, and smart... but smallish and not good shooter (he was bench player for Hapoel Jerusalem which got to 2nd/3rd tier European tournament Final-4 this season). The only other somewhat interesting player - Ron Zipper which is mostly shooter but totally can't connect on this tournament (21.6% 3P ... hm...) It's hard to get a lot assists when you and PG are only guys which can score. And by the way playing in Serbia Jokic had 3.2 ast / 2.1 tov - nothing like triple double per game he posts now.

So no one expected Israel to be anywhere close to medals before Wolf appeared.
Now. Just to be clear. A lot of players at Euro U20 are not on D-1 level... But I've also seen a lot D-1 players (including important players in strongest conferences) which were totally invisible and useless in Euro-20 competitions.

And Wolf is literally top-3 player in the tournament and exhibits super-impressive skills... Up to the level that there're talks about adding him right now to Israel NT preparing to pre-Olympic tornament, and trying to check whether he would be interested to join Hapoel Holon (the team which was in SemiFinals of 2nd/3rd tier European tournament in 2021/22 and last 16 in 2022/23)

And truth to be said - while Israeli league is not one of best in Europe, huge majority of D-1 players would never get any playing time there.

I clearly know alot less about Israeli basketball than u but I do follow European bball closely for decades and am def familiar with with Deni obviously and also with Madar (who was on a couple of SL rosters etc and has played for Partizan even in the Euroleague)

for some reason Israeli youth teams tend to do better (than the national team I mean) and it's common to see you guys doing well in U-20's for example. perhaps it's because Israel as a small country sends their best prospects to these tourneys but the best 18-20 prospects from the top nations, are usually not playing U-20s? or some other factor such as coaching etc

whatever the case may be there is no denying this current team isn't very talented overall and that Wolf has been their best and most impactful player and that's a very good indicator that this kid can hoop. his stats have been pretty impressive and his +- is pretty ridicilous, like I said I also watched a couple of games (just out of boredom) and watched the semi-finals and he can def play

what ur saying about him being considered for a national call-up makes alot of sense, it's not like 6'11 or 7'0 guys with actual skills grow on trees, i'm sure they can find uses for him even if it's in a bench role for the time being

I was just downplaying him as a prospect because a.) i'd never heard of him before this tourney started and b.) it's hard for me to envision him doing the same things (especially finishing around the rim etc against NBA competition)

i def see him as a great prospect for something like the national team, or local league or even Euroleague in a couple of years but the NBA is a bit of a stretch. anything's possible I guess

I was also less concerned about how good of a prospect he is (or not) I was merely trying to point out that something has to be broken in the American college system, if a 7 ft. C with actual skills, is getting 7 mpg at a low-tier program like Yale and then dominates in U-20's over the summer. I find it very hard to believe his skills wouldn't have translated in D-1 at Yale, a team that started a senior named E.J Jarvis, whose 6'8 and isn't any kind of a prospect at all

[NuggetsWY]

My biggest concern about Danny Wolf is his three-point shooting style; he starts & finishes too low IMO. But that can be fixed.

[arusinov]

Well. Danny Wolf finished tournament with 17.7 pts (2nd among all players) ,12 rbs (1st), 2.4 ast, 1.6 stl., 1.3 blk averages
He was selected to the tournament All-Star Five together with his teammate Noam Yaakov, Ilias Kamardine from France (MVP), Greece's Vangelis Zougris and Thijs De Ridder of Belgium

By the way... 11 seconds to the end of the final game against France 4th quarter Wolf scored off Yaakov's feed tying the game at 72 - 72 and got chance to compete and-1 but missed FT. Israel lost in OT

[arusinov]

I would suggest to pay attention to the versatility this guy has shown:

Read on Twitter

[NuggetsWY]

I would suggest to pay attention to the versatility this guy has shown:
<youtube cut>

... and pretty nice handles for a 7 footer

[Exp0sed]

I would suggest to pay attention to the versatility this guy has shown:
<youtube cut>

... and pretty nice handles for a 7 footer

yeah, pretty sick...

this clip above from the tourney is ridicilous..
so u mean to tell me coaches at Yale can't see that?
80%+ from the line, 3 pt range, passing ability, undestands the game and even has handles at a 7 ft. package?

Me think they need some new coaches haha

[prophet_of_rage]

As some may know, there's an U-20 Euro championship going on atm



Post Script: I like that short clip though.

like I said, he's obviously not an NBA prospect or anything and he's got alot of work to do on his game but I find it kind of mind boggling that a guy who just led his team to the U-20 Eurobasket finals, only got 7 mpg at Yale as a freshman

I mean it's Yale..

These kind of big men get run off the floor by small ball lineups. Jokic works because he is a decent athlete with a deep shot surrounded by athletes who can shoot.

Sent from my SM-S9080 using RealGM mobile app

[arusinov]

Read on Twitter

Well... Is Danny Wolf still "obviously not an NBA prospect or anything" ?
Will he still not be one if he for example wins Ivy league MVP ?

[arusinov]

By now in 16 games this season Danny Wolf averages 14.4 pts / 9.5 reb / 2.5 ast / 1.6 blk
He scored in double figures 13 times in a row and recorded 6 double-double performances.

He is also named to Mid-Season Watch List for the Lou Henson Award (top mid-major player award)

I think we can safely say now that Danny Wolf is obviously an NBA prospect.

[arusinov]

Read on Twitter

So it was not that much "curious case of Danny Wolf" - just reluctance to give large role to freshman when the team has vets on his position, and the team is successful (for Ivy league team I mean - they won Ivy League Tournament in 2022)

Actually Wolf is quite probably the best player in Ivy