Thon Maker

[EricAnderson]

Heres another player from the 16' class who just came out of nowhere and moved into the top 10 of his class recently..hes raw as hell and needs alot of work but you dont see this combination of size and athletic ability from grown men never mind 14 year olds


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZCdiVW7JxY

[thamadkant]

He is 17 years old nuff said crazy potential.. Aussie basketball team will be a force to be reckoned with next few years

What? Nuff said? He showed up in Australia with no birth certificate so where's your proof that he's 17? Have you checked his bone density or something?

He was playing state for NSW u16s (so a 15yo) around four years ago! Then he moves to the states and is suddenly three years younger? His handler is known for his dodgy dealings so I would assume nothing when it comes to this guy!

Look, I'm from australia and I understand that many Sudanese lack birth certificates coming in, but you also can't prove he is 21 years old as much as someone proving he is 17.

And him playing under 16, 4 years ago doesn't hold much weight, also I recall playing under 16s when I was 14 years old. Also now i play open age and I play giant 17 year olds because they play with mixed age groups.
I can imagine they don't want a 6'5-6'6 13 year old (Thon) absolutely dominating other 13 year olds who are still learning the game.... Many parents tend to enter their kids primarily for extra curriculum activities.... The skilful players tend to be focused on around under 16s and 18s.

My point is... Playing under 16s 4 years ago doesn't mean he is 21 today.
Only a proper medical check may show his actual age ...

[XTC]

Wow if this kid is as young as he says he is, the sky is the limit! With that being said, he really reminds me of Chris Bosh in his Toronto days. This kid will be a 4 in the NBA, and his face up game is very Chris Bosh esque.

[ronnymac2]

I saw him play against a bunch of elite current freshmen and sophomores at a national skills camp in October. He's intriguing because of his length, nimbleness, ability to get off the ground to block shots, and open court ability.

In the halfcourt, despite playing against smaller kids, he basically didn't post up. He also doesn't have the strength to finish on the drive, even against HS sophomores. He really is rail-thin. His jumper is OK — excellent for somebody his height. His half-court offense is weak though.

Great handles and pretty good passing in the open court. It was scary watching him go down the court. You knew nobody on the court could really stop him given the space he had.

He flourishes with his agility, length, and shot-blocking skills on defense. Basically, when plays were run on his side of the floor, he shut them down. Pretty good IQ on that end. Crazy good defense in transition as well.

He's definitely an intriguing prospect. Loads of defensive potential. Interesting to see where he goes to college.

[Silver Man]

#TankaThon2017

[Brauer]

Last time they posted his highlights here the dude could barely move without falling down... how has he developed so fast?

[Dame Lizard]

i think this kid is trying to be more of another KD. if you watch him play he likes to drift out past the 3 point line. KG even as a skinny teen owned the paint on both ends.

the improvement he's made in his athleticism has been really impressive though.

His athleticism looked mediocre a year ago, he looks like he can be elite. I can see the KD comparison, sky's the limit for this dude and how old is he?

On another note, class of 2016 has some star potential with Seventh Woods, Thon Maker, Terrence Ferguson, Malik Monk and many more.

i'm not gonna pretend ik exactly how old he is, but as i predicted, the skeptics from oceania have come. i think there's good reason to be skeptical of his age, but i'll just say that when he came to the states he had the coordination of a boy, a very tall boy. the type of advancement in athleticism and coordination we see from thon is usually seen when a player grows out of that "baby deer" stage, gets accustomed to his body and begins putting on muscle mass...which usually occurs at an earlier age.

I absolutely agree. Given his height (and the fact that some players from African countries have skeptical birthday situations), I didn't know what to believe originally in terms of his age.

But seeing his advance in athleticism (he went from having a really small vertical to an exceptional one, given his size) really makes me convinced he's a young'un. His face also has changed a lot as well.

I really hope basketball Australia recruits him (he's lived almost all of his life in Australia I believe), because with Exum, Simmons and Thon Maker, that could make for a future international basketball powerhouse trio.

[yesno]

When did he immigrate to Australia, and when did he move to the US? His accent doesn't sound Austalian.

[White+Purple]

Given his height (and the fact that some players from African countries have skeptical birthday situations), I didn't know what to believe originally in terms of his age. But seeing his advance in athleticism (he went from having a really small vertical to an exceptional one, given his size) really makes me convinced he's a young'un. His face also has changed a lot as well. I really hope basketball Australia recruits him (he's lived almost all of his life in Australia I believe), because with Exum, Simmons and Thon Maker, that could make for a future international basketball powerhouse trio.

He has a younger brother on the same HS team who looks far more boy-like which would add credence to the 17yo theory. Also makes the future of Australian baeketball even brighter.

When did he immigrate to Australia, and when did he move to the US? His accent doesn't sound Austalian.

Left South Sudan as a child, left Australia for Virginia in 8th grade. Accent is Aussie/Virginia mix.

[Tave]

Last time they posted his highlights here the dude could barely move without falling down... how has he developed so fast?

I'm 6'4" and had 2 really painful growth spurts growing up, still have minor scars from the stretching on my arms and back. I can't imagine how awful it must be to grow up to 7+ when you're just starting to develop adult muscles and get your feet under you.

[miltk]

if he's older, then he can bypass college all together. hell, he could be 4 yrs older and it won't make a difference.

[Damon_3388]

Maker has a ridiculously high level of skill, footwork and co-ordination for such a young big man. Very rare to see a guy with that kind of size at that age move as smoothly as he does as well. Most guys who are that big that early don't know what to do with their body. Doesn't have that Hasheem Thabeet roboticism about him at all.

For those that don't know, Maker was born in Sudan, emigrated to Australia as a pre-teen (a country which has a large number of Sudanese refugees), and then moved to the US in 2011 to further his basketball development. There's some quiet speculation as to his true age (as there is with a lot of African refugees), but most places seem to have him listed as being born on 25/02/1997. He's already receiving interest from schools like Kentucky and Louisville. Will be interesting to see how he develops from here (I can see a lot of Kevin Garnett about him), as well as who he chooses to represent in international competition as well (Sudan? Australia? USA?).

Just as an aside, I find it fascinating that he (and other 17-year-olds) can still have two years of high school left, and would be graduating when they're 19. In Australia, most people finish high school when they're 17 or 18. I turned 17 during my final year of high school, for example, so it would have been pretty weird to have only been in 10th grade at that time instead.

[fleet]

http://www.coxhub.com/articles/thon-mak ... %28Thon%29

THON MAKER: BEST YOUNG BASKETBALL PROSPECT IN THE WORLD
By New England Recruiting Report

Find me on: Twitter
— Feb 11, 2015 5:45:00 PM


Thon Maker is quite possibly the best young basketball prospect in the world.

He also may be the most controversial as his story is complex and still evolving.


Thon maker has had a roundabout journey to become a top nba prospect
At the present time, Maker is a junior forward at Athletes Institute in Canada, an elite basketball program where players attend school in the Orangeville District Secondary School.

Maker spent his sophomore season at the Carlisle School in Virginia, where he was the top ranked 2016 prospect in the United States and arguably the best prospect in all of high school basketball regardless of class.

His decision to head to Canada alongside his guardian Ed Smith, who now serves as an assistant coach at Athletes Institute, and younger brother, Matur, who is also on the team, raised eyebrows not only because it was almost unprecedented but also because there was never a concrete explanation as to the reasoning behind it.

While those are the headlines that the media has fixated on as of late, the story of how Maker made it to the United States in the first place is an incredible one.

He was born in the South Sudan where he lived with his family until he was five years old. Thon and Matur escaped the civil war torn country alongside their aunt, originally moving to Uganda before becoming Australian refugees.

Maker lived with his aunt until he was 14 years old and met Smith, who offered to take both brothers in and bring them to Sydney to be educated and trained in basketball.

It was in 2011 when Thon made his first appearance in the United States, attending a camp in Texas before then briefly attending two different high schools in Louisiana. He moved to the Carlisle School in the fall of 2012 and spent two years there before moving to Canada.

Now, having spent the last six months at Athletes Institute, Maker announced a reclassification to 2015, meaning he will graduate at the end of the school year. That doesn’t necessarily mean, however, that he’ll be heading to college next season.


While that is reportedly an option – with Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, and Indiana being some of the most often mentioned suitors – it also remains possible that Maker could opt to play professionally in an international league before declaring for the 2016 NBA Draft or that he could even stay at Athletes Institute to play for their post-graduate team.

The move to 2015 is an important one as it pertains to his draft status since the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement dictates not only a minimum age to be draft eligible but also that a player be one year removed from his graduating year in high school.

In other words, Maker’s reclassification back to 2015 makes him draft eligible in 2016 while his current status in the class of 2016 would push back his draft eligibility to 2017.

Maker’s immense potential on the floor is based on a unique combination of size, length, agility, athleticism, and skill. At 7-foot-1 he not only covers the court and gets his head on the rim with ease but he also has the skill set of a guard. He can handle and pass the ball against pressure, shoot it well beyond the three point line, and also has excellent footwork.

While he undoubtedly needs to get much stronger and become more consistent playing through contact, Maker’s unique abilities have already drawn comparisons to likes to Kevin Durant and Kevin Garnett. Many scouts have even gone so far as to predict that he’ll be the top overall pick in the NBA Draft regardless of when he opts to come out.

[fleet]

Might be just starting to fill out. I think physically he needs a year or 2 in college

[Marcus]

Might be just starting to fill out. I think physically he needs a year or 2 in college

Sudanese folks are typically built thin in general. He may never fill out.

[Kevin Willis]

Dude looks like he can have a career as the world's tallest fashion model.

He needs to get used to his length and improve his co-ordination and he will be a top 5 pick. He's got great potential and you can't teach height.

[fleet]

Garnett is of course the laziest comparison. But IDK, I believe Garnett had more functional strength.

[Marcus]

Garnett is of course the laziest comparison. But IDK, I believe Garnett had more functional strength.

might not be able gain the size to be what KG was in terms of physicality. Gonna have to follow the AD perimeter path to success which could work for him as well.

[RSCD3_]

Garnett is of course the laziest comparison. But IDK, I believe Garnett had more functional strength.

might not be able gain the size to be what KG was in terms of physicality. Gonna have to follow the AD perimeter path to success which could work for him as well.

Davis has gotten a lot bigger in the torso, are you saying that Peak Kg had more functional strength than current AD?

[Marcus]

Garnett is of course the laziest comparison. But IDK, I believe Garnett had more functional strength.

might not be able gain the size to be what KG was in terms of physicality. Gonna have to follow the AD perimeter path to success which could work for him as well.

Davis has gotten a lot bigger in the torso, are you saying that Peak Kg had more functional strength than current AD?

no. im saying that Thon might not gain size and needs to tailor his game more towards jumpshot AD. Not everything else AD does. Just the perimeter based stuff. I don't think Thon will be able to bang in the league because I'm not sure he gains the size needed given the build of Sudanese people in general.