Post#1269 » by Ell Curry » Sat Jan 18, 2025 7:56 pm
Caught the last 10 minutes of Alabama-Kentucky. Watched Philon the entire time.
'Bama seems to run basically a 2 PG setup where he and Sears are both empowered to run the O and one of them dictated every possession apart from one where Kentucky denied the ball well and a big had to try to create.
Pros:
-Very good, not great - size for a PG.
-Very good first step. Decisive on the times he drove. Looked a good finisher at the rim.
-Mentally he's very impressive for a PG. Takes care of the ball, passes at the right time while driving, whether that was a kick out to Sears after slightly shifting the defence when Philon had a good first step and made it to the elbow, or all the way at the rim.
-Competed defensively fairly hard when on the perimeter. Was pointing out assignments to teammates and switching smoothly.
Meh:
-Apparently he was 3/5 from 3, though he isn't a good FT% or 3pt shooter in general. I only saw one, it was a make. Kentucky gave him room after collapsing off a Sears drive and his release was a bit slow, but he took time, squared up and hit it.
Cons:
-Alabama switched everything (Kentucky has bigs who can do perimeter stuff, it isn't Calipari ball anymore down there) and Philon is skinny, so he got pushed around when he ended up defending in the paint. This isn't a huge deal for a PG, and he's 19 so maybe he puts on weight, but it's a nice bonus to have strength. In terms of Raptors fit, did not look like he could really survive at the 2 defensively despite being looking a legit 6'4, so might be tough to play him and Quickley together. Definitely a far, far more natural PG than Quickley looked as a freshman, and offensively the fit would probably be relatively clean with Philon on-ball more and Quickley hunting 3s, attacking close outs and running secondary pick and rolls after the D has been shifted/from the weak side.
I probably don't know enough about basketball:
-He and the roll defending big man got beat a couple times on simple passes to the roller for a dunk on the P+R. Normally we blame the big man/roll defender for that, but you gotta really know the game and the team's defensive game plan, or at least watch a guy a ton, to have a good sense of that, or at least I do.
Didn't get a sense of:
-His handle, really. Looked fine, just didn't notice anything either way, really.
Overall:
-Really impressive. Being skinny and having a meh shot are common for 19 year olds. Being this smart and productive and having plus size at 19 is a lot rarer. Maybe the shot never gets there, but that sure looked like a steady NBA PG to me, albeit maybe one you wished could shoot better.
He's shooting over 60% from 2 and has a 2-1 A/TO as a freshman, that's not common, only Harper and Richardson (low usage on 2s, though, might be a bit fake? Izzo is annoying) is doing it.
There are 4 PGs in this draft with the same solid A/TO (Harper, Wright from Baylor, Richardson from MSU and Philon), and Wright and Richardson can shoot. Fears and Fland look talented, people still seem to have Traore late lottery despite a drop in stats, Demin should fall, seems like a good draft to get a really good backup PG or passable starting PG if you're picking in the 10-25 range. We probably aren't, but if we could move up from #35 and grab one, it's hard to see them not passing Shead.
My guess if the draft was today is he's an option for Miami at #11 but maybe goes to Minnesota at #15 or Utah at #18.
Where's the D?
