Anthony Black - Arkansas

[Braggins]

I'll also add that part of the reason Blacks minutes haven't seen a significant increase with the Paolo/Franz injuries is simply because those two are their top two scorers and AB's biggest weakness is scoring. They still have a ton of defense in their rotation with those two out, but they are severely lacking in scoring. Cole Anthony is a better scorer than AB right now, so it makes sense why they would be pumping his minutes instead. AB's minutes have actually increased compared to his season average since Paolo has returned. In the last three games with Paolo hes played 29.3 mpg.

[eyriq]

I'll also add that part of the reason Blacks minutes haven't seen a significant increase with the Paolo/Franz injuries is simply because those two are their top two scorers and AB's biggest weakness is scoring. They still have a ton of defense in their rotation with those two out, but they are severely lacking in scoring. Cole Anthony is a better scorer than AB right now, so it makes sense why they would be pumping his minutes instead. AB's minutes have actually increased compared to his season average since Paolo has returned. In the last three games with Paolo hes played 29.3 mpg.

There is some terrific synergy between Paolo and AB. AB feeds off Paolo's confidence.

[CptCrunch]

Black needs some burn on a bad tanking team.

He is suffering the Isiah Sheppard problem of being too bad for a borderline outside shot contending team.

[eyriq]

Black needs some burn on a bad tanking team.

He is suffering the Isiah Sheppard problem of being too bad for a borderline outside shot contending team.

Again, he's the third guard playing a critical role on a "borderline outside shot contending team". His role and responsibilities have increased and he's making an impact on winning. His development is also clear as day, with increased ast% and more drives while maintaining an exceptional free throw rate.

He's in a great situation. Suffering? That's nonsense.

[CptCrunch]

Black needs some burn on a bad tanking team.

He is suffering the Isiah Sheppard problem of being too bad for a borderline outside shot contending team.

Again, he's the third guard playing a critical role on a "borderline outside shot contending team". His role and responsibilities have increased and he's making an impact on winning. His development is also clear as day, with increased ast% and more drives while maintaining an exceptional free throw rate.

He's in a great situation. Suffering? That's nonsense.

He is playing 24 bench minutes. He needs 34 minutes of burn.

Getting 10 minutes of playtime, 20, 37, irregularly is not conductive to development.

Black would develop better on a different team. Yes; he is playing a good important role on the Magic.

Failing elsewhere with good proper coaching will lead to better developmental outcomes. This is why kids in school fail. This is why new hires out of college fail. It's part of the human learning experience.

[FarBeyondDriven]

I'm glad to see you change your stance on AB.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

not sure what you mean. Nothing has changed. He's worth developing and deserving of minutes over guys like Anthony and Howard so of course I think he should get their minutes for his sake and the team's. Just because I don't think he's special or better than a bunch of other guys doesn't mean I think he's a bum or not starter material.

So you still think 9 players from this last draft will be better PGs than Black?

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

Quick update

Black (9/3/3 shooting 28% from three)

Castle (In 29 starts 15/3/4 shooting 31%)
McCain (In 8 starts 24/3/4 shooting 39%)
Carrington (In 39 starts 10/5/5 shooting 37%)
George (In 22 starts 10/5/3 shooting 35%)
Collier (In 26 starts 11/4/9 shooting 26%)
Simpson (In 4 starts 13/4/4 shooting 37%)

remains to be seen from many others due to injuries or lack of opportunities

Topic
Dillingham
Carter
Sheppard
Johnson
Mitchell

[Dat2U]

Anthony Black = Delon Wright. He'll be a solid rotation level player for years. Just not enough creation skills to really be a starting PG.

How far off was I?

[Skybox]

The Magic clearly do not trust him to play consistent minutes. His defense is good, but this kid is a 1-way player. Terrible offensively without any real skills on that end. He’s not a point guard, and he’s an awful scorer so I do find it hard to believe he has much of a future in the league. You can’t play 4-on-5 on offense nowadays.

Don’t like the Amen comparisons because Amen has much better playmaking instincts than Black is likely to ever develop.

For the 6th pick, he’s looking like a huge bust right now.

ORL does NOT play 4-on-5 sir!!

...they play 2-on-5

[ReggiesKnicks]

Anthony Black = Delon Wright. He'll be a solid rotation level player for years. Just not enough creation skills to really be a starting PG.

How far off was I?

Are we making conclusions on just-turned-21 year old Point Guards in their second season?

We have seen some substantial growth from Black in year 2.

AST%, STL%, BLK%, FTR, USG% all took massive leaps this year. His increased volume has cratered his scoring efficiency, but that was a black mark (no pun intended, or was there?) on his development as a player and was going to limit his ceiling.

Overall the growth in everything but scoring is a net-positive for a 21 year old Point Guard who finds himself in a similar situation as he was in college--A team ranking in the bottom 5 percentile in spacing and shooting.

[FarBeyondDriven]

Anthony Black = Delon Wright. He'll be a solid rotation level player for years. Just not enough creation skills to really be a starting PG.

How far off was I?

Are we making conclusions on just-turned-21 year old Point Guards in their second season?

We have seen some substantial growth from Black in year 2.

AST%, STL%, BLK%, FTR, USG% all took massive leaps this year. His increased volume has cratered his scoring efficiency, but that was a black mark (no pun intended, or was there?) on his development as a player and was going to limit his ceiling.

Overall the growth in everything but scoring is a net-positive for a 21 year old Point Guard who finds himself in a similar situation as he was in college--A team ranking in the bottom 5 percentile in spacing and shooting.

even though it was a pretty weak draft, he was taken 6th overall and with all the injuries he should have solidified himself a bit more and be further along imho. His shot just hasn't come along like it needs to. He's a better prospect than Wright but sadly hasn't even reached that level of player yet so he's been a disappointment so far.

[ReggiesKnicks]

How far off was I?

Are we making conclusions on just-turned-21 year old Point Guards in their second season?

We have seen some substantial growth from Black in year 2.

AST%, STL%, BLK%, FTR, USG% all took massive leaps this year. His increased volume has cratered his scoring efficiency, but that was a black mark (no pun intended, or was there?) on his development as a player and was going to limit his ceiling.

Overall the growth in everything but scoring is a net-positive for a 21 year old Point Guard who finds himself in a similar situation as he was in college--A team ranking in the bottom 5 percentile in spacing and shooting.

even though it was a pretty weak draft, he was taken 6th overall and with all the injuries he should have solidified himself a bit more and be further along imho. His shot just hasn't come along like it needs to. He's a better prospect than Wright but sadly hasn't even reached that level of player yet so he's been a disappointment so far.

Do you expect a player who couldn't shoot in College to be able to shoot well in year 2 at Age 20-21?

I don't.

What I did hope for Anthony Black's development was to become above average at just about everything other than scoring in his first few seasons as he grew into a net-positive player, which he is on track to become.

I'm personally much lower on how impactful young players can be, just look at Paolo Banchero, the #1 pick from the 2023 Draft and he is still a massively negative impact player.

Whether Black was taken 1st, 6th or 56th, right now all we can do as evaluators is evaluate him. When I evaluated him prior to the draft, he had potential because he had all the tools and showed the ability to impact a basketball game in a variety of ways, whether it is his passing, off-ball cuts, defensive instincts with deflections, on-ball pressure or rebounding for a guard. He has proven that he can do these things at an NBA at an above average level, but his scoring is still so bad that it's cratering his impact.

[FarBeyondDriven]

Are we making conclusions on just-turned-21 year old Point Guards in their second season?

We have seen some substantial growth from Black in year 2.

AST%, STL%, BLK%, FTR, USG% all took massive leaps this year. His increased volume has cratered his scoring efficiency, but that was a black mark (no pun intended, or was there?) on his development as a player and was going to limit his ceiling.

Overall the growth in everything but scoring is a net-positive for a 21 year old Point Guard who finds himself in a similar situation as he was in college--A team ranking in the bottom 5 percentile in spacing and shooting.

even though it was a pretty weak draft, he was taken 6th overall and with all the injuries he should have solidified himself a bit more and be further along imho. His shot just hasn't come along like it needs to. He's a better prospect than Wright but sadly hasn't even reached that level of player yet so he's been a disappointment so far.

Do you expect a player who couldn't shoot in College to be able to shoot well in year 2 at Age 20-21?

I don't.

What I did hope for Anthony Black's development was to become above average at just about everything other than scoring in his first few seasons as he grew into a net-positive player, which he is on track to become.

I'm personally much lower on how impactful young players can be, just look at Paolo Banchero, the #1 pick from the 2023 Draft and he is still a massively negative impact player.

Whether Black was taken 1st, 6th or 56th, right now all we can do as evaluators is evaluate him. When I evaluated him prior to the draft, he had potential because he had all the tools and showed the ability to impact a basketball game in a variety of ways, whether it is his passing, off-ball cuts, defensive instincts with deflections, on-ball pressure or rebounding for a guard. He has proven that he can do these things at an NBA at an above average level, but his scoring is still so bad that it's cratering his impact.

I expect improvement not regression. Having a full offseason to work on his game while enjoying access to professional coaches and trainers should result in better results. He's not so great in the other areas of his game that he can expect to keep getting minutes. Team is trying to compete. New players are added via the draft, FA and trades every year so young players have to show improvement to remain in the organizations future plans. He has not done enough to say, prevent ORL from drafting a point guard in the first round. One of Fears, Traore, or Demin is likely to be there when they pick. I have all three as better point guard prospects by quite a bit so if they're taken he'll lose minutes if not being sent packing. You don't get long in the NBA.

[JMAC3]

Whether Black was taken 1st, 6th or 56th, right now all we can do as evaluators is evaluate him. When I evaluated him prior to the draft, he had potential because he had all the tools and showed the ability to impact a basketball game in a variety of ways, whether it is his passing, off-ball cuts, defensive instincts with deflections, on-ball pressure or rebounding for a guard. He has proven that he can do these things at an NBA at an above average level, but his scoring is still so bad that it's cratering his impact.

If you aren't evaluating him differently as the 6th pick then if he was the 56th pick then yeah that is a pretty big issue to start. It is not just his outside shooting that has been poor, he is just generally awful at scoring the basketball at any level. It is not like he is Amen Thompson, who is a bad outside shooter but still regularly scoring 15-20 points per game.

Black is shooting 54% at the rim, which is 12th percentile as a 6-7 pg who was sold as an above average athlete.
35% from midrange, which is 17th percentile.
30% from three, which is 15th percentile.

EPM has as a 7th percentile offensive player. It is much more than he just can't shoot.
There are plenty of guys that are league average offensive players or better that shoot the ball worse than Black.

[ReggiesKnicks]

Whether Black was taken 1st, 6th or 56th, right now all we can do as evaluators is evaluate him. When I evaluated him prior to the draft, he had potential because he had all the tools and showed the ability to impact a basketball game in a variety of ways, whether it is his passing, off-ball cuts, defensive instincts with deflections, on-ball pressure or rebounding for a guard. He has proven that he can do these things at an NBA at an above average level, but his scoring is still so bad that it's cratering his impact.

If you aren't evaluating him differently as the 6th pick then if he was the 56th pick then yeah that is a pretty big issue to start. It is not just his outside shooting that has been poor, he is just generally awful at scoring the basketball at any level. It is not like he is Amen Thompson, who is a bad outside shooter but still regularly scoring 15-20 points per game.

Black is shooting 54% at the rim, which is 12th percentile as a 6-7 pg who was sold as an above average athlete.
35% from midrange, which is 17th percentile.
30% from three, which is 15th percentile.

EPM has as a 7th percentile offensive player. It is much more than he just can't shoot.
There are plenty of guys that are league average offensive players or better that shoot the ball worse than Black.

Amen is much more athletic and I agree was a much better prospect from the jump.

[Braggins]

Amen is a better prospect than Black, but things should be kept in perspective. Amen is a year older than Black and he wasn't racking up tons of 15-20 point games when he was playing at a similar age as Black this season. Amen had played 47 games at Blacks current age and averaged 8.1 ppg in a hair under 20 mpg. Before Amens 21st birthday he played 27 games and averaged 6.2 ppg in just over 16 mpg. Amen was close to 22 years old before he really started to break out (Black is barely past 21st bday).

At the beginning of his rookie season Amen was only 9 days younger than Black was at the beginning of this season, so basically the exact same age.

Anthony Black
(20 years 277 days to 21 years 45 days)
60 gp ~ 24.1 mpg
9.0 ppg ~ 2.7 rpg ~ 3.2 apg ~ 1.1 spg ~ 0.5 bpg ~ 1.8 tov
41.3% fg (7.6 fga) ~ 29.8% 3pt (2.4 3pta) ~ 74.5% ft (2.8 fta)
-1.6 +/-

Amen Thompson
(20 years 268 days to 21 years 45 days)
47 gp ~ 19.9 mpg
8.1 ppg ~ 5.7 rpg ~ 2.3 apg ~ 1.2 spg ~ 0.7 bpg ~ 1.4 tov
52.0% fg (6.3 fga) ~ 15.7% 3pt (1.1 3pta) ~ 66.0% ft (2.1 fta)
-0.7 +/-

[ReggiesKnicks]

Amen is a better prospect than Black, but things should be kept in perspective. Amen is a year older than Black and he wasn't racking up tons of 15-20 point games when he was playing at a similar age as Black this season. Amen had played 47 games at Blacks current age and averaged 8.1 ppg in a hair under 20 mpg. Before Amens 21st birthday he played 27 games and averaged 6.2 ppg in just over 16 mpg. Amen was close to 22 years old before he really started to break out (Black is barely past 21st bday).

At the beginning of his rookie season Amen was only 9 days younger than Black was at the beginning of this season, so basically the exact same age.

Anthony Black
(20 years 277 days to 21 years 45 days)
60 gp ~ 24.1 mpg
9.0 ppg ~ 2.7 rpg ~ 3.2 apg ~ 1.1 spg ~ 0.5 bpg ~ 1.8 tov
41.3% fg (7.6 fga) ~ 29.8% 3pt (2.4 3pta) ~ 74.5% ft (2.8 fta)
-1.6 +/-

Amen Thompson
(20 years 268 days to 21 years 45 days)
47 gp ~ 19.9 mpg
8.1 ppg ~ 5.7 rpg ~ 2.3 apg ~ 1.2 spg ~ 0.7 bpg ~ 1.4 tov
52.0% fg (6.3 fga) ~ 15.7% 3pt (1.1 3pta) ~ 66.0% ft (2.1 fta)
-0.7 +/-

The problem with this comparison is Amen is an A+ tier athlete for the NBA (Borderline S tier) and Black is middle of the pack.

Black's whole skill-set and viability in the NBA is predicated on his IQ and Size as a lead or secondary playmaker. That's where the selling point is--a 6' 7" PG who can defend at an All-Defense level, rebound and distribute all at a high level while being your "smallest" player at 6" 7".

Amen Thompson is a physical freak who also possesses similar traits as Black but is simply a different tier athlete--quicker, higher jumper, faster and stronger. Amen also seemingly sees the game at a faster pace and has stronger off-ball (cutting) instincts--the dude has ate-breathed-slept basketball for over a decade.

They are different tiers of prospects.

[Braggins]

Spoiler:

Amen is a better prospect than Black, but things should be kept in perspective. Amen is a year older than Black and he wasn't racking up tons of 15-20 point games when he was playing at a similar age as Black this season. Amen had played 47 games at Blacks current age and averaged 8.1 ppg in a hair under 20 mpg. Before Amens 21st birthday he played 27 games and averaged 6.2 ppg in just over 16 mpg. Amen was close to 22 years old before he really started to break out (Black is barely past 21st bday).

At the beginning of his rookie season Amen was only 9 days younger than Black was at the beginning of this season, so basically the exact same age.

Anthony Black
(20 years 277 days to 21 years 45 days)
60 gp ~ 24.1 mpg
9.0 ppg ~ 2.7 rpg ~ 3.2 apg ~ 1.1 spg ~ 0.5 bpg ~ 1.8 tov
41.3% fg (7.6 fga) ~ 29.8% 3pt (2.4 3pta) ~ 74.5% ft (2.8 fta)
-1.6 +/-

Amen Thompson
(20 years 268 days to 21 years 45 days)
47 gp ~ 19.9 mpg
8.1 ppg ~ 5.7 rpg ~ 2.3 apg ~ 1.2 spg ~ 0.7 bpg ~ 1.4 tov
52.0% fg (6.3 fga) ~ 15.7% 3pt (1.1 3pta) ~ 66.0% ft (2.1 fta)
-0.7 +/-

The problem with this comparison is Amen is an A+ tier athlete for the NBA (Borderline S tier) and Black is middle of the pack.

Black's whole skill-set and viability in the NBA is predicated on his IQ and Size as a lead or secondary playmaker. That's where the selling point is--a 6' 7" PG who can defend at an All-Defense level, rebound and distribute all at a high level while being your "smallest" player at 6" 7".

Amen Thompson is a physical freak who also possesses similar traits as Black but is simply a different tier athlete--quicker, higher jumper, faster and stronger. Amen also seemingly sees the game at a faster pace and has stronger off-ball (cutting) instincts--the dude has ate-breathed-slept basketball for over a decade.

They are different tiers of prospects.

My point was addressing other people in this thread who keep acting like Black is garbage because he isn't producing offensively at this point.

[JMAC3]

My point was addressing other people in this thread who keep acting like Black is garbage because he isn't producing offensively at this point.

The difference is Amen took immediate advantage of his playing time when he received it, Orlando has been playing with their main guys out all year and Black has had tons of opportunity to breakout and he hasn't. I know you had Black incredibly high predraft but at a certain point it is okay to say he is probably just a bench role player moving forward.

[JMAC3]

My point was addressing other people in this thread who keep acting like Black is garbage because he isn't producing offensively at this point.

Subtweeting me here, enabling PM to message me, then disabling it. Is such a beta move for a message board. Wow.

All because you are a homer over Anthony Black as a predraft take.

[Braggins]

Watch on YouTube