Young Center Prospects to Consider

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Feels like a poor man's Brook Lopez at best.

I wouldn't draft him in the 1st Round with such a low ceiling.

Ryan Kalkbrenner | 7-1 big | 23 years old | Creighton

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Kalkbrenner has high-level NBA backup center written all over him. He’s 7-1 with a 7-4 wingspan, and he’s elite in drop-coverage defense against ball screens. He’s great with his lines and consistently has the right angles to slow down ballhandlers while also being in touching distance of the guard. He controls gaps incredibly well in help defense and has been one of the best defenders in the country over the last four years.

This year, he’s also averaging 19 points on 65 percent from the field despite taking nearly two 3-point attempts per game and hitting them at a 33 percent clip. He even showcased a wild moment in the team’s Big East semifinal against Connecticut when he attacked a closeout and one-dribble gathered into a right-handed layup from the left wing. There’s a lot to buy into given the NBA’s need for depth at center. Kalkbrenner has real size, potential to shoot and understands how to help his team on defense.

The Athletic

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Feels like a poor man's Brook Lopez at best.

I wouldn't draft him in the 1st Round with such a low ceiling.

Ryan Kalkbrenner | 7-1 big | 23 years old | Creighton

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Kalkbrenner has high-level NBA backup center written all over him. He’s 7-1 with a 7-4 wingspan, and he’s elite in drop-coverage defense against ball screens. He’s great with his lines and consistently has the right angles to slow down ballhandlers while also being in touching distance of the guard. He controls gaps incredibly well in help defense and has been one of the best defenders in the country over the last four years.

This year, he’s also averaging 19 points on 65 percent from the field despite taking nearly two 3-point attempts per game and hitting them at a 33 percent clip. He even showcased a wild moment in the team’s Big East semifinal against Connecticut when he attacked a closeout and one-dribble gathered into a right-handed layup from the left wing. There’s a lot to buy into given the NBA’s need for depth at center. Kalkbrenner has real size, potential to shoot and understands how to help his team on defense.

The Athletic

If this was 1991, Zac Edey would be the #1 and Kalkbrenner would be a late lottery pick.

Kalkbrenner reminds me of Erick Dampier or Luc Longley

Ryan is nothing special but i could see him having a +10 year NBA career like Mike Muscala

[Jamaaliver]

Feels like a poor man's Brook Lopez at best.

I wouldn't draft him in the 1st Round with such a low ceiling.

Ryan Kalkbrenner | 7-1 big | 23 years old | Creighton

Spoiler:

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Kalkbrenner has high-level NBA backup center written all over him. He’s 7-1 with a 7-4 wingspan, and he’s elite in drop-coverage defense against ball screens. He’s great with his lines and consistently has the right angles to slow down ballhandlers while also being in touching distance of the guard. He controls gaps incredibly well in help defense and has been one of the best defenders in the country over the last four years.

This year, he’s also averaging 19 points on 65 percent from the field despite taking nearly two 3-point attempts per game and hitting them at a 33 percent clip. He even showcased a wild moment in the team’s Big East semifinal against Connecticut when he attacked a closeout and one-dribble gathered into a right-handed layup from the left wing. There’s a lot to buy into given the NBA’s need for depth at center. Kalkbrenner has real size, potential to shoot and understands how to help his team on defense.

The Athletic

If this was 1991, Zac Edey would be the #1 and Kalkbrenner would be a late lottery pick.

Kalkbrenner reminds me of Erick Dampier or Luc Longley

Ryan is nothing special but i could see him having a +10 year NBA career like Mike Muscala

Somewhere between Luc Longley and Mike Muscala feels right. Though being 3x DPOY in the Big East is nothing to sneeze at.

[HMFFL]

Michigan big man, Vladislav Goldin

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/vladislav-goldin-1.html

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Any top big men get missed from this list?

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Maxime Raynaud | Big | Stanford

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Height: 7' 1"
Weight: 245
Age: 22
Senior

Comparisons:

• Brook Lopez - I swear this isn't because Brook also went to Stanford! Raynaud just has the shooting and size to play a modern Lopez style role on both ends.
  
• Rasheed Wallace - Raynaud's got some midrange creation skills to him like Wallace had as a big man, though Sheed was more post-oriented in that era.

STRENGTHS
Shooting ability: Raynaud made 34.5% of his 3-pointers as an upperclassman at Stanford, a respectable amount for a 7-foot-1 center that puts him in Brook Lopez territory. But as a senior he took 5.4 per game, and it's not as if all of those are standstill 3s. Sometimes Stanford would run him off a screen, or have him pick-and-pop, and he even took a handful off the dribble. With a cleaner shot diet his numbers could improve even more, since on catch-and-shoot 3s, he made 37.4% of his attempts, per Synergy.

Ball-handling: In addition to traditional big-man moves like taking hook shots over either of his shoulders, it’s not often a player his size can move as fluidly as he does as a shot creator, whether he’s ball-faking then attacking a closeout, sling shotting toward the basket off a screen, or dribbling in transition. He has a tight crossover, mixes in euro-steps, and can get into soft floaters, touch layups, or ferocious tomahawk dunks. This blend of skills makes him especially threatening in ball screens, since he can set a mean pick then roll hard, or pick-and-pop and make a series of plays.

Passing: Raynaud’s negative assist-to-turnover ratio is misleading since he actually has excellent feel as a passer, making touch passes, bounce passes, and passes with velocity. He can facilitate from the high-post, operate as a dribble-handoff hub, and be relied on to pass out of the low post too.

Rebounding: Boxes out well and uses his frame to carve out space in the paint. Following defensive boards, he quickly identifies his guard or outlets it, and on offense he has a great feel for kicking the ball back out to the perimeter or putting it back up himself.

Rim protection: Uses his height and length to contest shots effectively. He’s bulked up over the years and become more effective at standing strong against beefy bigs, using his immense standing reach to bother them. He isn’t an elite leaper, but he has good timing and positioning as a shot-blocker.

CONCERNS
Ball control: A large chunk of his turnovers come in the interior, whether his back is to the basket, or he’s driving to the rim. Sometimes he gets too loose with it, leading to him getting stripped in traffic, in part because he tries to get tricky by overdribbling the ball.

Post offense: He can hit basic hook shots over his left and right shoulder, an important tool for him. But he doesn’t yet have one of two extremes: either finesse turnaround jumpers, using his size to shoot over defenders, or pure power moves, burying defenders under the rim.

Midrange shooting: Despite his shooting touch from 3, his midrange game is surprisingly underdeveloped. Defenses will gladly let him take those shots off the bounce, and right now, he hasn’t shown the ability to punish them for it. He looks fairly uncomfortable, and has a low hit rate. Considering his track record of improving his shooting, on top of his ball-handling ability, it’s at least conceivable he could someday become a threat.

Defensive production: While his size allows him to alter shots, he lacks the explosive leaping ability or aggressive shot-blocking instincts of elite rim protectors. He relies more on positioning and verticality, which limits his block totals but still makes him a deterrent at times. You’d expect more than 1.4 blocks per game from a dude that size that’s challenged as much as he was in college.

Yahoo Sports

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Clingan and Ware already serving as solid rim deterrents in Year One.

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106 seconds of Asa Newell (I Think) being useful on a basketball court

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If Asa Newell is the safe pick, Derik Queen is a homerun swing.

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NBA Comparison: Alperen Sengun, Naz Reid
Offensive role: On-ball Creator/Advantage extender
Defensive role: Versatile Perimeter Defender

Players like Alperen Sengun provide a star blueprint for Queen as another shorter, post-oriented center who improved drastically on defense throughout his career. He’s a different prospect to Naz Reid because of Queen’s shooting limitations, but Reid provides another example of how valuable elite ball-handling can be for frontcourt players.

Strengths

• Elite downhill advantage creator with special handling coordination, strength and fluidity for his size
• Seasoned interior scorer who wins with a diverse array of post moves, polished footwork and touch
• Fully ambidextrous player, leans on his left hand as a passer and scorer often.
• Highly skilled passer who weaponizes manipulation, timing and anticipation to pass in transition, from the post and the middle of the floor
• Light feet help him defend the perimeter and switch out onto smaller players
• Excellent, accurate hands poking out loose handles and blocking shots on the way up

Weaknesses

Questionable effort and motor, especially on the defensive end

• Poor interior defender who often doesn’t contest shots and lacks the vertical pop or size to check bigger players
• Non-threat from the outside, doesn’t space the floor at all at this stage
• Commits avoidable turnovers due to loose ball control and unforced passing decisions

Basketball Insiders

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AC would certainly up the toughness quotient for this Hawks team.

Alex Condon, Florida

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The Florida Gators are one of the most popular title picks and for good reason. They’re loaded with high-end talent, none of which sports more NBA potential than center Alex Condon. He’s broken out this season as one of the best bigs in the country, excelling on defense (5.9% block rate) with great mobility and physicality.

Condon is one of the higher-feel players in the draft, passing all over the floor from the short roll, perimeter or the post. Centers that can pass and dribble like Condon and have some shooting upside are highly valuable in the modern NBA. He’s not a dynamic scorer, but Condon projects as an ideal role-player center worthy of a top-25 pick to the right team.

Basketball Insiders

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Joan Beringer (Cedevita, C)

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Size: 6'11"
Age: 18
Nationality: France
Pro Comparison: Clint Capela

Joan Beringer has entered this year's draft discussion with a high shot-blocking rate and highlights of defensive mobility at 6'11".

Despite lacking any real offensive skill, his physical tools, movement and effectiveness suggest the rim protection, shot-contesting and finishing should be translatable to the same role he plays for Cedevita.

Bleacher Report

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