STRENGTHS:
● Has a terrific combination of length and strength for a center in the NBA. Stands 6 feet 9.25, which isn’t all that big for the position. However, he has a towering 7-foot-6 wingspan that gives him a solid 9-foot-1 standing reach. Combines that with power and the ability to play with force.
● Has a terrific feel for the game. Understands how to use leverage and how to use his body in the most impactful way that he can. Incredibly disruptive on defense with his reactions. Also sees the court well. Makes good decisions. Even the little things like his footwork and his understanding of how to roll into certain spaces with minimal amount of steps and wasted movement is terrific.
● That body work is key to Sorber’s offensive game. Understands how to move without the basketball well. Flexible through his hips for such a big individual. Does a great job of sealing defenders off with his frame. Uses minimal movements to maintain his positioning and leverage on cuts and in roll situations. Understands where to cut and how to time those cuts along the baseline. Because he doesn’t have a high center of gravity, he can move guys when he catches and puts his shoulder into them. Defenders tend to move backwards. Also excellent at sealing opposing players high and creating a beautiful target for his teammates to pass into.
● Excellent in ball screens. Not going to be the guy who skies above the rim and catches lobs often, but he has an excellent sense of timing and intelligence on his rolls. Great hands. Catches everything. No issues below or above his waist. No bobbles. Also catches in traffic and catches on the move. Presents a great target in short rolls for pocket passes. Opens up and sets up for the way he’s going to play after he receives the ball ahead of time. Handles the ball well for a player his size. Good on his gathers. Can hit back spins to counter defenders. Has really good balance and sharp decision-making skills. Processes the way defenders are playing him well and can figure out counters to play off them. Despite having a bigger body, navigates moving defenders well and has a nice variety of up fakes and hesitations on the interior to throw off the defense.
● Great finisher on the interior. Made 68.6 percent of his shots at the rim this season in half-court settings, which is a ridiculous number for someone who isn’t a particularly above-the-rim finisher. Hit 64.4 percent of his layups. Averaged less than one dunk per game. But has great contact balance through bumps and maintains his touch when he gets hit. Can both initiate contact as well as absorb it. Great footwork to maneuver around defenders. Most importantly, he finishes with both hands at a very high level. Was excellent in post situations. Will certainly be good enough as a post that you can’t comfortably switch guards onto him. If you do, he’ll use his frame, bury them deep and finish. Might be hard to switch anyone 6-foot-5 or shorter
onto him.
● One of my favorite passers among the big men in the class. Unselfish player who makes quick reads. Not quite an elite hub, but very good and can run all of the actions from out high. Excellent in dribble-handoffs. Can put the ball on the deck once to get to his guard, and can also reject and try to get downhill. Good timing in these circumstances. Will be a weapon there with how well he moves. Good at screening and rescreening, then short-rolling into tight areas around the foul line. Once he gets the ball, his eyes go up immediately and he’s looking for cutters around the rim to start.
● Great sense of how to find those open players. Can pass on the move. Good at creating angles to find his open teammates. Uses bounce passes well and puts good touch on the ball. Can drive and hit kickouts to corners and wings. If you double him, you’re in trouble. Good at hitting wraparound kickouts out beyond the 3-point line if he gets stuck on the interior. Also was excellent at playing out high at the top of the key and finding open teammates within different sets that Georgetown would run.
● Defensively, Sorber isn’t massive, but he’s just absolutely excellent with his lines and angles and knows how to use his length. Backpedals well. He’s a drop-coverage defender at around 6-foot-9, but he seems to have an advanced understanding of the scouting report ahead of time. He slides his feet well side-to-side and does an excellent job of keeping his hands high to cut off angles when defenders either try to attack him downhill or try to isolate him and force a switch. Does a good job playing cat-and-mouse between the ballhandler and the big. Has a very quiet movement style that doesn’t have a lot of jumpy motions. Rarely gets hit with pump fakes. Very good at walling up and using his size to cut off drivers. Has more ability to flip
his hips than most players this size and weight. As long as he doesn’t have to make sudden north-south movements, things tend to be good.
● Rim protection at the college level was good even though there are some translation questions at the NBA level. Averaged two blocks per game this year. Can block shots with both hands. Also showcases verticality without fouling. Averaged only 2.2 fouls per game in 31 minutes this year. Has good fundamentals, is good at timing his leap and is quite strong. Very difficult to gain any space when you go into his chest.
● Extremely reactive defender. Great hand activity that allows him to be a good playmaker on that end of the court. Excellent hand-eye coordination allows him to pile up blocks and steals. Averaged 1.5 steals per game. Rarely gambles, but because he’s so big and long and does a great job of keeping his hands extended, does an amazing job of just getting his hand to the ball and creating deflections. Also does a good job mirroring ballhandlers with his hands to frustrate them.
AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT:
● Will be a touch undersized for a center in the NBA despite his length. That 9-foot-1 standing reach is a touch under average for a starting center. Not going to be overly athletic for the position given the height. Has some underrated pop but won’t have the ability to high-point the ball over particularly long players. Wasn’t a massive dunker and has to load up to access that vertical pop.
● Came into the combine very heavy at 262 pounds. He couldn’t do conditioning all that much before the event because of his foot injury and is carrying a bit of extra weight, but NBA evaluators are of two minds about the frame. Some scouts believe he will be able to drop weight and access even more athleticism. Others worry about how heavy he might get as he gets older. Sorber will need to be on top of his weight and conditioning as he ages.
● Footspeed will be the biggest question. It’s not fair to call him a lumberer, but he has some movements that require more of a load up than is normal. Not all that twitchy.
● Footspeed and heavy movement style become a bit of an issue when he has to get north-south on defense. Struggles to close out on shooters in scramble situations or in pick-and-pop situations. Very easy to drive and attack him because it’s hard for him to plant, stop his momentum, drop his hips and turn. Front foot gets attacked regularly. Was good enough in college to make up for it with his recovery length, but will be much harder to effectively do this in the NBA. Has some movements where it’s hard to envision him being great at this. Will need to work on getting lighter on his feet.
● At the rim, he also has minor worries even though he was effective on defense in college. Doesn’t elevate well. Extremely long, which will help, and he’s so broad that it will be hard for drivers to go through his chest. Against bigger, longer players he has less margin for error to truly contest in the way that better rim protectors do. I’d bet on him being average in this respect, not a standout.
● Offensively, there are some questions about how effective and efficient he’ll be as a scorer. Because he plays below the rim, it might be a bit harder for him to maintain that efficiency against the size and length he’ll come up against in the NBA. Will need to be elite with his touch. Shows great signs of that, having made 64 percent of his layups and 52 percent of his hook shots this year. But things will be harder at the next level. Might help him to add a push-shot floater.
● Despite being an excellent passer, he had a one-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio because he averaged 2.3 turnovers per game. Generally, these came just from being too aggressive with the ball. I’d rather try to rein in aggression than have to teach it, so I think this will be fine long-term. But while he’s very comfortable handling the ball for a big man, it’ll help him over the years to continue tightening his handle, too. Can get away from him just a bit at times.
● Not going to be much of a shot creator for himself outside of switch situations in the post. Great at play finishing and taking advantage of mismatch situations like four-on-threes when he can make passing reads. But likely won’t ever be a guy who dominates on the interior with his lack of height. Against starting bigs, he will be at a length disadvantage. Doesn’t quite have that Alperen Şengün-like level of balance and coordination to spin balletically around opposing players consistently even though his footwork is good. Great at navigating bodies when the defense is already bent but not great at creating separation and efficient offense.
● Not a shooter. Sorber attempted 37 3s this season and made just six of them. The jumper doesn’t look terrible, but the shot prep needs work for sure. Confident as a shooter and doesn’t hesitate after he decides to take them. Doesn’t look ready to take them often upon receipt of the ball. Seems like he has to get his feet organized later than most. Also, his release point varies. Sometimes he holds onto the ball too long. The shot can flatten out too much and end up on a straight line drive (even on some of the makes). Also willing to take long 2s. Made a few of those this season. Made 72 percent of his free throws this year, so I don’t think you can rule him out when it comes to shooting long-term. But it’s going to be a project that’ll take time,
and it’s not a skill you should expect from him.
SUMMARY: Sorber is a fascinating player. On some level, he looks like a relic of a past generation at 6-foot-9 with a bigger-bodied frame. He also lacks some degree of explosiveness that many bigs possess. And yet, he has a remarkably productive game that is very modern in its construction. He has a great natural feel for the game and excels at keeping advantages that guards create for him because of his passing on the move. His natural reactivity is also enticing, and I think there is some improvement potential with his frame. When you see him in person, he looks quite young and like he’s still growing into his body.
Here’s the other thing: He’s remarkably productive across the box score in a way that players his age never are. The only other high-major freshman or sophomore to average at least 14 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two blocks and 1.5 steals before Sorber did it this season, per Sports-Reference, was Chris Webber at Michigan. The easiest way to explain it is that he’s just one of those players who gets stuff done on the court with his length and impeccable hand-eye coordination. He’s a bit more of a project than a ready-made player, but there’s enough upside that I think he can develop into a starting center.
