Labaron Philon Jr., Alabama - 2026 NBA Draft - Lottery pick

[Caneman786]

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Labaron Philon Jr. is a sophomore at the University of Alabama who is the starting shooting guard for the men's basketball team.

His sophomore season just ended in a loss to the 1 seed Michigan Wolverines, who came back against the 4 seed Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA tournament. The final score was 77-90. The Crimson Tide ended their season with a record of 25-10.

Philon Jr., though, went out swinging, having a game-high 35 points. The Crimson Tide was also hurt with their starting point guard Aden Holloway being out. By RAPM-based metrics, Holloway is the Crimson Tide's most impactful player. Holloway was arrested for selling marijuana just before the NCAA tournament began. The Crimson Tide couldn't get much going tonight, getting locked up by the Wolverines' suffocating defense. Apart from Philon Jr., the team shot 31% from the field and 24% from downtown.

During the season, Philon Jr. played in 33 of the Crimson Tide's 35 games, averaging 22.0 points and 5.0 assists in his 30.9 minutes a night.

Philon Jr. is from Mobile, Alabama. He has a listed height of 6' 4", and has a listed weight of 185 pounds. After his sophomore season began, he rocketed up the draft boards. Since then, his spot mellowed out a little bit as he fell down the list, passed by other sensational guards like Darius Acuff Jr., Keaton Wagler, and Brayden Burries.

The poll runs for the next 30 days.

Ranking History:
Not in the top 15 on November 2
Ranked #7 on January 5
Ranked #8 on January 17
Ranked #9 on February 21
Ranked #11 on February 27
Ranked #11 on March 18
Ranked #11 on March 26

[King Ken]

11-20 with a fit lean to 15-20

[USER0023942]

Labaron will end up being a top 5 player out of this draft. He's the only guard I watched in college basketball this year that could learn and adapt on the fly w/o coach's help to what the opposing team was scheming. Really a bright PG, reminds me of Garland.

[76ciology]

His length and weight is very similar to DeAaron Fox. Fox is even lighter by 6lbs.

Fox:
Height without shoes: 6 feet 2 inches
Weight: 169.6 pounds
Wingspan: 6 feet 6.5 inches
Hand length: 8.5 inches
Hand width: 8.5 inches
Standing reach: 8 feet 4 inches

Philon:
Height without shoes: 6 feet 3.75 inches
Weight: 176 pounds
Wingspan: 6 feet 6.25 inches
Hand length: 8.5 inches
Hand width: 9.0 inches
Standing reach: 8 feet 3.5 inches

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[CptCrunch]

His length and weight is very similar to DeAaron Fox. Fox is even lighter by 6lbs.

Fox:
Height without shoes: 6 feet 2 inches
Weight: 169.6 pounds
Wingspan: 6 feet 6.5 inches
Hand length: 8.5 inches
Hand width: 8.5 inches
Standing reach: 8 feet 4 inches

Philon:
Height without shoes: 6 feet 3.75 inches
Weight: 176 pounds
Wingspan: 6 feet 6.25 inches
Hand length: 8.5 inches
Hand width: 9.0 inches
Standing reach: 8 feet 3.5 inches

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Except those middy stats are wrong. Philon only shot 12 mid range shots this year, 4 for 12 so his shooting split doesn't matter.

Here is his actual shot profile with every shot traceable to a coordinate in a single game:



Point remains, he is an elite shooter form range and has good touch near rim. He doesn't really shoot mid range shots. His RA area field goal touch is not elite at 62.6% RA FG.



But, yes he is very much like a Fox prospect. Except Fox wasn't considered as a good shooter at all, but quickly developed into a solid one. Philon is a solid shooter.

Weak frame and/or non-basketball-off-court issues (not suggesting there are any) must be the reason he fell so hard. He is the worst of the guards this year in my opinion in the lotto (Peterson, Wagler, Brown, Flemings, Acuff, Tanner, Philon), but he shouldn't be so discounted to be drafted at 22. For a value weighted pick, Sixers got a high end guard prospect.

[76ciology]

His length and weight is very similar to DeAaron Fox. Fox is even lighter by 6lbs.

Fox:
Height without shoes: 6 feet 2 inches
Weight: 169.6 pounds
Wingspan: 6 feet 6.5 inches
Hand length: 8.5 inches
Hand width: 8.5 inches
Standing reach: 8 feet 4 inches

Philon:
Height without shoes: 6 feet 3.75 inches
Weight: 176 pounds
Wingspan: 6 feet 6.25 inches
Hand length: 8.5 inches
Hand width: 9.0 inches
Standing reach: 8 feet 3.5 inches

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Except those middy stats are wrong. Philon only shot 12 mid range shots this year, 4 for 12 so his shooting split doesn't matter.

Here is his actual shot profile with every shot traceable to a coordinate in a single game:



Point remains, he is an elite shooter form range and has good touch near rim. He doesn't really shoot mid range shots. His RA area field goal touch is not elite at 62.6% RA FG.



But, yes he is very much like a Fox prospect. Except Fox wasn't considered as a good shooter at all, but quickly developed into a solid one. Philon is a solid shooter.

Weak frame and/or non-basketball-off-court issues (not suggesting there are any) must be the reason he fell so hard. He is the worst of the guards this year in my opinion in the lotto (Peterson, Wagler, Brown, Flemings, Acuff, Tanner, Philon), but he shouldn't be so discounted to be drafted at 22. For a value weighted pick, Sixers got a high end guard prospect.

Yeah, that mid range number is wrong.

On the other end, I had him 3rd behind Wagler and Peterson on my mock. I think he can be an engine for an offense, he can score very efficiently while getting his teammates open looks. He is also not a negative on defense, I’d even say he was a good defensive player last season. I value guys who can be an engine on offense and be reliable down the stretch, thats what we need. And thats why Knicks were able to beat the Spurs.

I think his frame is an issue for the teams who passed up on him. And I can see that, because im as heavy and im below 6 ft. LOL And I just find that most teams just had too much guard depth right now. Hell, Sixers even have a log jam after this. Even Bucks has a log jam after the Giannis trade.

[CptCrunch]

I really don't think 176-whatever lb is an issue really for a guard. I'm just conjecturing that there were issues with interview, background screen, handlers, etc. Because on basketball talent, I don't see any issues for such a deep discount.

He even got a +4 inch wingspan. Weight is like the easiest thing to gain, and let's not believe any narrative that players can't gain weight.

[Upperclass]

Labaron will end up being a top 5 player out of this draft. He's the only guard I watched in college basketball this year that could learn and adapt on the fly w/o coach's help to what the opposing team was scheming. Really a bright PG, reminds me of Garland.

I agree with this

[sodmoraes]

Can he be a pg or is more of a combo guard?

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[Notanoob]

Can he be a pg or is more of a combo guard?

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He's a point guard.

[tmorgan]

Interesting landing spot. No real path to a starting job any time soon.

[Chuck Everett]

Interesting landing spot. No real path to a starting job any time soon.

It's a perfect place for him because he can play with Maxey or Edgecombe. Finally Nurse won't have to run those guys into the ground playing them 38+ minutes a night. In two drafts, the Sixers might have arguably built the best offensive backcourt trio in the league (obviously San Antonio is the best).

[tmorgan]

Interesting landing spot. No real path to a starting job any time soon.

It's a perfect place for him because he can play with Maxey or Edgecombe. Finally Nurse won't have to run those guys into the ground playing them 38+ minutes a night. In two drafts, the Sixers might have arguably built the best offensive backcourt trio in the league (obviously San Antonio is the best).

No, I get that. I just like the player and found it a little disappointing he won’t get a chance to start in the foreseeable future.

He’s one of a couple guys I hoped the Pistons might be in on (Carr was the other). Detroit chose Okorie when both were available, so I hope I’m wrong. Okorie is intriguing, too, but Detroit seems to have an obsession with getting the youngest guys possible and hoping for the best (Duren… Holland… Okorie).

[vincecarter4pres]

What a likely steal for Philly.

[Notanoob]

Really don't understand why he fell so far. I get that he's skinny but it's not like all of the guards selected ahead of him were bulky or that long/strong. He's still an underclassman and was ridiculously efficient. A lot of that is Oates' scheme saying no long 2s ever, but he still made his shots, especially from 3. That level of shooting + some solid passing chops says that he should have a shot to stick, and his defense as a freshman suggests he can replicate that once he's not the #1 option and has put on a few pounds.

[CptCrunch]

I don't think Philon is some ace prospect, but I wouldn't be totally surprised to see like 13/3 in 25 minutes a game as a rookie.

The gap between his skill now and Acuff/Fleming/Wagler is a lot closer than their draft position.

[Caneman786]

There's this idea going around that Philon, Jr. will just put on weight and it'll solve all of his problems, but I think something that should really be considered is that he can't gain weight (or at least he can't as much as the other players can) on a genetic level due to his frame. Philon, Jr. already went to the combine last year, where I'm sure he received lots of feedback on his low weight, then he spent a whole year in a top college program and only had gained 1.6 pounds by the end of the year. There's a good chance that this is just who he is. If you like him, don't be baking in a potential weight gain in, since it's not guaranteed.

[blabla]

More weight almost always means that he'll be slower, and he didn't have lots of burst to begin with

[76ciology]

Draft age:
Mikel Brown: 20.21
Brayden Burries: 20.75
Philon: 20.57
^ I was surprised they’re all around the same age and Burries is actually older by a few months

Measurements
Philon: 6’6” wingspan & 8’3.5” standing reach
Burries: 6’6” wingspan & 8’2.5” standing reach
Brown: 6’7” wingspan & 8’4.5” standing reach
^ Brown has the best measurements but Philon is longer than Burries

Production wise. Philon is just ahead by a mile than those two. Brown has low FG% and TOs too much. Burries is not that good of a scorer compared to Philon (I read that Burries played with a stacked team and took advantage of his size) and doesnt project to be a natural lead guard based on his usg% and ppg.

With Philon it always circles back to his light frame, but Philon has shown he can be a plus defender during his freshman year.

Then the Schroeder comparison that KOC gave as his worst case.. I think Philon is just a lot better scorer than that. Mikel can be one of the best players in this draft, but he has a lot to clean up. While Burries is more of a glue guard archetype than a lead guard archetype like Derrick White.

And again, I could be wrong. Im just basing it with all the data available and there’s a lot of variables I don’t know like opportunity, work ethic and etc. Its just I find Philon to be the most favorable bet between the two.

And yeah, Philon is clearly better than Flemmings, who I’d ranked the lowest.

Flemmings: 6’3” wingspan (Mccain-ish) and has low 3PTr and FTr. I’d guess he scores too much mid range. SGA is OK because he gets to the line often and he’s actually a wing sized guard. I also think his style of play will give him a hard time in the pros. He has to expand his range.

All in all, that was my thought process and why I had Philon at 6th. After looking at Acuff again, I’d have Acuff at 6th and Philon at 7th. But its close.

[CptCrunch]

Was thinking earlier Philon feels like a less talented Kyrie Irving. Janky driver with a big bag. Doesn't drive with speed but craft. Can barely jump like Irving; finishes off the glass, half of his finishes looks like he is about get blocked by the rim.

Seriously, go watch his highlights again.