Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0

[Hair Canada]

In some cool news MiKyle McIntosh is joining the 905 as they traded for him with the Wisconsin Herd.
McIntosh was not playing in the G from what I can tell. He started the season in South Korea with Anyang and that ended in late November. Seems like he was in T.O. and the 905 were able to swing it to get him on board.

Cool to see the 905/Raps go out of their way to get young Canadian talent. Seems just as much to do with the ties to Team Canada and I expect we seem him with the team in February for the last WC Qualifier windows.

Read on Twitter

Good news. Not sure what happened with him in Korea. He seemed to have a very promising start there. But honestly, I'm glad he's back to playing real competitive basketball. Would really like to have him on the team in Feb. It's true that we've already qualified, but would be really nice to get a win (more than 8 points margin) over Venezuela, both because it's time we beat them and to be ranked first (not sure, but it might matter for the draw at the WC).

[mojo13]

In some cool news MiKyle McIntosh is joining the 905 as they traded for him with the Wisconsin Herd.
McIntosh was not playing in the G from what I can tell. He started the season in South Korea with Anyang and that ended in late November. Seems like he was in T.O. and the 905 were able to swing it to get him on board.

Cool to see the 905/Raps go out of their way to get young Canadian talent. Seems just as much to do with the ties to Team Canada and I expect we seem him with the team in February for the last WC Qualifier windows.

Read on Twitter

Good news. Not sure what happened with him in Korea. He seemed to have a very promising start there. But honestly, I'm glad he's back to playing real competitive basketball. Would really like to have him on the team in Feb. It's true that we've already qualified, but would be really nice to get a win (more than 8 points margin) over Venezuela, both because it's time we beat them and to be ranked first (not sure, but it might matter for the draw at the WC).

Yeah...it didn't seem play related, as checking boxscores it seemed he was playing well. Perhaps just not the right fit for the team. Always need to consider playing/working/living in a foreign land/culture isn't the easiest for a young person (or any person) to adjust to. Loads of guys have struggled adjusting to Europe (language, culture etc.), let alone South Korea/China. South Korea does not have a reputation as a very welcoming culture to foreigners, especially those of African decent.



Also glad to see that, as of Dec. 12th, Melvin Ejim is back in action for Unics Kazan (Russia) in the VTB and EuroCup. He missed almost the entire season to date with an injury. Stay healthy Melvin..

Dillon Brooks looks scheduled to be back in the next game or two as well after missing the last 20.

[Hair Canada]

I watched Simi play yesterday in the Vanderbilt loss to Kansas State. Didn't have a very good game on offense. He can certainly pass and create some, but his feel around the basket is mediocre and right now he's a complete non-shooter (stopped trying after missing all of his outside shots this season). Still a unique athlete who can lead the ball and do things that most centers can't.

But what had me really worried is his defense. He doesn't finish plays, ball-watches, doesn't contest, and gives up on plays. At some point, I stopped counting the number of times players scored on him directly (bigs or guards in the pick and roll). He just looks so apathetic on D. Vandi played zone for a while and he looked even worse there. slow to recover, doesn't move well, doesn't help. 0 blocks yesterday and less than 1 on average for the season. Really a very weak defender at this point. And that's at the college level. At some point, I think the Vandi coach also had enough and just took him out 6 minutes before the end, although the game was not dead and Simi was not in foul trouble. That's very disappointing to me because it's not for lack of ability. When he wants to he can lock in, but yesterday he just seemed to not care. Which was strange to see, because I've always pegged him for an energy player.

I sure hope he can turn this approach around. Obviously, he's still young (just turned 19) and certainly has the tools and talent, but right now it doesn't look good.

[Patman]

I watched Simi play yesterday in the Vanderbilt loss to Kansas State. Didn't have a very good game on offense. He can certainly pass and create some, but his feel around the basket is mediocre and right now he's a complete non-shooter (stopped trying after missing all of his outside shots this season). Still a unique athlete who can lead the ball and do things that most centers can't.

But what had me really worried is his defense. He doesn't finish plays, ball-watches, doesn't contest, and gives up on plays. At some point, I stopped counting the number of times players scored on him directly (bigs or guards in the pick and roll). He just looks so apathetic on D. Vandi played zone for a while and he looked even worse there. slow to recover, doesn't move well, doesn't help. 0 blocks yesterday and less than 1 on average for the season. Really a very weak defender at this point. And that's at the college level. At some point, I think the Vandi coach also had enough and just took him out 6 minutes before the end, although the game was not dead and Simi was not in foul trouble. That's very disappointing to me because it's not for lack of ability. When he wants to he can lock in, but yesterday he just seemed to not care. Which was strange to see, because I've always pegged him for an energy player.

I sure hope he can turn this approach around. Obviously, he's still young (just turned 19) and certainly has the tools and talent, but right now it doesn't look good.

I really really hope that he's not the kind of player that lets his offensive succeed dictate his defensive effort.

[super_balls]

I watched Simi play yesterday in the Vanderbilt loss to Kansas State. Didn't have a very good game on offense. He can certainly pass and create some, but his feel around the basket is mediocre and right now he's a complete non-shooter (stopped trying after missing all of his outside shots this season). Still a unique athlete who can lead the ball and do things that most centers can't.

But what had me really worried is his defense. He doesn't finish plays, ball-watches, doesn't contest, and gives up on plays. At some point, I stopped counting the number of times players scored on him directly (bigs or guards in the pick and roll). He just looks so apathetic on D. Vandi played zone for a while and he looked even worse there. slow to recover, doesn't move well, doesn't help. 0 blocks yesterday and less than 1 on average for the season. Really a very weak defender at this point. And that's at the college level. At some point, I think the Vandi coach also had enough and just took him out 6 minutes before the end, although the game was not dead and Simi was not in foul trouble. That's very disappointing to me because it's not for lack of ability. When he wants to he can lock in, but yesterday he just seemed to not care. Which was strange to see, because I've always pegged him for an energy player.

I sure hope he can turn this approach around. Obviously, he's still young (just turned 19) and certainly has the tools and talent, but right now it doesn't look good.

I really really hope that he's not the kind of player that lets his offensive succeed dictate his defensive effort.

Still young and coming back from knee injury last year. I think he can develop. I’m hoping he comes out this year and falls to 2nd round. Raptors develop him in the 905.

[Hair Canada]

An update on our youngsters.

This time, two guys from the class of 2022. Ryan Nembhard (Andrew's brother) and Caleb Houstan are right now clearly the best two players in this class. Both joined the "Canadian-American" powerhouse Montverde Academy this year as freshmen (Canadians who played there over the last three years include Barrett, Andrew Nembhard, Simi Shi-ttu, Marcus Carr, and Grant Shepherd).

Last year RJ Barrett and Andrew Nembhard led Montverde to a perfect season and a national title before leaving to Duke and Florida. This year, Montverde is arguably not as strong, but still ranked no. 1 in the US and includes top-50 players in the class of 2019, such as Precious Achiuwa (9 on the 247 top-100 composite ranking), Omar Payne, Pavel Zakharov, and 7'0 Balsa Koprivica (all of them 6'9 and up), as well as Cade Cunnigham and Moses Moody, ranked 7 and 27 in the class of 2020.

With such a depth of seniors and juniors, I kind of expected the young Nembhard and Houstan to see very limited minutes, if at all as freshmen at Montverde. Well, I watched the final game from the Iolani Classic tournament at Hawaii, the biggest early-season tournament in high school basketball. Montverde played another powerhouse, Sierra Canyon from California (where Marvin Bagley III played at the end of his high school career), ranked 4 in the nation prior to the tournament. Montverde was able to come up with a narrow win. And I was pleasantly surprised to see that both Nembhard and Houstan were a big part of the rotation and played big minutes.

Nembhard is the Eagles starting PG and plays almost doesn't sit down. He has that Nembhard family quality of just being an efficient player on the court, the kind that coaches like and want to keep on the court even when the stats are not that impressive. Nothing flashy, but a good ball-handler, passer, and can also finish, although he doesn't initiate that much with all that senior and junior talent around him. Also a good and solid defender who reads the game well and makes very few mistakes. I think he's also a bit more athletic than Andrew. All that said, at the age of 15.5 Ryan is still very short. I saw him listed as a 6'0 or 6'1 in some places. For this tournament he was listed as a 5'10 and I wouldn't be surprised if that's his actual height. I sure hope he has another growth spurt in him (Andrew is up to 6'5 and I think he grew about 3 inches in recent years), because he is not athletic enough to be able to make an impact at the higher levels with this height.

Houstan is for me the more interesting prospect of the two. He's about 6'8 or 6'9 and plays SF. Not an elite athlete. More fluid than explosive. But has z very good feel for the game. He comes off the bench for Montverde, but plays a very decent amount of minutes. In the game I watched against Sierra Canyon, he couldn't hit his open threes, so he eventually didn't play in the last quarter. But before that he looked good on the court (good rebounder and defender) and in previous games, against weaker competition he scored 17 and 11 and grabbed about 8 rebounds a game, so he clearly has a significant role in the rotation. Good to see and I think both him and Nembhard will certainly profit from playing against such high-level competition starting this young and having to really compete for their minutes. As both are closer to 16 than 15, I think they are both likely to eventually reclassify to 2021.

By the way, Jayden Webley, the third best talent in the 2022 class (maybe even the scond-best lont-term) has also moved to Montverde this year. But I think he's at a considerably less advanced stage in his development (he's also a year younger than Houstan and Nembhard; a real 2022), so he's playing with their junior team, together with Nathan Barrett, RJ's younger (and much less talented) brother.

Hopefully, we'll get a chance to see all three of them playing for the Canadian U16 team this summer.

[Gday_eh]

Huge game for Thomas Scrubb in Serie A yesterday including 7/9 from long distance.

https://www.eurobasket.com/boxScores/Italy/2018/1225_88_83.asp

Got to think if he keeps this form up he has a decent shot as a backup for the world cup.

in other Serie A action Dyshawn Pierre played 25 minutes in his teams huge win.

https://www.eurobasket.com/boxScores/Italy/2018/1226_294_161.asp

[mojo13]

Yeah. I don’t think seeing Tommy on the WC team is as far fetched as many others may think. SF is our shallowest position and at this point my gut is saying we will be a about 7-8 NBA players deep.
Both Scrubbs, Ejim, Pangos, Heslip and Wiltjer seem to be the most likely Non-NBA guys to make the roster. Maybe T. Ennis if healthy.

[GoRaptors]

Yeah. I don’t think seeing Tommy on the WC team is as far fetched as many others may think. SF is our shallowest position and at this point my gut is saying we will be a about 7-8 NBA players deep.
Both Scrubbs, Ejim, Pangos, Heslip and Wiltjer seem to be the most likely Non-NBA guys to make the roster. Maybe T. Ennis if healthy.

There might also be a spot available for Anthony Bennett or even Joel Anthony depending on how things play out.

[Hair Canada]

Kassius Robertson, who was great at Mizzou last year (their best player and leading scorer), is starting to make some noise in Europe as well. A fantastic sharpshooter who took some time to acclimate with his German team Medi Bayreuth. At first, as a first-year pro, he didn't get that many looks. But lately he's really gotten into a rhythm, and so has his team. They play in the European Champions League and the last two games, playing against very decent competition in Turkish Besiktas and French Strasbourg, he scored 31 points (5/6 from 3) and 26 points (7/8 from 3) respectively. For the season (9 games so far), he's scoring nearly 3 three-pointers a game on a ridiculous 62% (42% in the German league).

Always thought that he could be a contributing factor for the Canadian national team. This kind of shooting is priceless and he's also a fairly good defender and passer. Not sure about the NBA, but he can certainly make a name for himself and have a good career in Europe. At any case, I would like to see him get a chance in February -- would be good to bring him into the program I think.

Here's a recent interview with him. I like how honest he is (or maybe that should go as "not yet media-savvy enough"). When they ask him what has impressed him about German culture, he says: "Nothing has really impressed me. Everything is 100% different from home. The biggest difference here is that everything is strict. Everybody follows rules in Germany. You have to make appointments here and there are no walk-ins. They go by the book."

https://germanhoops.com/2018/12/13/16667/

[Hair Canada]

I wrote about Dalano Banton before the season started and said that I like his game quite a bit. A 6'8 long and thin PG who can pass, and shoot and has some resemblance to Shai in his game (although he's not as polished and good at getting to the paint).

Banton had a rough start to his rookie season. He didn't get too many minutes, but when he did play he looked quite timid. He missed the first 8 shots that he took (over 4 games) and scored 1 point in his first 4 games and 10 points (combined) in his first 7. WK also had a pretty rough start to the season, despite high expectations with the rookie center Charles Bassey.

But then, two weeks ago, Western Kentucky's starting guard Desean Murray decided suddenly to leave the program, leaving them with a very thin backcourt. Since then, Banton has been starting games and playing more. In the last three games, he's also been playing better. He scored 11 in a loss against Belmont and then had 11, 6 assists and 4 rebounds in a good win against St. Mary's.

And then today, in WK's biggest game of the season so far, against Wisconsin, Banton really made a break. He was two points shy of a triple-double: 13 rebounds, 10 assists, and 8 points. He had a chance to complete the TD, but missed an open three and then from the line in the last minute of the game. Still, a really strong showing and Western Kentucky finished with a nice win.

[aminiaturebuddha]

Another Canadian freshman who is starting to make a good showing is Noah Kirkwood, an under-the-radar favourite of mine ever since the 2015 U16 team, where he was a do-it-all glue guy at the small forward position. He also played on Canada's 2017 U19 World Championship team.

He's still coming off the bench for Harvard, but is up to 4th on the team in scoring, 5th in minutes, and in his last 2 games he's averaged 19.5 points.

I don't think he's ever going to be a serious NBA prospect, but he could definitely become a good depth player at the wing position for qualifying games in the future.

[mojo13]

Read on Twitter

Says the Raps are in the mix.
Not sure if this is a straight cut from AEK and a cover story or if legit. Time will tell.
As Mirotic pointed out it didn’t seem XRM was playing too well for AEK. The stats seem to back that up.


Also seems some clubs are keeping an eye on Bennett and noticing his great three point shooting and highly efficient play in the G.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/nba/la-sp-clippers-anthony-bennett-20181222-story.html

[Pooh_Jeter]

Read on Twitter

Always liked him on the Junior teams and I think a lot of us were bullish on his potential even if it was as a 3+D guy as opposed to something more. Hopefully he gets a chance to develop back into a potential NBA prospect.

[Hair Canada]

Fanside with a projected 6 Canadians in the first round. This is the most I've seen so far, and likely the ceiling for the first round unless Wigginton comes back with a fury. It would easily break the record for non-US players from the same country in one draft, which I believe is currently 4 (if I remember correctly, Serbia somewhere in 2003, both rounds). All six have been projected to go in the first round by some draft boards, but never all of them at once in the same board. Simi and Lu as lottery picks seems quite bullish to me. I'm not quite there, but who knows.

https://fansided.com/2019/01/02/nba-draft-big-board-january-update-culver-williamson-reddish/

[BilboBanginz]

Lindell Wigginton has played well in two games since returning from injury.

15 Pts (5/12 FGs), 4 Rbs, 3 Asts in 18 Mins vs. Eastern Illinois

17 Pts (4/9 FGs), 8 Rbs, 2 Asts in 30 Mins vs. Oklahoma State

He was considered a late 1st/early 2nd rounder before the injury. Hopefully we'll see him back in that conversation again. However, unlike last season, Iowa State has a lot of guard/wing depth, so he's got to continue to produce or he'll risk losing minutes. Last year he basically had the offense to himself. This is a good opportunity for him to show scouts that he can play well within a talent-rich team.

[Hair Canada]

Lindell Wigginton has played well in two games since returning from injury.

15 Pts (5/12 FGs), 4 Rbs, 3 Asts in 18 Mins vs. Eastern Illinois

17 Pts (4/9 FGs), 8 Rbs, 2 Asts in 30 Mins vs. Oklahoma State

He was considered a late 1st/early 2nd rounder before the injury. Hopefully, we'll see him back in that conversation again. However, unlike last season, Iowa State has a lot of guard/wing depth, so he's got to continue to produce or he'll risk losing minutes. Last year he basically had the offense to himself. This is a good opportunity for him to show scouts that he can play well within a talent-rich team.

Yes, he played quite well in these two. Unlike last year, the shot from outside is not falling so far. He was 0/10 from 3 in these two games, before knocking down the 3 that sealed yesterday's game with about a minute to play. But he did seem to play a more responsible and less selfish game than before, and mostly took good decisions and passed the ball well (I think they miscounted his assists; he had something like 5 yesterday and a couple more good passes that didn't end with a basket) His decision making has always been the one thing that bothered me with him. I still think he's more of a SG than a PG, but I can see him making the transition into a scoring-minded PG. He's been sharing the ball better. He's also a tremendous athlete and pretty good defender, so even though he's not big (6'2 with a 6'4 wingspan), I think he might have a chance if he can get the outside shot going again.

[mojo13]

Wiggington has some serious work to do to get back in the conversation as a 1st rounder. I'm far from sold that he will get there.

At this point in the season I'm only convinced on three prospects as 1st rounders this year.
Barrett - although I am still very skeptical about his ceiling and think he will end up a slight disappointment (only because the expectations are so high). I think he is showing signs that he will be a high volume but inefficient scorer in the NBA. If he is a #1 option in the NBA my guess is that he will not on many winning teams.

Clarke - I am mesmerized with his high efficiency on both offense and defense and am very certain his floor is an important role player on winning team. He is putting up the best PER and BPM season in a decade after Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson. If the shooting touch is there (signs say it could be but no sure thing) he could have a better career than Barrett but it may take some time to get there (I might get killed her for that, but I am willing to go out on a limb).

NAW - playing great on both ends right now and shooting really well. The efficiency he is showing is very alluring even though he seems fairly slight and not overly athletic. He seems to have starter potential, or at least a 6-8th man.

Brazdeikis - is winning me over the more I see of him. I no longer think he will be a deficient defender at the the NBA level and it looks like he will be a capable player on offense and defense. He has great understanding of the game and I think has a great shot as a highly efficient 3&D wing.

Dort and $hittu - I am starting to seriously question both as first rounders this year. Both look like they may need another year to work on some obvious weaknesses (outside shooting for $hittu and decision/play making for Dort). Maybe Dort is in a lull right now and picks it up through conference play.

As mentioned, Wigginton needs more time, but it will be a uphill battle. It seems Haliburton has supplanted him as the prime NBA prospect at ISU.

I don't see Nembhard coming out this year. Brissett - I don't see as a draftable player right now.

But if I had to put money down right now as 2019 1st Round draft selections - it is going on Barrett, Clark and NAW. With Iggy rising and Dort, $hittu falling. The rest I think are low probabilities. Not to say many of the others don't eventually get there. And I do find this a weird year. Almost an embarrassment of riches. It seems in a normal year we'd be talking a heck of allot more about guys like Mariol Shayok, Kyle Anderson, Brissett and others with second round potential.

[Mirotic12]

Read on Twitter

Says the Raps are in the mix.
Not sure if this is a straight cut from AEK and a cover story or if legit. Time will tell.
As Mirotic pointed out it didn’t seem XRM was playing too well for AEK. The stats seem to back that up.


Also seems some clubs are keeping an eye on Bennett and noticing his great three point shooting and highly efficient play in the G.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/nba/la-sp-clippers-anthony-bennett-20181222-story.html

That's definitely a spin. AEK's owner, who is spending a ton of money on the club and has the goal of making the team back to the big power in Europe it used to be, wants to be seen as very friendly with players and agents, so I'm sure they put it in a way that didn't look like they cut him. He can probably get a 2 way contract rather easily,so put it like that was the reason. But yes, he most definitely got cut by AEK due to poor play. Their coach told media before the holidays he was going to get cut.

You guys were really on me for saying how much he was struggling and saying how great his stats were and all of that. You were disappointed he didn't play with Canada...well, I think you were very luck he didn't play with Canada.

From the first 4-5 games, you could see he would not make it in AEK, as I said here. Just like I said before, I think he would probably be fine if you used him as a shooting guard, and allowed him no play making or lead ball handling duty. Because he has some positive traits as an individual player.

But he's an absolute disaster as a point guard. I don't know if his agents and him insist he plays as a point guard or what. But AEK seemed under the impression he was a point guard, which just from 5 minutes of playing time anyone can see he has zero point guard ability. I'm actually amazed he made it half a season before they cut him.

I know you guys were disappointed Canada didn't have him, but you got luck with that. Phil Scrubb isn't best as a point guard either, but he's miles and miles better than XRM is. If XRM wants to make a good pro career, he needs to let go of trying to be a point guard. Maybe he can do that at NCAA or G-League, but in any serious pro league he's a complete disaster at point.

[Hair Canada]

Wiggington has some serious work to do to get back in the conversation as a 1st rounder. I'm far from sold that he will get there.

At this point in the season I'm only convinced on three prospects as 1st rounders this year.
Barrett - although I am still very skeptical about his ceiling and think he will end up a slight disappointment (only because the expectations are so high). I think he is showing signs that he will be a high volume but inefficient scorer in the NBA. If he is a #1 option in the NBA my guess is that he will not on many winning teams.

Clarke - I am mesmerized with his high efficiency on both offense and defense and am very certain his floor is an important role player on winning team. He is putting up the best PER and BPM season in a decade after Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson. If the shooting touch is there (signs say it could be but no sure thing) he could have a better career than Barrett but it may take some time to get there (I might get killed her for that, but I am willing to go out on a limb).

NAW - playing great on both ends right now and shooting really well. The efficiency he is showing is very alluring even though he seems fairly slight and not overly athletic. He seems to have starter potential, or at least a 6-8th man.

Brazdeikis - is winning me over the more I see of him. I no longer think he will be a deficient defender at the the NBA level and it looks like he will be a capable player on offense and defense. He has great understanding of the game and I think has a great shot as a highly efficient 3&D wing.

Dort and $hittu - I am starting to seriously question both as first rounders this year. Both look like they may need another year to work on some obvious weaknesses (outside shooting for $hittu and decision/play making for Dort). Maybe Dort is in a lull right now and picks it up through conference play.

As mentioned, Wigginton needs more time, but it will be a uphill battle. It seems Haliburton has supplanted him as the prime NBA prospect at ISU.

I don't see Nembhard coming out this year. Brissett - I don't see as a draftable player right now.

But if I had to put money down right now as 2019 1st Round draft selections - it is going on Barrett, Clark and NAW. With Iggy rising and Dort, $hittu falling. The rest I think are low probabilities. Not to say many of the others don't eventually get there. And I do find this a weird year. Almost an embarrassment of riches. It seems in a normal year we'd be talking a heck of allot more about guys like Mariol Shayok, Kyle Anderson, Brissett and others with second round potential.

A good analysis Mojo. A couple of comments:

For RJ -- I think people were too high on him given the holes in his game, some of which are not likely to ever disappear (mediocre shooting and free throw, tendency to drive into walls, and just an okay feel on defense). But I also think the scouts (and you) are too low now. I think he'll become a better decision maker with the years and that fire he has in him will drive him to improve with the years. I can definitely see him as potentially a slightly better version of DeRozan (who took a couple of years to really make the step forward in the NBA), and while some people might find this kind of prediction disappointing, I don't think it should be.

For Clarke -- I'm also quite sold on him and agree that he has a high floor as a very contributing player. I love how he plays -- very intelligent and efficient. Wouldn't be surprised to see him as a lottery by July.

Brazdeikis -- Always loved his game. A much better defender than what people thought (could see that already in high school) and a very decent underrated athlete (probably because he's white...). I think he can be more than just a 3&D at the next level with his smart play and knack for scoring.

Dort -- I watched the last couple of games and that's really a slump. But I don't think it's primarily playmaking there. He actually looked somewhat better on this front (not as many turnovers) and in any case, he's not and never has been a PG. The thing is that he just couldn't buy a basket at the rim. Both against Kansas and vs. Princeton he still got to the rim with ease and just missed everything. We're talking easy layups here. I can't see him continuing to miss in this way. Some of it is just bad luck. And yes, he doesn't have the best finishing touch, but it has to come up at some point.

Simi -- as I wrote a while ago, my main concern with him is actually the defense. In his last game he actually looked better and more engaged. Almost as if he made some kind of a switch. Still not perfect, but at least he didn't give up on plays. When fully locked, he can be a good defender, and as such a contributing small-ball 5 with his handle and passing. The outside shooting needs work and confidence, but I don't think it's a lost cause.

Shayok -- I think he actually leads the Big 12 in scoring. But at the next level he'll need to be a real 3&D. And as such he's not shooting well enough (only 33%) and though he's fairly strong and long, I don't think he's quick enough to be an actual stopper at the next level. Still, I think he could certainly end up as a second rounder, but maybe it's even better if he's not and gets to choose the team he wants to try out for. He'll also be 24 when the draft is here, so not that much room for improvement. Still, he's giving a hell of a season, much better than anyone expected and he's definitely a fringe NBA guy.