2022 G League Ignite guys

[RollingWave]

Well it's still early, but get this thread started

So here are the guys that's committed to G league ignite next year, and my very basic thoughts on them so far obviously will be subject to change especially once we actually see them play later in the year.

( opinions mainly my own, not a pro by any means at this.)

1. Michael Foster Jr.:

Watch on YouTube

General outlook: a thickish body 6'9 wing/forward type 5 star recruit that has a pretty complete game

The good: the body is already quite developed, long wingspan, hits 3s at high accuracy, really fills up the stat sheet

The bad: I feel he doesn't... pop... everything about him feels a bit slow IMHO, he obviously can jump but it just doesn't feel like he gets off the ground quickly, the shot also takes a long time to get off even though it goes in quite well. (but he's clearly wayyy behind Hardy and most likely Zeng as well in terms of actual shot quality and feel.) Obviously will be a NBA player but the bar we're looking at is more like "is he star/ superstar" which I have my concerns at least. Also his body type, the guys I remember of such type don't have an awesome track record, they often get too heavy and just change into a different type of player ( Marvin Williams is a good example. maybe it's more about the face but I keep thinking of "more skilled Terrence Jones" when I see him, neither are great comps at least if we're talking about high-end picks.)


2. Scoot Henderson: (2023 class)

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General: an explosive point guard 5-star recruit, shades of Russell Westbrook, 6'3 ish?

The good: well... the comp to Westbrook might be a bit extreme but obviously he got high end explosiveness, and actually he plays way more under control than Westbrook ever did, so it's maybe a bit more like a slightly bigger Morant (not quite as quick though) or a somewhat more explosive Fox? His off the bounce 18 footer is really pure, gets it off easily. The handle looks pretty good for his age.

The Bad: ?? have not seen enough, but he doesn't seem to shoot much 3s, or even pass a ton tbh, because the nature of HS basketball and his game it's a lot of run the break stuff, and yeah it's cool that he can be a good transition player, that's not exactly the most valuable thing in the NBA. The passing when he does throw it looks ... fine..

So I dunno, the physical profile suggest and that he can actually keep his dribble alone should be enough for a pretty high pick, but is that more like 10~14 or 5~7?? we'll need to see if he can actually run an offense and/or develop his shot a bit more.



3. Jaden Hardy:

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General: a guy that put the "shooting" back in shooting guard again, a 6'4 ish shooting guard

The good: did I say that he's a "shooting" guard? he's probably the most ridiculous shooting prospect I've seen in a while, he bombs it from half-court, and all sorts of other matters, he's very Harden like and not just the name, the body type, and shoot form all looks very similar, but Harden wasn't THIS advance of a shooter in high school.

The bad: well he is kinda a one-dimensional guy? though he's not Steve Novak, but he does kinda not do a ton of other things, definitely shoot first ask questions never guy, though obviously in the current NBA if you are going to be just totally awesome at one thing then that's obviously the thing. But yeah, he's strong and certainly athletic enough that he should hold up defensively just fine, but at least on court mostly it's just about bombing 3s like no tomorrow. though obviously, if you can just hit a 3 every time from half-court, why do you need to do anything else?

( Watching some of this more 2019 2020 films he had more shake and played more like a point guard, getting sturdier and the shot becoming more prominent part of his game made his play a bit more one dimensional then before, but still, if you tell me you get a Rockets era healthy Eric Gordon I'm in, and he have a bit more upside than that. )

4. Dyson Daniel

Watch on YouTube

General: a smooth Aussie wing player around 6'6

The good: the feel from the game looks really good, he's kind of a point forward, the general shape/type of player you'd love, plays good defense too.

The bad: well...is he a master of none and just not good enough overall? his shooting is pretty shaky for a perimeter player so far. he's probably the most project of the 5 guys at least from what I can tell. There are flashes, but there is a also decent sample of him sucking badly (granted, mainly against much older players.)

( oh ok guys like Giovonny actually rates him quite high, like mid first rounder, mainly based on that they view him more as a big point guard, that has pretty good feel on the pick and roll game and where to go on the court. I'm not quite sure I agree but obviously they're the pros. )

5. Fanbo Zeng

Watch on YouTube

General: a lanky bouncy lefty 6'8~6'9 forward from China with serious skill sets. Played sophomore in Flordia during high school and was 4 star, stuck in China last year, de-committed from Gonzaga.

The good: got real springs in his bounce, gets off the floor in a hurry with great second jumps, really good shot too, quick release, pretty good feel. This guy is a putback/weakside block machine in high school, but what I really like is how his shot looks

The bad: obviously thinner stick body type players always give you concern, he's not super extreme but still, looks average to below-average wingspan, might have a serious problem defending at a high level. Assuming he can adjust to the physicality, the question is "what position can he really guard?"

Between Zeng and Hardy though, there should be much better spacing for the other guys this year. I assume they'll probably keep signing Jarret Jack type of vet PGs and other serious vet center types


So just throwing this thread out there to start things off.

If you just ask me, Hardy is the most "interesting" of the group in terms of "I've basically not seen this before" type of player. I'll be most interesting to see how he's used.

[Marcus]

Like Hardy quite a bit, think i'm higher on him than most around here. Curious to see how Foster translates. def has the frame for the grownups he'll be facing.

[RollingWave]

Like Hardy quite a bit, think i'm higher on him than most around here. Curious to see how Foster translates. def has the frame for the grownups he'll be facing.

Just eyeballing it, approx ranges for these guys

Hardy: probably a lottery guy, a good chance even a high one.
Henderson: almost certainly a high lottery guy, might be top 5 pick if he has any sort of serious skill
Foster: definitely a first-rounder, but could go anywhere in there depending on how he actually translates.
Zeng: unknown, I guess later first round early second? depend on how much the shot translate
Daniels: he looks very projecty to me, this one is a total dice roll, anything is possible.

[Marcus]

curious to see who does the coaching this time around. Brian Shaw is gone right?

[EMG518]

Daniels and Hardy look really promising.

[RollingWave]

curious to see who does the coaching this time around. Brian Shaw is gone right?

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31905641/sources-jason-hart-become-new-head-coach-g-league-ignite

Guys like David Thorpe was really low on what Shaw did for Ignite last year, we'll see if Hart runs more semblance of a real scheme?

[mattyj]

Dyson Daniels is a great defender, pretty good ball handler, but very streaky shooter

Have been watching him the last few years

Sent from my CPH2009 using RealGM mobile app

[RollingWave]

Watch on YouTube

Foster vs Paolo Banchero ( I guess Banchero is like a higher lotto pick from the look of it?)

[TraBuch]

Watch on YouTube

Foster vs Paolo Banchero ( I guess Banchero is like a higher lotto pick from the look of it?)

Paolo could go 1 in next year’s draft.

[RollingWave]

Watch on YouTube

Foster vs Paolo Banchero ( I guess Banchero is like a higher lotto pick from the look of it?)

Paolo could go 1 in next year’s draft.

Yeah I figured as much and looked him up. He certainly fits the profile, and as I said my worry is that Foster feels a tad slow and here he gets blocked trying to shoot jump shot against Banchero, though he recovered decently later in the game it seems. The interview sounds like a nice kid.

Is Scoot Henderson a 2023 guy? so he's going to play 2 years on Ignite?

[RollingWave]

Watch on YouTube

Jalen and Jacoby interviews Jaden Hardy (wait he's related to Jalen Rose?)

[tiderulz]

My son at same HS with Scoot. he will actually be playing with Ignite for 2 years as he graduated a year early. should be interesting to see how he develops. great kid, very smart

[Marcus]

My son at same HS with Scoot. he will actually be playing with Ignite for 2 years as he graduated a year early. should be interesting to see how he develops. great kid, very smart

hopefully the staff stays consistent so he can get some good training, With two years there being a pro he could be a real litmus test for this whole program.

[RollingWave]

My son at same HS with Scoot. he will actually be playing with Ignite for 2 years as he graduated a year early. should be interesting to see how he develops. great kid, very smart

You're right, Scoot's 2023, that changes things obviously.

So we're assuming they'll probably feature Hardy more from the guard spot then this year? we'll see, it is impressive for a highschooler to play against G league guys.

[RollingWave]

Watch on YouTube

They got everyone there finally and starting to practice, games should start in a few weeks, they also signed vets like Pooh Jeter (played most of his pro days in China. started with the Knicks) and Kostas Kofas as their main vets apparently.

[Hal14]

My son at same HS with Scoot. he will actually be playing with Ignite for 2 years as he graduated a year early. should be interesting to see how he develops. great kid, very smart

You're right, Scoot's 2023, that changes things obviously.

So we're assuming they'll probably feature Hardy more from the guard spot then this year? we'll see, it is impressive for a highschooler to play against G league guys.

Scoot is a 1 and Hardy is a 2 so they're not really competing for minutes.

The competition for mins will be on the wing with Hardy (a natural 2), Daniels (a natural 2 w/ the versatility to play some 3 and even some 1) and Marjon Beauchamp (can play 2 or the 3). Then you have Foster and Zeng competing for mins at the 4. I suppose those 2 could play together at times - if they do I figure Foster is more capable of playing some at the 5 than Zeng..

Beauchamp could be really good. No one seems to be talking about him in here, but IMO he's better than Daniels although maybe it only appears that way because Beauchamp is a year and a half older than Daniels..

[RollingWave]

Yeah, Beauchamp joined last after I started the thread, I seen a little tape but don't have a good grasp at what he's good at exactly, seems like one of those looks pretty good at everything but you're not too sure if anything is actually high level type, still, a wing sized guy that show anything at all is going to get drafted.

I know Scoot and Hardy isn't going to play the same position per say, but it's more about who gets the ball, there's a difference if both ends up like mid to upper 20% usage or if Hardy is playing likea heliocentric player.

In terms of offensive fit I'm most concerned with Daniels, who seems like his shot is furthest away of all these guys, and his main selling point is more like a passer, but would he ever get the ball enough to show those things? though the pro scouts are really high on him, probably due to his defense and feel, he is the guy among these that you'd feel most confident translating to a serious positive defensive player in the NBA. a really nasty point of attack defender that might be able to defend 1 through 3.

As for Foster and Zeng, yeah I suspect Foster will play some 5 right? they only have one other real center on the team as far as I can tell, and Foster certainly has the bulk to do it in the G league at least, and he's a guy who' skill level would look much more intriguing if he's at 5 than at 4. I'm always a little wary of guys who's literally a man among boys in highschool and just plowing through a bunch of kids 50 pounds lighter. on their way to 30+ points. especially if they're not showing some other high level skill or true elite athleticism ( Chris Livingston next year kinda fall into the same camp, though he's more of a wing.) still, he and Hardy certainly has the most nba ready body at least.

We'll see, I'm fairly sure Pooh Jeter is going to play a lot, so that probably pushes Daniels and Beauchamp to 3. I suspect ideally their 8 man rotation is the 6 kids + Jeter and Kofus? though last year they did more or less play everyone some minutes at least.

[GimmeDat]

I'm not saying this to hype up Daniels, but has there actually been a 'history of him sucking (against older players)' like you said OP?

I've watched a lot of him and wouldn't say that. He was 'quiet' on the Global Academy as a younger player whilst behind Giddey, King and others, but the last 12 months he's been 'the guy' in his class, and also had a meteoric physical growth.

I made this vid on him a couple of months ago -

Watch on YouTube

;t=294s

I don't think he's on the same level as Giddey, but there's certainly upside. Had a very good U19's. Really exceptional defender, good feel for the game, great touch. He's just a two foot finisher, a little stiff, and not a natural shooter, though he has improved a lot over the past year in that regard.

The good news is most of his issues are technically, not innate limitations, and he has a positive baseline of physical and feel traits, and he has been improving across the board.

I'm not sure he'll exactly pop on this Ignite team, but I do think he has a solid floor.

[RollingWave]

I'm not saying this to hype up Daniels, but has there actually been a 'history of him sucking (against older players)' like you said OP?

I've watched a lot of him and wouldn't say that. He was 'quiet' on the Global Academy as a younger player whilst behind Giddey, King and others, but the last 12 months he's been 'the guy' in his class, and also had a meteoric physical growth.

I made this vid on him a couple of months ago -

Watch on YouTube

;t=294s

I don't think he's on the same level as Giddey, but there's certainly upside. Had a very good U19's. Really exceptional defender, good feel for the game, great touch. He's just a two foot finisher, a little stiff, and not a natural shooter, though he has improved a lot over the past year in that regard.

The good news is most of his issues are technically, not innate limitations, and he has a positive baseline of physical and feel traits, and he has been improving across the board.

I'm not sure he'll exactly pop on this Ignite team, but I do think he has a solid floor.

Yeah that was just the 10 minutes google / youtube impression, so you'd know better, Daniel looking at it a bit more, seems like most interesting on the defensive end, he looks like he'll be a really nasty defender of about 3 position (123) and has good feel / floater game, but the big sticking point right now is that he's quite shaky as a 3 point shooter and it doesn't look good, though there's a decent amount of evidence in terms of his free throw / floater that he has touch at least.

My concern of him is that he's kinda a guy that wouldn't be much of a threat offensively off ball, at this point it's mostly just cuts, and while that's nice he's not exactly overwhelming physically that you'd think that'll work particularly great in the NBA (like a massive lob threat or someone that's just so lightening quick and finish super well in traffic.) if the shot doesn't come around he's kinda like a defensive specialist no? though I guess he's about the right size for that.

[GimmeDat]

I'm not saying this to hype up Daniels, but has there actually been a 'history of him sucking (against older players)' like you said OP?

I've watched a lot of him and wouldn't say that. He was 'quiet' on the Global Academy as a younger player whilst behind Giddey, King and others, but the last 12 months he's been 'the guy' in his class, and also had a meteoric physical growth.

I made this vid on him a couple of months ago -

Watch on YouTube

;t=294s

I don't think he's on the same level as Giddey, but there's certainly upside. Had a very good U19's. Really exceptional defender, good feel for the game, great touch. He's just a two foot finisher, a little stiff, and not a natural shooter, though he has improved a lot over the past year in that regard.

The good news is most of his issues are technically, not innate limitations, and he has a positive baseline of physical and feel traits, and he has been improving across the board.

I'm not sure he'll exactly pop on this Ignite team, but I do think he has a solid floor.

Yeah that was just the 10 minutes google / youtube impression, so you'd know better, Daniel looking at it a bit more, seems like most interesting on the defensive end, he looks like he'll be a really nasty defender of about 3 position (123) and has good feel / floater game, but the big sticking point right now is that he's quite shaky as a 3 point shooter and it doesn't look good, though there's a decent amount of evidence in terms of his free throw / floater that he has touch at least.

My concern of him is that he's kinda a guy that wouldn't be much of a threat offensively off ball, at this point it's mostly just cuts, and while that's nice he's not exactly overwhelming physically that you'd think that'll work particularly great in the NBA (like a massive lob threat or someone that's just so lightening quick and finish super well in traffic.) if the shot doesn't come around he's kinda like a defensive specialist no? though I guess he's about the right size for that.

Yeah offence is definitely the concern. He's going to have to take some further leaps. He's a little awkward in his movement so I wonder how functional his athleticism will be offensively, but I felt encouraged by his shooting off basic movement at U19s, that was a significant step up for him, and while I don't think he'll ever be a pull up shooting threat, he had some really enticing self creation jumpers at Aus Champ level.

He does a lot of things well (defence, rebounding, smart offensive player), but he just needs to become a tenable scoring threat for it all to come together for him. Otherwise he might find himself without an identity.