2022 G League Ignite guys

[RollingWave]

Dyson looked awesome tonight. Most qualified floor general there even with Pooh Jeter on the floor. They led against South Bay until crunch time.

Brutal shooting from Jaden Hardy and he looked pretty tentative overall despite the # of attempts. Was actually surprised when I saw the box score because he was mostly invisible tonight.

Ehh, he looked great in the first half, as did Beauchamp, then really tailed off on the second (the whole team did too) I am quite concern that in these two game he was getting easily blown by vs Chris Chiozza and Seth McClung, but certainly I see where the offensive intrigue is, he's a devastatingly good floater guy when he can get to his spots, the 3s looks better today though quite deliberate and some of the misses look ugly. I still don't like the way he dribbles but at least he's protecting it now.

Yeah Hardy must be dealing with something right? relative to expectations he's looked horrendous. (his brother is way out playing him.) though defensively he hasn't failed nearly as much as I feared. (but they're also hiding him off ball in general. )

Beauchamp was also awesome in the first half this game, but looks like he just ran out of steam in the second. if you just look like the first half he felt like a borderline top 10 pick out there basically doing everything, and being super athletic.

Zeng had an interesting game, where he was again super foul plagued and didn't stay on the floor much, but most of those fouls looked like really high effort defense 50/50 calls. and in the brief 4 min first stint he hit a 3 had a big block and 2 really good looking assist, he's in a weird spot where a lot of things he do looks great but all sort of dumb / weird errors just keep costing him playing time / numbers. it's either stepping out of bounds a million times in the first couple games or just foul trouble all over the place. he doesn't look like a dumb player to me so you'd hope those things would get cut down and he's just really unuse to this level of play right now. But we'll see.

[clyde21]

these guys are all meh, at least compared to Green/Minga from last yr.

Hardy a 2-15 from the field is disappointing, still think his shot will come around but it showcases that he just doesn't really do much out there for u if that ball isn't dropping for him.

i think he's clearly a step below Edwards/Green as a SG prospect imo, he's got a good physical profile but really missing that physical dynamism of Green and Antman.

[clyde21]

Feng looks good in theory but there are a lot of loose ends there he needs to clean before you can project him to the next level, I like the overall skill set and physical profile but needs the connective tissue to develop

[GimmeDat]

Yeah that was a good Dyson game. As we spoke about, he has some hoops to jump through long term as an on-ball player in terms of skill development, but he's a good processor of the game and I like that he's getting those reps for his development. Great to see him hitting 3's. Showed off his comfort with the floater too.

[RollingWave]

these guys are all meh, at least compared to Green/Minga from last yr.

Hardy a 2-15 from the field is disappointing, still think his shot will come around but it showcases that he just doesn't really do much out there for u if that ball isn't dropping for him.

i think he's clearly a step below Edwards/Green as a SG prospect imo, he's got a good physical profile but really missing that physical dynamism of Green and Antman.

yeah I guess comparing to the first few games of last ignite that's fair, but obviously Henderson hasn't played yet (he's suppose to be the most athletic of these guys) and obviously, they'll play more games than the last Ignite group so we'll have a larger sample to judge from, the relative progress is obviously also a bit thing yeah, if all of them are still like this by the end of season that's a major negative in general.

Just looking at their highschool tape, I'd say Hardy is on the same level as Green, maybe even higher if you think that his super long 3 will change the way team plays more than Green does. but obviously, if he's going to play worse than Amauri Hardy for the whole season that's very different topic.

[DCasey91]

these guys are all meh, at least compared to Green/Minga from last yr.

Hardy a 2-15 from the field is disappointing, still think his shot will come around but it showcases that he just doesn't really do much out there for u if that ball isn't dropping for him.

i think he's clearly a step below Edwards/Green as a SG prospect imo, he's got a good physical profile but really missing that physical dynamism of Green and Antman.

Yeah that’s why I knocked him down a week ago when you mentioned about Hardy.

Also I’m still on the fence on the G League being a legitimate pathway, yes College isn’t the greatest and international scouting can be a mixed bag (getting better nowadays) but at least the history is there.

I mean to say is the competitiveness and fire there from game to game or is it not?

College at least has do or die games and International is no funny business stuff (play for keeps).

USA needs a domestic system A, AA, AAA (like the Majors asap).

There is more refinement in the NBA to be had (not just being a rookie but being less raw and more NBA ready).

[clyde21]

G League is the best possible current route for development imo

[DCasey91]

I disagree there. I have a gut feeling international leagues will churn out NBA ready prospects in the future.

Lamelo, RJ, Giddey is a great advertisement for NBL

And European Leagues has been there for awhile.

College is College

I just don’t buy G league as the best “current” route. Maybe in the future but not now

[clyde21]

oh, thought ur talking about G League vs. College...not sure what euro leagues have to do with this...are you suggesting american players go play in europe for a year?

[RollingWave]

There's a limit how much the NBL can scale up to take in US kids, certainly more so than where the G League could potentially scale up to (they could eventually develop something more like a different level of the developmental league like baseball.) and I doubt you're thinking about them going to China or Europe for that.

[RollingWave]

Ignite has played 6 games so far ( 3 pre-season and 3 sort of real season.) only 2 at home in Vegas. they lost all 6 and other than this latest one wasn't very close. Their next game is almost a week from now so now seems like a good first break point to look at how everyone's done I guess.

Anyway Scoota Henderson still hasn't played, not sure what the problem is, they reported that he's practicing but still..

Hardy: finally had a few better games after really rocky start, it's been a mixed bag still, the shot when it's getting going looks great, and he is trying to do a lot of the other things and generally looked pretty decent in those aspects (defense / play making etc.) and he's actually missed 2 of the 6 games so the sample is meh but still, it's distrubing how much he gets blocked going to the rim at least.

Foster: might be the most consistent of the bunch so far, just look like a real dude out there and even did pretty well against Harry Giles and Serge Ibaka in these last couple games, showing a lot of everything, sometimes gets too black hole and turn over prone but still he's pretty darn relentless, I don't think him getting drafted is a problem, the question would be at like 6'8 is he more or those Draymond / Tucker / Millsap type of undersized big that's really good or the undersized part really gets exposed at the highest level. hard to know until he really start playing in the NBA I guess. But I'd think so far he looks like a later half first rounder probably.

Beauchamp: he's pretty erratic but of the guys that played so far he's also probably helped his stocks the most since when he's good he's quite good, looks very athletic out there and just tries kill people on posters all the time (doesn't always work though.) shot is erratic but seems to have enough there to believe there's a decent chance it'll get there.


Daniels: after a horrific start seems to be mostly righting the ship, I still don't like the way he dribbles or shoot to be honest but hard to deny that it's mostly working, the 3s have gone in enough to believe that he should get to the point where teams at least can just not guard him from 3 eventually, and that should open up enough of the rest of his game, the defense has been hit or miss, sometimes it looks great (he gets a lot of deflections and some guys can't really keep their dribble in front of him.) at other time he's getting destroyed by the likes of Seth McClung and Chris Chiozza which don't seem like what you'd want from a highly rated defensive prospect. But the dude really is pretty special with the floater. He's really quite an interesting/weird guys in that it's a rather unique set of abilities he has and it's hard to tell if it all actually fits together.


Zeng: the flashes look impressive but he's playing himself off the court most of the time, it's either a foul thing, or a stepping out of bounds thing, or bumping knees and limping off thing. I mean I'm high on him but at some point, he needs to start stringing together some games where he's playing around 30 min and putting more serious numbers on the board. to be in serious draft discussions. and he doesn't have THAT many chances to do so.


As a team they're oddly looking better on defense than offense to be honest, the effort level on defense is quite high, and they're rotating and trapping hard at least, even had Zeng did some hard hedges and stuff, it doesn't always work obviously as they're inexperienced as hell, but most of the reason why they're giving up a gazillion points is them turning it over on offense and thus is defending in transition way more than you'd like to see. It really is a failure of coherent and consistent offense so far that's killing them on both ends of the floor. I guess this was to be expected to some extent. but obviously, even for a development team you can't just lose every game.

[God Squad]

I haven't watched a single game, so thanks for the write up RollingWave. Honestly it seems like these ignite guys aren't as eye popping as Green or even Kuminga.

[RollingWave]

I haven't watched a single game, so thanks for the write up RollingWave. Honestly it seems like these ignite guys aren't as eye popping as Green or even Kuminga.

Yeah I guess in terms of raw pop these guys aren't quite as interesting, (though we haven't seen Henderson yet.)

Though I'd say in terms of curiosity of "how this works" this group is more interesting, Green and Kuminga we've seen pretty similar type of guys before, I can't remember anyone that reminds me of Dyson Daniel, and at least in terms of what I saw in highschool I thought Hardy might be better than Green, at least in terms of what the theory is. and there's some personal interest in Zeng since I've probably seen him a lot more than most folks.

[RollingWave]

They finally won one, and we got our first look at Scoot Henderson too. Fanbo Zeng sat as they have another pretty long off day so they want him to just get his knee totally right for the next 3 game in 4 days stretch.

Hardy: scored a lot, missed a lot, turned it over at lot, had two pretty big dunks at least, so still kind of a mixed bag but trending better. still waiting for a game where he actually hits all those tough shots, he's going to the 3 a lot less right now, either because the previous injury is making his 3s inconsistent now and/or he's just trying to prove he can score inside / make plays.

Scoot: looks a lot like Jalen Green out there in terms of just moving at a different speed than everyone else, not as explosive of a jumper or good of a shooter from 3, but his mid range pull up looks exceptional and I really like how his handle looks. also did a good job pushing the pace in the first half, kinda tailed off in the second.

Dyson Daniel: had a huge +19, fought hard for rebound and got a lot of assists, they seem to finally figure out the obvious part where if you're a bunch of teenagers playing against guys in their mid 20s you might want to try and run in transition as much as possible. didn't really score but facilitated well, they also matched him up less against Mac McClung this game which helps (McClung cooked him last time. ) it seems he's much better against more 2-3 sized types. Still had a few really ugly turnover plays but still, hard to complain overall.

Foster: Had some really ugly shot selection and lost his cool a little (got a T) but otherwise again a solid performance, continuing the trend that he's by far the most consistent of this bunch. got like 12~13 rebounds and quite a few block shots. If you think he's like a real small ball 5, then he should be more up in the mid first I'd think.

Beauchamp: pretty good game also, played very good defense at times and was efficient, only scored in the flow and didn't really try to force up anything, helps that the team generally had a more reasonable flow most of the game. Matched up most of the game against Stanley Johnson and generally seem to outplay him, which is a really good sign obviously.

Well the whole team finally figured out that with a bunch of these skinny teenagers they need to run and just generally play fast, I guess they were trying to some extent earlier too but got too out of control and kept turning it over, still turned it over a ton but at least for this game their frantic activities managed to end up doing more good than bad.

They'll have another week off then a really packed schedule for a few weeks.

[DCasey91]

oh, thought ur talking about G League vs. College...not sure what euro leagues have to do with this...are you suggesting american players go play in europe for a year?

I’m just a big advocate of legitimate development pathways for younger players especially domestic. I mean it should be done by now.

Mentioned it a few times but the Majors have it perfect for a draft system.

With age restriction being lifted you run the risk of dilution. Flipside is though you can now super catalyst the AAA of NBA if you will quicksmart because of extra high school kids coming into the system.

Not so much Europe but I’m sure Jalen Green and Kuminga spending a year between the seniors and a big time undercurrent league would have done more for their development imo.

Ingram in his rookie year is a good example of a non player to me NBA wise if you catch my drift.

[GimmeDat]

9 rebounds, 10 assists, 5 blocks for a guard is pretty wild. Only scored 4 points (2/5 FG), but what an interesting line from Daniels.

[Duke4life831]

oh, thought ur talking about G League vs. College...not sure what euro leagues have to do with this...are you suggesting american players go play in europe for a year?

I’m just a big advocate of legitimate development pathways for younger players especially domestic. I mean it should be done by now.

Mentioned it a few times but the Majors have it perfect for a draft system.

With age restriction being lifted you run the risk of dilution. Flipside is though you can now super catalyst the AAA of NBA if you will quicksmart because of extra high school kids coming into the system.

Not so much Europe but I’m sure Jalen Green and Kuminga spending a year between the seniors and a big time undercurrent league would have done more for their development imo.

Ingram in his rookie year is a good example of a non player to me NBA wise if you catch my drift.

Ive said this from the start, Im all for the NBA keeping their age limit (their product quality really does matter). But I think the draft shouldn't have an age limit and neither should the G League.

I think if a 15 year old wants to go pro and a team is willing to use a draft pick on a 15 year old, go for it. The G League is a development league, so that is kind of the entire point of it. It's okay that the quality of the product isn't top notch. So ya I think if a 15 year old wants to turn pro, a team should be able to draft him and stash him in the G League and he should be able to play in the G League and develop as a pro until he becomes age eligible for the NBA. I think you would get a bigger flow of young talent into the G League that way, you would get bigger named prospects in there more often which would also help build income and popularity for it as well.

[RollingWave]

Quick recap of their last game against G-League warriors. (Kuminga played most of the game, Moody some ) Ignite lost by 2, had a chance for buzzer beater but didn't get anything serious off. They also played a very weird 12 man rotation (and it's not because of garbage time.) throwing around Amir Johnson (who looks totally cooked) and Kosta Kofas out there for like 3~7 min each for some reason.

Henderson: looks awesome, best player in the game as a 17 year old in the G-League is amazing. the 3 pointer is still pretty clunky but almost everything else looks awesome. seems like a obvious top 5 pick type.

Foster : played very well mostly matched up against Kuminga too (all the Warriors' big were hurt or something.) certainly this was an ideal matchup with Santa Cruz having basically no big, but still he really overpowered them quite a bit and showed off a lot of everything, he does turn it over a lot but a lot of it was also stuff like loose ball / rebound scramble type stuff. don't always love his decision but really gotta like the motor and relentlessness.

Hardy: continue his weird season, still not hitting 3s at all, (not even really taking them much. he took 4 and at least 1 was a desperation heave) but otherwise had a interesting offensive game being rather effective attacking the basket sort of Harden style of a lot of in and out dribble and change of pace, finally didn't get blocked left and right this game (but again the Warriors didn't have a real big out there.) was pretty active out there on defense too (probably too active, he fouled out.) if he was hitting his 3s like his highschool tape suggest he should I would say he's doing most of the other stuff pretty well and it's a positive, but the key thing he needs to do isn't there right now for some reason.

Beauchamp: generally quite good, had a double double, but obviously Scoot stole the spotlight, but I am enjoying how he's really doing a good job filling holes and finding his spots. just looks like a guy who'll be a serious rotation player at least. (helps he's like 2 years older than the rest of this group but still.)

Daniels: had a decent game, very disruptive on defense but offensively a bit more meh.

Zeng: another weird game where he only played 6 minutes and I really can't tell why they're pulling him, is it the fouls? none of them look like ridiculous dumb fouls or him getting beat /overwhelmed so bad or anything... they gave like 10 minutes between Amir Johnson and Kosta Kofos who both looked very cooked, I dun get it, he got a big block on Kuminga in that 6 short minute and a nice drive from the top of the key but yeah.


They're playing back to backs against the Stockton Kings next, taking a quick look the Kings have no serious prospects playing for that team right now yeah? a few later half 2nd rounds for a few years back is like their highest profile guys. though I guess that might explain why they're like 5 and 1 so far heh, they're just actually playing to win.

[RollingWave]

Can't find the stream today, but some score board reporting.

They won by 3, and played a more real 9 man rotation today, Hardy didn't play but Zeng got the most run he's seen for awhile.

Henderson: continues to look awesome, I mean it's not fair since most of his comps haven't even really started playing yet but if we're just going off what they've done lately he's like the #1 pick in 2022 just based on him playing like 2 levels above everyone else and still doing very well. 22 points on just 12 shots with 10 reb and 8 assists.

Beauchamp: another very efficient game going 16 pts on 10 shots and 8 reb / 4 assist / 3 steal etc

Foster: similar, another rock solid game with 18 pts on 11 shots , 4 rebound 2 blocks, did foul a bit more today.

Daniel : 9/6/5 but also 5 turnover, couldn't really see how the defense looked but he's +3 so should be decent.

Zeng: finally played some minutes and seems ok, 5 points on 4 shots with 4 rebound 3 assists, still fouling too much (3 in 19 min) but I guess it's a positive step at least?

Their playing the vets that's actually still good now so that's helped a lot, guys like 30 year old Kevin Murphy / 37 year old Pooh Jeter / and 25 year old Dakari Allen really helps them and generally means they're almost always winning the bench minutes.

Just in terms of level of prospect, I think Scoot Henderson might be better than Jalen Green, so that's exciting for sure, and Beauchamp / Foster certain is playing like a 1st rounder so far, only Hardy's been really considerably more disappointing than where we thought they were going in but it's in a weird way.

[EMG518]

Just in terms of level of prospect, I think Scoot Henderson might be better than Jalen Green, so that's exciting for sure, and Beauchamp / Foster certain is playing like a 1st rounder so far, only Hardy's been really considerably more disappointing than where we thought they were going in but it's in a weird way.

Scoot reminds me of Harden. Really like what I have seen from him.