mojo13 wrote:Just some general observations over the last couple weeks on the main prospects.
Caleb Houstan is starting to mix in some solid games, nothing overly impressive but it may be an indication he can hold onto his lottery prospects. He has certainly continues to struggled though...
One the other hand Bennedict Mathurin has really started to take off, a couple efficient 30+ point games last week that earned him National Player of the Week honors. He is moving into the Top 10 on many draft boards. And if he keeps this up could be a 5-8 guy.
Teams seem to be figuring out Zach Edey and he's been played off the floor a couple games with teams taking advantage of his slow defensive foot speed. Only played 12 minutes in an OT win over NC St when he had zero fouls. Travion Williams was a beast that game though putting up a 22/12/9 game, so maybe playing the hot hand, but something to watch.
Andrew Nembhard has fallen off as well. Disappearing for games and looking like a real weak spot for Gonzaga. I don't see a draftable player there at the moment, but plenty of time to string together a number of games like the UCLA one.
Marcus Carr has been completely exposed in Texas as the very inefficient and low IQ player I've always considered him. Career lows across the board for Carr and was moved to the bench the last game. He is miles away from any NBA prospect talk like the Canadian hype men were throwing around last year (even they are quiet).
Quincy Guerrier has completely disappeared from any prospect talk to start the year, but had two good back to back games last week vs Portland and Stanford (17 and 18 points going 3/4 from three). Maybe there is something there, but you need to squint hard.
Anyone else worth mentioning?
PS: I noticed Emmanuel Akot on the NBADraft mock draft (#54 right after Nembhard at 53) - not seeing it though.
I'd agree with most of that, mojo. I'm starting to wonder if Houstan might be best served staying an extra year in college, like Mathurin did. It almost certainly won't happen, but it might be better for his development long term to have a year where he develops some consistency before heading to the NBA where, let's be honest, right now it doesn't seem as though he'd be ready for consistent floor time.
With Edey, I think it's really hard to read much into games where he plays fewer minutes, because Purdue's coach simply does not want to ever play him and Williams on the court at the same time. It really is a true platoon, and Williams has been beasting lately, not just in the near triple double game you mentioned (where he also had 4 blks and 2 stls) but in the previous two games as well where he put up numbers of 21 and 11, and 13 and 18.
And yeah, Marcus Carr has been brutal, and is pretty clearly not an NBA prospect. However, I'm not sure it was just the "Canadian hype men" who were talking him up prior to this year. I saw a few ESPN talking heads mentioning him as one of the best point guards in the nation, as well as one of the top transfers. He seems to have fooled a lot of people (although you were right on him all along - I also never saw him as a high level prospect, although I wasn't as vocal about it).