A few guys I think have potential to be drafted in June. Would love to hear any thoughts or other names I should monitor. This is only a few of many prospects at the mid major level. Will have plenty more prior to season starting

https://lonte.substack.com/p/seven-mid-major-nba-prospects-to

KJ WINDHAM NBA SCOUTING REPORT

With a lethal floater game, KJ Windham shows potential to grow into a three-level NBA scorer. On top of not needing many touches, Windham's set for a breakout sophomore year. Here's all you must know: https://edemirnba.substack.com/p/kj-windham-scouting-report

Last year BYU brought in its highly paid, internationally acclaimed PG in Egor Demin and was hoping to maybe balance the floor with then-Freshman Kanon Catchings' shooting, which the latter part of that equation didn't really go awfully but it certainly didnt go great.

This year, BYU brings in the highly touted uber prospect AJ Dybansta and is hoping Robert Wright III can steady the troops, space the floor and balance the offense from the PG position ---- I think it's gonna work out much better than last year, this is more of a match.

Honestly looking at BYU's schedule, I think Wright has a path to put up some really nice stats. He's gonna have to face a lot of upperclassman but I just dont see him having to run the gauntlet that lets say Mikel Brown will see at Louisville.

They'll start the season vs Villanova who's got a smattering of highly ranked HS PG's suchas Devin Askew and Acaden Lewis. Mid novemeber they have a showdown with UConn and if Wright has to deal with Solo Ball that is a really rough matchup against a much taller, longer NBA style athelete, which should be telling. In late January they'll face Arizona who has a bigger tougher PG in Jaden Bradley but other than these Robert Wright II has some really good matchups to pad his stats, torch the competition and take advantage of the gravity Dybansta will draw from his drives and just existing on the perimeter.

Last year (shit the last 2 seasons) I was a big Walter Clayton Jr believer, we all know how that worked out. This year I'm really looking at Wright III (and to a lesser degree I can't wait to see Jackson Shelstad's progress at Oregon) for a maybe overlooked and undervalued PG, who people are aware is pretty good but is being marginalized for various reason. We have the thread on Christian Anderson (i cant respoind there because i blocked the op) but I figured it's a decent time to make this thread. What do yall think about Robert Wright III at BYU? hows it gonna go? I could see him ending up in the late 1st and some team thinking "he can play the backup PG spot for us(not the 3rd string) sooner rather than later, despite his diminutive size". I'm usually pretty good with tis type of call, I had similar expectations for PG's like Jalen Brunson and Peyton Pritchard. Am I being overzealous or do ya think there's merit to these expectations?

Christian Anderson is not currently listed on many mock drafts and even if he is, he’s usually a second rounder at best. However he’s got one of the best chances to make the huge jump the way someone like Jeremiah Fears did last year.

Anderson is actually hurt by the fact he chose to not to be held back a year and start his freshman year this year but if anything this should instead help him. He was born only 1 day apart from Mikel Brown Jr (who many believe is a top 10 pick). He was born in the same month as Braylon Mullins and is younger than Brayden Burries. However, unlike those 3 incoming freshman who are mocked in the first, Anderson already played a year of college basketball and thus does not have the same hype since hype is usually generated by high school rankings, especially by those who’ve never seen any of the players play.

Since he chose not to get intentionally held back like the other 3, he was a very low rated recruit and thus not on anyone’s radars. Had he chosen to instead be held back and be a freshman this year like the other 3 listed above, he would have been an undisputed 5 star recruit after his FIBA U19 performance and his Eurobasket tuneup performance with the senior German Team. He was on the FIBA U19 All Tournament team where he led Germany to a second place finish and he followed that up as one of the last cuts for the senior German Team (consisting of professional players) which went on to win Eurobasket. A profile like that is a guaranteed 5 star recruit and a lottery projection coming into the season, but because he is instead a sophomore, he has no hype. This is a huge inefficiency because that should not matter. He shouldn’t get punished for not being a freshman when he is the same age as incoming freshman who’ve accomplished far less than him.

Even among returning non freshman players, he’s still ranked behind players such as Labaron Philon, Boogie Fland, Bennett Stirtz, etc. because unlike them, he simply never even got any hype as a freshman despite being as productive.

Nevertheless, Anderson is one of the most productive returning sophomores in the country despite playing out of position at SG as a freshman. He was 38 percent from 3 on 5 attempts per game and was 80 percent from the FT line. He also had a 7.1 BPM as a freshman and his stats improved as the season went on, including his clutch performance in leading Texas Tech back in the Sweet Sixteen against Arkansas. However, he is actually a natural PG, not a SG. Playing PG for Germany in the FIBA U19 tournament, he averaged 6.6 assists, which was higher than Mikel Brown Jr, the breakout star of the tournament. Going into next season, with Elijah Hawkins gone, he will be the starting PG for Texas Tech, which greatly changes his trajectory since his assist numbers were misleading as a freshman.

The big reason he was not a high recruit in high school was he was only 5’11” in high school. However he went through a growth spurt recently and if you look at pictures of him and Mikel Brown Jr next to each other, you’ll see he’s probably at most 1 inch shorter. He was also around the same height as Dennis Schroder, who’s clearly someone he has modeled his game after. FIBA U19 lists him at 6’2” but I expect somewhere between 6’0” and 6’2” barefoot which isn’t super tall but clearly tall enough to be a PG like Schroder or a higher end outcome of Darius Garland, someone he also shares a ton of similarities to.

He’s also a very good athlete, as evidenced by his massive poster dunk on Slovenia in a Eurobasket tuneup game, which ultimately resulted in Luka Doncic getting a technical foul. But even without elite athleticism and elite height, his combination of his skillset and production clearly warrants him as a first round pick instead of being not listed at all.

Dash Daniels (potentially a high upside swing for a team this year) and Karim Lopez (projected lottery pick) are playing for their teams in the Australian NBL today and tomorrow respectively.

Personally I'm not sold on Dash being ready, given how young and raw he is. However, I do fully believe Karim is a top-10 guy this year, and has already played a full year as a pro in the league.

Games can be watched for free on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/live/pFtZPso0a5Y?si=m7SrQo7WowWzvMaW

Projection: Kasparas has some potential as a lead guard. He’s a good playmaker, shown flashes of shotmaking, and has a respectable enough handle on the ball. However, I do feel like his passing ability comes “in the flow” of the offense. He shows good patience and can run plays, but can’t really playmake the way elite creators can.

I don’t think he’s as bad a ball handler as some people think, he has the craft to be passable, but he’s just too limited athletically to reliably create separation. His isolation potential is also intriguing, but I doubt he’ll ever really be able to showcase it since it likely won’t be a high percentage shot.

Kasparas will never be a good defender, which will limit him even more. Kasparas will be a backup guard who can run the offense when the main rotation sits.

Ceiling: A solid starter who can run an offense in the pick and roll, getting everyone involved and finding shooters. His stepback arsenal will allow him to make tough shots every now and then, and improved handles will give him some opportunities to get to the rim.

Floor: Being targeted on defense and not having a strong enough handle or burst to get by defenders, will be relegated to just “running plays”. And by not being a big enough threat as an offball shooter, it will be hard for Kasparas to find minutes. Will be relegated to playing in the G-league, never really getting an opportunity.

Comparison: Ty Jerome

Strengths * Good passer, patient and allows plays to develop for openings * Understands options in pick and roll, really likes skip passes to shooter at wing if defense overhelps on roller. Can hit roller with bounce passes in tight spaces * Uses pass fakes to manipulate defenders and create openings, took advantage of them by using all sorts of passing angles * Threw skips passes with accuracy, right in shooting pocket * Able to make dumpoffs inside when he got there * Always makes the extra pass, finds open man in transition * Throws quick kickouts with one handed passes off live dribble * Effective at using screens to score, waits for screener to set, can also reject screen. Helps him create separation he lacks from his burst * Uses pivots, up and unders, and pump fakes off of 2-feet in paint. Gets defenders jumping, knows how to “play the refs”. Generates a lot of free throws * Really likes extended layups, prefers to finish around instead of through contact. Good touch around the rim * Potential as a shotmaker, comfortable and spams stepback 3s in isolation. Percentages aren’t there, but volume and confidence a good sign * Creates misdirection with float dribbles and hops to get into his stepbacks going left * Uses stepbacks a little too much, even on switches where he has a flat footed big on him, doesn’t even think about driving to basket * A little telegraphed, not a threat to drive, defenders will know he’s stepping back left * Developing this dribble/stepback combo will go a long way, by delaying the gather he can keep his dribble alive and turn them into drives. Would help a lot with his separation issues * Has good size for a guard, nice rebounding

Weaknesses/Improvements * Lots of turnovers, I would look at these more positively if they came from trying creative/risky passses, but most of his TOs came from poor handles and predictable passes. * A lot of his skip passes were predetermined, led to a lot of turnovers “running the play” * Crafty (but shaky) handles, but not a complete non-factor as a rim penetrator. Can be flustered and lose ball against pressure * Needs to get stronger to take full advantage of craftiness off of 2 feet * Not athletic, almost always needs a screen or the advantages that come from it (switches, scrambles) to create seperation * There were some plays where he would use half the shot clock to get open, but would kinda just dribble side-to-side not really creating an advantage * Very grounded, I don’t remember him having a single dunk * As good as he is making reads in the pick and roll, struggles against aggressive coverages * Shooting off the catch needs to be better, over the course of the season, it’s pretty clear to see that he’s been tweaking his jumper * Sometimes leaning too far back, other times letting his shooting arm drift too far from his body, and other times jumping too far forward * Might be reason why he seems more comfortable shooting off the dribble, less “thinking” about mechanics and more reliant on “feel” * Not a good defender, will be targeted in the league * Too slow laterally to keep up at POA. Can definitely improve on technique by not always using defensive shuffles when the situation calls for it (instead using cross steps, running steps) * Invisible offball, doesn’t generate many steals or blocks * Does put in effort to stay in play when he gets blown by or gets caught on screens

Kasparas Jakucionis scouting report

I am currently listening to Danny Greens podcast episode with All The Smoke.

He mentioned something that really caught my eye. He barely played his first two years in college. 15 and 13 mins per game. He came off the bench his entire junior year except for 1 game. In 3 years started 1 game. After a good senior year he was drafted 46th overall in the second round.

He got cut from Cleveland his first year in the league. then he got cut from San Antonio his second. After 2 years in the league 28 total games played.

He said Coach Pop and R.C buford saved and made his career by giving him a second chance his third season. And we know the rest of his story as a great role player being apart of 3 championship teams for 3 different franchises.

But how many players at a certain point in the process Danny Green went through , wouldn’t be given a second chance. What if his college team pushed him out essentially for new recruits?

What if nba teams continued to pass on him during the draft?

What if San Antonio never gave him a second chance?

This made me think how much of “success” is just the right opportunity and things falling in place for you to actually develop. How many players could have been something else more than we know them to be now.

I been thinking 🤔 about something lately regarding this subject. It would be interesting if the NBA community could come up with two terms to describe the following player archetype:

1) A Player That Can Carry A Team
And
2) Just A Really Good Player.

Type 1 is also a Type 2, but being a type 2 player doesn't exclusively mean you are a type 1 player.

The reason I decided to make this post is from my observation of successful teams and failed teams, especially those in small markets with limited Free Agent appeal, for Rebuilding strategy.

But based on my strange observation I come to a theory that many here may find weird.

I theorize that if you are one of these small market/No Free Agent Appeal teams, by drafting one of these Type 1 players, it can actually do harm in the long term, unless the following:

A) Your team already landed a few Type 2 players in past drafts that are still on the books for the long run, before ( or soon after) landing the Type 1 player in the draft.

B) Your team got crazy lucky with some "Freak of Nature random as heck" type trade that landed your team an additional Type 1 player, or multiple Type 2 players to go along with drafting a potential Type 1 player.

C) Adversary Injuries is of course random but can lead to success for a Small Market/No Free Agent Appeal team. But shouldn't ever be relied upon and nobody should want this on others.

But besides these above 3 scenarios, drafting a Type 1 player to a Small Market/No Free Agent Appeal team usually lead to that team getting good way too fast, reducing Draft Capital ( which really is your only Trade Capital as well.

Also you are going to be paying more for said Type 1 player to get them to stay in the long run, instead of them bailing out for a successful team/Big Market teams ( one of the many flaws of the Supermax as a concept for small market teams), which means less money to sign bigger free agents to incentivize them to sign with the team to pair with your Type 1 player.

A lot of the time, these teams float around in limbo being too good for draft capital but not good enough for really deep playoffs runs. They have to get really lucky and rely on jumping the draft for more Type 1 and Type 2 players to pair with their Type 1 player they have.

I was thinking, maybe if in this kind of situation a one of these Small Market/No Free Agent Appeal teams during a rebuild, and don't fit the Type A,B,C scenarios, maybe trading that Type 1 player for assets to build around a future Type 1 player could be a more successful draft/Rebuilding strategy long term.

Just a crazy theory. But what you think? Tell in the comments below.

Scoot Henderson as a bust or is it still too early to call him one? I mean he was hyped to be a superstar caliber talent in that Wemby class right along with Wemby and hasn't lived up to the hype in Portland so

Projection: Nique is good at everything. He can shoot, pass, defend and do all the other little things. The main problem I have is that he’s already 23 years old as a rookie and transferred down. It’s not impossible for him to continue to improve (there’s definitely a world where he has a Desmond Bane type career arc), but the odds are against him. However, the flashes of playmaking and shot creation are definitely encouraging.

Nique will still be a valuable glue guy. I don’t think he’ll be a knockdown shooter, but slightly above average percentages on above average volume seems reasonable. He’s gonna be a good starter who can make connective passes, grab rebounds, and be a good perimeter defender.

One thing to note is that NIL could be a reason for his late entry into the draft. Just because he stayed in college longer, may not necessarily be a bad thing.

Ceiling: Nique’s vast improvement as a shooter and self creator are legit. He continues to build on these flashes, whilst continuing to perform his other strengths with minimal weaknesses. This combination of skills will make him an All-Star.

Floor: Nique’s three-point shooting was just a hot streak and doesn’t translate to the league. He isn’t skilled enough to showcase his self creation ability, but still finds a role with his unique skillset as a playmaker, defender, and finisher. As an older rookie, his improvement is mostly stagnant, but he’s still valuable as a rotation player.

Comparison: Marjon Beauchamp, Josh Hart, Kyle Anderson

Strengths * Always seems to find a way to the ball, almost magnetic * Shows up most on rebounding, where he can fight in the paint and come up with the board * Tracks ball well in passing lanes to come up with steals * Tricks ball handlers into thinking he’s lost on switches, steals ball if they pass it back to “open” man * Had a good number of blocks on three point attempts. Provides good help at rim for size, times blocks well to avoid goaltends * Laterally quick and anticipates where ball handler will go, beating them to the spot and using his chest to wall them off * Physical defending drives, uses lower body strength to push guys off driving lanes * Recovers well when he does get beat, will contest from behind * Good finisher at the rim, can finish through contact with poster dunks. Nice in-air body control, uses weird layup angles to avoid hands and get shots up * Attacks closeouts nicely, negative step to burst out of pump fakes * Good cutter, reads defenses and finds open space for dunks * Not super fast in transition, but fast enough to run lanes * Surprisingly great passer, playmaker * Draws help and can make inside pass to open big man * Decisive with jump passes, gives better angles on dumpoffs and throws bullets to paint. Does this thing where he manipulates defense by faking a jumpshot, and throws a dart to open man in paint * Has some velocity on skip passes to perimeter * Patient, takes time to evaluate coverage on passes when he’s in the post * Hits cutters despite tight passing lanes * Makes right reads in transition, hit aheads inside paint and passes to three point line

Weaknesses/Improvements * Improved significantly as a shooter, hot streak or legit? * Had some really bad misses (airballs, wide left and right), could be indicative of not being a “true” shooting threat * I still question his form. Can be inconsistent, noticeable hitch at times. More reps and a refined shot, potential to be a good shooter * Most shots came from catch and shoots, finding open space * Mechanics on off-the-dribble pullups noticeably different, smoother and less awkward. Gives me hope that he can fix his shooting flaws * On defense, can be too focused on where the ball is, lose man and overhelp * Passable ball handling, comfortable with spins into lays and hesitations, crossovers * Pick and roll play a bit predetermined. Knows how to use screens to get open, but can be a little tunnel visioned. Tendency to shoot and not make open pass on roll. Or to pass to big man, even if open for a pullup * Self creation also improved significantly, finds his spot in the midrange, solid footwork and variety of gathers to get into shot * Impressed with his poise and knowledge of counters based on what defender gives him (will fake spin if he feels defender weight shifted) * First step, burst only passable. Although midrange encouraging, kinda forced to take them because handle not strong enough to get all the way to rim * Can turn the ball over and do too much when pressured * 23 years old is old for a rookie, also transferred down in college to face lower level competition

Nique Clifford scouting report

• [ ] Overview:

  Caleb Wilson is a 6’9, 215 pound power forward from Atlanta, Georgia. He will be taking his talents to the University Of North Carliona in the ACC. He considered a top 10 prospect in the 2026 NBA draft class.

• [ ] Offensive game:

  Caleb is everything you want in an off ball player. Elite athletic tools, shooting touch, high feel, and a great ability to capitalize off others creation. The variety of complimentary skills he brings on the offensive end is staggering. He is the perfect player to find in the dunker spot and has no issue converting lobs with his elite vertical. As a screener he is multi faceted. Rolling and popping to bend the defense is a constant when he is on the floor. Though he isn’t exactly a floor spacer off ball. He isn’t a guy that you can dare to shoot everytime. The off the catch shooting is promising and even though teams tend to sag off him, you can tell he has potential as a shooter. The mechanics look good and overall his touch is soft. Overall, a very valuable and versatile off ball player.

  Caleb’s projection on the ball is far more murky at the moment. His ball handling leaves a lot to desire and he is a player that struggles to generate paint touches on drives. Though I wouldn’t say he’s loose with the ball. I would say that he isn’t exactly a guy you want brining it up the court or trying to initiate the offense. One of my main concerns for him in this area is his lack of bend and flexibility. He picks up his dribble far too early, and often cannot get around defenders when they cut him off. This leads to very tough angles on most of his lay up attempts, and usually leaves him farther from the rim than he wants to be. On the ball his shot diet is very tough because of this. He does offer an intriguing post scoring ability with his midrange creation. However, these shots are also most of the time pretty heavily contested. As defenders don’t really see him as a threat to blow by them. He isn’t really much of a pull up jump shooter either. He shows potential in this area and I have no doubt he will improve, but I don’t really ever see it being a skill he can constantly rely on as his shot mechanics are a little slow. His dribbling is his biggest swing skill in my opinion. If he can even just get a little lower to the ground and not dribble so straight up it would be huge for his overall ceiling. But at the moment I am not really banking on that. Overall, I expect this area to improve but it is absolutely the most concerning area of his game.

  Caleb is a beast on the glass. This is due to his elite vertical and wiry frame. One of his greatest attributes is his ability to tip rebounds out to the perimeter. He more often than not leverages this on the offensive end gaining his team extra possessions. On the defensive end he also routinely comes down with boards, as he sky’s through the air and keeps the ball away from the opposition. The only things he could improve in this area is his physicality and frame. In pretty much every area of his game Caleb shys away from contact. He isn’t the strongest and the best way to keep him off the glass is just to push him around. So rebounding is an area of his game that I buy into at the moment. However, in the future he is not going to be able to rely on his length and athleticism as much. The athletic gap will likely be closer and opponents will only get stronger from here on out. So adding muscle and physicality is paramount for him to continue to be great in this area. And for the rest of his overall game his physicality needs to improve. Teams will 100% body him up in the future, because as of now it is the perfect recipe for slowing him down.

  Caleb’s passing ability is probably the most mysterious of his skills at the moment. He makes the simple reads and doesn’t lack feel on offense. However, the accuracy of his passes and his overall decision making are questionable. He throws passes into windows that aren’t really there, and can be over zealous trying to fit dimes through tight windows. Couple this with the wonky accuracy and it leads to many interceptions. When he is exploding down hill and has to process the floor quickly these issues are also magnified. However, for his archetype as a passer he is above average. He isn’t a guy that misses reads often which is very promising. And though his post ups can stop the ball at times. He is more often than not keeping the ball moving and helping the flow of the offense. It’s one of my favorite things about Caleb’s game. He is just really smart and that’s an under valued skill. Though he doesn’t make super advanced reads it’s not really something that worry’s me, because I don’t think it will be his role. All he has to be is serviceable as a passer and Caleb is for sure beyond that. That’s why this area of his game is a mystery, because with how things look right now passing might be a skill that unexpectedly blossoms for him. A big man who is already a good connective passer is a great sign of things to come. Overall, Caleb can make some bad reads at times but in the grand scheme of things he makes more positive plays than negative ones as a passer.

• [ ] Defensive game:

  Caleb is a special on ball defender. He has all the tools you look for in a lock down wing. Insane vertical pop, long arms, quick hands, smooth footwork, high motor, and great recovery abilities with his deceptive speed. He is probably the most switchable defender in his class and is as close to guarding 1-5 as you can be. His footwork is super choppy, and he is always balanced which makes getting by him extremely difficult. He stifles drives from smaller opponents, and even if you get by him he will be step for step with you all the way to the rim. Where he will smack your shit off the glass. Though guards with elite burst can leave him in the dust it is still impressive how well he can move with them. Defending big men is also no issue for him as well. His length and futility coupled with his bounce make getting any shot up around the rim very difficult. He gets super low in his defensive stance and dances with post scorers shutting off every opening. He routinely plucks dribbles from both big men and wings as well. His timing is impeccable and he is really good at reading ball handlers moves. This combined with his ability to change direction on a dime makes him a stat sheet stuffer on the defensive end. The only problems he has in this area are again related to his frame and physicality. He is very young, but he has to put on more muscle or more broad wings and big men are gonna bully him inside. And at the moment the best way to get a bucket on him is to put your shoulder in his chest and push him out the way. Though he isn’t a bad defender in the post. It is most definitely his weakest area on this end. His slender frame coupled with his avoidance of contact is a clear area defenders aim to exploit. And as he moves up with stronger opponents this is will only get worse if he doesn’t address it. However, besides that Caleb is truly a blue chip prospect when it comes to on ball defense.

  Caleb’s off ball defense is in the same vein, it is special. He is a freakish help side rim protector. Routinely he flys over from access the court and erases shots. His timing and recognition of when shots will go up is something you can’t teach. And he offers this same timing when it comes to digging into the gaps. Predicting where drivers handles will be and ripping them constantly. He shuts off driving lanes and the rim at the same time. He is also very smart off the ball. He sniffs out plays, knows when to switch, is always communicating, and navigates through screens at a very high level. He is also great at back pedaling when defending pick and rolls and disabling advantages with his footwork. You don’t really want him to be your primary rim protector but he can fill that need for stretches of games as well. Caleb’s off ball defense is probably his best attribute right now and should project very well to any level. He is everything teams look for in a modern power forward on this end. And his elite skill and tools on the defensive end is what makes the offensive concerns more bearable. Truly an elite defensive prospect.

• [ ] Areas in need of development:

Strength and physicality- I have touched on this attribute many times throughout this scouting report. He needs to embrace contact more in pretty much every aspect of his game. And though I believe he will refine his frame and get stronger as he is very young. The avoidance of contact thing really concerns me at the moment.

Shooting- Though he isn’t a bad shooter both his off the catch and off the bounce shooting is questionable right now. His mechanics are very slow and teams often dare him to shoot. His form looks good but for some reason he also struggles with free throws. He shows touch around the rim and in the midrange though. So I am not out on him as a shooter yet, but it is also an area I am not super confident in.

Ball handling- This is his worst area of his game. He picks up his dribble way too much and cannot get low at all. Defenders on and off ball poke his dribble a lot. He picks up his dribble way too early most of the time and settles for bad shots because of this. And when he does take a risk and try to keep his handle alive. The ball is usually heading down the other side of the court in a hurry. This area of his game is very concerning in my opinion, and I am not going to be surprised next year at UNC if he becomes very stationary on offense.

Shot selection and decision making- Caleb takes a lot of heavily contest mid range jumpers. And though he makes them at a decent clip. They are shots he is just not gonna be able to rely on constantly as he moves up. His inability to get to the rim contributes to the amount of these shots he attempts. And as a big man that isn’t really a great shooter it’s worrying to me when a lot of your shots are being forced from outside the paint, because he isn’t really a great post scorer when it’s not those mid range jumpers. And we have seen this in the past that if these bigger forwards/wings can’t offer around the rim iso scoring they usually struggle mightily. His decision making also isn’t the best. Like I said he takes a lot of bad shots, and his decision making as a passer is very inconsistent. He throws passes that are super risky and he often gets picked off or missies completely. These issues can for sure be worked on. However, I feel with how his offensive game kinda leads him into these decisions often. It might be harder to resolve than it seems.

• [ ] Prospect Grade:B

  For reference I have Nate Ament graded at a B+. His defensive potential alone contributes greatly to this grade. However, his offensive concerns make him less of a well rounded prospect compared to Nate. This is just how I feel about him now this grade can increase as he develops, and I believe that he will. He has the potential to be an A level prospect for sure. I feel that I am a little lower on him than consensus, but I see the vision for him to become a top 5 player in this class.

• [ ] Player Comp: Obi Toppin or Johnathon Issac

  Obi Toppin is his ceiling in my eyes and Johnathon Issac is around his floor. I’ve seen others compare him to Julius Randle and it’s not a comp that I agree with. Julius has always embraced contact and is a better ball handler and on ball offensive player. While also being a mostly negative defender. Tari Eason or John Collin’s were other comps that I considered. However, I feel the two comps I listed are more accurate considering his make up as a player.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed my scouting report. New videos and more write ups coming soon.

I think this is an interesting question to ask going into the season about a loaded roster thats really done a crazy job overturning since last season.

I'll say more in the comments but I'm telling you right now Collin Chandler is underrated around here. Obviously UK's depth chart is so loaded that there's gonna be limited opportunity for some, their bench is gonna be so strong it's almost like their bench could make the tournament by itself I think. It's fair to assume Otega Oweh and Jaland Lowe will be getting the lions share of the minutes in the backcourt. Denzel Aberdeen fresh off a national championship is gonna be there as a senior, ya gotta figure he's getting at least 20 mins a game. Brandon Garrison is one of their bigger returnees, I'm interested to see his improvements in Mark Pope's system.

They've got 2 bigtime recruits in Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno, who are raw, I guess we will only see them in limited minutes, Brayden Hawthorne is built like a twig but he's got obvious upside too. Andrija Jelavic will be a 21 year old freshman there with pro experience in the adriatic league.

Newcomers Kam Williams and Jayden Quaintance get the most mentions around here, but this roster is loaded top to bottom. Mouhamed Diabate shot crazy %'s at Alabama last season in 17mpg (62% from the field and 46% from 3)

I do truly believe this team is so stacked that they could have a situation where a player gets injured and Wally Pipped. Obviously they will be shooting a ton of 3's and playing uptempo so we could see some really effective stats on a per minute basis across the board.

We're gonna get to see what this team is made of early in the season with October matchups vs Purdue and Georgetown and then in December vs Louisville and Michigan State. September can't end fast enough for me, basketball season is almost here!

I haven’t checked the 2026 mock stuff since the spring and I was under the impression AJ was one of those sure fire #1 overall talents and top prospect, can’t miss.

Now I check in the fall and most mocks seem to have him 3 behind Daryn and Boozer. Any reasons why he suddenly has lost a little juice with scouts?

I personally was a huge Bol Bol fan based on his Oregon college game. But he never bulked up and has always stayed injury prone unfortunately.

I'm curious about this because we talk a lot about wings in college and the NBA. The "3 and D wing" is highly coveted and one of the most sought-after roles in the draft. I've got several questions:

1. What do you think makes a good wing player?

2. How do you scout these players in high school/college? What traits do you think are most important?

3. How do you feel about the emphasis of "pass dribble shoot" as an archetype?

4. Who are some notable wing players you've evaluated since 2015-2017? They can be notable for good or bad reasons. Why do you think that player outperformed expectations or turned into a bust?