With April coming to a close, so does the high school All-Star game circuit, which ends with a culmination of talent that is the Jordan Brand Classic game. I had the fantastic opportunity and privilege to scout the top prospects in the 2024 high school class up close at the Jordan Brand Classic.
Usually, exhibition games can be a struggle to evaluate due to the nature of the game itself and the effort level players end up showcasing, but this year’s Jordan Brand Classic game was anything but that. Players were competing with high intensity which led to a game that was electrifying until the last second. For that reason, I have decided to spotlight some of the players in the game who shined through playing against the cream of the crop.
Cooper Flagg | 6’8” Wing/Forward | Duke
As the number one ranked player in the class, the 6’8” big wing did anything but disappoint. Flagg dominated on both ends of the floor, using his length to stifle players on the defensive end and his strong intersection of tools to create offense. The intensity was apparent and he truly showcased his malleability as a defender: effectively guarding ball handlers at the point of attack, providing strong help at the nail, and erasing shots at the rim. His combination of real lateral agility at that size, length, and general feel gives him the tools to be a premier defender in the NBA.
Offensively, he was consistently able to create advantages as the primary ballhandler, keeping his handle alive against pressure and navigating through multiple lines of defense. Flagg does not possess elite burst, but it still enabled him to get a step on his defender on most drives. Scoring mostly at the rim, Flagg exhibited great touch and high-level contact balance to get through defenders and find angles. Flagg ended up shooting two attempts from the perimeter, missing both, but was confident launching these shots. The energy transfer on the shot for the most part is good, taking a dip to generate more energy but he would create some imbalances when the shot was launched due to cocking the ball too far behind his head. This causes his shot to be closer to two motions and requires him to use more energy to launch, mitigating some of the energy created from the dip.
Dylan Harper | 6’5” Guard | Rutgers
Dylan Harper was the star of the show at Jordan Brand, dicing up the defense with his shot creation and size. In fact, the defining moment of the game ended up being the three straight off the dribble 3s he hit in the second half while Cooper Flagg was his primary defender. At first glance, Harper’s advantage creation tools do not seem striking, with a sub-par first step and limited vertical explosion. However, he is extremely adept at creating space off the dribble to hunt his shots on the perimeter, taking step-backs and side-step jumpers with ease: a function of his great lower extremity strength. When his drives get walled off, he’s extremely comfortable creating these shots as a counter to throw backtracking defenders off balance.
Where his first step lacks, Harper’s fantastic acceleration tools make up for it. Using his shin angles and good ankle flexibility, he showcased some twitch turning corners and exploding out of his second and third steps. This combination of shooting gravity and acceleration tools bodes well for a potential advantage creator that uses ball screens. It should also help his scalability when using him off-ball to attack off the catch or operate off of actions that can get him downhill like Zoom, Wide-Pin, and Double Stagger actions. He did not get much post-up usage in the game but I would not be surprised if Harper can effectively score off of guard post-ups with his size and frame at higher levels.
Boogie Fland | 6’2” Guard | Arkansas
While smaller in stature, that did not take away from a player who looked like the best advantage creator in the game. Boogie Fland was consistently creating 2-on-1 situations from a standstill throughout the game, using his exceptional first step to slice the first line of defense and attack gaps with speed. He mostly acted upon these advantage situations with quick kick-out passes to the perimeter, but when he had a lane to the rim he was able to find finishing angles with his flexibility.
Boogie ended up taking three 3s in the game and did not make any of them, but I would attribute this to shot variance as his shot mechanics looked fairly fluid. He has a 1.5-motion jumper but releases effectively at a high enough set point to create shot windows. There is a slight knee valgus which can be hammered out with increased lower half strength and balance, but a product of that is that he is generating most of the energy from his shot with his upper body mechanics.
Defensively, Boogie tended to gamble quite a bit rotationally which made him struggle on-ball but his feel and active hands showed up as a guy that can create havoc off-ball through steals. With his straight-line speed, that should also open up his ability to lead transition offense at higher levels, just like he did at Jordan Brand.
Liam McNeeley | 6’7” Wing | UConn
Calling McNeeley an extraordinary shooter might be underselling his ability to bend defenses with his shot. The Jordan Brand Classic was no exception, where he shot 50% from beyond the arc on 10 3-point attempts. He displayed a wide range of shot versatility, shooting off movement, off the catch, and off the dribble. He was also able to weaponize his touch in the intermediary, causing defenders to guard him extremely tightly. There was a drive that stood out to me, where he took a defender off the dribble after a hard closeout and got fouled on the rim attempt. It stood out to me because he struggled to decelerate in traffic. If this is a real issue with his movement skills, it remains to be seen as I would need to take a closer look over a larger sample of his drives to see if this is a consistent issue. Regardless, this is more of a concern if you are projecting real handling usage for McNeeley at the NBA level and less of an emphasis for someone who will use driving off the catch as a counter.
As a connector, he was maintaining advantages and processing decisions that were one pass away quickly. On the other side of the ball, McNeeley was able to slide his feet and flip his hips well against wings. With improvement in technique, I can definitely envision him containing drives against bigger players at the NBA level.
Isaiah Evans | 6’6” Wing | Duke
Isaiah Evans struggled in certain aspects of the game but you could piece together the type of creator he could end up being at the NBA level with polish and physical development. A dynamic shooting wing, Evans exhibited his feathery touch at all three levels of the court, with the most prominent areas being from the midrange and perimeter. What stood out to me was that although Evans has a slighter frame and weighs a reported 185 pounds (ESPN), he was able to take and make most of his shots when physicality was applied.
Strength will be an important facet of his athleticism to monitor as most of his wins in scoring situations came from space-creation moves and shooting gravity. Although he is a fluid handler, his lack of power and burst on drives forced him into a shot diet of difficult pull-up jumpers. The other issue is his space creation moves like step-backs did not often create enough space, and defenders could stay within his shot window, which is what I would attribute to most of the misses in the game. Strength also affected him on the defensive end as he would get caught across screens while navigating. However, when there was no screen to deter him, Evans showcased his potential on that end with how he operated against ball handlers using his length.
Honorable Mentions
- VJ Edgecombe: Edgecombe struggled to shoot in this game but his ability to break down defense with his burst was on full display. Even without his shot, he was able to affect the game with promising point-of-attack defense and by grabbing rebounds.
- Drake Powell: He had some great moments as a play finisher, making kick-out passes and even operating out of the dunker using his vertical athleticism
- Asa Newell: With Newell, you could see his ability to play finish at the rim and from the perimeter effectively. He was able to flaunt his instincts as a rim protector and take away shots at the rim.
- Kon Knueppel: At 6’5”, Knueppel showed off his proficiency from range. He has a wider shot base that provided more stability on the shot, but outside of this he maintained advantages as a connector and provided real intensity on the defensive end.
- Derik Queen: While he is an undersized big, Queen exhibited strong rebounding, finishing at the rim, and his ability to pass out of post-ups and the short roll. His wide crossover on drives was compact and created space efficiently.
- Jalil Bethea: Great upper extremity flexibility and burst that helped him knife through defenses at 6’4”. He even showcased some manipulative passing in transition.
It will be fascinating to see how these players continue to impact their new teams, post high school, but one thing was clear: the talent pool in this incoming class is stacked amongst a wide array of archetypes and positions. The 2025 NBA Draft is shaping up to be one of the stronger classes in modern draft history, and the Jordan Brand Classic was emblematic of that very notion.
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