*takes a deep breath*

Hundreds, if not thousands, of data points factor into every prospect evaluation, many of which we don’t consciously consider. These data points converge into a cohesive story that informs a prospect’s placement on our boards. Scouting, in a nutshell, is the practice of surmising the story that a prospect’s film, stats, measurements, surrounding context, etc., are telling you.

If that sounds daunting, that’s because it is. That’s why simplifying evaluations, when appropriate, is critical for my process. One does so using heuristics — rules of thumb that simplify complex decisions or judgments. Put differently, heuristics use a few data points about a prospect to form a reasonably complete evaluation.

Now, there are pitfalls aplenty when relying too heavily on heuristics. Read Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman if you want proof. But, there’s a reason we evolved heuristics as humans: they can be helpful! It’s no different for scouting NBA Draft prospects. I’ll show you what I mean.

Consider this former college basketball player.

Would you draft him based on the presented information? I wouldn’t, and I’m guessing you wouldn’t either. If I asked why you came to that conclusion, you’d cite the poor production and efficiency over a large sample of games. Without reviewing any film or advanced numbers, I think we’d all feel comfortable with that decision. Guess what, we’d be correct. Those statistics belong to none other than LaVar Ball when he played college basketball in the 1980s.

Without heuristics, you’d have to dive deep into Lavar’s film before definitively concluding that the NBA was not in his future. You would have to conduct similar thorough assessments for every draft-eligible player regardless of their minutes played, production, or anything else. Obviously, no one has ever operated in this way (this is why I’m always skeptical of self-proclaimed eye-test-only scouts). We can comfortably eliminate most players from draft consideration, like we just did with Ball without thinking twice, thanks to heuristics.

The Lavar Ball example demonstrates at a basic level how heuristics can apply in scouting. In this case, bad career production = bad prospect. Done. Case closed. However, we have to be more discerning when discussing prospects with actual NBA chances. That said, some evaluations are much easier than others…bringing us to Yaxel Lendeborg.

Lendeborg is a forward for Michigan by way of UAB and JUCO before that. He attended the draft combine last year, where he actually generated some first-round hype before deciding to return to school. At the combine, he measured at 6’8 1/4” without shoes and 234 pounds, with a 7’4 wingspan and 9’0 standing reach.

With that, time for pro-Lendeborg heuristic number one, courtesy of Chuck from Chucking Darts:

Wings with 7’2+ wingspans don’t grow on trees (I’m still shocked by how small this list is), and the hit rate is spectacular. So, great physical tools: check!

Now, pro-Lendeborg heuristic number two: incredible all-around production.

Analytics models loved Lendeborg last year at UAB to the point where he cracked the top 20 on some people’s boards. Going into this season, scouts rightfully asked how Lendeborg’s numbers would look at the Big Ten level. Well…pretty amazing, as it turns out.

There are no weaknesses here. Lendeborg’s efficiency from every spot on the floor is comically high. He takes care of the ball, generates steals and blocks, and his assist-to-turnover ratio keeps improving year-to-year. If his current ~20 BPM holds, this would be one of the greatest statistical NCAA seasons we’ve ever seen.

Now, pro-Lendeborg heuristic number three: his archetype. A dribble, pass, shoot, defend wing.

Had Lendeborg stayed in the 2025 Draft, downsizing to play the three in the NBA would have been more of a projection, as he was a 4/5 hybrid at UAB. Thankfully, Michigan deploys Lendeborg at the three, with Aday Mara and Morez Johnson Jr. acting as the two bigs in Dusty May’s system. As such, we’re getting a look at Lendeborg in his likely role at the next level, and it looks great.

Lendeborg has served as the perfect wing connector for Michigan on both ends of the floor. Offensively, the ball never sticks to him. Lendeborg’s court mapping is outstanding. He knows everyone’s location on the floor, and he uses that information to make quick decisions. But, what makes Lendeborg so good is that his skill level allows him to properly act on the quick decisions he makes. He’s a triple threat with the ball in his hands. He can use his handle to generate optimal shots for himself or improve passing angles. When he passes the ball, he can find open teammates through tight windows and give them easy looks. If no driving lanes or teammates are open, Lendeborg can rise up and shoot over defenders, even with a hand in his face. Put simply, good luck preventing Lendeborg from optimizing an offensive possession for his team.

Defensively, it’s the same story. Lendeborg can get down in a stance and harass multiple positions on the ball. He’s big enough to be a problem for interior players, too. Additionally, his length proves super functional on rotations, help-side blocks, and recoveries contesting shots at the rim. His verticality without fouling has become a real asset defensively, and I expect it to translate to the NBA. I can’t recall a time when Lendeborg has made a faulty gamble defensively or been out of position. He’s simply an incredible basketball player.

Unfortunately, there is one hair in the soup for Lendeborg: his birth certificate. With a September 2002 birthday, Lendeborg will be a 24-year-old rookie next year. Important heuristic number four: old prospect = less room for development. I don’t want to entirely eliminate the possibility of star upside for Lendeborg, considering his development curve and complete skillset. But, history says we shouldn’t count on it.

Let’s succinctly combine the four heuristics. Yaxel Lendeborg:

• Has an ideal physical profile (6’8, 230 lbs, 7’4 wingspan)
• Has an otherworldly statistical profile
• Has a complete skill set: dribble, pass, shoot, can make the right decisions quickly, and defend
• Will be old for a rookie at 24, likely capping his development trajectory

From these four premises, I’m concluding the following:

• Yaxel Lendeborg is a probable high-end playoff starter in the NBA. But, his age likely limits further upside scenarios.

Using a few heuristics, we have told a reasonably complete story about Yaxel Lendeborg. With so much time until the draft and more information yet to be revealed, I rarely draw formal conclusions about prospects in December. Cases like Lendeborg are the rare exception.

I view Lendeborg as a lottery-level prospect. I feel confident in my evaluation of the player, but the work with Lendeborg is far from over. I still have to contextualize Lendeborg within this draft class. How many players will I rank ahead of Lendeborg? It’s too early to say. But a reasonably complete evaluation of Lendeborg, aided by heuristics, will now serve as scaffolding as the rest of my board takes shape.

The post Yaxel Lendeborg and the Importance of Heuristics appeared first on Swish Theory.

The consensus preseason top three of Darryn Peterson, Cam Boozer, and AJ Dybantsa seemed untouchable, and I broke that mold. The upside case for Wilson is obvious. He’s one of the better defensive prospects I’ve ever seen, with offensive upside to boot. I may still write an article making that case in more detail.

But, it turns out I’m not the only one who feels this strongly about Wilson:

Nathan, if you’re reading this, thanks for stealing my thunder…

In all seriousness, the Caleb Wilson train has left the station, and I don’t have as much to add as I thought I did. The No Ceilings crew did a great job making the Caleb Wilson case here. As a result, the masses have caught on, and Wilson is knocking on the door of a lot people’s top three.

Now, that leaves an obvious and intriguing question at hand. If Caleb Wilson enters the top three, who out of Boozer, Peterson, and Dybantsa do you take out? I have my answer on that, which I’ll save for another time. But, I’ve been shocked to find that many Twitter folks who are high on Wilson feel that way at the expense of…

Cam Boozer???

I can’t believe some of the takes I’m seeing. So, in the rest of this article, I’m going to try recalibrating the conversation around Cam Boozer.

I’ll start here: Cam Boozer has been the best player in college basketball this year.

Anyone who’s watched Boozer’s start to the season would tell you that there have been some hiccups here and there. He couldn’t buy a shot in his first half of college basketball, and his rim finishing has taken a noticeable hit against Duke’s tougher competition. There’s been a small adjustment for Boozer physically after dominating high school and AAU ball sweat-free — totally fair considering he’s 18 years old.

And yet, he’s been the best player in college basketball.

Let’s start with some numbers. Box Plus-Minus agrees with my assessment of Boozer’s play.

And in Evan Miyakawa’s model, Boozer is practically lapping the field:

Now, Sports Reference:

It’s highly unlikely these stats hold, but if they did, we’d be looking at the greatest NCAA prospect of the 21st century. I mean, look at those numbers! 42 points, 20 rebounds, and 8 assists per 100, strong free throw rate, excellent shooting indicators, 4.0 AST:TO ratio, and sublime steal and block rates. Oh, and by the way, all from a 6’10, 250-pound player who will turn 19 a week before the draft.

You don’t have to watch a second of film on Boozer to contextualize the caliber of prospect he is. With a BPM hovering around 20 through seven games, I think it’s safe to say that Boozer will finish the year with a BPM > 12. Here’s the list of freshmen on Bart Torvik’s database to accomplish this feat:

Assuming Boozer joins this list, that’s incredible company to keep. All-in-one metrics are far from perfect, but I tend to believe them when they point me to a high-level prospect like this.

When you turn on the film, the eye test backs the incredible impact metrics. I already covered Boozer’s exceptional feel for the game over the summer. I’ll link that article here. Boozer is a possession optimization machine. His court-mapping and split-second decision-making allow him to effortlessly pick apart defenses at every turn.

Boozer’s brain is second to none in this class, but Boozer separates himself from other high-feel prospects with his functional strength and scoring ability. Whenever Boozer decides that asserting his will as a scorer is the way to optimize a possession, he can get to his spots at will. Here are two examples from the Texas game.

Boozer skeptics point to athletic limitations as a cause for concern. I honestly don’t get it. Boozer is among the best functional athletes in the entire draft class. He’s currently sitting at 42.4 PTS per 100 on 65% true shooting largely as a result of strength-based scoring.

Put simply, I care about substance over style. Those looking for raw athleticism in this draft class should look at Michigan State’s Coen Carr. Carr’s vertical leap and power combination at 6’6, 220 is difficult to comprehend. Yet, he only boasts a 56.5 eFG% compared to Cam Boozer’s 60.4%. I’ll leave it to you to decide whose physicality is more compelling.

My point here: when evaluating a prospect’s physical ability, evaluate functional athleticism. Did Nikola Jokic need run/jump athleticism to hit high-end outcomes? How about Luka Doncic? Karl-Anthony Towns? Alperen Sengun? All these guys are athletic in their own way, but more importantly, they just get stuff done on the basketball court. Believe it when a prospect tells you they can produce at a high level and check your aesthetic biases at the door. As Brad Pitt (portraying Billy Beane) says in the film Moneyball, “He gets on base a lot. Do I care if it’s a walk or a hit?”

To close, I want to reference a tweet from my Swish Theory colleague Avinash:

Avi has lead the charge in emphasizing prospects for whom high-level cognition and physicality converge. You could argue that the meta in the NBA right now is acquiring players at all five positions who hit competency thresholds in both categories. Avi’s query has a spectacular hit rate for finding such players.

Cam Boozer comfortably hits these thresholds right now. So, by the way, does Caleb Wilson. Both are incredible prospects littered with green flags. Put Wilson in your top three, by all means. He’s there for me! But, doing so at Boozer’s expense would be a dire mistake.

No one shown in Avi’s query also had Boozer’s scoring and rebounding ability as a prospect. This is a combination of physicality, smarts, production, and youth rarely seen at the college level, if ever. I’ll say it again, he’s the best player in college basketball at 18 years old. We’re talking about a slam-dunk, can’t miss, mega-star prospect that should be top two on everyone’s board.

He’s number one on mine.

The post I Can’t Believe I Need to Say This: Cameron Boozer is Insanely Good appeared first on Swish Theory.

One mold that has always fascinated me is big players with exceptional “feel for the game.” There is something intrinsically valuable about combining a point guard’s cognition with a forward’s physical profile.

Whether it was Bobby Jones in the 1980s, Robert Horry in the 1990s, or Boris Diaw in the 2000s, this type of player has reliably contributed to winning basketball. With cognitive load relative to position on the rise, we’re seeing more and more players of this mold enter the league. The next one entering the league may just be hiding in plain sight in the 2026 draft class: 6’10” Iowa forward Álvaro Folgueiras.

The most compelling argument I can make for Alvaro Folgueiras as a bona fide NBA-level prospect is via this query. We are looking for tall underclassmen ( 6`8 and above) who displayed an outlier level of feel (quantified via AST%, STL% and partly OREB%) alongside a baseline of (vertical) athleticism (quantified via BLK% and partly OREB%) 

Alvaro stands among five players who are currently returning top-8 value in their respective draft classes, including the No. 1 and No. 3 prospects on last year’s Swish Theory board, as well as Ethan Happ, who led the BBL in PER in 2022 and the ACB in 2024, and is likely a positive NBA contributor hiding in plain sight. What makes Folgueiras so fascinating within this group is that his anthropometrics align with the non-shooting “big wing” segment of the query, while his shooting indicators match those of the smaller players on the list.

This combination creates a strong case for Folgueiras as a lottery prospect in the upcoming draft: He shares statistical indicators with the highest cognition wings the league has seen in the last few years, while being bigger than the prospects who shot the ball as well as him and having the best shooting indicators amongst all the players with comparable measurements.

Let’s explore, in the following segments, to what degree this heuristic actually holds up in reality and whether Folgueiras could truly be a top-level NBA prospect in the 2026 draft.

Offense:

Alvaro is one of the most “Haliburtonified” prospects I’ve seen in recent memory (shoutout to Mike Gribanov for the term). His decision-making is exceptionally quick, whether he’s initiating transition, connecting the offense from the perimeter, or finding cutters as a hub. He can make virtually every read in the book and thread interior passes through tight windows.

What especially stands out is his spatial awareness, as he almost never over- or underthrows passes. Posting a 21.9 AST% and a 1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio at his size is incredibly impressive, even after adjusting for his level of competition.

Folgueiras could also end up one of the better “big” shooters we’ve seen in recent years. He posted a 50 3PAR for Spain across his FIBA career, and he’s maintained a 40 3PAR and 76.5 FT% in college despite playing for one of the lowest-volume shooting teams in the country.

His willingness to shoot over contests and off of different platforms is pretty special for a long, 6`10 player.

So far, Folgueiras sounds like an ideal modern forward as someone who connects offense from the perimeter and provides reliable spacing.

So, what’s the holdup?

Alvaro’s scoring process and interior scoring profile aren’t consistent with those of typical NBA wings. To illustrate this point, let’s circle back to the base query of this article.

Within this group of players, Alvaro ranks last in 2pt ASTD%, second to last in rim: non-rim ratio and dunk rate, and third to last in pull-up jumper frequency. Being heavily rim-reliant while not finishing those attempts with dunks is already a major hurdle at the next level, where opposing frontcourts get longer and more athletic. When you combine that with a highly assisted shot diet and a negligible volume of pull-up jumpers, it raises serious concerns about whether Alvaro can realistically be utilized as a wing, an essential part of his projection, given that his underwhelming verticality, sub-70% rim FG%, and modest 5 BLK% are likely to prevent him from earning meaningful minutes at the 5.

His pull-up frequency is particularly concerning when compared to the true “wings” on this list. His edge in terms of touch becomes far less meaningful if he cannot successfully leverage it into counters in the middle of the floor.

There are two potential counterarguments to this  First, Folgueiras may have ended up with a big-adjacent scoring profile simply because he was forced into that role at RMU. As the tallest player on the roster, he frequently received PnR roll-man and post-up reps that he likely wouldn’t have been given on a different team, which may have skewed his shot diet. However, this explanation loses weight when we compare these indicators to his freshman season and his FIBA sample, where similar patterns persist.

Something even more important to consider in this context is Folgueiras’s drive frequency. He drove on roughly 15% of his possessions, a strong mark for his role and an encouraging indicator of his potential as a closeout attacker. While his lack of bend and high-end handle (which contributes to a staggering 23.9 TO%) and his discomfort with midrange counters are still very apparent on film, I’m encouraged by both the frequency and the efficiency of these drives. He posted a 64 TS% on them, which is a legitimately strong number.

Defense

Alvaro offers a solid baseline as an NBA defender, with some potential upside as a genuine game-changer. He posted 20+ DREB% across multiple samples, signaling strong positional rebounding. When contextualized with his excellent anthropometrics and impressive stock rates, this forms a solid foundation for retaining defensive value at the next level.

However, he is somewhat vulnerable against quicker players on the perimeter and occasionally struggles with proper foot alignment. Folgueiras’s lack of horizontal athleticism, particularly his limited ground coverage, shows up on tape. Combined with his issues in vertical contests, this makes it difficult to project him as a reliable weakside rim protector.

Even so, Folgueiras compensates with sharp positioning and strong overall cognition, routinely disrupting actions and getting his hands on the ball.

Folgueiras has consistently posted strong steal rates throughout his career, though his BLK% has fluctuated. This will be something worth monitoring at Iowa, especially since he will take on fewer center duties there (similar to his role with Spain in last year’s U20 EuroBasket, where he recorded just a 1.8 STL% and 2.4 BLK% while carrying an increased offensive load!). 

I remain confident that Alvaro can return positive defensive value in the future. He should be able to meaningfully influence opponent turnover percentage and limit opposing offensive rebounds as he develops. The key question is whether his cognition and disruptive hands can compensate for potential issues defending in space. In my view, the answer is yes.

One best-case scenario is Alvaro replicating Kyle Anderson’s defensive impact—trading some of Anderson’s elite cognition (career 3.2 STL% for prospect Anderson vs. 2.4% for Folguerias is noticeable) for a higher SR. 

Conclusion

I believe Folgueiras’s eventual placement on my final draft board will come down to two factors: What will his role and production look like at Iowa? And will he measure as well as he is rumored to?

Coach McCollum built a slow, pick-and-roll–heavy offense around point-guard maestro Bennett Stirtz at Drake, and he has carried that system over to Iowa. So far, Iowa ranks in the 93rd percentile in PnR frequency, 100th percentile in cut frequency, and 12th in team assist rate—figures that closely mirror the stylistic profile of his Drake team. In a context that centralizes advantage creation to this degree while boosting assisted-two volume through cuts and PnR roll-man possessions, it is highly unlikely that we will see a meaningful shift in Folguerias’s overall scoring profile.

McCollum retained his two highest-frequency rollers, meaning Alvaro will likely replace some of his old post-up and rollman possessions with spot-ups. It will be important for Folguerias to continue showing confidence as a shooter in these situations, while also maintaining a reasonable drive frequency to help offset his otherwise shaky offensive projection. So far, he has done exactly that—scoring 1.7 PPP on spot-ups and opening the season with a 16:0 AST/TOV ratio through his first five games. Another encouraging sign: Folgueiras has recorded 5 dunks on 12 total rim attempts, compared to just 12 on 167 as a sophomore.

The more pressing question, however, is how well he will measure. If he comes in closer to 6’9″ in shoes with a wingspan under 7’3″, I will struggle to view him as a lottery-level prospect. Without elite positional size and given his middling athleticism and ball skills, Alvaro’s entire projection could begin to unravel. But if he measures at 6’10” in shoes with a 7’4″–7’5″ wingspan and a solid BMI, he may possess one of the most favorable cognition-plus-size intersections we’ve seen in years, paired with what could be an elite jumper.

A pillar of my evaluation process is identifying historically favorable skill intersections. For decades, big players with exceptional feel for the game have consistently provided positive on-court value in the NBA, and  Alvaro Folgueiras appears to be next in line.

The post Prospect Preview: Alvaro Folgueiras appeared first on Swish Theory.

For this piece, I’m talking to Swish Theory’s Avinash Chauhan, who makes an optimistic claim about Texas wing Dailyn Swain. You can find Avinash’s Swish Theory work here, additional basketball musings at his Substack here, and follow him on Twitter here.

Avinash’s claim: Dailyn Swain is a top-20 level talent in the 2026 NBA draft.

Question #1:

The list of drafted players Swain’s height with a <15 three-point attempt rate (3PA/FGA) is littered with misses. Opponents leave him wide open. Do you think his outside shot is absolutely cooked (career 11-54 from three, 27-74 from midrange) or is there some hope?

Avinash:

How could it not be cooked? Swain is an astonishing 3 for 23 on open catch-and-shoot 3s. I would advise against expecting strong 3P development across his career, and I remain quite high on Swain despite this cognizance. He does not need to shoot to be a productive NBA player.

But is there hope? There will always be hope with a profile as contradictory as Swain’s.

Swain shoots extremely well from the FT line (career 81.6% FT across 152 attempts). While FT proficiency is usually a sign of future shooting goodness, it can’t be that easy.

See, Swain is in this weird zone, shooting enough threes to not be a complete non-shooter, but shooting a relatively low number of threes overall and bricking them.

To showcase this, let’s focus on the three main indicators of shooting upside: FT%, 3P%, and 3Pr.

High FT% + High 3PR + High 3P%: elite elite shooter

• Ex. Steph Curry, Sam Hauser

High FT% + High 3PR + Low 3P%: still an elite shooter, likely lots of OTD 3s

• Ex. Austin Reaves, Franz Wagner

High FT% + Low 3PR + High 3P%: usually a rim-heavy guard that can still end up shooting

• Ex. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams

High FT% + Low 3PR + Low 3P%: ???

This is an extraordinarily rare intersection: just 7 NBA-appearing college players since 2008 have shot worse than 40% 3P with less than 4 3PA/100 while still shooting 80% from the line. What’s even more interesting is that just 3 of these players had a true career sample: it’s really just Delon Wright, Hansbrough, and Mike Muscala that met this intersection over multiple seasons, and only Mike Muscala did it over more than 2 seasons. Swain appears poised to join him.

What makes this even more baffling is that Swain has been shooting 80% from the line all the way back to his AAU days. In 37 AAU games over 16U and 17U Nike EYCL seasons, Swain shot 83/107 (77%) from the line. That means Swain has been shooting ~80% FT since 2021.

75% FT, < 30% 3P, < 2 3PA/game. From my AAU database with ~2000 player-seasons, just 5 players met these criteria. Despite every one of the NCAA players here having lower career FT% in NCAA compared Swain, they at least doubled his 3Pr.

Some other notes:
Swain has shot 13/33 (39%) on dribble jumper 2s across 2 NCAA seasons. He shot 7/25 (28%) on dribble jumpers in AAU. At least there’s touch improvement somewhere, and there’s a bit of asymmetric reward to risk. It’s the type of shot someone with a 14% PnR BH scoring frequency could really use (this is a superb rate for a wing-sized player).

And Swain narrowly missed this query with a number of impressive developmental stories, sporting an assist percentage just 1% off the 12% threshold.

So we have 100 games of Swain’s low 3P make + high FT% tomfoolery across AAU+NCAA, and he has at least 30+ games left in his college career. This is uncharted territory, and your guess is just as good as mine for whether he ever meaningfully shoots. For what it’s worth, the only person close to this sort of volume (Muscala) shot 37% 3P on 8.2 3PA/100 for his NBA career, but it took him 6 NBA seasons to actually hit that rate across a season.

And, Swain kinda ended the season with some momentum. He went 3/5 from 3P in his final game vs Illinois in the first round of March Madness. It was actually his best college game ever (27 points, 27 BPM, 33% USG, 6 assists+steals : 0 TOs). Positive momentum for the win?

Maybe. For those keeping track, that also means he was 1/9 from 3 during that month, excluding the Illinois game. Still, his 3PA/100 was doubled relative to his career average across that final month.

To summarize: Swain’s profile holds an unparalleled long-term integration of FT% goodness x 3P badness, nice dribble jumper proficiency, high levels of cognition typically associated with strong development, and positive momentum. And he’s super young for class. This year, I expect some 3P shooting improvement for the first time in years.

But he’s missed so many 3s for so long that it’s still more likely than not that he does not end up shooting well. There’s hope, but he doesn’t really need it. He should be a solid NBA contributor regardless.

Question #2:

A big part of the appeal for Swain is his being a wing ballhandler. This premise makes his fans excited about his transition game and utility as a pick-and-roll operator. However, his turnover rates for both pick and roll when pressured and when used as a transition ballhandler are a very high 30% for each.

Avinash:

A big part of Swain’s appeal is indeed his wing ball-handling upside. He clocks in at an impressive career 15% assist rate on just 17% usage. However, his career 16% TO rate is unimpressive relative to this lower usage. What gives?

The unifying theme of Swain’s turnovers is errant passes. This is important to me, as most other wings that I’ve watched have turnover issues more concerned with scoring process or poor dribbling technique.

More specifically, Swain is trying to get rim assists at a pretty high clip, which is actually a feature of the Xavier offense: they ranked in the 4th and 1st percentiles in spot-up frequency in 2025 and 2024, respectively. There are some gimme assists that he fails, like bouncing off his foot, but his biggest issue is just forcing passes into very tight windows, as well as poor pass accuracy on the move.

In defense of Swain, he didn’t quite have the safety valves that others may have. First, Xavier probably had the worst “center” rotation out of any reasonably good high major team. Their center was Zach Freemantle, a 6’9 225 lb power forward with a mediocre wingspan. Forcing the ball to a guy with such a limited catch radius is just not ideal, but he just didn’t have those other safety valves. Beyond their uber-low spotup frequency, Xavier didn’t run many cuts either (13th percentile in 2025, 7th percentile in 2024), meaning that many of Swain’s passes out of PnR had to be post entries.

As a side note, Swain probably should be used more on cuts. He has the body and intuition for it, along with 1.3 PPP last year. Unfortunately, Xavier’s primary perimeter PnR was 6’2 Dayvion McKnight, who shot 49% at the rim and less than 3 3PA/100. His abhorrent 0.702 PPP on PnR BH, and the departure of the four Xavier players with higher assist rates than Swain in 2024, were major reasons why Swain’s PnR BH frequency doubled from 2024 to 2025.

So, Swain’s TO rate when defense commits is concerning, but it was a bad enough context that we can hopefully expect strong improvements with his feel and another year under his belt. It is something to monitor.

Swain’s turnover rate in transition is less defensible. The most obvious culprit again seems to be errant passing. He’s more pass-heavy in transition than I expected, considering a massive 30% of his scores came in transition. He’s just moving too quickly and isn’t able to make dynamic, accurate kick-ahead reads.

Ultimately, Swain has clear turnover issues, but not something I would consider truly pivotal: I’d be more concerned if more of these were bad scoring TOs rather than bad pass TOs (see below: his drive TO rate). His career 1.7 A:TO and 3% steal rate indicate strong enough cognition that we can partially cope that this is an issue of poor technique rather than processing. I expect more turnovers with increased usage, but hopefully he trims the rate somewhat.

Question #3:

Additionally, his 1.4 drives per game lags the second-year drive rate of Herb Jones (1.8 per game), Kyle Filipowski (2.9), or Mikal Bridges (1.7), among prospects with relatively similar production profiles. What kind of ball-handling burden/complexity is Swain really capable of when faced with tougher comp?

Avinash:

Yes, to activate higher-end outcomes worthy of meaningful draft capital, Swain needs to demonstrate creation capacity. His career 17% usage + 55% minutes share after two seasons lags a bit behind these names mentioned. While it remains to be seen how well he scales up, his playtype rates, rather than per-game numbers, is probably more instructive.

Let’s compare his playtype numbers to the names mentioned, plus three more I added. I used Bart’s Career Player Comp feature to generate this query that ranked the most similar careers to Swain, and added an NBA filter and height filter. I chose the top 3: OPJ, Cody Martin, and Dalen Terry.

Swain’s 13.4% drive frequency isn’t as pressing in this paradigm, but it still notably lags behind Filipowski and Herb.

However, Swain crushes the field in drive efficiency, with over 0.9 points per drive possession. He does this with the lowest drive turnover rate, while still drawing a healthy number of fouls per drive. This micro turnover rate is an interesting antidote to his turnover concerns.

However, since there is typically no double-counting between drive possessions and PnR BH possessions (a drive does not involve a screen), I like to account for these PnR BH “quasi-drives”.

Immediately, Swain’s massive PnR BH frequency stands out. Part of why Swain’s drive frequency was so low is that he scored on PnR BH possessions at a high rate.

It’s not just higher PnR BH frequency relative to the field. Swain’s scoring approach out of PnR BH playtypes was far better than any other player here. If we ignore Filipowski’s inflated stats out of a 1.3% PnR BH frequency, Swain paces the group in PnR BH frequency, PPP, AND free throw rate. His TO rate ranks 3rd out of 6.

To recap, Swain is the most efficient on drives and PnR BH reps among these players…while ranking close to the top in TO rate and FT rate. His drive+PnR BH aggregate frequency trails just Herbert Jones and his query-worst aggregate PPP.

To be fair, none of these guys were really creating like that in the NBA. But Swain’s production transcends this comparison. And he’s the youngest here, while weighing at least 10 more pounds than anyone besides Filipowski. With potentially the best wingspan. There’s just no argument to me: Swain has by far the best creation upside of the group.

Increased ball handling burden is inevitable, and while improving handling control and complexity are not something I can easily project, there’s just too much here for me not to expect continued improvement.

You can’t get better datapoints than size/age-adjusted creation efficiency (not that it needs to be adjusted) and strong cognition. While you raised exceptional points that cannot meaningfully be refuted until we see it manifested, this is my best cope.

Question #4:

That all sounds great, and I am struggling to poke holes in Swain’s fairly complete game otherwise. But I do struggle to see what kind of role Swain would fit into immediately that both keeps his development curve sharply sloped and the friction with NBA lineups low (absent a major shooting leap). How does he fit in right away?

Avinash:

Swain is largely theoretical in impact right now. He possesses a slew of important traits, from his FT touch to his cognition to his impressive ballhandling at size…but he hasn’t been particularly impactful.

A net offensive rating impact of -0.8 when Swain is on compared to Xavier’s baseline is very underwhelming for a decent offense. Swain has a positive FTR influence, and his positive TO influence is an improvement from last year. We can attribute this to his scaling up (higher PnR and driving responsibility) while maintaining A:TO.

The lack of on/off impact is emblematic of a more pressing issue with Swain: there just isn’t a whole lot of “guarantees.”

He’s promising in a lot of areas, but not truly adept at anything in relation to halfcourt offense. You’d think a player with his athleticism and transition prowess would be able to be more effective at the rim, but Swain shot a pedestrian 64% at the rim on a majority-assisted rim diet. While there’s some sliver of ball handling upside, there’s also a chance Swain isn’t able to convert self-created rim attempts at a respectable rate.

Swain is what I’d call a “trait-maxxed” player: he checks lots of boxes that indicate high upside. He’s super young, he will measure and test exceptionally well, and he blends cognition, physicality, and touch in a way that typically translate to NBA goodness. But he simply hasn’t quite done anything worthy of NBA status … yet.

Without improved shooting volume, the projection is somewhat difficult but not impossible. Something like an athletic finisher with defensive impact, something in the realm of Ausar or Josh Minott. He could carry over his 98th percentile transition frequency to the league and do his best Christian Braun impression, though that is somewhat dependent on the context. This may not sound too compelling, but my thesis is that Swain’s ancillary production is too good to fail. It’s quite similar to my case for the aforementioned Josh Minott, who also faced questions about his NBA role, but is making it work given his cognitive and physical strengths.

To answer the other half of your question: based on historical trends, I believe that trait-maxxing is the most important predictor of development over expectation. Massive arms and feel, for instance, has been Sam Presti’s method to draft success. This is why I believe his development curve will be sloped upwards regardless of role, for the time being: he’s entering the critical period of development (age 20/junior year) where the big-time leaps occur.

Can he access super high-end outcomes without being able to shoot at reasonable volume? Probably not. But the guy is an S-tier athlete with huge dimensions, can run creation playtypes at efficiency, and he’s an elite stocker with strong passing and rebounding. There is a small (and improbable) chance that Swain could check every single meaningful “trait” box and parlay that into stardom, particularly if he shoots (and as I outlined before, higher volume shooting isn’t as unlikely as you may think).

In an expected value paradigm (probability x value), a miscellany of small probability x high upside avenues can aggregate towards a sneaky-high expected value. It is difficult for me to project the specifics of Swain’s development curve, but I feel that his expected value is somewhere in the tier of a real deal NBA player. Let’s see if ancillary production and trait-maxxing can manifest in legitimate impact.

The post Show Me a Prospect: Dailyn Swain appeared first on Swish Theory.

Few sports have as much obsession over prospects as the NBA. Potential is king in the league, and collecting potential leads to success when done correctly. But you hardly ever see comprehensive rankings that reflect the true depth of young talent in the NBA.

With how many games I’ve watched around the league over the past couple of seasons, I sat with a stack of notes, clips, and stats, wondering what I could do with them. Then, last year, I read Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects list, and it hit me. Why not do the same for basketball?

It’s my second year in a row putting together my Top 100 prospects list in the NBA. I compiled my film, scouting priors, game notes, and key stats to take my best shot at organizing more than 20% of NBA players into this list. It’s not going to be perfect, but from 1-100, I have some idea of what each player is or can be. I don’t blindly shoot from the hip.

Some notes on the methodology before we get into the list. Players in their first three years of NBA action are eligible for the list; if you’ve hit the summer where rookie extensions start, you’re off the list. Similar to baseball Top 100 lists, I wanted to set a benchmark for “graduating”, and it’s different in a league where the minor league system is an afterthought compared to the MLB. There will also be some honorable mentions if I considered a player in any meaningful way for a spot.

Using Kevin Pelton’s draft pick value scale, I assigned numerical values to each prospect. It operates on a logarithmic scale, assigning a heavier weight to the top prospects. For example, the top overall prospect is worth ten times the 60th-best prospect in this exercise. The 1-100 ranking was entirely subjective based on my own opinions of the player, but the rankings of each team were done by adding up the “Pelton values” of each team.

I’m not paying attention to fit here. This is about having the talent; even if three players have redundant skill sets, you still have three players. Getting talent in the door is often the most challenging part of building a team.

Now that we’ve set the expectations and laid the groundwork, it’s time to dig into the rankings, starting with the top spot.

2024-25 Rank: 3rd

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: Jeremy Sochan (No. 47), Julian Champagnie (No. 60)

It pays to be king. Last season, the Spurs came in third in my rankings and had the highest average value per prospect. With Victor Wembanyama in his last year of prospect eligibility, it feels right that they own the top spot. That would have been a close-fought battle with the No. 2 team, but they hit lottery gold once again, jumping up to the 2nd overall pick and nabbing Dylan Harper.

Harper changes their farm outlook significantly. Now they have a talented shot creator and table setter who won’t compromise their defense. And the addition of Carter Bryant is the cherry on top. He spent all of Summer League slapping the floor and living in opposing players’ jerseys like a bad tattoo. He’s got the hustle and the respect of his teammates; add in athleticism that makes you cower in fear, and you’ve got a potential fast riser in these rankings.

Stephon Castle has a harder ceiling than most seem to think. Shooting is one thing, but he has a limited passing tree and problems with short-area verticality. I understand why people look at him and see Jimmy Butler, but that’s one of the most difficult outcomes to achieve. His on-ball defense and driving brings a solid floor, but I don’t see him as an inner circle core piece of the Spurs. He’s more of a question mark than I’d like him to be.

How far they tumble when Wemby graduates next year is a question that cannot be answered yet. For now, bask in the glory of the top spot, Spurs fans.

Honorable Mention: Riley Minix

2024-25 Rank: No. 6

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: None

Washington came in sixth in last year’s rankings on the strength of four prospects. Now they’ve amassed nine total players nearly vaulting them into the top spot.

I’m not a Wizards rebuild truther like the Twitterati and prestige NBA podcasters; there are many flaws with the players they’ve acquired. However, I am an ardent Bilal Coulibaly believer. The top three prospects here are slam-dunk stars, and he’s the next best bet in my mind to crash into that group. I know to most this is a jarring take, so if you need more explanation, look no further.

Alex Sarr’s concerning lack of an offensive niche was evident last year, but he did bring a strong defensive presence as a rookie. He’s not so disastrous that I can write off his potential. Tre Johnson was a strong pick to add a nuclear on-ball shooting prospect into this defense-first prospect pool. Having a player like him to take the Corey Kispert role a step further is important for tying together this roster. After that, it’s a grab bag of maybes.

Kyshawn George has some ardent supporters, but I want to see more offensively to justify his role. Bub Carrington doesn’t have a skill set that excites me, nor did his rookie play. AJ Johnson flashed in the March silly season after being traded mid-season from the Bucks, but the sample size is too low and the play too inconsistent. Cam Whitmore may truly be on his last chance to pop and doesn’t have the role player traits needed to have a floor. Jamir Watkins and Will Riley intrigue me as second round rookie darts with solid role player traits and athletic upside.

Ultimately, the Wizards did brute force their way into the top tier. A whopping nine prospects led the entire league in this ranking. Many other teams have the top guys or better-fitting pieces, but Washington does have a lot of bites at the apple, as Danny Leroux would say. It’s still a team that needs a blue chip prospect to make things fit, but the good news is they’re bound to be bad enough to get that guy in the next draft.

Honorable Mention: Tristan Vukcevic

2024-25 Rank: No. 15

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: Jaden Hardy (No. 46), Olivier Maxence-Prosper (No. 97)

This is where the log scale really kicks into gear. Dallas ends up with about 75% of the total prospect value that Washington has with two players. “Lucking” into Cooper Flagg can undoubtedly change your outlook after placing 15th in the rankings last season; Dallas is the biggest riser from the previous season.

I don’t think much needs to be said about Flagg. He was an easy choice for the second spot in the rankings and dramatically altered the fortunes of this Mavericks team. It just goes to show you can shoot yourself in the foot, arm, chest and face and come out on top by sheer luck of the draw.

Dereck Lively II dropped a few spots, primarily due to injury concerns. His rookie season was impressive, but going from a mildly concerning 55 games played to 36 games played is a red flag. The improvements as a playmaker were noticeable, but he’s more or less in a holding pattern. Still, being a coverage-versatile big with above-the-rim finishing skills and legitimate short roll chops is immensely valuable in today’s league. Let’s just hope he can stay on the floor.

There are a lot of cooks in the kitchen here with Dallas. The presence of Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving throws some doubt onto their desired play style and timeline for contention. But with a true blue talent and another strong starting-level big in the wings, they earned their spot.

Honorable Mention: Ryan Nembhard

2024-25 Rank: No. 7

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: Shaedon Sharpe (No. 33), Jabari Walker (No. 92)

Rising in the team rankings while losing the 33rd-ranked player is extremely impressive. But the jump by Toumani Camara was undeniable. I hedged my bets last year, even as an ardent Tou supporter, ranking him 36th overall and fourth amongst Blazers players. Now he’s undeniably their top prospect, and perhaps their best player overall. I should have listened to myself.

Donovan Clingan brings an incredible defensive presence when he’s out there and functions as a substantial lob threat, but he has some fouling issues to address. I was pleasantly surprised at the passing reads Clingan can make; I suppose when you’re 7’2″, the court opens up a bit. The mix of his athletic tools and day-one polish (77th percentile EPM in his rookie season) makes him one of the best big man prospects around.

Scoot Henderson may be entering a make-or-break third season, but he did show growth. Granted, when you look like the worst player in the league out of the gate, there is only room to go up. But the burden on this extreme defense-first roster may be too much for him to handle.

Yang Hansen’s fit in the rotation is interesting to monitor, but the talent is undeniable. If he’s purely a backup five to Clingan, he’s going to eat against bench units. But if Chauncey Billups finds a way to work two-big lineups the way Cleveland did, the potential is through the roof.

I may end up having some egg on my face for placing Yang this low. But so it goes.

There’s a good chance that Portland retains a top-five spot going into next year with how young their talent is. As they push for a playoff spot this year, it’s a great place to be in.

Honorable Mention: Kris Murray

2024-25 Rank: No. 2

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: Jabari Smith Jr. (No. 20), Tari Eason (No. 29), Cam Whitmore (No. 65)

Speaking of a good place to be in. We all saw what an unleashed version of Amen Thompson looked like last year. Now, the Rockets have no choice but to give Reed Sheppard the keys to the point guard spot.

Amen is the third and final player of my locked-in star tier. The defensive XLNC, combined with his driving and playmaking skills, will be the focal point of Houston’s season as they look to contend for a title. Newly acquired Kevin Durant will shoulder the scoring burden, and Alperen Şengün will organize things offensively, but it’s Thompson and his growth that will dictate how far they can go.

Reed being a G League player for most of last season was a surprise. But given how he’s looked in Summer League and preseason, I can’t knock it. With Fred VanVleet out for the season, he’s locked into an important rotation role, if not a starting one. It’s a lot of fun to watch a would-be contender that hinges on the success of two young prospects.

Having blue-chip talents with a good blend of short-term utility and long-term upside is what makes this Houston team so interesting. Under head coach Ime Udoka, I trust their development to be handled properly.

Honorable Mention: Zay Crawford

2024-25 Rank: No. 11

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: Mark Williams (No. 35), Moussa Diabate (No. 80)

The game is about a bucket. Based on their drafting history, the Charlotte Hornets are aware of this. Brandon Miller is going into a crucial third season; his stellar rookie campaign was followed by an injury-riddled sophomore season that casts some doubts. But he’s still an athletic player with forward size and natural scoring talent. You can only drop a guy like that so far.

Kon Knueppel was tough to place. I like him a lot coming out of the draft, but the playmaking and defense is the real swing. Can he show he’s more than just a great shooter? I lean yes, but I need to see it before I believe it. In my opinion, they did make the right call in addressing backcourt scoring, because LaMelo Ball’s availability is not something to be counted on.

I love what Charlotte did later in this draft. Ryan Kalkbrenner didn’t rack up four straight Big East DPOYs in a row by accident. He’s a polished rotation big who will bring some stability to the frontcourt after a tumultuous 2024-25 season. Liam McNeeley has some scoring and shooting chops while bringing a five-star recruiting pedigree. He’s more of a gamble than Kalkbrenner, but a bet they should take. Sion James has all the tools to be a rotational defensive wing with some offensive upside; another good stability play.

I’m not really sure what to make of Tidjane Salaün yet. The only sell I see on him so far is the size, athleticism, and age. Pretty much everything was bad in his rookie year. Maybe there’s something to be unlocked in a more consistent rotation with stable center play, but I’m reserved in my optimism.

Trusting in the Hornets will get you stung. Surely they will find some way to muck things up, but for now, it’s easy to get excited about their crop of talent.

Honorable Mentions: KJ Simpson, Antonio Reeves

2024-25 Rank: No. 17

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: Walker Kessler (No. 62)

Well, at least the Jazz moved up. It’s frankly impressive to have eight players and only finish seventh in a ranking that rewards both volume and quality.

There are some good things here. Ace Bailey is having a strong preseason; there’s a level of shotmaking, athleticism, size, and effort that brings too much floor to ignore. The problem is that he’s almost strictly an off-ball player in Will Hardy’s system at the moment. A tall shooter who can defend a bit isn’t the reward they wanted from an abysmal 2024-25 season. Part of ranking individual talents is projecting future fits alongside four other players. Ace’s weaknesses require a lot of papering over from the other four players, which dinged his ranking.

We do have a few breakout candidates here. Kyle Filipowski has an offensive skill set that cannot be ignored, and could shine as their best prospect by the end of the year. Brice Sensabaugh has turned into a walking bucket during Summer League and preseason; at his size, that could pose a matchup nightmare. I love Isaiah Collier’s potential as a driver and playmaker. Walter Clayton Jr. was a shrewd business move in the first round, bringing a ready-made skillset in a sea of question marks. There’s something to be said for bringing stability in the midst of chaos.

After that, it gets weird. Taylor Hendricks had some solid potential, but the seriousness of his leg injury is hard to ignore. Keyonte George has not been good at any point in his career, and Walmart Anfernee Simons isn’t a skill set that moves me. Cody Williams was one of the worst starting players I’ve ever seen last season, and my expectations for him are in the basement.

Growth from the top half of that group could improve their standing as the season moves on. But it’s hard to get excited about the talent Utah has accumulated relative to the draft capital they have spent.

Honorable Mentions: John Tonje

2024-25 Rank: No. 4

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: Jaden Ivey (No. 25), Jalen Duren (No. 38)

Graduating two solid starter-ish players hurt their ranking. But when you have two top-12 players, the ranking could only fall so far.

A blood clot denied Ausar Thompson a stellar sophomore campaign. His brother gets a lot of the love, but they are on the same level in terms of defensive production and versatility. He’s bound to make several All-Defensive Teams over the course of his career. How high he can go offensively is a different question, but I’m inclined to think someone that athletic can carve out a niche.

I will not be surprised if I end up higher on Ron Holland II than Ausar by the end of the year. He’s another stellar defender with an infectious hustle that spreads to his teammates. What held him back was a legitimate scoring role. That outlook changed in Summer League, where Ron put up 21.7 PPG and 4.0 APG while shooting 46.7% from three. Not only is the shot looking better, but the drives are popping.

If he leaps offensively, the Flying Dutchman should start for the Pistons and become the second most crucial core piece of the team. He’s a way-under-the-radar MIP candidate for this season. Get on the train before it leaves the station.

Detroit’s rise has been fueled by youth. Having a true ace pairing of defensive wings could drive them from a frisky playoff team to a real contender for the East.

Honorable Mentions: Marcus Sasser, Chaz Lanier

2024-25 Rank: No. 1

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: Chet Holmgren (No. 2), Jalen Williams (No. 4), Jaylin Williams (No. 70), Ousmane Dieng (No. 72), Dillon Jones (No. 100)

There’s no shame whatsoever in this drop. Last season, OKC was the runaway top spot in my rankings; the gap between the Thunder and the second-place Rockets was equal to the gap between the Rockets and the 11th-place team. Chet Holmgren proved himself every bit the defensive anchor and floor-spacer we hoped to be, and Jalen Williams was the second fiddle on a championship team. Oklahoma City’s only problem was the third-year cutoff, which also cost them Jaylin Williams, a serviceable rotation big.

Despite “losing” more players than any other team, they stuck in the top 10 on the strength of their drafting. I am higher on Cason Wallace than most and think he has more meat on the bone offensively. The mix of drives and shooting with his excellent perimeter defense screams false ceiling. Ajay Mitchell looked like a legitimate rotation piece last season, Thomas Sorber will surprise many (except our own Matt Powers) when he returns from injury next season, and Nikola Topić could be a piece after redshirting his rookie season.

Wallace is a starter on most teams with a lot of upside; combined with their trio of interesting bets in the 45-60 range, it’s no surprise they landed here.

Honorable Mention: Brooks Barnhizer

2024-25 Rank: No. 21

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: None

The Pelicans barely squeaked into the top 10 this season as one of the biggest risers. Despite Jordan Hawkins taking a nosedive last season, adding two top-40 prospects in the same draft gave them a significant boost. But it’s difficult to ignore the context, even in a context-averse ranking.

I love Derik Queen, but he’s a particular archetype as a drive-first big with defensive question marks. Playing behind (or next to) Zion Williamson, an identical archetype, may not be a good thing. I’m not inclined to think that those overlapping skill sets will be a boon for either player or the Pelicans as a whole.

Yves Missi is an undeniable athlete who showed serious flashes in his rookie season. But he’s not a spacer or a polished defender yet, calling into question how he plays alongside Zion and Queen. Kevon Looney is a great player to learn from, but I’m concerned with how the puzzle pieces fit in this frontcourt.

Jeremiah Fears is a great boom-bust bet for New Orleans. The size and lack of defense could limit his upside, but there’s potential for a legitimate offensive engine out of the backcourt. But GM Joe Dumars acquired Jordan Poole and Dejounte Murray in this offseason, two guys who take away his touches and utility.

The talent is here, and the ranking is the ranking for simply having the talent. But I have serious worries about how all three players can develop amid this train wreck.

Honorable Mention: Jordan Hawkins

2024-25 Rank: No. 18

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: Ricky Council IV (No. 66)

The margins are tight in the 8-22 range; cutting Ricky Council IV in the offseason knocked the Sixers out of the top ten. But their lottery luck gave them a major boost. VJ Edgecombe has unlimited physical potential as a defender and rim attacker, and he’s looking to catch bodies left and right.

There have been a lot of playmaking flashes that caught my eye during the summer runs. I wasn’t particularly high on VJ in pre-draft, but he could rise quickly if some of his less-heralded skills start to pop.

Jared McCain is more of a health question than anything. His shooting was unbelievably good in his rookie year, and the potential of a McCain-Maxey backcourt is exciting. Sure, there are defensive questions, but a healthy Jared will flirt with top-five status by the end of the year. He’s just that good of a shotmaking talent.

Justin Edwards isn’t the sexiest prospect here, but he looked like a rotational-ish wing as an undrafted free agent this past season. The shotmaking and size alone get him a spot here. If he doesn’t take meaningful steps as a defender, I won’t be as high on him as a dependable piece, but there’s a foundation here.

Adem Bona was a tough cut. I did not think he had the phone-booth agility needed to stick on either end of the floor, but he looked like a serviceable innings eater at times. One thing is for sure: with Joel Embiid’s health, Bona will get some good run next year, and give us a better idea of what he can be.

Honorable Mentions: Adem Bona, Johni Broome

2024-25 Rank: No. 5

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: Paolo Banchero (No. 3), Jett Howard (No. 79)

Graduating the No. 3 player from last season, Paolo Banchero, takes some shine off this group. But the Magic continue to build a strong base of supplemental talent behind Paolo, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs, and the newly acquired Desmond Bane.

Anthony Black as a sixth or seventh man excites me. Already a strong defender, he showed a lot of development as a floor processor and driver last season. Another step forward would boost Orlando’s rising contender status, and I am a believer in that next step. Jase Richardson was a good get as a day one backcourt contributor; it speaks to their depth that he may not have a guaranteed role out of the gate. The mix of athleticism and shooting paints him as a quality 3-and-D guard with the potential for more.

Tristan da Silva is another great piece who had a solid EuroBasket tournament alongside Franz Wagner. I want to see more from him this season as an older prospect that struggled with efficiency last season, but it’s hard to ignore the context of that 2024-25 Magic team being ruined by injuries. A full year of a bench role with a stable rotation could change his outlook for the better.

Noah Penda is another fun acquisition in the second round. Young, athletic, and lengthy with a strong defensive pedigree, he’s undoubtedly the longest developmental bet of these four. But hopefully, he can learn some things from Jonathan Isaac. No, not those things. Or those things. Actually, let’s keep him away from JI.

Honorable Mention: Reece Beekman

2024-25 Rank: No. 9

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: Vince Williams Jr. (No. 41), Jake LaRavia (No. 45), GG Jackson (No. 52), Scotty Pippen Jr. (No. 53)

Memphis suffered a lot from graduation and general regression. VWJ hit his third-year cap, Jake LaRavia is elsewhere, GG Jackson II took a step back, and Scotty Pippen Jr. also graduated. But they still have a strong ranking due to their solid drafting record.

I’m unclear on the upside of Jaylen Wells, but he’s a No. 2 perimeter defensive option at worst who can knock down shots and move well. A lack of growth this season would be a cause for concern, but the floor feels safe. Not bad at all for a 39th pick.

Zach Edey sure has upside, but there are questions here. Is he too specific of a skillset to stick as an every-game starter? How serious are the injury concerns? And can he become a legitimate floor spacer and connective passer? I’m optimistic enough about these questions to keep him near the top 25, and he could be a riser here.

Cedric Coward could be another success story for Memphis drafting older wings. Their track record in that area speaks for itself. Still, there are legitimate worries about Coward’s performance against top NCAA teams, and my optimism for him is capped at the moment. But Memphis has proven me wrong before.

Honorable Mention: Javon Small

2024-25 Rank: No. 19

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: None

Here’s the ranking that will earn me the most threatening DMs. Toronto should have a strong team defense next year, and the addition of Collin Murray-Boyles is huge. He has the potential to be their best defender sooner than later, and there’s plenty of reason to think the offense can keep him on the court.

He’s their closest thing to a blue-chip prospect; what to do with the rest of the roster is unclear. Gradey Dick has a lot of holes in his game, and the shooting isn’t popping as expected. Jonathan Mogbo has the look of a strong defensive big, but he’s undersized and has yet to carve out an offensive niche. Ja’Kobe Walter is in the strange space of flipping his prospect profile, looking like a strong perimeter defender while the scoring hasn’t quite translated.

There are outcomes where all three are rotation pieces. But there are a lot of cooks in the kitchen on this Raptors roster, and it’s possible those three need to be elsewhere to realize their potential. Still, all three of those players have shown enough to warrant placement in the middle and back half of the rankings. Also, shoutout to Jamal Shead, a real floor-slapper. I see you.

Honorable Mentions: Jamal Shead, Jamison Battle

2024-25 Rank: No. 8

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: Bennedict Mathurin (No. 26), Andrew Nembhard (No. 31)

Both Bennedict Mathurin and Andrew Nembhard were key pieces to Indiana’s Finals run this past season. Now they’ll be asked to lead the charge alongside Pascal Siakam as the Pacers navigate Tyrese Haliburton’s injury and Myler Turner’s departure. Some assistance from the young guys down the roster would be helpful.

Maybe this is the year where Rick Carlisle gives Jarace Walker a bit more slack. Despite his limited role, the former Houston star continues to be a menace on the defensive ride of the ball, while showing growth offensively. Knocking down over 40% of his career 240 attempts from deep, there’s a lot of potential here for a year-three breakout in his age-22 season.

I am certainly higher on Ben Sheppard than most. It was a rough rookie season that left him unranked on my board, but he showed growth in all aspects of his game while looking like a good rotation piece on a team that nearly captured a title. How he grows alongside TJ McConnell in bench units is of great interest to me.

Johnny Furphy still oozes athleticism, but I’d like to see him be more than an aura and hype moments prospect. Kam Jones may get some legitimate run this year in Hali’s absence as a sound playmaking guard who can be trusted with the ball in his hands. Whether or not these two can look like rotation pieces this year is anyone’s guess, but the potential is there.

Honorable Mentions: None

2024-25 Rank: No. 20

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: Josh Minott (No. 94)

For a team coming off back-to-back conference finals appearances and still owing picks over the Rudy Gobert trade, Minnesota has done a very impressive job at accumulating talent.

Jury is still out on the Rob Dillingham trade, but he has a path to an increased role this season. They’ll need extra scoring punch as the combination of NAW’s departure and Mike Conley’s decline hits home. Dilly will have to compete defensively to justify a role, but if he does, that’s a potent sixth man for the would-be contenders.

Terrence Shannon Jr.’s breakout late in the season sure opened some eyes. I didn’t rank him last year due to his age and lack of clear niche, but he’s proven to be a rotation-caliber wing. The mix of defense and some microwave scoring ability could change Minnesota’s outlook if he can find some consistency.

I didn’t know much about Joan Beringer going into this draft, but the athleticism pops off the page. A raw ball of clay at the center spot, it was a shrewd move to prepare for Rudy Gobert’s eventual decline. Asking him to play a rotation role out of the gate could be a bit much, but he’s oozing potential.

Jaylen Clark may be asked to be the 1:1 Nickeil Alexander-Walker replacement, and he’s up to the task. A good shooter and strong point-of-attack defender, he could bring a lot of value this season in a limited role. Upping the three-point confidence and cleaning up screen navigation would raise him in the rankings.

Leonard Miller, I cannot quit you. Even though he only has 84 NBA minutes through two seasons, the athleticism and age-relative dominance in the G League keep the belief alive. Perhaps Minnesota will never find a spot for him, but one of these days, the 21-year-old will get a chance and pop.

Minnesota has done an impressive job at spreading out their prospects without overlapping skill sets, finding complementary players, and mixing upside bets with quick-to-translate talents. It’s impressive how Tim Connelly finds ways to operate within the budget constraints placed upon him.

Honorable Mentions: Rocco Zikarsky

2024-25 Rank: No. 10

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: Keegan Murray (No. 6), Keon Ellis (No. 68)

It’s a bit concerning for me, personally, that the Kings find a way to draft my favorite players over and over again. Some serious self-reflection is in order.

I loved Devin Carter coming out of the draft, but the lingering shoulder injury concerns forced me to move him down. But he’s still a monster on defense at the point of attack, and has lots of potential as a downhill threat. If Carter can fix his shot, he could be a gem for Sacramento. However, Sacramento may have soured on him under new management; he’s going to be a second-draft darling. Good thing the Kings have never been burned by trading a guard picked in the lottery during his rookie deal.

Nique Clifford was another huge get. A do-it-all wing who doesn’t make many mistakes was just what this team needed. Even though he’s on the older side, Nique has a lot of upside to go with his ready-made skillset. That’s already popping in preseason after a Summer League where Clifford often looked like the best player on the court.

Of course, I can never quit Maxime Raynaud. I campaigned to pre-pre-draft him after his freshman season at Stanford; then he went on to average 20 and 10 in his senior season while shooting 35% on 5.5 three-point attempts per game. There are concerns here, especially on defense, but the tools are undeniable. A center who can average double-digit rebounds and take people off the dribble from the corners is a rare thing.

To quote Sacramento State beat writer Jack Dann, picking up Clifford and Raynaud in one draft feels like winning a raffle on the Titanic. But at least when the Kings get real and start showing some of their veterans the door, they have a trio of great prospects waiting in the wings.

Honorable Mention: Isaac Jones

2024-25 Rank: No. 25

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: None

Things looked pretty rough at the beginning of last year for the Chicago Bulls. But they’ve certainly made some inroads on building up the prospect pool, and that starts with the rise of Matas Buzelis.

I wasn’t very high on Buzelis in his class, and he was the only ranked Bulls prospect last season, coming in at 59th overall. But what he’s done over the summer cannot be ignored. The scoring and defending potential is popping every night, and he’s learning more playmaking tricks. Already one of the fastest risers in my rankings, it wouldn’t surprise me if he has an ironclad top-15 argument going into next year. Just enjoy these preseason highlights.

I liked the Noa Essengue pick for Chicago. He’s the kind of player they should be developing, a young, toolsy forward with a high defensive floor. It’s not just raw tools, which burned them somewhat with the Patrick Williams drafting-then-for-some-reason-paying debacle. His path to real minutes is unclear, but the upside is.

I don’t think either of these guys will be good enough to free Chicago from their eternal play-in purgatory that Arturas Karnisovas so dearly loves. But that doesn’t take away from their talents.

Honorable Mention: Julian Phillips

2024-25 Rank: No. 23

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: None

Now that Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal are gone, the rebuilding of the Phoenix Suns can begin. And it’s going to be a lengthy process.

They got off to a good start with this past draft. Khaman Maluach, acquired in the KD deal, brings a serious defensive presence to the frontcourt with a lot of offensive upside. He’s got the athletic tools to be explosive on both ends of the floor, with plenty of reason to think he can space the floor eventually. I love the mix of upside and short-term utility that Phoenix got with this pick. He also loves dropping quotes.

Phoenix took good shots in the second round as well, selecting Rasheer Fleming with the 31st pick and Koby Brea with the 41st. Both are specialists with upside: Fleming as the defense-first combo big, and Brea as a long movement shooter on the wings. I came close to adding both to the top-100, and while they didn’t make it, the Suns do deserve a shout for that drafting process.

Ryan Dunn’s defense is undeniably valuable, but there are questions after the shot went off the rails last season. Being a 31% three-point shooter, 51% free-throw shooter, and only posting a 5.8% assist rate makes him difficult to put in a complementary role on offense. If he can find a real offensive niche, he’s a good rotation piece at a minimum.

Oso Ighodaro’s standing on this team got a lot murkier this offseason. The additions of Maluach and Mark Williams via trade make it difficult to see a world where he gets the minutes he got last year. I still see the defensive value here and some solid offensive contribution, but the unclear development path makes him difficult to project.

Phoenix certainly dug itself a hole in the past couple of seasons, and these players alone aren’t enough to dig out. But it’s a step in the right direction.

Honorable Mentions: Koby Brea, Rasheer Fleming

2024-25 Rank: No. 16

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: None

In a strange, roundabout way, the Warriors have found a way to reload this roster after the two timelines phase ended. The James Wiseman experiment failed horribly, and Jonathan Kuminga, one way or another, is on the outs in Golden State. They did turn Moses Moody into a solid rotation piece, but pouring time and resources into those two years of drafting did not pan out.

Now that this self-imposed pressure has ended, they’ve done a great job at filling rotation spots with limited capital. Brandin Podziemski is a starter-level player with plenty of upside. Not only is he an elite rebounding guard, but he’s shown a lot of potential as a shooter, defender, and secondary ballhandler. The Jimmy Butler acquisition unlocked his utility in a way they hadn’t seen before. I’m a big believer in Podz taking another leap as a scorer and locking in his status as Golden State’s fourth most important player.

Quinten Post was a huge surprise last season. He’s got a ways to go defensively, but the lights-out shooting as a true seven-footer is hard to ignore. They’re also getting some good production from Will Richard in preseason; a hard-nosed defender and shooter, he’s the kind of three-and-D guard/wing that Steve Kerr values.

They also have a couple of honorable mentions who could sneak onto the list. Trayce Jackson-Davis cracked the top 50 for me last season, then forgot how to make layups. An older big who can’t finish around the rim is a non-starter as far as prospects go, but if he rediscovers the touch, he can work his way back in. Not only does Gui Santos have incredible hair and infectious hustle, but he’s starting to knock down shots and gobble up rebounds. Both will get a shot at rotation minutes this season.

In 2023, the Warriors won in spite of their youth. If they get back to their championship ways, this time it’ll be due to the depth and upside their youth provides.

Honorable Mention: Trayce Jackson-Davis, Gui Santos

2024-25 Rank: No. 13

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: Nikola Jović (No. 37)

Miami continues to make something out of nothing with their draft capital. Kel’el Ware was one of the biggest risers on the board last year; his talent is truly undeniable. Head coach Erik Spoelstra has rightfully brought up concerns about his professionalism and execution, but you don’t find his skill set often. Being able to stick alongside Bam Adebayo would be huge for his development, and the shooting will play a significant role in that.

It’s difficult to place a ceiling on Ware. I trust Erik Spoelstra to get everything he can out of the Kryptonian.

The fall from grace for Jaime Jaquez Jr. is tough to explain. The drives got worse, the defense regressed, and the shooting hasn’t developed. Perhaps he can find it again, but I’m not optimistic. Kasparas Jakučionis has his believers, but I’m not one of them. The turnover propensity and rough shotmaking aren’t a good sign for a player who already has athletic and defensive limitations. My belief in Miami’s ability to develop limited wings keeps me intrigued, but I wouldn’t place all my eggs in the Kaspar basket. He might go ghost sooner than later.

Miami may end the season looking awfully Ware-centric in terms of their prospect pool. But it’s not the worst thing to be dependent on his growth.

Honorable Mentions: Vladislav Goldin, Pelle Larsson

2024-25 Rank: No. 12

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: Dyson Daniels (No. 9), Kobe Bufkin (No. 84), Dominick Barlow (No. 99)

Atlanta comes in as the last of the teams with real prospect capital. Graduating breakout star Dyson Daniels hurts, but they still have a starting-caliber wing in Zaccharie Risacher. Risacher has oddly become a false ceiling player; the defensive upside and potential for further offensive responsibility are underrated. His growth as a passer over the summer seems real. Atlanta doesn’t need him to be a superstar, but going from a solid starter to a No. 3-type option with real defensive chops would be huge.

I like Asa Newell’s defensive potential and nose for the ball as a rebounder. They need more athleticism from the bench, and he should be a solid understudy for Jalen Johnson. Reportedly, Atlanta believed in him enough to pick him 13th overall, and still got him 23rd after being offered one of the most lopsided draft day trades in history by the New Orleans Pelicans.

Most of Atlanta’s strength comes from second-contract young players, but they’ve done well enough to supplement positions of need through the draft. It’s going to play a role in their success for this upcoming season.

Honorable Mentions: Keaton Wallace, Mouhamed Gueye, Nikola Đurišić

2024-25 Rank: No. 22

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: Max Christie (No. 77)

Leading the “I guess you have something?” tier is the Los Angeles Lakers. In a stunning turn of events, Lakers fans dramatically overrated a fine-but-not-great prospect in Dalton Knecht. He’s got tons of athleticism and is a solid shooter with confidence, but off-ball wings that aren’t stellar at anything in particular aren’t tough to find. Add in the fact that he’s a 24-year-old sophomore, you’d have a hard time making the upside case for “Westside Knecht”.

Adou Thiero comes in as my favorite Lakers prospect. Described by teammate Austin Reaves as “maybe too athletic,” he’s the dictionary definition of jump-out-of-the-gym athletic. I had him as a clear first-round talent, and getting him in the second round was a coup. With his raw offensive skillset and LA’s deep forward/guard room, it’s unclear how quickly he can crack the rotation, but he’s a great developmental bet with a very high ceiling.

Bronny James cracks the list after a productive summer. Refining his offensive game while continuing to look solid at the point of attack, he’s got rotational upside. Perhaps it’s me wanting him to shut up the nepotism-claiming talking heads and show that he’s a real NBA player, but the NBA tools are there without a doubt.

LA’s drafting record has not been good recently, but having a trio of decent rotation bets with one possessing massive upside is pretty good for a team on the LeBron James timeline.

Honorable Mention: Christian Koloko

2024-25 Rank: No. 24

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: None

Ah boy. At last we arrive here. It’s hard to find words for the Nets.

I had only two Nets ranked last season: Jalen Wilson and Noah Clowney. Both had such rough years that I had to bump them off the list. It’s frankly impressive to have six first-round picks eligible for the list and end up this low.

Ben Saraf has interesting tools as a ballhandler and passer, with some great size for the point guard spot. Nolan Traore would be higher on this list if he was taller and a more consistent handler. Danny Wolf is a fun skill set, but there’s too many trap doors for him to fall through, whether it be the athleticism, defense, or shooting. Egor Dёmin needs the ball in his hands to make sense as a prospect, and I don’t think he’s good enough to demand those touches down the road. Drake Powell is pretty much just an athlete they’re trusting to develop in a chaotic context; I didn’t even feel confident enough to rank him above Ricky Council IV, another pure athlete castoff from the Sixers.

At the very least, Jordi Fernandez is a coach I trust to make the best of things. They have some solid bigs as a foundation. But the lack of veterans and series of overlapping skill sets only complicates things. There’s no need to keep piling on, as the “what is Brooklyn doing?” horse has been beaten so long it’s no longer recognizable as a horse. I will be watching this team with great interest (derogatory) this season.

Honorable Mentions: Jalen Wilson, Noah Clowney, Grant Nelson, Tyrese Martin

2024-25 Rank: No. 14

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: Christian Braun (No. 30), Peyton Watson (No. 56)

Finally, Denver has brought in some real veterans to lessen their dependence on the youth. But they still have a couple of decent bets.

DaRon Holmes II’s torn Achilles tendon not only ruined his rookie season but also made his long-term outlook very difficult to project. Thankfully, he looked like the explosive player we saw at Dayton during Summer League. It’ll take some time to get a read on his short-area agility, but I love how his athleticism translates as both a 4 and a 5. If the shooting is real, he can be a fun bench piece and should pair well next to Nikola Jokic in certain lineups. Imagine this touchdown connection with the best outlet passer in the game.

Denver’s over-reliance on Julian Strawther last season was a problem. Plain and simple, they ran out of players who could take and make threes. Now that Tim Hardaway Jr. is in the fold, he’s less of a necessity, which is good for his development. But the confidence and shotmaking ability give him a floor. If Straw can clean up the defensive mistakes, his role as a prolific movement shooter can pop for this team.

Putting more of their chips into veterans was the right call for Denver, as they improved their contender status without question. But it helps to have a couple of young bets in the wings; considering the draft capital they’re working with, I think they’ve done well.

Honorable Mentions: None

2024-25 Rank: No. 27

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: None

Cleveland ends up having the oddest case on here. Understandably, a team pouring draft assets into their contending squad doesn’t have much in the cupboard. But you still have to make the picks from time to time. And I think they hit the Jaylon Tyson selection out of the park.

He didn’t get much run last season, but the athletic flashes were clear. The real eye-opener was his Summer League performance. Across three games in Vegas, the 22-year-old put up 19.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 6.7 assists per game. If he can shoulder more scoring burden and legitimately move the ball, they have a player on their hands. Heck, if the defense continues to pop, they’ve got a REAL player on their hands.

If there’s a place of need for Cleveland, it’s bench wing depth and secondary scoring punch. Tyson is in a good position to provide both this season and show off his upside. I think Kenny Atkinson will give him a real role out of the gate with Max Strus sidelined, and he may never give the role back.

Honorable Mentions: Tyrese Proctor, Craig Porter Jr.

2024-25 Rank: No. 26

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: None

Another case of a contender devoid of picks that’s making the most out of things. Despite having little draft capital to work with, GM Leon Rose has collected some decent bets at the end of the roster.

Pacome Dadiet was a long-shot developmental bet in the late first round of 2024, and finally showed the tools during the summer. He’s got the baseline athleticism needed to be a combo forward, and showed some defensive chops before, but now the shot is showing up. And with the shot comes the drives; I’ve liked what he is doing as a closeout attacker.

If he’s buying into role player responsibilities, it’s a great sign for his future development.

Speaking of upside swings, Mohamed Diawara was doing some absolutely wild things in Summer League. He went from completely off my radar to a clear developmental star in the right context. I love a 20-year-old bag of tools 6’9″ forward; though he may spend the whole year in Westchester, he’s a name to monitor for the future.

Tyler Kolek was a decent bet for a backup guard, but it’s not quite going to plan. A sophomore 24-year-old guard should have performed much better in Summer League, but Kolek shot 35% from the floor and scored a hair over nine points per game. He snuck onto the list only barely, and may drop off unless some real growth was shown.

Ariel Hukporti was quite literally the last player I cut from the list, but you don’t get points for number 101. Even then, it wouldn’t change their ranking much. But he’s got some fun tools, and looks like rotation caliber minutes are in his future.

Honorable Mention: Ariel Hukporti

2024-25 Rank: No. 28

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: None

Now we come to the “yikes” tier of teams. Milwaukee is making a case for the worst drafting team in the league. With Tyler Smith being waived over the weekend, it solidifies a brutal stat: no Milwaukee Bucks draft pick has made it to their second contract since Giannis Antetokounmpo. But we’re here to talk about what they have, not what they’ve missed.

Andre Jackson Jr. is a funky fit as a role player. He’s tall, long, and a strong perimeter defender in addition to great rebounding from the backcourt. But the fit is a difficult proposition.

AJJ is shooting 38.5% from three in his career, but he’s taking only 2.85 threes per 75 possessions. Volume is key to floor spacing more than efficiency, and the volume just isn’t there. They’ve experimented with him as a screener and cutting specialist, but nothing has clicked yet. And I’m not counting on Doc Rivers to get creative. There may be an okay role player in here, and he does have the defensive floor, but it’s a tricky proposition.

Honorable Mentions: None

2024-25 Rank: No. 29 (tied)

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: None

Last year, the Celtics were one of two teams to not have a player on the list. But they’ve done a good job at collecting intriguing talents in the last couple of drafts, and that starts with Hugo Gonzalez.

I had him pegged as a developmental wing bet when they took him at the end of the first round, but if this preseason has shown anything, it’s that his timeline might need to be moved up a big.

The athleticism looks like it’ll translate, his shot is workable, and I love the nose for the ball when rebounds are up for grabs. With Boston needing wing contributors this season, he should get a chance to show some stuff this season.

Amari Williams is one player knocking on the door of the top 100. He looked terrific during his fifth-year stint at Kentucky, and has an all-around game that could translate well to the center spot. Boston’s frontcourt feels wide open this season, and don’t be surprised to see him grab a role this season.

When you win a title and then win 60 games the next year, nobody knocks you for having little waiting in the wings. But I think Boston could jump out of the bottom tier with a breakout performance or two.

Honorable Mentions: Jordan Walsh, Amari Williams, Max Shulga

2024-25 Rank: No. 29 (tied)

Players Graduated or Lost from 2024-25: None

I’ve done this list twice, and both times I haven’t come particularly close to including a Los Angeles Clipper. Their drafting futility is truly the stuff of legend.

Here are the players they’ve taken in the last few drafts that would be eligible: Kobe Brown, Jordan Miller, Jason Preston, Cam Christie, Yanic Konan Niederhauser, Jahmyl Telfort, and Kobe Sanders. I only thought about Niederhauser and Christie as long-shot developmental bets here, but there’s a lot of ugly. Hand up, I genuinely did not know who Yanic was when they took him in the first round. Many of my more draft-centric colleagues didn’t even have him on their board, let alone their first round.

Without a first-round pick this season, they don’t have much of a chance of adding anyone to the pool this year. But, considering their drafting record, they wouldn’t make a dent in their ranking even if they did have a pick.

Honorable Mention: Yanic Konan Niederhauser, Cam Christie

Wrapping Up

Okay, that was a lot of typing, and I won’t keep you much longer. But this is becoming my favorite yearly exercise, one where my passion for player development can run wild. I encourage you all to do your own lists; it’s exciting to sit down and think deeply about what skill sets you value, how to weigh upside against production, and see how things shake out. I hope you enjoyed reading this and that your wheels got spinning as a result.

The post Ranking 2025-26 NBA Farm Systems From 1-30 appeared first on Swish Theory.

The lack of fanfare is somewhat understandable, considering Gillespie’s nomadic college career so far, along with Tennessee welcoming a projected top-5 pick in Nate Ament to campus this season. However, playing in the shadow of a blue-chip recruit is a position Gillespie is well familiar with, after playing with 2025 lottery pick Derik Queen this past season. Similar to the 2024-25 season, I expect Gillespie to not only perform at the same level as his highly regarded counterpart but also to exceed Ament’s production at times, just as he did with Queen.

My confidence in Gillespie is based on his track record of steady and significant improvement, which has placed him on a developmental trajectory that has elevated him to becoming a bona fide NBA prospect and a player well worth first-round consideration come draft time in 2026. And with college basketball currently in a state of perpetual flux, it has never been more important to account for the various contextual factors, from scheme to personnel, which when ignored could obfuscate a prospect’s professional potential.

Making the Leap

What I found initially striking within Gillespie’s prospect profile was the dramatic leap he made from his sophomore year at Belmont to his junior year with Maryland. The transfer portal era in college basketball has been defined by a seemingly endless stream of player movement, catalyzed by ludicrous sums of money exchanging hands. Its downstream effects on player evaluation are abundantly evident. With the massive financial incentive to transfer ‘up’ in level, mid-major basketball has never been shallower, and the portal is littered with cases of non-power conference players (especially diminutive scoring guards) going a level too high for their games and being relegated to a reserve role. For every Ja’Kobi Gillespie there are seemingly five times as many players who fall short of expectations once they make the leap to a higher level of competition. In just the past season guards such as Aidan Mahaney, Myles Rice, and Malik Mack come to mind as players who failed to adjust to their new team.

And to be fully transparent, I was skeptical Gillespie’s game would translate to a conference in the Big Ten, which is known for its physicality and deliberate style of play. By transferring from Belmont, Gillespie was leaving one of the most progressive offensive schemes in college basketball, where head Coach Casey Alexander has made high-tempo and robust three-point attempt rates staple characteristics of his teams.  

Alexander’s penchant for constructing elite offenses created a finishing environment disparate from the kind of offenses Gillespie’s new coach, Kevin Willard, had directed over the course of his career. Willard, styling himself as more of a defensively oriented coach, was on the opposite end of the offensive spectrum to Alexander. Per Bart Torvik, Willard-coached teams had only been in the top-100 in adjusted tempo AND three-point attempt rate twice since 2011.

Less ideal offensive circumstances are especially notable in Gillespie’s case because a significant feature that separated him from other portal guards is his abnormal efficiency inside the arc. In the 2023-24 season, Gillespie finished 72.6% at the rim and posted a 63.4% effective field goal percentage, numbers virtually unheard of for any perimeter player. Without an overly dynamic handle or vertical athleticism (Gillespie only converted one of these rim attempts into a dunk), Ja’Kobi seemed acutely prone to experiencing a significant decline in his two-point efficiency. With a precarious outlook as a downhill threat, and having only posted a pedestrian 0.36 3PAr in 23-24, there didn’t seem to be avenues for Gillespie to weather the leap in competition and replicate the production he had enjoyed at Belmont.

The environmental factors at Maryland seemed tailored to confine Gillespie to a role where he’d be caught in between positions, too limited of a downhill threat to function as a lead ballhandler, and too small and limited (volume-wise, at least) of a jumpshooter to scale easily off the ball. What transpired over the next season, though, was one of the more radical transformations I’ve seen a player undergo, and Gillespie adapted to his new context with ease. 

Offensive Development and Transcending Circumstances

The 2024-25 iteration of the Maryland Terrapins endeared themselves to fans early in the season, gaining the nickname of the ‘Crab 5’ for their stellar starting unit, which was as much a byproduct of their lack of depth as it was the talent of this 5-man lineup. Due to Maryland’s weaker reserves, Gillespie was thrust into a new role of primary facilitator, and his pick-and-roll   (+passes) frequency more than tripled, rising from 131 possessions, which accounted for 29.4% of his possessions, to 454 possessions, which accounted for 60.3% (!!) of his team’s possessions. Despite his inexperience as the lead ballhandler and environmental conditions rife with opportunities to log turnovers, Gillespie displayed almost categorical improvement as a playmaker. In fact, the argument could be made that Gillespie’s improved passing acumen was THE driving force for Maryland’s offense.

From 2023-24 to 2024-25, Gillespie improved his assist-to-turnover ratio from 1.72 to 2.52. Gillespie’s turnover economy reaching this level was a massive surprise. A player leaving an offense with more ‘easy buttons’ in Belmont, where there was a bevy of shooters and plenty of open court passing opportunities to relieve pressure from ballhandlers (evidenced by their 80th percentile team AST%), should see their playmaking ability trend in the opposite direction. Maryland’s team 3PAr may have been near the bottom of the country (271st), but Gillespie’s relieving his teammates of playmaking duties ensured that the team’s TO% remained low (21st in the country) and that the threes they did attempt were high-quality shots. The dynamic created by Gillespie monopolizing playmaking responsibilities allowed Selton Miguel and Rodney Rice to have career years from three. This, paired with Gillespie modifying his own shot profile (increasing his 3PAr from 0.36 to 0.54) while increasing his efficiency, made Maryland one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country, finishing 26th in three-point percentage.

For an offense otherwise bereft of an identity, Maryland ascended into the upper echelon, primarily due to Gillespie’s contributions in these two areas. It cannot be understated how unlikely it is for a team this underwhelming in two of the four offensive factors to become a top-30 offense.

Since 2008, there have only been THREE top 30 offenses to pass and shoot from deep as infrequently as Maryland, and not compensate for this by dominating the offensive glass. Like Maryland, these teams connected on their threes at an impressive clip and applied pressure on opposing defenses with their pace. This isn’t a direct evaluation of Gillespie’s game, but playing fast and capitalizing on the ‘micro-advantages’ that develop in the open court, while avoiding the turnover risk typically associated with high-frequency transition teams, is probably the ideal game state. (Tyrese Haliburton and the style he’s injected into the Indiana Pacers is an example of this.)

Although I don’t believe Gillespie is solely responsible for cultivating this offensive environment (Derik Queen was amongst the best in the country at converting defensive rebounds into early offense via hit-aheads and grab-and-gos), the influence he had on Maryland’s style of play is undeniable. And the argument can easily be made that the style of play Gilliespie enabled was Maryland’s only avenue to generating viable offense. Although it is a small sample, in the 318 minutes Gillespie was off the court, Maryland’s offensive rating took a 20-point dip; this on/off differential was in the 99th percentile. 

Defensive Impact

As impressive as Ja’kobi’s offensive impact was, to evaluate his production on each side of the court discretely would be a mistake. Gillespie’s defensive activity not only helped shape Maryland’s defensive identity (which was the foundation of their success) but served as a perfect complement to their offense, which relied heavily on generating early-clock attempts. Gillespie’s 3.5% steal rate ranked 93rd percentile in the country per CBB Analytics, and this turnover generation was made all the more impressive by the fact that accruing steals was of secondary importance to Gillespie’s role within Maryland’s defensive scheme. Maryland’s frontcourt lacked overwhelming height and highly effective rim protectors; to counteract this personnel limitation, Kevin Willard tasked his backcourt with extending their pickup points and applying consistent pressure on opposing ballhandlers.

Gillespie routinely defended the length of the court, preventing opponents from initiating their offense early in the shot clock and alleviating pressure from his back line. Gillespie’s work rate as a perimeter defender helped Maryland finish in the 78th percentile in average defensive possession length per KenPom, meaning that they were amongst the best in the country in forcing opponents deep into the shot clock. To assume such a taxing role while remaining aggressive enough to hunt for steals, all the while avoiding lapses in discipline which could lead to cheap fouls, is outstanding. Despite the degree of difficulty in Ja’Kobi’s role as a point of attack defender, he was in the 97th percentile in steals per personal fouls committed. Combining physical traits such as exceptional lateral quickness, strong and accurate hands, and impressive contact balance, along with a penchant for exploiting ball handlers’ tendencies, leads to his success.

Take the plays below, for example. Maryland is in ‘Ice’ coverage, where Gillespie’s responsibility is to remain on the ‘high side’ of the ball screen and force the ball handler to the baseline. Even though it may not be the ‘correct’ approach, Gillespie understands he has teammates defending in the corner and one pass away, providing a larger margin for error than if the opponent were running an empty pick-and-roll, for example. Trusting his ability to absorb contact with the screener and recover into the play, Gillespie takes advantage of both ballhandlers’ need to process the play developing in front of them, and backtaps their handle loose.

Beating Expectations

By now, it’s probably clear how big a fan I am of Gillespie’s game and his translatability to the NBA. Still, I’d be remiss to not mention the uphill climb any player of his stature faces in cementing themselves as an NBA mainstay. A simple query of NBA players to come through the NCAA ≤ 6’2 and possess a free throw rate ≤ 0.25 to have played any minutes in the NBA yields fairly bleak returns. Of the 95 seasons played and 56 unique players to fall into this query, only 12 have played more than 2000 NBA minutes to date, with the highlighted names representing players who hit these thresholds in their pre-NCAA season.

Most smaller guards are acquired with offensive value in mind; forgoing rim-pressure as part of their offensive repertoire is a death knell to the majority of backcourt players. The list of players within the query to fall short of the 2000 minutes threshold is littered with some of college basketball’s favorite rim-averse gunners, from Andrew Goudelock to Kyle Guy, players who were unequivocally not NBA-caliber talents. So if this list, comprised primarily of G League mainstays, evinces that a player with Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s profile more than likely isn’t worth spending ANY amount of draft capital on, what reason is there to believe he is worth a first-round pick?

First, to address Gillespie’s limitations inside the arc, creating a query to see how previous NBA prospects fared in a similar team environment to Gillespie returned interesting results. Examining which players played on teams that finished ranked outside the top-250 in both team AST% and 3PAr, while maintaining similar two-point efficiency to Gillespie on a similar self-created rate (represented by ‘total assist% ≤ 0.40, and two-point True Shooting ≥ 55%) yielded 146 players. The average height of players captured in this query was 6’7, with there only being six players Gillespie’s height or shorter: Justin Robinson, Ray McCallum, Chasson Randle, Mike Williams, Myles Powell, Malcolm Delaney, and Jeff Dowtin.

As you can see, Gillespie’s shot profile, processing, and defensive production are all more palatable than the rest of the group. This prevented him from falling into a negative skill intersection which inhibited the accompanying players’ NBA chances. As suboptimal as Ja’Kobi’s rim pressure may seem, he finished above expectation considering his circumstances, and in all likelihood, the abandoned forays towards the rim were balanced by a lower turnover total. What makes the chances of a player Gillespie’s size sticking in the league so infinitesimally small is how little tolerance teams will have in accommodating lineups these players participate in. This is far from a novel insight, but in a way this exercise has demonstrated how unsuccessful we have been in ascertaining which flaws the league should be especially punitive in judging. As important as it is for these players to provide a scoring punch, contributing to the turnover margin seems to be paramount, from my research. The smaller ‘game manager’ guards who have drastically exceeded expectations, such as Fred Van Vleet and TJ McConnell, may be the most instructive cases of this. 

What the Future Holds

As Gillespie begins his final season with Tennessee, the impact that another, vastly different, team context will have on his production is something I’ll be fascinated to see. Rick Barnes offenses have been maligned in the past for being archaic; while I don’t think this is quite a fair judgment, there is some fairness in criticizing Barnes’ teams for being stylistically inflexible. Taking a look at Barnes’ Tennessee teams over the years reveals an offensive philosophy rooted in exercising control over his players’ decision-making and confining the team to operating within a scheme primarily consisting of set plays.

For all the external gripes with Barnes’ offense, I could see this having a positive effect on Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s development. My prediction would be that Barnes’ habit of deploying players in clearly defined roles will see Ja’Kobi complete his transformation into a full-time point guard and the ‘trigger man’ of this off-ball screen-centric offense. As consistently as Barnes has featured high-volume movement shooters as the focal point of Tennessee’s offenses (a role I see Nate Ament taking on this season), facilitating duties have typically been assigned to one guard. Whether it be Zakai Zeigler, Jordan Bone, or Kennedy Chandler in past years, the responsibility to orchestrate Tennessee’s heavily manicured offense has fallen on the shoulders of one player. While this may result in some early growing pains from Gillespie, as he’s never played in such a deliberate and halfcourt heavy offense, if he’s able to somewhat maintain his finishing efficacy in an environment even less conducive to a player of his stature, he’ll have cemented himself as a bonafide first round pick and perhaps a top 20 player in the 2026 draft class.  

The post Ja’Kobi Gillespie Is the System appeared first on Swish Theory.

That’s where Swish Theory’s in-person scouting reports come in.

In-person scouting reveals tons of golden nuggets not seen on film, such as aspects of a player’s mindset:

How does a player react after making a mistake, or when they’re having a bad game or shooting poorly?

How does a player interact with his or her teammates; do they celebrate the good, do they shame the bad, do they uplift others after a mistake, do they keep a level head?

What gives the player joy and fuels their energy – making winning plays to help the team, or getting buckets?

The goal of these scouting reports is to highlight the skills that these players possess that are likeliest to translate to the next level and beyond, while collecting every nugget of intel from any given event into one easily accessible place – combining quotes, notes, film, and data as a resource for basketball evaluators to see what happened, how it happened, and who made it happen in these limited-access gyms.

By attending the event in person, I’m able to meet coaches, scouts, players and folks circling the basketball industry, to hear others’ perspectives on prospects’ games, learn about the athletes as people off the court, and see them as teammates on it. That’s how I ended up talking to AJ Dybantsa’s father, Ace, who humorously provided an update on his son’s preferred landing spots: “He’s full of sh*t because he doesn’t know how it works (chuckles). He’s gonna go wherever the ping pong balls tell him to go.” (Scroll to the bottom for the full interview along with 12 more interviews with players from the event)

Use my 2025 Montverde Invitational (M.A.I.T.) Scouting Report as a resource on these marquee matchup data points to find out which teams played best at the event; which players stand out most; which prospects flashed potential; how the stats factor into evaluation; what happened on the court via scouring notes and stats; how and why things happened on the court through film; and how players describe their own mindsets, development goals, and thoughts on playing with their respective teammates.

Featuring high-level high school hoopers, committed college players, and a handful of potential pros, some of whom project to be first-round picks.

The Teams

Montverde Academy
CIA Bella Vista
Utah Prep
AZ Compass Prep
Sagemont Prep
Calvary Christian Academy
Riviera Prep
Windermere Prep

The Standout Players

1st-Team All-Tourney from @BeyondTheRK

Dante Allen
Matt Able
AJ Dybantsa
Shon Abaev
Davis Fogle

2nd-Team All-Tourney from @BeyondTheRK

Miles Sadler
Hudson Greer
Kevin Thomas
Patrick Liburd
JJ Mandaquit

3rd-Team All-Tourney from @BeyondTheRK


CJ Ingram
Anthony Knowles
Brandon Bass Jr.
Trent Sisley
Anthony Felesi

5 More Prospects to have on your radar from @BeyondTheRK

Paul Osaruyi
Kalek House
Rokiem Green
Collin Paul
Sam Hallas

Tournament MVP
Dante Allen – Montverde Academy

Official 2025 MAIT All Tournament Team
Shon Abaev – Calvary Christian
Matthew Able – Sagemont Prep
AJ Dybansta – Utah Prep
CJ Ingram – Montverde Academy
Jaion Pitt – CIA Bella Vista
Miles Sadler – CIA Bella Vista

The Stats – Cerebro Sports Data Visualizations

*Note – Cerebro only has 2gp recorded for Cia Bella Vista & Windermere, with only 1gp for Riviera, so Riviera players were not included in the following data viz due to lack of available data. Click here to see how Cerebro Sports defines its stats*

Two-Way Impact – Measuring Overall Impact vs. Defense & At The Rim

Dante Allen stands out as the best two-way player in the 2025 Montverde Invitational by being the only player to rate Top-3 in Defense & Overall impact, via Cerebro.

Matthew Able (11.1 C-RAM, 88 DSI), AJ Dybantsa (11.1 C-RAM, 78 DSI), and Patrick Liburd (10.0 C-RAM, 72 DSI)) stand out next for elite overall impact on par with Dante’s, yet lower defensive impact.

Hudson Greer, Patrick Liburd, Sam Hallas, Davis Fogle, Kevin Thomas stand out next for their defense (92-103 DSI), and very high overall impact (8.2-9.7 C-RAM)

A cluster of Shon Abaev, Kalek House, CJ Ingram, Anthony Felesi are grouped together in a high-right positive quadrant of great defense (84-89 DSI) and great impact (7.7-8.4 C-RAM)

Utah Prep teammates JJ Mandaquit and Xavion Stanton jump out next (77-83 DSI & 7-7.9 C-RAM) for their high two-way impact

Rokiem Green (100 DSI) and Hakeem Weems (91 DSI) made their mark on the defensive end, yet both fell below 6.5 C-RAM in overall impact.

Noah Francois, KJ Francis, Jeremiah Green, Anthony Knowles, Miles Sadler, Trent Sisley, Jaion Pitt, Kaden House, Isaiah Gillard, Paul Osaruyi, Samuel Shoptaw, Cayden Daughtry, Collin Paul, King Gibson, Jaden Vance, Ausitin Goode, Malachi Martis round out the group of names that rated average in defense and overall impact, via Cerebro.

Scoring Creators – Potential Offensive Engines, Scorers, & 3pt Connectors

Matthew Able and AJ Dybantsa pop off the page for their top-2 scoring, usage, and 3pt shooting abilities, while both rating above average as playmakers, making them each ideal candidates to become potential scoring creators, offensive engines, or 3pt connectors.

Dante Allen jumps out next for his scoring and playmaking, rating 4th as a scorer and 2nd as a passer in the entire event.

Patrick Liburd (3rd in PSP), JJ Mandaquit (1st in FGS), Hudson Greer, Anthony Knowles, and Miles Sadler each rate next best in these categories as the best scorers and passers from this tournament.

Davis Fogle, Kevin Thomas, Shon Abaev, Kalek House, Anthony Felesi, CJ Ingram, Cayden Daughtry, Jeremiah Green, and Brandon Bass Jr. are next up in these categories, each rating great in one or both areas (57-76 FGS & 52-71 PSP)

Trent Sisley, Rokiem Green, Samuel Shoptaw, KJ Francis, Jaden Vance, Isaiah Gillard, Malachi Martis, Dhani Miller, King Gibson, Jaion Pitt, Kaden House, Austin Goode are the remaining names that rated average or better in scoring and playmaking.

The best 3pt shooters add perimeter shooting gravitational pull to their scoring gravity, dragging defenses out of the paint. These players will be even more effective at creating advantages because their jump shot opens up the rest of their game.

Matt Able (117 3PE) and Patrick Liburd (113 3PE) shot the lights out of the gym.

Dante Allen (98 3PE), Brandon Bass Jr. (97 3PE), AJ Dybantsa/Kalek House (95 3PE) showed they can splash jumpers with the best of them.

Rokiem Green (92 3PE), Hudson Greer (91 3PE), Jeremiah Green (87 3PE), Anthony Knowles (86 3PE) rounded out the Top-10 best 3pt shooters from the 2025 MAIT.

Next Best 3PE Rankings:
11. Samuel Shoptaw (82 3PE)
12. Aliou Dioum (79 3PE)
13. Cayden Daughtry (76 3PE)
14. Jaden Vance (75 3PE)
T-15. Shon Abaev/Kevin Thomas/KJ Francis/Noah Francois

*note, only THREE players rated 65+ in every category: AJ Dybantsa, Dante Allen, Hudson Greer

2025 MAIT Scouting Notebook

1st Team All-Tourney from @BeyondTheRK

Dante Allen
Matt Able
AJ Dybantsa
Shon Abaev
Davis Fogle

#30 Dante Allen
6’4″ Guard (2025)
Montverde Academy

Dante Allen won MVP of the 2025 Montverde Invitational for good reason, leading his Montverde team to win the tourney.

Dante’s downhill force of nature is hard to slow down, let alone contain; he penetrates the paint with ease, finishes at the rim with touch, and constantly looks to kickout to open shooters before acutely relocating beyond the perimeter.

Allen’s playmaking vision, team-first decision-making, and passing chops help him rack up assists and potential assists to teammates, always looking for the best play for his team; Dante posted a wild 13 AST / 1 TO ratio (!) on the weekend.

What stands out most about Allen’s game, though, is Dante’s Inferno – his frenetic defensive energy. Allen swarms the opposing guard at point of attack, switches onto the next wing with ease, and is strong, fast, and mobile enough to switch positions on the perimeter, even hold his own on the block in postup-D and in help-D swatting shots protecting the rim.

Dante on the mentality he brings to the game: (scroll to bottom of this page for full interview)

My first goal always is definitely win and try to impact that in multiple ways.

For me, it starts on defense, like definitely make an impact there, because that definitely earns a lot of trust from my coaches as someone who needs to be out there.

Now, offense, being able to facilitate for others, something I think I’ve been able to do better. And if that time comes, be able to get a couple points for myself also.

And even if the offense struggles sometimes, if I can make my presence known on defense, then it makes it tougher for coaches to sub me out. So I think that’s definitely something I try to emphasize if I want to be able to make an impact throughout the whole game for my team.

The Fuentes Brothers (Riviera Prep) describing Dante Allen as a former teammate and player:

Mason Fuentes – I mean his motor was second to none. Obviously, we won a state championship out of it, two actually. The chemistry was good. Us three on the court were probably the hardest defensive team out there. No one plays harder than all of us. So, I mean, it worked.

Myles Fuentes – For sure, pretty much what he said. You know he’s a great person on the court and off the court. And you know playing with him he’s even better. He does pretty much almost everything on the court. When he draws two, since he’s such a noticed player on the court, when he draws two and hits you, he makes the game easy for everyone. So it was great playing with him, and sadly he came here, but you know.

Allen shot a lights-out 9/18 3P on the weekend, along with hitting 3/4 FT and 5/10 2P.

Dante ranked Top-4 in every category tracked by Cerebro Sports other than At The Rim, where ranked 11th:

2nd in Passing (80 FGS)
3rd in Overall Impact (+10.9 C-RAM)
3rd on Defense (102 DSI)
3rd in 3pt Shooting (98 3PE)
4th in Scoring (76 PSP)
T-11th in At The Rim (65 ATR), on relatively low usage (25th, 19.7 USG%)

Allen will close out hard, swivel the hips to get back in position, and close out again. He’ll contest a shot, run through a screen and dive for the loose ball.

Dante Allen is the type of player everyone wants to play with and no one wants to play against: toughness personified, like a running back blasting through the a-gap spamming HB Dive because the defense simply can’t stop it.

Nonstop hustle, efficient scorer, lights out 3pt shooter on and off the ball, Dante Allen practically threw a perfect game vs Windermere: 18 PTS on 5/5 3P with a 6 AST / 0 TO ratio and 3 STL

Opens the game with back-to-back steals and a lob pass to Trent Sisley.

Drills back-to-back catch-and-shoot threes in the first, a third in the second.

A dominant 6 PTS, 2 3PM, 3 STL, and 1 Alley-Oop Lob in the first quarter for Dante.

Against Calvary Christian the following night, Dante helped his team will a late comeback victory with 12 PTS, 4 REB, 1 STL, 1 BLK, and a 5 AST / 1 TO ratio.

Allen continued to make good team-first decisions, hustle hard and wreak havoc defensively.

Calvary’s backcourt of Shon Abaev and Cayden Daughtry shot a combined 9/32 FG, thanks in part to the pesky point-of-attack defense from Allen and CJ Ingram on the perimeter.

In the tournament title game victory over CIA Bella Vista, Dante Allen showed visible frustration with his performance at times, yet never hung his head and continued to impact the game. holding his own with 10 PTS, 7 REB, 2 AST.

Dante drilled a pull-up triple and a catch-and-shoot triple early in the game. Allen also turns turnovers into points quickly, looking to accelerate the pace anytime his team forces a turnover, this time scoring layups off blocked shots from Hakeem Weems and Hudson Greer.

Development Areas:

There aren’t many guards in the sport who play as consistently hard as Dante Allen does every single possession, full stop.

If there’s an area for improvement for Dante, who already brings an impressive all-around skill-set, its simply to slow down at times and let the game dictate his next decision.

Allen can be so explosive, strong, forceful when sprinting north-south with the ball in his hands, that it can lead to offensive fouls, unforced turnovers, and tough shots.

Finding that last deceleration step, fine-tuning the rim-finishing skills, and continuing to develop the read-and-react feel to take what the defense gives him will help Allen take the next leap, and those decision-making reps should help this development over time.

Dante on his Development at Montverde and future skill development:

With Montverde, I’ve been able to develop a lot, but I think the one thing that they’ve been really good about is noticing the strengths that I came with before and making sure that those are things that I kind of maintain, not trying to work on things and like stray away from the things I was good at before.

So definitely like improving like shooting, being a better ball handler, a better guard per se. But also like getting to the basket, pushing the pace, like those things, not getting away from those things or making sure that those are a key part of my game that I still keep around.

…I would just say my patience and just kind of having a better feel for the game, especially when it’s more fast paced.

Being able to just kind of slow things down, being able to read the defense, being able to read my teammates, and just overall be able to make better plays for myself or others in any kind of situation that I may have not been able to before.

#3 Matt Able
6’5″ Guard (2025)
Sagemont Prep

Matt Able goes Gamebreaker mode anytime he wants; Able makes tough shotmaking look straight out of a video game.

Able is the real deal out on the hardwood with the rock in his hands. Smooth shooting touch, tight handle, tough shot making skills allow him to get to just about any spot to make just about any shot he wants; a definition of a walking bucket.

Matt Able popped off the Cerebro Sports chart, making a case as the most impactful player in the entire tournament.

Able ranked T-1st with Dybantsa in Overall Impact (+11.1 C-RAM), 1st in Scoring (106 PSP), 1st in 3PE (117 3PE on 16/28 3P), T-6th At The Rim (70 ATR), 11th on Defense (88 DSI) with a tournament-leading 8 STL(!), and T-16th in Passing. (64 FGS)


In an epic head-to-head matchup with AJ Dybantsa, Matt Able was throwing down sick slams and splashing insane threes, finishing with a staggering line of 39 PTS on 60% TS% with 7 3PM, 6 REB, and 4 STL.

Against Riviera, Able continued to shine – 19 PTS on 7/13 FG and 4/6 3P, 6 REB, 2 STL, and a 4 AST / 1 TO Ratio.

Matt drills the pull-up three, shows off a clean shooting stroke against Riviera, hitting deep catch and shoot threes.

Versus AZ Compass, Able continued to put on a show, leading all scorers with 27 PTS on tough shots, pull-up and catch-and-shoot 3s (5/7 3P in total), drawing fouls (4/5 FT), and scoring below the arc (4/10 2P), snagging 7 REB, 2 STL, and a 1 AST / 2 TO ratio.

Noted winning plays:

Semi-transition into the high pick-and-roll, draws the switch, slick crossover in multiple bumps-and-finish up and under contact through 2 defenders, somehow sneaking in the lay-in past the 6’10” Miikka’s outstretched arm for the AND1.

Insane fadeaway swish shotmaking backing down out of the midrange

Crazy pull-up jump shot.

Keeps an eye open for teammates making the right plays.

Pressure defense off turnover forces timeout.

Draws fouls attacking the rack.

Throws down the highlight hammer.

Bump-and-finish through Fogle contact for finger roll, a pull-up three, another deep pull-up fadeaway three, a drive downhill (miss FGA) into drawing ofoul on the putback for the AND1

Development Areas:

This was as close to a perfect weekend as one could ask for Matt Able; discussing weaknesses here would mostly be nitpicking, but there’s always ways for any player to improve their game

Matt’s 8 Steals led the tournament by a wide margin, but his 10 personal fouls mitigated some of those payoffs. While Able was able to create 8 Assists, he racked up 6 Turnovers as well. His 2P% was low compared to his staggering 3P%, just making 12/30 2P, yet also converting 13/16 FTA from the line.

Able continuing to grow as a scoring creator on the ball will help him refine his decision-making feel, to further his growth as a one-man offensive engine for any team as the game slows down for him. Working on not gambling for steals, finding the right mix of anticipation, hands, and timing to force turnovers without fouling, would make him an even more impactful defender.

Matt Able on if he prides his game on the crazy tough shotmaking shooting touch:

I think that’s the most developed part of my game, for sure, I think I’m an elite shooter. I pride myself on being able to shoot, but I would also say defensively and I think I’m trying to start rebounding a lot more. That was a weakness I had, and I’m starting to change that, you know just become a way better rebounder.

Matt Able on his development goals:

I would definitely say rebounding is something that I’ve been working on, I’ve gotten better, but it still needs to get more improved.

And then I’d also say probably just playmaking in terms of pick-and-roll reads, sometimes I get a little sped up and rushed in the pick-and-roll, so just being calm and making the right read in the pick-and-roll is a big thing for me as well.

Matt Able on if any players inspire his game, or that he might ‘steal’ a move from by watching them play

I wouldn’t say there’s a specific player that inspires me. I have some favorites, like I love watching Donovan Mitchell play, I love watching Anthony Edwards play, those are two of my favorite players just to watch, so I wouldn’t say I inspire my game after them, but I definitely watch and take certain things from their game.

Kevin Thomas describing Matt Able as a teammate:

Oh he’s a great teammate. He’s really funny. He keeps us motivated every time on and off the court.

When asked if any opponents impressed them this weekened, 3 AZ Compass Players (Kaden House, Jaden Vance, Nicholas Randall) answered Matt Able, Shon Abaev, and Brandon Bass

AZ Compass players – The guy we just played against, Matt Able. Yeah he was smooth. Just had about 27. Yeah I tip my hat off to him. He’s nice though. Shon Abaev, he’s nice too. Brandon Bass, he’s nice. Just nice going against top players in the country.

#3 AJ Dybantsa
6’9″ Forward (2025)
Utah Prep

Day 1 Walking Top-10 Sportscenter Highlight Dunk & Tough Shot Making Machine

AJ Dybantsa shows clear star potential on both ends of the floor – as a scorer, defender, rebounder, 3pt shooter, foul-drawer, and even as a playmaking creator for others, when he wants to.

Incredibly dynamic athlete, great body control, decelerating and exploding on a dime, good footwork winding through traffic

Tall tough shotmaker, clean C&S 3pt jumper, rim finishing skills, soft touch FLOATA

Generally good vision playmaker who sometimes forces tough shots over double teams

AJ spent these three days deflecting everything in sight.

On the highest Usage Percentage in the tournament (38.3% USG%), Dybantsa rated highly in nearly every category.

T-1st in Overall Impact (+11.1 C-RAM)
1st in At The Rim (80 ATR) hitting 22/41 total 2PA
2nd in Scoring (103 PSP) hitting 13/16 FTA with 61% TS% on the highest usage of any player
T-5th in 3PE (95 3PE) shooting 10/23 3PA
14th in Passing (66 FGS) with a 10 AST / 14 TO ratio
20th in Defense (78 DSI) with a 8 STOCKS / 9 Fouls ratio (5 STL + 3 BLK)

In a tight 3pt win over Sagemont, AJ Dybantsa dropped a crazy efficient 35 PTS on 80% TS%(!) with a shooting line of 13/21 FG – 7/8 3P – 2/2 FT while racking up 15 DREB, 3 STL, 1 BLK, and a 5 AST/8 TO ratio on high usage in 32 MIN.

AJ was making good reads and jump passes to open teammates on cuts, transition, and out of postups, while splashing tough jumpers flying around on the fast break

Drawing fouls with ease throughout the game. In the 4th quarter, AJ showed off the clean 3pt shooting stroke hitting nothing but net on tough jumpers, making more nice reads to help his team win in clutch time.

On Day 2 against CIA Bella Vista, Dybantsa continued his dominant all-around performance at the Montverde Invitational, dropping 33 PTS on 60% TS% and 7/8 FT with 12 REB , 2 BLK, 1 STl, and a 4 AST / 3 TO ratio.

Dybantsa’s athleticism makes him look downright dominant at times, exploding to the rim for soft touch finishes, grabbing rebounds out of thin air, appearing out of nowhere with active hands deflections, pace-pushing a never-ending downhill attack.

In the close 3rd place loss to Calvary Christian, Dybantsa was contained to 19 PTS on 19 FGA and a 1 AST / 3 TO ratio, yet he recorded 6 FTA, 5 REB, 1 STL.

Dybantsa’s dynamic body control and smooth finishing touch is on display in a methodical midrange action, breaking the zone with the shot the defense and Dybantas both want him to take.

Transition, semi-transition, and off-ball head of steam hesitations provided opportunities for the sick up-and-under reverse, downhill drive putback, and runner, and a strong flying offensive rebound putback through contact and traffic late in the game.

AJ looked for teammates for (potential) assists on drive-and-kicks, dunker spot bounce passes, hitting cutters, lookaheads in transition, despite not many teammates’ shots going in.

Drills a catch-and-shoot corner three early, follows it up with two deflections and one becoming a loose ball steal.

Closes with a perfectly-timed deflection that led to a steal late in the game that gave his team a chance to come back, though he missed the followng three-point attempt right after.

Development Areas:

AJ can get to any spot on the floor he wants with his incredible start-stop athleticism and solid enough handle to keep the dribble alive, with a tall shot release allowing him to get his shot over multiple defenders, but on many occassions he will predetermine to shoot his go-to contested turnaround fadeaway even when he’s not remotely open.

Decision-making can improve with more primary reps, and its hard to blame him when he can get his shot off over anyone, and he sees it go through the net enough where one could argue just about any shot is a good shot for him. Still, there’s a time and place where good shot creation can become the advantage that leads to a great shot for the team.

Allowing emotions to overtake your mentality in a game can hurt your team and teammates; finding leadership qualities that lift teammates up to downplay the bad plays help everyone keep a level head through the ups and downs of a basketball game.

AJ refining his handle, halcourt playmaking, and team-first decisionmaking could go long way to help him develop from “potential star” to “potential superstar”

#1 Shon Abaev
6’8″ Guard/Forward (2025)
Calvary Christian

Shon Abaev keeps his head on a swivel as a tall point guard who wants to either find the open man or hit a tough shot.

The handle, the creative passing, the tough shot-swishing – this adds up to effective flare that Shon can use to manipulate the defense while leaving the audience in awe.

Shon Abaev on his game mentality:

You know, just trying to win every game.

Everybody in the country know I can score, so I don’t try to force my spots anymore, I let it come to me. I do what my team needs me to do to win the game.

So at the end of the day, if my team wins, we all happy. So, that’s all I want.

Shon Abaev ranked T-9th in Scoring (71 PSP) on the 4th-highest usage of any player along with rating 10th on Defense (89 DSI), T-11th in Passing (67 FGS), T-11th in Overall Impact (+8.1 C-RAM), T-15th in 3PE (6/21 3P), and 20th At The Rim (61 ATR).

Against AZ Compass, Abaev posted 17 PTS – 3 STL – 5 REB – 5 AST / 2 TO ratio.

A look-ahead pass transition, a pull-up elbow middy, a contested C&S corner 3, a breakaway slam dunk off the team’s forced turnover, an alley-oop lob, Shon Abaev is a walking skill ball highlight, playing with the joy and creativity of a LaMelo Ball.

Insane shotmaker from any spot on the floor, a swish is theor(y)etically possible from anywhere.

Incredible vision and playmaking chops create situations where the reciever doesn’t even see the pass coming.

Hustles for loose balls; Draws fouls forcing contact with hands and hips on drives.

In a 3rd place win over Dybantsa’s (19 PTS) Utah Prep, Shon Abaev dropped a monster 32 PTS on 60% TS% (9/17 2P – 3/7 3P – 5/6 FT) with 4 REB, 3 STL, 2 BLK, and a 1 AST / 3 TO ratio, a dominant two-way scoring and turnover-forcing performance.

Shon defended Dybantsa in some matchups, and AJ returned the favor in others. Abaev forced a turnover in a trap alongside KJ Francis, anticipated a steal by jumping a passing lane, made a deflection against AJ, and picked up a loose ball steal.

Abaev always stays ready for highlight jams and finesses finishes at the rim.

Shon kept his head up for (potential) assists to the open rim-roller, cutter, shooter; plays that teammates will finish on the next level.

After one mistake from a teammate who appeared frustrated afterward, Shon consoled him and lifted him up with positivity and hype, reminding him its just one play; a positive note for Abaev’s chemistry and communication with his teammates.

Abaev showed off the total scoring versatility shot profile package from beyond the arc, in the deep midrange, the short floater game, drawing fouls and the finishing package at the rim:

the contested stepback pull-up triple(s)
the off-screen blob double-stutter rip catch-and-shoot corner three
the explosive breakaway slam
the crafty driving jump stop contested midrange FLOATA
the closeout-attacking pump-and-driving double-clutch runner and reverse
the double drag dribble-around-the-ring lay-in
the crossover bump-and-finish
the winding downhill finger rolls

How about the turnaround pull-up buzzer-beating 3pt dagger to go up 7 with 2 MIN to play – Shon is Showtime!

In another winning sequence, Shon contests Dybantsa’s shot, blocks Stanton, then draws the foul.

Development Areas:

Shon can fall in love with the tough shots at times. While he’s fully capable of splashing just about any shot he sees, there’s always a give and take of giving up good shots for great shots for the team. Abaev’s feathery jump shot and pristine vision are on display consistently; a true tall point playmaker who can hit shots from anywhere on the court.

Finetuning that decisionmaking feel of when to attack with the shot versus when to set up teammates will go a long way to his consistency as a scoring creator offensive engine. Developing his finishing touch at the rim will increase efficiency and further draw defenses into the paint to open up opportunity for kickouts.

Shon Abaev on his Development since the 2024 Top-100 Camp:

Just polishing my game. Just trying to play with less dribbles. Just being able to play with more pace and stuff like that. Just keep working on my shot. That’s what I do best.

#11 Davis Fogle
6’7″ Guard/Forward (2025)
AZ Compass Prep

Deflections, blocks, steals, boards, dimes, team-first decisions, efficient scoring – Fogle brings a complete approach to the game that translates to his team winning.

Despite playing the 4-man for AZ Compass, Fogle say he views himself a “2, and I can play the 1. I feel like I’m a combo guard that can score and then also get his teammates involved.”

Inspired by the playstyle of Devin Booker, the work ethic and will to win of Kobe Bryant, and the feel for the game of Steph Curry, Fogle does a lot of little things that add up to winning possessions throughout a basketball game.

Davis Fogle on his Development since the 2024 NBPA Top-100 Camp:

Since then just really been working on my strength. Then also kinda just like playing off two feet in the paint, and just being able to impact the game from everywhere, not just scoring the ball, but being able to make everyone around me better.

And on the defensive side, just be able to guard multiple positions, and then rebound both offensively and defensively, along with like still keeping my aggressiveness on the offense end.

Davis Fogle ranked 7th in Overall Impact (8.9 C-RAM), T-4th in Passing (75 FGS), T-6th in Defense (94 DSI), T-16th At The Rim (63 ATR), T-17th in Scoring, showing how one can impact the game in a multitude of ways even when the jump shot isn’t falling.

Vital in the win over Sagemont Prep, Davis Fogle led @AZCompass_Prep with 18 PTS – 5 AST (0 TO) – 6 REB – 2 BLK – 1 STL shooting 9/13 FG by attacking the rack downhill, pulling up for the elbow jumper, looking to set up open teammates.

Fogle took over with the middy pull-up at the elbow, the paint-and-spray kickout 3pt assist, the coast-to-coast dunk, the hard work grinding inside in traffic for a postup bucket, the soft touch with the FLOATA in the paint, the tough take to the rack; Davis did a little bit of everything to help his team secure the win.

Against Calvary, strong take baseline drawing fouls through bump-and-finish contact in the post.

Uses height and length effectively to contest bigger opponents down low, grab rebounds in traffic.

Tall guard with handle to push the pace, find open man in transition, connective passer.

Against Windermere, Fogle scored a solid 10 PTS on 4/7 FG with 6 REB, 2 STL, and 2 AST with 0 TO.

Fogle slashed through the lane for a strong downhill attack, showing how to use his size, length, and footwork to get to the rim and finish effectively.

Fogle just knows where to be to make plays, sees where the rebound is going before it bounces, soft touch on putbacks and finishes at the rim in the paint, effective player on both ends with high two-way feel.

2nd Team All-Tourney from @BeyondTheRK

Miles Sadler
Hudson Greer
Kevin Thomas
Patrick Liburd
JJ Mandaquit

#1 Miles Sadler
6’1″ Guard (2026)
Cia Bella Vista

A natural tough shotmaker who was born to score the rock, Miles Sadler puts the ball on a string whether he’s breaking out his impeccable handle or incredible shooting touch.

Sadler gets to the rim with quick burst and finishes in Kyrie-esque fashion, flipping the shot up onto the backboard with just the right amount of english to drop through the net. Miles jumpshot is pure, rising and firing in one motion, with such touch the net doesn’t even move.

Miles consistently shows off the feathery touch, tight handle, and fluid body control taking and making any shot he wants: pull-up threes, clean catch-and-shoot looks, and driving finishes from crafty reverses, smooth spin moves to the rim, and shifty downhill finger rolls.

Sadler penetrates paint at will and looks for well-timed dumpoff passes to teammates lurking in the dunker spot, bigs rolling, and cutters cutting.

Miles ranked 7th in Passing (73 FGS), T-11th in Scoring (69 PSP), 23rd in Overall Impact (+6.8 C-RAM)

Despite the jump shot looking aesthetically clean, Sadler did nearly all of his damage below the arc, missing most of his 3s. Miles shot 1/10 3PA on the weekend but scored at will on 2s, hitting 12/18 2PA and making 4/7 FTA.

Still, its Sadler’s quick first step, incredible finishing at the rim, and savvy ball skills that stand out as special skills.

Against Riviera, Sadler proved to be a crafty driver and finisher converting up and under finger rolls, tough spinning shots, breakaway layups off turnovers, while staying patient for drive and dumpoff passes to baseline cutters.

Miles’ driving body control and finesse finishing was impressive, with endless finger roll at the rim

A smart decision maker, Sadler flashed his high feel on an unselfish give-and-go fast break opportunity.

In a win over Utah Prep, Miles Sadler was electric.

Sadler showed how he can take over a game with his scoring, leading his team in scoring and to a win over Dybantsa’s Utah Prep. (Tied with Rokiem Green’s 15 PTS)

Sadler dropped 15 PTS on 6/10 2P, drawing 6 FTA, pulling down 6 REB, and racking up a 5 AST / 3 TO ratio.

In the close 1st place loss to Montverde, Miles Sadler still found a way to light up the court, dropping 16 PTS on 7/14 FG with 3 REB, 1 STL, and a 4 AST / 5 TO ratio.

Sadler was effective on both ends, using active hands and anticipation to force multiple deflections, with one sequence where he pickpockets the steal at point-of-attack and converts the layup off the turnover for a good ol’ 4pt swing.

Looking for teammates, tosses the alley oop lob, makes a nice dumpoff pass to the cutter, pushes the pace and finds Neto in transition. Sadler would have tallied twice as many dimes if his teammates hit their good shots, instead just “potential” assists, which still shows off his vision, decisionmaking, and playmaking prowess.

#10 Hudson Greer
6’6″ Guard/Forward (2025)
Montverde Academy

Hudson’s shooting is a special skill, swishing everything in open catch-and-shoots this weekend.

Knockdown 3pt shooter with high feel, soft touch, tons of ball skill, good team-first decisionmaker

Dante Allen on Hudson Greer as a teammate on and off the court:

Hudson? Hudson’s a great person. Goofy, but just overall a good person.

Somebody who’s always positive, like rarely will you ever see him with a frown on his face, just somebody who you just always want around you.

Then that’s something that definitely translates, somebody who you really enjoy being with off the court to somebody who you really enjoy being on the court.

So Hudson’s like definitely up there with the guys who you just like always want around you, especially just the kind of way he carries himself.

Sneaky smart defender racked up 4 blocks, 2nd most of any player in the tourney, and even more deflections.

Greer was one of three players to rank 65+ in every Cerebro Sports tracked category (AJ Dybantsa, Dante Allen)

5th in Overall Impact (+9.7 C-RAM)
6th in Passing (74 FGS)
8th in Defense (92 DSI, with 5 Stocks to just 2 Fouls all weekend)
8th in 3PT Shooting (91 3PE, hitting 42% 3P% on 19 total 3PA)
9th in At The Rim (68 ATR)
T-11th in Scoring (69 PSP)

Drilled 2 3PM vs Calvary with 2 AST / 0 TO and 1 BLK, converts a driving finger roll and throws down a big-time dunk.

Vs. Windermere, Greer added 12 PTS on 5/10 FG with 2 3PM , 3 REB, 1 BLK, 1 STL, and a 4 AST / 0 TO ratio.

Arguably Hudson Greer’s best performance of the weekend arrived in the finale to the tune of 16 PTS on 4/7 3PM and 2/4 2P with 8 REB, 2 BLK, and a 2 AST / 0 TO ratio.

Running the floor hard, Greer got up for a highlight alley oop jam; he made a mean block early in the game leading to a 4pt swing after Dante’s driving layup, and forced another deflection to open the second half.

Hudson keeps his head on a swivel, looking to make connective passes to open teammates – a shuttle to a cutter, a swing to a shooter

Don’t sleep on Greer’s defensive instincts – Hudson uses active hands, anticipation, timing to rack up deflections, block shots in help defense, force steals jumping passing lanes. Good two-way feel and touch to round out his all-around ball skills.

Hudson came up huge in the clutch initiating the final scoring sequence of the game where he nearly loses the ball to Sadler’s pressure defense, before launching a hail mary pass to anyone near his team’s basket from the opposite baseline that led to the highlight of the night – a CJ Ingram to Hakeem Weems game-clinching tournament-winning alley-oop.

#4 Kevin Thomas
6’8″ Guard/Forward (2026)
Sagemont Prep

A high-flying defensive playmaker uber athlete, Kevin Thomas makes impact winning plays that help his team win while making highlight slams look routine.

Kevin Thomas took home the “Monster Dunk Jam Trophy” award, which I hope the tournament made up on the spot just to acknowledge this absolutely insane breakaway through-the-legs in-game dunk. Who tries this? Kevin Thomas, that’s who.

Kevin Thomas on his in-game highlight jams:

Yeah, when I have a chance to, I do it a lot. So coach give me the green light because he know I’m consistent with it.

Matt Able on Kevin Thomas as a teammate:

Oh, man, he’s funny, that’s my guy right there. He’s hilarious, really good dude.

I think we have really good chemistry, as a team and me and him, I think we gel pretty well. I think he has a lot more potential that he can untap, because he’s only a junior, so I think the sky’s the limit for him, he’s gonna be great.

Kevin Thomas revealed a 3&D floor with dynamic all-around potential as a toughshotmaking uber athlete.

Thomas rated as 5th in Defense (98 DSI), 10th in Overall Impact (+8.2 C-RAM), T-12th in Passing (67 FGS), 14th in Scoring (63 PSP), T-15th in 3PE (74 3PE), and 26th At The Rim (57 ATR) on relatively low usage.

Versus Utah Prep, Thomas impressed with how he uses his size, big wingspan, and strength to overwhelm opponents on the defensive end, while bringing an explosive vertical and powerful downhill threat to the rim who can hit tough 3pt jumpers too.

Kevin Thomas drilled tough off screen relocation C&S 3s, C&S 3s, pull-up 3s, and threw down monster highlight dunks throughout the weekend.

Against Riviera, Kevin Thomas continue to dominate on both ends of the floor – 13 PTS on 6/13 FG, 4 REB, 4 STL, 2 BLK, and a 7 AST / 0 TO Ratio.

In addition to his Sportscenter Top-10 duh-nuh-nuh, duh-nuh-nuh gamebreaker slam dunk, Thomas also showed good body control and flashed clean finishing touch at the rim on a eurostep drive and an under-control up-and-under finish.

Against AZ Compass, Kevin dropped 15 PTS on 6/10 FG and 3/5 3P with 2 REB, 2 STL, and a 1 AST / 2 TO ratio.

Thomas posted an incredible two-way sequence moving on defense, deterring passes and jumpers, grabbing the board and pushing the pace, dropping defenders with hesis and a smooth finish

Everywhere defensively, using motor, length, instincts, Kevin Thomas’s pressure is constantly felt by the opposing team.

Thomas made a highlight block from behind that led to a C&S transition three for Liburd.

Kevin Thomas on what he prides his game on and his development goals:

I get a lot of open shots because my teammates set me up for it and I’m starting to attack way more and my defense is getting way better throughout the season.

Definitely improving on my craft and my perimeter defense and my aggressiveness getting to the paint.

#5 Patrick Liburd
6’6″ Guard/Forward 2025)
Sagemont Prep

Patrick Liburd came to play this weekend, helping his team finish 3rd overall, showing consistent scoring ability, team-first shot creator potential, impressive 3pt shooting, and did so on relatively low usage.

According to Cerebro Sports, Liburd had one of the best all-around performances of any player, leading all players with 18 Free Throw Attempts (18 FTA) while rating Top-5 in Overall Impact (+10 C-RAM), Scoring (90 PSP), and 3pt Shooting (113 3PE), while also ranking 9th in Passing (71 FGS), T-18th At The Rim (62 ATR), and T-25th on Defense. (72 DSI)

Liburd did all this while producing on insane efficiency: 72.5% TS% on 30 FGA, 53.3% 3P% on 16 3PA, 78% FT% on 18 FTA.

Downhill force who uses his power and graceful mobility to penetrate the paint, attack the rack, and kick to shooters.

Draws fouls, quick first step, sound ball control, huge strength advantage with the handle help Liburd get into the paint with ease to attack the rack over and over, drawing bump and finish contact.

Drills catch-and-shoot 3pt jump shots throughout the tournament.

Against Utah Prep, Liburd helped his team fight a close battle with 16 PTS on 65 TS% with 4 3PM, 2 STL, and a 4 AST / 2 TO ratio.

Liburd dominated Riviera with 26 PTS on 8/13 FG – 6/7 3P – 4/4 FT, 4 REB, 2 BLK, and a 6 AST / 2 TO ratio, showing off the catch-and-shoot 3pt jump shot form.

Against AZ Compass, Liburd drew free throws with no abandon (8/11 FT), scoring 13 PTS with 4 REB and a 1 AST / 1 TO ratio.

#23 JJ Mandaquit
6’1″ Guard (2025)
Utah Prep

High feel point guard with great vision to execute offense, lives in midrange with a masterful floater, brings pesky defense at point of attack, looks to push and control the pace.

Mandaquit put together a strong all-around outing all weekend, thriving as the lead playmaking point guard for Utah Prep.

Among all players who played at least 2 of the 3 games, JJ rated 1st in passing (85 FGS), T-13th At The Rim (64), 14th in Overall Impact (+7.9 C-RAM), 16th in Scoring (61 PSP), T-21st on Defense (77 DSI), on relatively low usage.

JJ showed off his midrange pace-pushing scoring creator potential in the matchup against Sagemont, scoring 15 PTS on 7/10 2P with an 11 AST / 4 TO ratio plus 6 REB, 1 STL, and 1 BLK.

Against CIA Bella Vista, Mandaquit kept the pace pushing and ship steady in a close loss, scoring 14 PTS on 6/15 FG with 4 REB, 2 STL, 1 BLK, and a 5 AST / 3 TO ratio.

Mandaquit showed off the soft floater touch, the masterful handle and ball control he uses to create space, the heads up vision to look for open shooters for (potential) assists, the two-way feel to jump passing lanes and dig in on drivers with active hands to force turnovers for steals.

In the close 3rd place game loss to Calvary Christian, JJ scored 6 PTS on 3/8 FG with 7 REB, 1 STl, and a 5 AST / 3 TO ratio.

Mandaquit swished his signature floater, converted another contested putback floater, made one of the highlight plays of the game with the alley-oop lob pass to big man Xavion Staton, and made a heads up play saving the loose ball off the opponent.

JJ consistently puts pressure on the defense in the paint, stays pushing the pace and moving the ball, connecting teammates, hitting open shooters.

In this matchup, he finds a drive-and-kick corner 3pt assist and makes multiple skip passes to the corner over traffic.

JJ Mandaquit on what he prides himself on when on the court, his shooting touch, mid range floater game, and controlling the pace:

Yeah, I mean, the same things that you just said – just pushing the pace, being able to control it – but even more than that, just the little things on the other side of the court. Just working on trying to pick up people, just really push myself on the defensive end, be more involved off the ball, and just working on those little things.

3rd-Team All-Tourney from @BeyondTheRK

CJ Ingram
Anthony Knowles
Brandon Bass Jr.
Trent Sisley
Anthony Felesi

#11 CJ Ingram
6’6″ Guard (2025)
Montverde Academy

CJ Ingram’s standout skill is his downhill explosiveness; the mix of his quick first step burst, rising verticality, and strong play-finishing creates a downhill-force that’s extremely effective when running the floor in transition or moving off the ball for cuts.

Despite not seeing any 3balls drop through the net this weekend, Ingram still rated 8th in Scoring (72 PSP) and T-11th in Overall Impact (+8.1 C-RAM) with the 8th-highest usage of any player (27% USG%).

Dante Allen on CJ Ingram’s game:

CJ a guy getting downhill, he’s going to attract a lot of attention, so if he’s not getting down there scoring, then he’s someone who can also get a lot of guys open.

Which areas did CJ thrive?

Ingram ranked T-6th At The Rim (70 ATR), 14th on Defense (85 DSI), and 2nd in Free Throw Attempts (17 FTA), despite playing on the wing, which reveals his north-south effectiveness, especially off force turnovers. Ingram also rated 27th in Passing (57 FGS), an area to improve.

CJ Ingram’s presence was felt throughout just 20 MIN against Windermere: recording 8 PTS on 3/5 FG, 5 REB, 2 BLK, 2 STL, with a 2 AST / 6 TO ratio.

CJ made a ton of winning plays in this one, impressing with body control, playmaking chops, and defensive impact:

Blow by burst of speed for the drive-and-kick to King Gibson for the C&S triple

Explosive block from behind, good timing, anticipation, instincts

Decelerating tough finish through contact

Throws down alley-oop slam

Slick wraparound pass great vision to find Sisley for a dunk

Forcing turnovers, grabbing steals, diving for loose balls

CJ later helped will a comeback win over Calvary Christian, with Montverde trailing all game until an 18-8 fourth quarter behind Ingram (16 PTS), Trent Sisley (13 PTS), and Dante Allen (12 PTS)

Ingram totaled 16 PTS on 7/10 FG with 7 REB, 2 STL and a 3 AST / 1 TO ratio vs Calvary Christian.

Ingram played hard on both ends in the title game win over CIA Bella Vista, scoring 13 PTS on 5/9 FGA and 3/6 FTA with 6 REB, 2 STL, and a 1 AST / 3 TO ratio.

CJ made one of the biggest plays of the tournament, hauling in a hail mary pass from Greer before the other team could recover the loose ball, immediately turning around and finding Hakeem Weems for the tournament-securing alley-oop lob.

Kicking to open shooters, CJ had at least 3 potential assists to open 3pt shooters that could’ve resulted in 9 PTS if his teammates’ shots went down; these are still good decisions, revealing his feel for the game.

Development Areas:

CJ Ingram is an incredible athlete, a football player who shows a clear athletic edge over his peers.

Ingram has clearly improved as the season goes on, especially in his confidence with the ball in his hands, and that quick development curve is a positive indicator for his rise to continue.

Refining the handle, rim finishing touch, and decision-making consistency could go a long way to help CJ build out his offensive repertoire; when defenses know they can’t stop you from getting downhill, use that to your advantage to create the three most efficient shots in basketball – rim shots, free throws, and corner threes.

#12 Anthony Knowles
6’0″ Guard (2025)
Sagemont Prep

Anthony Knowles offers one of the most complete skill-sets of any player at this event.

Knowles brings tough shot making to the table with bump and finish AND1s, smooth floater touch, and elbow middy pull-ups, on top of good vision looking for the open man and keeping an eye up the floor for the outlet and transition dumpoff three when pushing the pace.

Anthony ranked 10th in 3PE (86 3PE, hitting 46% 3P% of his 13 3P), 5th in Passing (75 FGS with 14 AST / 6 TO ratio), 6th in Scoring (73 PSP scoring 13 PPG on 68.4% TS%), T-11th Overall Impact (+8.1 C-RAM), and T-23rd in At The Rim (58 ATR)

Versus Utah Prep, Anthony scored 10 PTS on 3/5 FG and 3/4 FT, grabbing 3 REB and dishing out a 6 AST / 2 TO ratio.

Knowles lit up the box score against Riviera – 22 PTS on 7/10 FG – 4/6 3P – 4/4 FT, 3 REB, 1 STL, and a 4 AST / 1 TO ratio.

Against AZ Compass, Knowles added 7 PTS with 2 REB and a 4 AST / 3 TO ratio, hittig the middy pull-up, drilling a catch-and-shoot corner three, making a winning play deflection.

Well-timed rip for the deflection and steal, good defensive instincts and two-way feel.

#1 Brandon Bass Jr.
6’5″ Guard (2026)
Windermere Prep

One of the few bright spots for Windermere this tournament, Brandon Bass Jr. showed off his clean 3pt shooting stroke with a tight handle, mean pull-up game, and feathery smoother jumper.

Bass was the most one-way player in the field, by the numbers: Brandon ranked 4th in 3pt Shooting (97 3PE on 7/16 3P), T-9th in Scoring (71 PSP), T-16th in Passing (64 FGS), T-18th in Overall Impact (+7 C-RAM), with the 5th-highest usage percentage (36% USG%), average at the rim (57 ATR), despite rating as the lowest impact defender (0 DSI)

Scoring 16 PTS on 4/10 3P with 5 REB and a 3 AST / 3 TO ratio against Montverde, Bass showed off that handle on a beautiful stepback pull-up three in the 2nd, another late pull-up three in the 4th, and a clean catch-and-shoot look from deep in the 1st.

Turnovers arrive sometimes when missing open teammates, or trying to weave through too much traffic.

Against Riviera Prep, Bass once again showed off his scoring prowess, dropping 28 PTS on 19 shots and drawing fouls with ease (7/14 2P, 2/5 3P, 8/10 FT), grabbing 7 REB, forcing 3 STl, and posting a 4 AST / 4 TO ratio.

Against AZ Compass, Bass dropped 19 PTS on 6/16 FG – 3/6 3P – 4/4 FT with 6 REB and a 3 AST / 2 TO ratio.

Bass showed shifty drive body control and soft touch on a finger roll, and impressed with crazy tough pull-up 3s off the dribble creating space for himself on back-to-back possessions early in the game.

When Brandon’s feeling it, the pull-up three comes out like clockwork, and they often go in. Bass keeps a heads up for open shooters, finding Shoptaw a few times for off screen and off-ball three pointers. Brandon draws fouls by never giving up on possessions, attacking at will with dribble moves to create space or draw contact.

Development Areas:

Playing harder on defense, simply put. One can be the best offensive player on the court, but if you can’t get a stop, it’s going to be difficult to outscore your opponent every night out. Maybe that wins a battle on occasion, but it will never win the war.

Effort goes a long way on the defensive end; you don’t need talent to play hard and bring energy.

Decision-making feel and improving his finishing skills at the rim would help further build out Bass’ bucket-getting skill-set.

#12 Trent Sisley
6’8″ Forward (2025)
Montverde Academy

Trent Sisley impacts the game in an all-around way: forcing turnovers, making good safe team-first decisions with the ball, attacking the rack as an energetic play-finisher who can dribble, pass, and shoot.

Potential two-way versatility lies in this skill-set, which when combined with quick processing, effective length, and dribble-pass-shoot ball skills, together translates to valuable winning impact at every level.

Dante Allen on Trent Sisley’s game:

on Trent, maybe like an undersized big who can step out and shoot the three really well.

You know he’s there somewhere looking for his shot too.

Sisley ranked 5th in Scoring (75 PSP) on relatively low usage, T-11th At The Rim (65 ATR), 17th in Overall Impact (+7.6 C-RAM), T-21st in 3PT Shooting (64 3PE), 33rd in Passing (46 FGS).

Sisley’s 75% TS% was 2nd-highest scoring efficiency of any player with 2+ games played, behind just Sam Hallas (86.2% TS%)

Helped his team force a late comeback win over Calvary with 13 PTS, 4 REB, 1 BLK, 1 STL, and a 5 AST / 1 TO ratio.

Solid handle, goes coast-to-coast for a drive in transition, throws down big slams as a strong play-finisher at the rim.

Sound defensive effort, constant movement, good hips/hands/footwork in on-one-one.

Shows soft touch in post-ups, putbacks, and finishes near the rim.

Find someone who brings the fire that Trent Sisley does on a basketball court for your roster and your team’s energy levels will never be better. Sisley’s motor, intensity, energy is contagious, his teammates play harder just by playing alongside him.

This first clip below revealing his competitive fire must be how Trent won the official Sportsmanship Award of the tournament…

Development Areas:

Defense, Playmaking, 3PT Shooting. Sisley brings great energy and shows good ball instincts; becoming a more consistent defender would go a long way to him proving legit high-level two-way impact to help his team win. Getting more reps as a connective passer and catch-and-shoot 3pt threat could help him round out his offensive arsenal.

#1 Anthony Felesi
6’5″ Forward (2026)
Utah Prep

Anthony Felesi adds an all-around skill-set with intensity and downhill burst athleticism to any equation.

Anthony Felesi on his current skill development goals:

I think mostly my outside game, really extending my range, trying to get that three pointer down.

Felesi ranked 3rd in At The Rim (73 ATR), 16th in Overall Impact (+7.7 C-RAM), T-15th in Defense (84 DSI), T-17th in Scoring (59 PSP), and T-20th in Passing (61 FGS).

Improving as a 3pt shooter to be a threat from deep is the next skill to develop for Felesi’s nearly complete all-around skillset.

What stands out most about Felesi is his frenetic energy, vertical athleticism defensive instincts, and north-south explosiveness.

FelesiAgainst Sagemont, Felesi poured in 15 PTS shooting 5/10 FG – 1/5 3P – 4/4 FT with 5 REB, 1 BLK, 1 STl, and a 4 AST / 2 TO ratio.

Felesi impressed in many areas, from finishing in transition, making connector passes, to hitting deep jumpers.

The soft touch finish for the AND1 at the rim.

Heads up drive and dumpoff vision to Dybantsa for the transition slam.

Felesi drilled an off screen 3pt splash jumper, smartly cut to the rim for a bump and finish AND1, and flashed good defensive instincts on a deflection.

Felesi’s tenacity was on full display against Calvary Christian, attacking the rack, paint, and glass relentlessly for 14 PTS, 13 REB, 11 FTA, 2 BLK, 1 STl, and a 2 AST / 0 TO ratio.

The mean chasedown block off his own free throw attempt summed up the night; make a mistake, clean it right up.

Anthony was a one man wrecking crew, attacking the rack nonstop, protecting his own basket moving around like a wavy inflatable arm man, forcing his will on the opponent, racking up boards in traffic, putbacks through contact, lurking in the shadows for the next hustle play.

When he could get downhill, he will, whether it be running the break or slicing and dicing the defense on cuts through the paint.

5 Interesting Prospects to put on your radar

Paul Osaruyi
Kalek House
Rokiem Green
Collin Paul
Sam Hallas

#25 Paul Osaruyi
6’10” Forward/Center (2027)
Cia Bella Vista

Really impressive big man prospect, especially as a mobile rim-protecting rim-roller.

Powerful, explosive, skilled big who finishes strong in the paint and soft at the rim

Dunker spot playfinisher, post-up threat, midrange floater, rebounding rimroller

Throwing down lobs, rim-rolls, power slams with ease; a point guard’s dream lob threat.

Osaruyi runs the floor hard as a strong playfinisher cleaning up mistakes on the glass and hammering home slams for his team.

Paul is an active, mobile, tall, long, versatile defender who moves his feet, hips, and hands whether he’s switching out on the perimeter or protecting the rim.

Osaruyi ranked T-4th in At The Rim (71 ATR), 36th on Defense (T-62 DSI), and 27th in Overall Impact. (+5.7 C-RAM)

Paol Osaruyi shows off the athleticism, size advantage, postup footwork and hook shot skills vs Riviera Prep

A little wild at times until he refines his ball skills, on plays had a good drive, but a bad pass that became an unforced turnover.

Strong rebound in traffic to finish the defensive possession and force the stop in the clutch up 4 PTS with 30 seconds to play versus Utah Prep, finishing with 9 PTS, 6 REB, 1 BLK overall in 17 MIN.

In a close loss to Montverde in the tourney title, Paul Osaruyri added 4 PTS with 8 REB and 1 BLK in 13 minutes, yet Paul popped out every time he stepped on the court.

Osaruyri looked the part, impressing with explosive athleticism, monster alley-oop jams, a poster power slam over Sisley, and a big block in help defense.

Here’s Paul throwing down a big one-handed alley-oop jam on the fast break:

#5 Kalek House
6’3″ Guard (2026)
AZ Compass Prep

Legit 3&D Guard, knockdown 3pt shooter, smart impactful defender

The House House knows a thing or two about three-pointers; Kalek and his twin brother Kaden are sons of Boston Celtics legend, Eddie House.

Kalek hit his threes all weekend with his smooth jump shot, and forced turnovers to boot, flashing 3&D upside and tenacity, yet House also flashed a well-rounded skill-set with few holes in his game, revealing a potential connector who can slide into just about any lineup.

Kalek ranked 9th in Overall Impact (+8.4 C-RAM), T-5th with AJ Dybantsa at 3PE (95 3PE shooting 44% 3P% on 23 3PA), T-11th in Scoring (69 PSP) on relatively low usage, T-12th in Defense (87 DSI recording 5 STL + 1 BLK with 6 Fouls) T-13th in At The Rim (64 ATR), T-20th in Passing (61 FGS)

Kalek showed off his clean shooting stroke from deep in every matchup, including 3 3PM against Windermere, 4 3PM against Calvary, and 3 3PM against Sagemont.

What stands out most for Kalek is not just his 3pt jumper, but his nose for the ball; House always seems to be in the right place at the right time, contesting shots, active hands forcingdeflections, moving his hips, coming up with 2 STL vs Windermere.

Kalek House on his current skill development:

Just my shot and like my handle, I need to get my handle right. I’ma be valid, I’ll be smooth.

Kalek House on any former or current players who inspire his game or steal a move from:

Jrue Holiday, he’s a good defender, he plays the point guard. I’m playing point guard next year more, like he just facilitates really well, he can shoot the ball. I just want to be like him.

Jaden Vance describing Kalek House as a teammate:

He’s a great teammate, you know what I’m saying? Always joking around. Always boosting up his teammates.

Nicholas Randall describing Kalek House as a teammate:

He’s never in his feelings. Never gets mad.

#0 Rokiem Green
6’2″ Guard (2026)
Cia Bella Vista

Legit D&3 Guard, quick-trigger catch-and-shoot 3pt jump shooter, instinctual anticipatory defender.

Green showed incredible understanding of the game, where to be, how to deflect as many balls as possible. Beyond just nailing his three pointers, Rokiem showed a willingness to attack the rack to score for his team – adding on-ball reps could help him improve his offensive decision-making feel and playmaking skills, where the goal should be to develop into a 3pt Connector who can use his shooting gravity to bend the defense and help create open shots for his team.

Rokiem ranked 7th in 3pt Shooting ( 92 3PE shooting 5/11 3P), 4th in Defense (100 DSI with 3 blocks in 3 games and a myriad of deflections as a 6’2″ guard), 15th in Scoring (62 PSP), and 27th in Overall Impact (+6.4 C-RAM)

Splashing at least 3 C&S 3PA and 1 Pull-Up 3PA in transition vs Riviera Prep, Rokiem clearly has the Green light from deep.

Another possession, he made a winning play by timing up a dig to rip away the ball from the driver for a steal.

In a huge win over Utah Prep, Green dropped 15 PTS in 13 MIN on 4/6 3P, even showing the awareness to rip through defenders contesting arms in front of him to draw a foul on a pull-up middy, a veteran move.

Green showed off his 3pt shooting versatility with an off-the-dribble stepback and multiple catch-and-shoot jumpers from deep.

Against Montverde in the title game, Rokiem’s presence was most felt on the defensive end, where he made a deflection and racked up 3 STL, while on the other end Green added 7 PTS on 3/11 FGA with 1 REB and 1 AST.

Over and over again, Rokiem Green’s defense pops out in person and on tape due to his defensive instincts leading to anticipatory deflections, steals, and loose ball recoveries, including 3 STL in the title game vs MVA (7 PTS). Green often turns those turnovers into points by flying to the basket when the moment strikes.

#5 Collin Paul
6’7″ Forward (2025)
Calvary Christian

Collin Paul is a strong driver, capable C&S 3pt range shooter, sound defender, backdown postup tough shot maker, with a solid handle that allows him to glide through the paint with no one wanting to step in his way.

Paul rated T-13th At The Rim (64 ATR), T-20th in Scoring (58 PSP), 31st on Defense (68 DSI), T-32nd Overall Impact (+5.9 C-RAM).

Paul scored 8 PTS versus AZ Compass on 4/9 FG with 4 REB, 1 STl, and a 2 AST / 2 TO ratio. On this play against a good defender in Fogle, Paul hesis his way into the paint with good body control to avoid the charge for a finger roll.

Paul was able to score efficiently, get downhill with strength, draw fouls against Montverde, scoring 15 PTS on 4/9 FG and 7/8 FT with 3 REB and 1 TO.

Against Utah Prep in the 3rd Place Win, Collin Paul posted 12 PTS on 5/11 FG with 11 REB, 1 BLK, 1 STL, and 2 TO.

Paul showed off his strong downhill force quick burst explosiveness, his frenetic shot-contesting defensive effort, and his relentless mindset by powering through the lane for loud putbacks, glass-crashing boards, and smooth driveby finishes.

Collin flashed soft touch tough shot making on the finger roll and fadeaway, solid handle and handoff timing, heads up vision looking for open shooters after creating the advantage, creating the overall ability to penetrate the paint, draw fouls, and create good shots for his team from the north south physicality he uses.

Paul’s sound defense on Dybantsa forces tough passes and contested shots.

#4 Sam Hallas
6’7″ Forward (2026)
Calvary Christian

Sam Hallas was arguably the most impactful defender at the 2025 Montverde Invitational, ranking 2nd in DSI (103 DSI) behind Ezra Gelin.

Hallas ranked T-4th in in Blocks (1.3 BLK/gm) and T-4th in Steals (2 STL/gm)

Against Montverde alone, Hallas racked up 5 Stocks (3 STL + 2 BLK) to 4 personal fouls; Sam scored 4 PTS on 2/2 FG.

A strong play finisher who plays through contact, Hallas was by far the most efficient scorer among qualified players in this tournament, scoring 86% TS% overall and making 91% of his 33 FGA, ranking him as the T-6th best Scorer (73 PSP)

Between his impactful defense and efficient scoring, it’s no wonder Hallas ranked 6th in Overall Two-Way Impact (+9.4 C-RAM).

Big dunk off the baseline cut, two power slams, well timed baseline cut for reverse layup, Sam Hallas brought his play-finishing game to the AZ Compass matchup, scooring 17 PTS on 8/9 FG with 6 REB, 2 BLK, 2 STL, and 1 TO.

Scouting The Best of The Rest

Riviera Prep

#0 Myles Fuentes
6’0″ Guard (2027)
Riviera Prep

Myles showed tenacity and willpower to score, confident shooter, pushes the pace, finesse finishing in traffic, and provides intense full court pressure on defense.

Legit two-way impact between his quick burst first step penetrating the paint and his clean footwork and energy creating a swarming defender.

Myles Fuentes on his approach to the game and development goals:

The thing I’m focusing on most is more consistent shooting. But I always take pride in my defense, always. So that’s the first thing I always take pride in. Just working hard and keeping my shot as consistent as possible.

Mason Fuentes describing his brother as a teammate:

I mean, on the court, we’ve been playing with each other our whole life. So our chemistry is second to none. Like we have little signals on the court, like when to back door, when to ghost the screen. So it’s just, the chemistry’s on a thousand.

And that off the court stuff, everything we do is together, we’re one year apart. If I’m going here, he’s going there. If I’m working out, he’s working out with me. So it’s just that Brotherly love.

Myles added 14 PTS on 5/5 FT with 10 REB, 1 STL, and a 4 AST / 3 TO ratio in a loss on the final day to Windermere.

Against CIA Bella Vista, Myles shows good defensive instincts, anticipation, timing for deflections and steals.

Myles stretches the floor with catch-and-shoot 3pt shooting and uses that gravity to attack the rack while looking for the open man for (potential) assists.

Showing impressive live ball handles, ball control, and body control to maneuver to the rim, Myles is a strong driver who flashes soft floater touch and tough bump-and-finish finger roll skills over contests.

#2 Mason Fuentes
6’2″ Guard (2026)
Riviera Prep

Mason’s finishing at the rim, midrange, beyond the arc was impressive.

Mason Fuentes on his approach to the game and development goals:

I’m a competitor, man. Mainly, I just want to win. I don’t care how I do it, or what’s done in it.

Like if we win and I have 2 points, 20 assists, I’m happy, I’m excited with the team, I’m a pass-first point guard. That’s my job to get everyone involved, and then eventually, my time’s gonna come to get mine, so I just win at all costs.

Myles describing his brother as a teammate:

Pretty much what (Mason) said, he always knows when to find me, when to throw a lob of me. Like the little signals he said, he knows when I need a back door, when I need to get a bucket, or if I have a mismatch, he’ll hit me. It’s just like that brother chemistry.

In the 7th place game against Windermere, Mason tallied 16 PTS on 3/5 3P and 5/6 FT with 5 REB, 2 STL and a staggering 11 AST / 6 TO ratio.

Against CIA Bella Vista, Mason Fuentes proved to be a crafty finisher at the rim who gets to his spots using impressive body control, fundamental driving footwork, heads up vision to find cutters, while showing defensive instincts to time up deflections.

Mason made a great block from behind to force a turnover before hitting the lookahead pass in transition, he had a nifty driving finish, and made a headsup plays finding Alonzo Mets for a C&S corner three out of a baselines out of bounds set.

#15 Jaion Pitt
6’7″ Forward (2025)
Cia Bella Vista

Pitt acted as an imposing shot-swatting rim-detterent and powerful dunker spot playfinisher for CIA Bella Vista the entire tournament.

Drawing fouls and AND1s in the paint, throwing down powerful jams, showing sound rim protection defensive instincts timing up multiple blocks (4 or 5, by my count) at the rim, in transition, in help defense during a 30pt smackdown against Riveria Prep where Jaion led all scorers with 14 PTS.

Flashes heads up connector vision shown on a rip through driving dumpoff pass to Paul Osaruyri for the power slam.

One possession, Jaion forced a stop with good contain defense forcing the baseline trap, a winning defensive play even if that doesn’t show up in the box score.

Against Utah Prep, Pitt got to the free throw line at will (13 PTS on 6/7 FT), making his presence known in the paint with methodical footwork and sound body control to manuever through traffic and draw contact on the shot attempt.

In a close loss to Montverde in the title game, Jaion Pitt dished out 3 AST to 1 TO with just 5 PTS and 5 REB, yet Pitt’s presence was felt through out, especially on defense forcing deflections and as a connector kicking out to open teammates.

Pitt racked up even more potential assists where teammates missed a good look.

Jaion’s defensive activity must be highlights, as his effort, awareness, instincts on that end lead to many stops, deflections, and forced turnovers.

#32 Xavion Staton
6’9″ Center (2025)
Utah Prep

Big man with great defensive instincts, active rebounding effort, natural rim-protector, strong play-finisher.

Staton rated 2nd in At The Rim (80 ATR), T-20th in Overall Impact (+7 C-RAM), and 23rd in Defense. (83 DSI)

Crashes glass in traffic for putbacks, to draw fouls, and kickout to shooters

Protects rim blocking shots in the paint, contesting in post and help defense

Arguably Staton’s most impactful game came in a close 3rd place loss to Calvary Christian, where Xavion put up 8 PTS on 4/6 FG with 2 REB, 3 BLK, 1 STL, and 1 TO.

Staton’s rim-detterence was felt every possession out there, blocking everything in sight, contesting everyone, before running the floor hard for loud finishes at the rim.

Staton threw down one a highlight alley-oop from JJ Mandaquit, and stayed ready in the dunker spot for shuttle passes and quick feeds for good looks at the rim.

#10 Kaden House
6’3″ Guard (2026)
AZ Compass Prep

Strong driver to the cup, impressive body control, acceleration and deceleration, spinning footwork, heads up vision for dumpoff passes, tough shot making skills.

Showed tight handle, good playmaking skills, soft finishing at the rim, can take a hit for a bump-and-finish, able to maneuver through defenses with crab dribbles and spin footwork.

Throws in 16 PTS on a perfect 8/8 FT , 2 reb, 3 AST / 3 TO ratio and 1 STl vs Windermere with continuous downhill attacks, one breakaway explosive POWER slam, an alley-oop lob pass, drawing fouls penetrating the paint at will. Sound footwork and smooth finishing at the rim.

#4 Aginaldo Neto
6’1″ Guard (2025)
Cia Bella Vista

Showed sound defensive instincts, racking up deflections and steals throughout the weekend, being in the right place at the right time often for turnovers, rebounds, cuts.

Neto rated as the 10th-best defender in the event. (94 DSI)

In a close loss during the title game vs Montverde, Neto scored an efficient 8 PTS on 4/8 FG with 3 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 0 TO, and multiple deflections.

Shows quick burst penetrating the paint pushing the pace and soft touch finishing at the rim, able to flip the direction of the court on a dime and arrive to the rim at will.

Given Neto’s ability to attack the rack, it’s a little surprising the team didn’t go back to that option more often; no one on MVA was stopping Neto from getting to the rim. Aginaldo flashed good passing touch on a dime to the rolling Pitt in side P&R.

#3 Cayden Daughtry
6’0″ Guard (2027)
Calvary Christian

High feel point guard who makes winning plays for his team, despite being just 16 years old playing at a higher level.

Cayden ranked 10th in Passing (72 FGS), 17th in 3PE (76 3PE), T-32nd in Overall Impact (+5.9 C-RAM), 39th in Defense. (69 DSI)

Shot the lights out from deep against Montverde, scoring 18 PTS on 4/8 3P, despite just shooting 2/9 2P, Daughtry helped give his team a lead through three quarters with 4 REB, 1 STL, 1 BLK, and a 2 AST / 2 TO ratio.

12 PTS on 79% TS% with an 8 AST / 4 TO ratio, 4 REB, 2 BLK from Cayden Daughtry helped his team defeat AZ Compass by 9 points.

Uses quick first step burst to hunt for open teammates on drives, dumpoffs, kickouts, swings, skips.

Against Utah Prep, Cayden struggled with the overwhelming size of the opponent, but found a way to make his mark.

Daughty stayed moving off ball as hard as anyone on cuts and fast breaks, and was able to get to his spots with a tough middy pull-up fade, a dunker spot floater, along with hectic defense forcing stops, deflections, and steals, even taking a charge.

#5 Austin Goode
6’6″ Guard/Forward (2025)
Cia Bella Vista

Tough Shot Maker

Throws down the hammer with 16 seconds to play in the title game vs Montverde to cut the lead to 2 PTS, and drills a clean catch-and-shoot corner three earlier in the game.

Nice postup footwork and fundamental hook shot, midrange stutter rip fadeaway off an OREB, counters the handoff from Aginaldo Neto using quick burst into decelerating drive finger roll for 8 PTS on 4/6 FG in a win over Utah Prep.

#11 Jackson Rasmussen
6’7″ Forward (2025)
Utah Prep

Good defender, strong play finisher, connective passer

Despite a few turnovers, Jackson filled his dunker spot playfinisher role cleanly, scoring 9 PTS on 4/6 FG and 1/2 FT versus Sagemont.

Good positioning postup, putback boxout secured, AND1 and solid contests on defense against tough shot makers.

Against Calvary Christian, Jackson added 7 PTS, 4 REB, 1 STL, 1 BLK, and a 3 AST / 2 TO ratio.

Over and over, Rasmussen showed connective big to big passing down low, finding his frontcourt mate at Center Xavion Staton under the rim with shuttle passes, swing passes, wraparound passes, after first drawing the defense’s attention.

Jackson stepped into a midrange jumper, ran the floor hard to finish plays off the team’s creators, and kept his hands active to contest, block, and steal.

#1 Miikka Muurinen
6’11” Forward (2026)
AZ Compass Prep

Miikka Muurinen brings imposing size and length to help put a lid on the rim, when he wants to.

Mikka struggled with physicality at times in this tournament, though, getting outworked on the glass, in the post, losing the big man battle to smaller opponents.

Made a midrange jumper, threw down a powerful jam, fought for the putback in traffic, using his height and length to effectively stay straight up for stops on the defensive end against Windermere.

Against Sagemont, the flashes for Miikka impressed – a loud putback slam, a swat heard ‘round the world, blocking a 3pt shot, a nice closeout-attacking drive and hook dump off pass to the cutter.

#2 Jeremiah Green
6’3″ Guard (2025)
AZ Compass Prep

Jeremiah Green proved to be an excellent connective hub running point for AZ Compass, constantly looking to set up teammates for the open shot first, scoring when needed second, and hitting open 3pt catch-and-shoot jumpers that came his way.

Using that 3pt gravity, he’d pumpfake and attack the closeout for the drive and kick, showing good all-around connector tendencies throughout the game against Sagemont, putting up 13 PTS on 3/4 3P with 5 REB 1 STL an a wild 9 AST / 0 TO ratio.

Against Calvary Christian, Green made a few highlight plays: drilling a pull-up three, answer Shon’s big dunk with a big dunk of his own, looking for outlet hit-ahead passes to push the pace.

#13 Jaden Vance
6’6″ Guard/Forward (2025)
AZ Compass Prep

Jaden Vance showed smooth scoring touch and tough pull-up jumper, good defensive insincts with a mean helpside block, sound off-ball movement instincts for a baseline cut and jam.

Against Windermere, Vance got up for the highlight alley oop slam and drew a foul with relentless drives to the rack.

Vance scored efficiently from all over the court against Sagemont, posting 16 PTS on 6/11 FG and 3/4 3P with 4 REB, 1 BLK, and a 3 AST / 1 TO ratio.

Jaden Vance on what he prides his game on:

I mean my defense, you know what I’m saying, always consistent you feel me? My whole life consistent. You feel me?

Jaden Vance on his current skill development:

I mean, it’s all mental in the game. I mean, you got to stay locked in with your mental, so you can stay on your stuff. You can’t always get off track and get in your head.

Jaden Vance on any players who may have inspired his game or who he’s taken a move from:

I like to watch Shai, JDub, you know what I’m saying? We have similar play-styles. So, I always study his game a lot.

#23 Noah George
6’4″ Guard (2025)
Cia Bella Vista

Tough shot maker, off-ball mover, bump-and-finish driver

Drills contested, midrange fadeaway, hits C&S three, cuts through lane against Riviera Prep.

Drew a foul on Allen, keeps the ball moving looking for teammates against MVA.

#2 KJ Francis
6’4″ Guard (2026)
Calvary Christian

Patient driving transition, good footwork and finishing.

Pesky defense.

In the 3rd place win over Utah Prep, KJ Francis chipped in 10 PTS on 4/7 FG with 8 REB, 1 STL, and a 1 AST / 1 TO ratio.

Francis pulled up for two midrange jumpers, stayed ready for the OREB putback, and played hard defense, even trapping Dybantsa for a forced turnover alongside Shon Abaev.

#24 Nicholas Randall
6’10” Forward/Center (2025)
AZ Compass Prep

Nicholas Randall was playing physical down low when his team needed a burst of energy and physicality, moving his feet on perimeter defense, playing strong off the bench in a pinch.

Randall piled in a quick 8 PTS on 4/5 FG in 11 MIN against Sagemont.

Randall continued to bring physicality when given the opportunity against Windermere, fighting through contact for a tough finish on the putback in the paint.

Nicholas Randall on what he prides his game on:

What do I pride my game on? Just being a great teammate. I take a lot of pride in defense though. I’ve learned to get me where I want to go in life, I just gotta play a lot, I gotta play hard defense, be a leader, be coachable. But just staying in in the gym working on my game every day.

Nicholas Randall on his current skill development

Me right now I’m just trying to tune a little bit of everything so I can just stay good at everything for real because I think that’s what I’m gonna need at the next level.

Nicholas Randall on any players that inspired his game:

I like to watch Carmelo Anthony, Brandon Ingram, Jayson Tatum, people like that.

#23 Ezra Gelin
6’2″ Guard (2028)
Sagemont Prep

#1-rated defender in the tournament (111 DSI) and a connective passer.

Jumps a pass for a steal against Riviera Prep, another example of anticipation, timing, and defensive instincts.

Another nice steal timing jump passing lane defensive instincts against Utah Prep.

#30 Noah Francois
5’11” Guard (2027)
Sagemont Prep

One the better D&3 players in the tournament, rating 73 3PE and 81 DSI.

Nice drive and kick decision making feel shown on a kickout to Liburd for the C&S 3pt assist against Utah Prep.

#10 Peter Okechukwu
6’8″ Forward/Center (2025)
Riviera Prep

Peter Okechukwu brought the energy and racked up the hustle stats – fights in traffic for a tough putback, makes winning play forcing jump ball, grabs 6 boards in 15 min off the bench and gets a shooter’s bounce on a midrange catch-and-shoot jumper foor good measure against CIA Bella Vista.

#23 Laron Mack Jr.
6’7″ Guard/Forward (2028)
Riviera Prep

Laron Mack Jr. took over the scoring load against Windermere, putting up 24 PTS on 13 shots (8/9 2P – 2/4 3P – 2/2 FT) with 8 REB, 1 BLK, and 3 TO

#2 Dhani Miller
6’3″ Guard (2026)
Montverde Academy

Dhani Miller offers an all-around skillset as a guard who can splash threes, make connector passes, and bring two-way feel to the game as a decsion-maker and defensive disruptor

Miller added 7 PTS with 7 REB, 2 3PM, 2 REB, 2 STL, and a 3 AST / 0 TO ratio in the opener against Windermere.

Dhani draw fouls by playing strong in the pain, showed off the 3pt shooting touch by splashing a C&S three, and stays attacking downhill in transition and off turnovers.

#3 King Gibson
6’5″ Guard (2027)
Montverde Academy

Clean shooter off the catch and the pull

Point guard instincts looking for open teammates, finds Greer with the alley-oop lob pass.

Hustles hard, diving on the floor for a loose ball, racking up deflections, even blocking Miles Sadler on the would-be game-tying shot at the buzzer.

#13 Hakeem Weems
6’10” Forward/Center (2025)
Montverde Academy

Tall, wiry frame

Soft touch finish in the paint

Plays strong protecting the rim

Active on the glass fighting for rebounds in traffic.

Weems threw down the highlight hammer alley-oop dagger with under 10 seconds to play to secure the 4pt lead over CIA Bella Vista in the 2025 MAIT title game.

#21 Kayden Allen
6’6″ Guard (2026)
Montverde Academy

Tough shotmaker with a go-to middy pull-up

Smooth shooting stroke, high release point on jump shot

Connective passer, swings to open man

Kayden Allen on his shooting touch and natural fadeaway shot release:

I do work on it, but I would say that’s a God-given gift, for sure. I’ve always had it, but I still continue to work on it and try to perfect it. And just my mechanics, holding my follow through and stuff.

Kayden Allen on his Development goals:

I’ll probably say my handles, for sure, I want to get a tighter handle, become more of a combo guard, just in case I need to be the one at moments.

And I’d say probably on-ball defense, like really looking at they waist, being in spots, and being able to move lateral.

Kayden Allen on any former players who inspired his game:

I’d probably say DBook because of his fluidity. Like, just getting to certain spots and if you’re ISOing within a certain amount of dribbles. So I’ll probably say DBook.

Dante Allen on Kayden’s game:

Kayden, just overall on offense, just all around a really, really talented player.

And a guy who, if he’s coming off the bench or starting, he’s always coming in looking to leave an impact.

#3 Aliou Dioum
6’11” Forward/Center (2026)
Cia Bella Vista

Great length, wiry athlete, quick feet

Defends on ball well, contests shots, uses length effectively.

Raw offensively, probably needs more game reps to gain confidence to play stronger with the ball in his hands.

Defends Dybansta well at times, here not falling for any tricks, staying straight up on the contest on the drive.

#6 Lucas Toukam
6’8″ Forward (2026)
Cia Bella Vista

Great defensive instincts to force turnovers

Mean chasedown block sprint back from way behind

One of the biggest plays of the 3rd place game against Utah Prep was 6’7″ Forward #0 Draydne McDaniel (Calvary Christian) flying in for a third chance offensive rebound putback with under 2min to play to extend the lead back to six.

Windermere Prep

#12 Isaiah Gillard (6’2″ Guard, 2026) is comfortable getting to his spots and hitting shots in the midrange, keeping his hands active for deflections.

#11 Malachi Martis (6’6″ Guard/Forward, 2025) chipped in 11 PTS on 5/9 FG vs MVA, and 10 PTS on 5/11 FG and 2 deflections vs Riviera.

#23 Samuel Shoptaw (6’2″ Guard, 2025) is not afraid to light it up, drops 3 3PM vs AZ Compass, 1 3PM vs Riviera.

Interviews & Quotes

Below are my full interviews with 13 players and 1 player’s father from the 2025 Montverde Invitational:

Dante Allen, Shon Abaev, Matt Able, Kevin Thomas, Davis Fogle, Myles Fuentes, Mason Fuentes, JJ Mandaquit, Anthony Felesi, Kayden Allen, Kalek House, Jaden Vance, Nicholas Randall, and AJ Dybantsa’s dad, Ace.

My interview with Dante Allen of Montverde Academy

RK – How’s your development going now that you’re playing at Montverde?

Dante Allen – With Montverde, I’ve been able to develop a lot, but I think the one thing that they’ve been really good about is noticing the strengths that I came with before and making sure that those are things that I maintain, not trying to work on things and stray away from the things I was good at before.

So definitely improving shooting, being a better ball handler, a better guard per se. But also like getting to the basket, pushing the pace, like those things, not getting away from those things or making sure that those are a key part of my game that I still keep around.

RK – Are there any different skills that you hope to continue developing, say over the next year or so as the college process comes around?

Dante Allen – Yeah, I would just say my patience and just kind of having a better feel for the game, especially when it’s more fast paced.

Being able to just kind of slow things down, being able to read the defense, being able to read my teammates, and just overall be able to make better plays for myself or others in any kind of situation that I may have not been able to before.

RK – I interviewed the Riviera brothers, your former teammates at Riviera Prep, about their games, experience with Puerto Rico national team, and playing with you. what was it like playing together, how would you describe them off the court as well?

Dante Allen – Playing with them is a luxury that a lot of people don’t have.

You got Mason, who’s a high-level playmaker, who’s also a good scorer, so you know he can get his, but also you know he can create for a lot of people, which is a lot of help for a lot of guys to get some easier ones. You don’t have to do a lot with the ball to be able to play off him.

Miles is another really high skilled guy, very tough on the defensive end, who can guard, you know, can pick anybody up on the ball. On offensive end, a really talented scorer. You know what I mean? Every team’s got to be on the look out for, definitely somebody who you have to send your best or at the very least your second best defender out for.

Both two guys, they’re both tough, too. Like, both not guys who can just be punked, both guys who are tough, who want to win, and overall, two guys as I said before, I’m very lucky to play with. Definitely guys we wouldn’t be able to win two state championships, played a lot of big games, win a lot of big games without.

And then off the court, just two guys you just love being around. They don’t take themselves too seriously, funny, and overall just two guys who like, I just always enjoyed being around. It was really good catching up with them too at the MAIT, you talk about some sports, but just to be able to catch up as friends a little bit, too.

RK – Speaking of the 2025 Montverde Academy Invitational Tournament, you won the MVP of the whole thing. And you mentioned back at the 2024 NBPA Top-100 camp that what excited you most about the transfer was just the chance to play against the best high school competition there is to offer. What are you most proud of from this season winning that MVP? And do you feel like you’ve gotten to prove what you can do against the best that are on this level?

Dante Allen – Yeah, I think it has definitely, so far this season has has its ups, had a couple of downs, but I think so far, yeah.

I mean, every game is obviously something big, another few games being able to play at home. Being able to play in those last two games, like two close competitive, tough, grind out wins and be highly recognized for it feels great. There’s a good accomplishment to kind of have going forward. getting into another tough part of the season.

Overall on the season, look at the standings, definitely above 80, 90% of the top-15 teams in the country we played against. Win or loss, been in a close game with those teams, and I think in a lot of them I’ve been able to show the things I’m good at and also some of the things that I’ve improved on as well.

RK – Yeah, a whole lot of competition there. In terms of the games, it’s always your defensive instincts that stand out to me; no matter what context you’re playing in, whether it was with Riviera or at Top-100 Camp or now with Montverde, that always jumps out. I think you had like three steals in the first five minutes, and almost a fourth, in the first game of the tournament against Windermere Prep. Just lighting them up with a whole lot of catch-and-shoot threes. I think you’ve shown a lot of development in your on-ball game as well like pick and roll development. How do you feel about your pick and roll development initiating everything as opposed to what you bring off the ball as a play-finisher and a shooter?

Dante Allen – One thing definitely from Riviera that I was able to grow at was in the pick-and-roll, something we did a lot. I think coming here (Montverde) definitely shows me how to play against different kinds of defenses, being able to score a little bit better, being able to like to read the defense, how they’re playing, being able to see what my teammates are doing also.

It’s definitely been something that I’ve been comfortable with for a little bit, definitely a strength. But I think when you go to Montverde, you’re playing against bigger teams, better teams, teams that are more well prepared for it. It’s definitely something that I had to get better against.

Overall, the steals, if it can lead to open transition, lead to easier buckets, that’s always something that I’m trying to do. And also, you can gain some good momentum, to just get the stop on defense and then be able to get an easy bucket on the other end for our team.

RK – Yeah, no doubt, those 4pt swings are big momentum shifts, those are big plays that can define a game, and you definitely make plenty of them. So how would you describe your mindset, your approach preparing for the game, or your mentality that you bring to the game?

Dante Allen – My first goal always is definitely win and try to impact that in multiple ways.

For me, it starts on defense, like definitely make an impact there, because that definitely earns a lot of trust from my coaches as someone who needs to be out there.

Now, offense, being able to facilitate for others, something I think I’ve been able to do better. And if that time comes, be able to get a couple points for myself also. And even if the offense struggles sometimes, if I can make my presence known on defense, then it makes it tougher for coaches to sub me out. So I think that’s definitely something I try to emphasize if I want to be able to make an impact throughout the whole game for my team.

RK – On your team, I won’t ask you to describe every teammate, but tell me about Kayden Allen, CJ Ingram, Trent Sisley, some high impact guys for your team. How would you describe them off the court just as people and teammates?

Dante Allen – Yeah, teammates, definitely growing up with some of them. CJ got here later, but I think we’ve been able to establish a really good off the court bond, you know, like staying up at school, being around each other a lot, being able to kind of develop a bond, and I think that actually has helped a lot on the court, I think we trust each other a lot more, nobody’s holding a grudge or anything against anybody else. So everybody enjoys being with everybody off the court.

And then when that gets to on the court, you kind of learn what they’re best at:

Trent like, maybe an undersized big who can step out and shoot the three really well. You know he’s there somewhere looking for his shot too.

CJ a guy getting downhill, he’s going to attract a lot of attention, so if he’s not getting down there scoring, then he’s someone who can also get a lot of guys open.

then Kayden, just overall on offense, just all around a really, really talented player. And a guy who, if he’s coming off the bench or starting, he’s always coming in looking to leave an impact.

So it’s like kind of things you’re able to pick up a little bit and be able to understand guys better because we’ve definitely gotten closer as the time and as the season has gone on.

RK – All interesting talents. Trent Sisley makes a lot of winning plays. On the Cerebro Sports data viz I made of the Montverde events, you and Sisley rank very highly in basically every category, Kayden highly on some as well. What about Hudson Greer, what’s he like as a teammate off the court?

Dante Allen – Hudson? Hudson’s a great person. Goofy, but just overall a good person. Somebody who’s always positive, like rarely will you ever see him with a frown on his face, just somebody who you just always want around you. Then that’s something that definitely translates, somebody who you really enjoy being with off the court to somebody who you really enjoy being on the court. So Hudson’s like definitely up there with the guys who you just like always want around you, especially just the kind of way he carries himself.

RK – Is there anything that really interests you outside of basketball? Whether it’s just hanging out with friends or you’re doing stuff with family or hobbies or even a subject in school that you like to focus on?

Dante Allen – Yeah, off the court, you know, us being at school, us teammates definitely like hanging out with each other as much as we can. Hop on the Xbox and PS5 sometimes you know when there’s not much to do.

And also, up at school (Montverde), we got a lot of other good sports teams up there. So sometimes being able to just get out the room, go and support like some other friends from school in other sports is also something that a lot of us really enjoy doing when where up there.

RK – Yeah, always good to support. What games are you all playing? Some 2K?

Dante Allen – Yeah, some (NBA) 2K sometimes, college football, maybe a little bit of Fortnite, Call of Duty, stuff like that. Everybody has the stuff they’re good at, everybody has the stuff they need to work at too. It’s good, there’s always something to do, even if some people on the outside may not feel like it sometimes.

My interview with Shon Abaev of Calvary Christian Academy

RK – So I caught your game at 2024 NBPA Top-100 Camp last year. Congrats on the big dub there, your team was loaded. Super cool to see you do your thing, really impressed by your point forward skills, with that size and that skill, just creating offense, the smooth pull-up jumper. What have you been working on since then?

Shon Abaev – Just polishing my game. Just trying to play with less dribbles. Just being able to play with more pace and stuff like that. Just keep working on my shot. That’s what I do best.

RK – So congrats as well on the Cincinnati decision. What went into that final decision through the recruitment process?

Shon Abaev – I just felt like it was the best fit for me to achieve my goal, which is go to the NBA after one year.

RK – And I got one other congrats for you, McDonald’s All-American! Big time. You’re projected top 25, top 30 on all these rankings. How does it feel to kind of get that recognition for all the work you put in?

Shon Abaev – You know, it was a blessing. It’s a dream come true to be on McDonald’s All-American. It’s a goal I had since I was a little kid. When I found out that I had achieved it, it made me happy, it made me feel like all my work that I put in is showing. I’m not doing it for nothing. I’m doing it for my family. All the sacrifice they put for me is paying off. So, happy for it.

RK – Absolutely, happy for you as well. So, how would you describe your game, your mentality? What approach do you bring to the game?

Shon Abaev – You know, just trying to win every game. Everybody in the country know I can score, so I don’t try to force my spots anymore, I let it come to me. I do what my team needs me to do to win the game. So at the end of the day, if my team wins, we all happy. So, that’s all I want. And at the end of the day, my team is undefeated, our Calvary team’s undefeated, so I’m trying to keep it like that for the rest of the year. Go undefeated for the whole year and win the state championship and hopefully win Geico’s as well.

RK – Off the court, any sort of hobbies you like to do for fun? What interests you off the court?

Shon Abaev – Just being around my family, hanging with my friends. Not too crazy. I don’t like to do certain things, because I don’t try to get distracted from my main goal. So, you know, just have fun with my friends, have fun with my family. My siblings, my little sister, my older brother. So just doing stuff like that. Not too crazy.

My interview with Matt Able of Sagemont Prep

RK – How you doing today Matt?

Matt Able – I’m good. Tough loss, but you know, it was a pretty good game.

RK – No doubt! You’re showing incredible shooting touch to me, and I’m sure everyone that watches you play, I think you just dropped 27 points. You were hitting some crazy pull-up threes, some turnaround fadeaways, just incredible shooting touch, is that what you pride yourself on with your game?

Matt Able – I think that’s the most developed part of my game, for sure, I think I’m an elite shooter. I pride myself on being able to shoot, but I would also say defensively and I think I’m trying to start rebounding a lot more. That was a weakness I had, and I’m starting to change that, you know just become a way better rebounder.

RK – And on that point, are there any skills that you’re hoping to really focus on in practice and develop over the next year, what those might be?

Matt Able – Yeah, I would definitely say rebounding is something that I’ve been working on, I’ve gotten better, but it still needs to get more improved.

And then I’d also say probably just playmaking in terms of pick-and-roll reads, sometimes I get a little sped up and rushed in the pick-and-roll, so just being calm and making the right read in the pick-and-roll is a big thing for me as well.

RK – Are there any players, current or former, that might inspire your game a little bit, or that you might steal a move from here and there?

Matt Able – I wouldn’t say there’s a specific player that inspires me. I have some favorites, like I love watching Donovan Mitchell play, I love watching Anthony Edwards play, those are two of my favorite players just to watch, so I wouldn’t say I inspire my game after them, but I definitely watch and take certain things from their game.

RK – Absolutely. What’s Kevin Thomas like off the court as a teammate?

Matt Able – Oh, man, he’s funny, that’s my guy right there. He’s hilarious, really good dude. I think we have really good chemistry, as a team and me and him, I think we gel pretty well. I think he has a lot more potential that he can untap, because he’s only a junior, so I think the sky’s the limit for him, he’s gonna be great.

RK – Are there any off the court interests or hobbies that you like to do with your free time?

Matt Able – Yeah, I would probably say I play a lot of video games. I’m on NCAA a lot, that’s my main game; I play some Fortnite here and there

My interview with Kevin Thomas of Sagemont Prep

RK – How you doing today Kevin?

Kevin Thomas – I’m doing good. How are you?

RK – Doing well. Good games out there. You played hard. That dunk yesterday though, that through-the-legs dunk you just hammer home, what that feel like throwing that down? You do that often in a game?

Kevin Thomas – Yeah, when I have a chance to, I do it a lot. So coach give me the green light because he know I’m consistent with it.

RK – So what do you pride yourself on? How do you see your game and your style of play out there?

Kevin Thomas – I get a lot of open shots because my teammates set me up for it and I’m starting to attack way more and my defense is getting way better throughout the season.

RK – What have you been focused on with your development? What skills are you looking to continue to improve going forward?

Kevin Thomas – Definitely improving on my craft and my perimeter defense and my aggressiveness getting to the paint.

RK – Your teammates with Matt Able as well, what’s he like off the court as a teammate?

Kevin Thomas – Oh he’s a great teammate. He’s really funny. He keeps us motivated every time on and off the court.

RK – You going through any recruitment talks yet, you’re thinking anywhere, what’s going to play into those factors ultimately?

Kevin Thomas – Well the few colleges I’ve been keeping in touch with lately has been BYU, Tennessee, and SMU.

RK – What interests you off the court? What kind of hobbies or interests might you have that you like to do with your free time?

Kevin Thomas – I like to hang out with my friends. I like to eat, just chill.

My interview with Davis Fogle of AZ Compass Prep

RK – Great game out there today. I caught your game at 2024 NBPA Top-100 Camp, me and a lot of scouts and media out there were really impressed by your hustle and your effort, you were one of the standout players. So I wanted to give you a shout for that. How was that experience like and what have you kind of been working on developing skill wise since then?

Davis Fogle – Yeah well, I appreciate that, thank you. Yeah I mean, kind of since then just really been working on my strength. Then also kinda just like playing off two feet in the paint, and just being able to impact the game from everywhere, not just scoring the ball, but being able to make everyone around me better.

And on the defensive side, just be able to guard multiple positions, and then rebound both offensively and defensively, along with like still keeping my aggressiveness on the offense end.

RK – Absolutely. What kind of position do you consider yourself? What do you consider the strengths in your game, whether it’s more of a point forward or how do you see your game?

Davis Fogle – Yeah I mean, with my high school team right now, we kind of go a little small, so I’m kind of playing like the three/four, but in reality I’m like a two, and I can play the one. I feel like I’m a combo guard. I think my passing is pretty underrated. But yeah, I think I’m definitely a combo guard that can score and then also get his teammates involved.

RK – Yeah, at the camp especially I remember you getting downhill, showing some crafty moves, and then being able to dump off and find the open man moving, so that definitely stands out. So you’re off to Gonzaga next, what went into that decision?

Davis Fogle – When they recruited me, obviously you hear about Gonzaga, especially me being from the state, like it’s a very good program, very good coach, Coach Few.

I mean I was obviously interested in a lot of other schools, and then when I just went on my visit, when I saw the guys and the culture they had with their whole program, the community in Spokane, and then also just the plan they had for me, I mean they really laid it out. They’ve shown guys like me at my position, how they’ve developed over the years, then they’ve shown me that those guys have made it to the league and they’ve been successful. So I just thought it was the perfect fit and I decided that’s where I want to go.

RK – Are there any players that you are inspired by, or maybe you model your game after; it could be even one player, one skill from a guy, former players, legends, or current guys in the league today?

Davis Fogle – Yeah I mean obviously I love Kobe, just his work ethic and his will to win and then right now, I like Devin Booker a lot. Then also obviously there’s some guys that don’t play my position, but like Curry, I love Curry, just his feel for the game, and also a young guy I like is Jalen Green too, feel like he’s pretty underrated.

RK – Off the court, what might interest you off the court, what are some of your favorite hobbies?

Davis Fogle – Yeah, just hanging out with friends. Last summer, me and my friends we played a lot of pickleball, so I got pretty good at that with one of my close friends.

My interview with the Fuentes brothers, Myles and Mason, of Riviera Prep

RK – How y’all doing today? Great game out there. So what was the experience like with the Puerto Rican national team and kind of getting some development reps there?

Myles Fuentes – Doing great. Doing well. I mean, it was a big difference from regular high school basketball or any travel basketball we’ve ever played because we’re playing against different countries, and like the style of basketball is way more physical, you don’t get as much calls, and also playing with the FIBA ball is much different. But it was a great opportunity to play for our country and represent them.

Mason Fuentes – Yeah, first and foremost, not many people get this opportunity, so we don’t take it for granted. Like he said, playing against these different countries, it’s a different type of basketball. So to have both sides, the American basketball and then now you’re overseas playing with a FIBA ball. So it’s just good to know both ways how to play.

RK – Yeah, different style of play, different rules, the ball itself. That’s a lot of factors, but I’m sure that helped your development in general. So, how would you guys describe each other as teammates on the court and then obviously just as brothers off the court?

Mason Fuentes – I mean, on the court, we’ve been playing with each other our whole life. So our chemistry is second to none. Like we have little signals on the court, like when to back door, when to ghost the screen. So it’s just, the chemistry’s on a thousand.

Myles Fuentes – Pretty much what he said, he always knows when to find me, when to throw a lob of me. Like the little signals he said, he knows when I need a back door, when I need to get a bucket, or if I have a mismatch, he’ll hit me. It’s just like that brother chemistry.

Mason Fuentes – And that off the court stuff, everything we do is together, we’re one year apart. If I’m going here, he’s going there. If I’m working out, he’s working out with me. So it’s just that Brotherly love.

RK – Yeah, kinda sounds like me and my brother back in the day, We called it The Kaminski Show, we were running handoffs before we even knew what a DHO was, that brother telepathy, just when to cut and all that. I’m sure it’s fun getting to play with each other. Saw you guys talking to Dante (Allen) a second ago, what was it like playing with him? What’s he like as a teammate off the court?

Mason Fuentes – I mean his motor was second to none. Obviously, we won a state championship out of it, two actually. The chemistry was good. Us three on the court were probably the hardest defensive team out there. No one plays harder than all of us. So, I mean, it worked.

Myles Fuentes – For sure, pretty much what he said. You know he’s a great person on the court and off the court. And you know playing with him he’s even better. He does pretty much almost everything on the court. When he draws two, since he’s such a noticed player on the court, when he draws two and hits you, he makes the game easy for everyone. So it was great playing with him, and sadly he came here, but you know.

RK – So how would you describe your own approach to the game and what kind of development skills are you focusing on to really fine tune your game?

Myles Fuentes – The thing I’m focusing on most is more consistent shooting. But I always take pride in my defense, always. So that’s the first thing I always take pride in. Just working hard and keeping my shot as consistent as possible.

Mason Fuentes – I’m a competitor, man. Mainly, I just want to win. I don’t care how I do it, or what’s done in it. Like if we win and I have 2 points, 20 assists, I’m happy, I’m excited with the team, I’m a pass-first point guard. That’s my job to get everyone involved, and then eventually, my time’s gonna come to get mine, so I just win at all costs.

My interview with Anthony Felesi and JJ Mandaquit of Utah Prep

RK – Great game yesterday. Wanted to ask you guys about your development a little bit. So, Anthony, what kind of skills are you working on these days to continue developing your game?

Anthony Felesi – I think mostly my outside game, really extending my range, trying to get that three pointer down.

RK – Yeah, I enjoy watching your touch near the rim, the shooting touch, and you as well (JJ) with the floater game, the mid range game, pushing the pace, really seem to control pushing that pace, what do you take pride on when you’re out there playing JJ?

JJ Mandaquit – Yeah, I mean, the same things that you just said – just pushing the pace, being able to control it – but even more than that, just the little things on the other side of the court. Just working on trying to pick up people, just really push myself on the defensive end, be more involved off the ball, and just working on those little things.

RK – Off the court, how would you describe each other as teammates and people, what’s it like playing together?

Anthony Felesi – I think it’s amazing, I think our bond is really good, all of us are brothers, so I think it’s a really strong bond together.

JJ Mandaquit – Yeah it’s a lot of fun, I mean, we do everything together. We spend almost too much time together with all this travel and everything, but it’s fun, you know these memories are going to last forever.

RK – You have any hobbies or interests outside of basketball when you’re off the court?

Anthony Felesi – I like to play pool. I’m not really good, but I like to play it.

JJ Mandaquit – I like playing cards. I’ve been playing a lot of a card game called ‘Trumps’ recently.

My interview with Kayden Allen of Montverde Academy

RK – How you doing today, Kayden? You excited for the game tonight?

Kayden Allen – I’m doing good. Yeah, I’m excited. I feel like it’s going to be a good crowd and a good environment since we’re playing close quarters here.

RK – I caught your game at the Sunshine Classic about a month ago, really love your game – the pull-ups, the mid-range touch, incredible shooting touch and that little fade you got on like every shot is too smooth with it. Is that something that comes natural to you or you work on that a lot?

Kayden Allen – I do work on it, but I would say that’s a God-given gift, for sure. I’ve always had it, but I still continue to work on it and try to perfect it. And just my mechanics, holding my follow through and stuff.

RK – And beyond your shot, what else have you been working on these days? What are your developmental goals with your skills at this point?

Kayden Allen – I’ll probably say my handles, for sure, I want to get a tighter handle, become more of a combo guard, just in case I need to be the one at moments. And I’d say probably on-ball defense, like really looking at they waist, being in spots, and being able to move lateral.

RK – Are there any players that you look up to that might have inspired parts of your game? Could be a former or current pros or legends? Anybody that you try to steal a move from here and there?

Kayden Allen – I’d probably say DBook because of his fluidity. Like, just getting to certain spots and if you’re ISOing within a certain amount of dribbles. So I’ll probably say DBook.

RK – So how’s the recruitment process going for you? Who have you been talking to and what’s going to go into that decision?

Kayden Allen – I’ve been talking to a good amount of coaches. I haven’t came down to a certain list yet. But like, one’s most in touch are like Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Georgia… Auburn, Georgia Tech. So I haven’t cut it down yet. I’m going to focus on that this summer.

RK – Off the court, do you have any interest or hobbies like playing video games with friends or spending time with family, anything really that catches your interest?

Kayden Allen – Yeah, I like listening to music a lot. Just spending time with my friends competing on (NBA) 2K.

RK – What’s your team or your player go-to on (NBA) 2K?

Kayden Allen – DBook, or Shai

My interview with Kalek House, Jaden Vance, Nicholas Randall of AZ Compass Prep

RK – So, tough first game, but you guys bounced back with back-to-back wins, you took it to them. Did any other players impress you this weekend?

The Group – The guy we just played against, Matt Able. Yeah he was smooth. Just had about 27. Yeah I tip my hat off to him. He’s nice though. Shon Abaev, he’s nice too. Brandon Bass, he’s nice. Just nice going against top players in the country.

RK – So, Kalek, what’s it like being Eddie House’s son, first of all?
Kalek House – It’s regular. Yeah he’s regular.

RK – So what kind of skills are you working on, hoping to continue your development?
Kalek House – Just my shot and like my handle, I need to get my handle right. I’ma be valid, I’ll be smooth.

RK – So what do you guys like to do off the court? Any hobbies or interests like that?
Kalek House – We just be chilling, team bonding, stuff like that, to get closer.

RK – What’s Jaden Vance like as a teammate?
Kalek House – Good, good teammate. He’s been improving recently, you know came in mid-season, so he’s been adapting well.

RK – Are there any former or current players that kind of inspire your game or you try to model your game after, steal a few moves from?
Kalek House – Jrue Holliday, he’s a good defender, he plays the point guard. I’m playing point guard next year more, like he just facilitates really well, he can shoot the ball. I just want to be like him.

RK – What do you pride your game on, Jaden?
Jaden Vance – I mean my defense, you know what I’m saying, always consistent you feel me? My whole life consistent. You feel me?

RK – What kind of skills are you working on these days to continue your development?
Jaden Vance – I mean, it’s all mental in the game. I mean, you got to stay locked in with your mental, so you can stay on your stuff. You can’t always get off track and get in your head.

RK – What’s Kalek House like off the court, as a teammate and as a person?
Jaden Vance – He’s a great teammate, you know what I’m saying? Always joking around. Always boosting up his teammates.

RK – Are there any former or current players that kind of inspire your game or you try to model your game after, steal a few moves from?

Jaden Vance – I mean I like to watch Shai, JDub, you know what I’m saying? We have similar play-styles. So, I always study his game a lot. So, it’s cool.

RK – What do you pride your game on, Nicholas?

Nicholas Randall – What do I pride my game on? Just being a great teammate. I take a lot of pride in defense though. I’ve learned to get me where I want to go in life, I just gotta play a lot, I gotta play hard defense, be a leader, be coachable. But just staying in in the gym working on my game every day.

RK – Any skills in particular you’re working on to really help you improve your development?

Nicholas Randall – Me right now I’m just trying to tune a little bit of everything so I can just stay good at everything for real because I think that’s what I’m gonna need at the next level.

RK – What’s Kalek like off the court, as a teammate and as a person?
Nicholas Randall – He’s never in his feelings. Never gets mad.

RK – Are there any former or current players that kind of inspire your game or you try to model your game after, steal a few moves from?
Nicholas Randall – I like to watch Carmelo Anthony, Brandon Ingram, Jayson Tatum, people like that.

Interviewing AJ Dybantsa’s father, Ace.

RK – So I caught on one of your interviews that you might have interest in maybe the Spurs or the Suns or the Magic as some teams that could interest you and your family and your son to play for. So what draws you to Orlando?

Ace Dybantsa – That’s AJ’s opinion — he’s full of sh*t because he doesn’t know how it works (chuckles). He’s gonna go wherever the ping pong balls tell him to go.

RK – So growing up, did you have any specific developmental goals for your son as a basketball player, or was it more just about letting him loose, letting him have fun, and learn as he plays?

Ace Dybantsa – My goal was for all my kids, be great in sports, get a scholarship so Daddy don’t have to pay for school. That was my goal.

RK – How would you describe your son off the court as a teammate, as a person?

Ace Dybantsa – Very humble kid, just a regular teenager, 18 yesterday. You know kids, everyday kid, likes to play with his friends. Other than that, I mean, he’s a pretty boring kid because all he does is watch basketball, play basketball, and books.

RK – On the court, what kind of mentality and development goals does he have as a basketball player? What’s he working on these days in practice and what specific skills, if you’re aware of any specific skills, that he’s working on the most?

Ace Dybantsa – Grab more rebounds, he’ll be alright!

RK – Lastly, what led to the BYU decision? That’s a really great program. They’re getting better every year, got big prospects. What drew you and your family to BYU?

Ace Dybantsa – Coaches, KY (Kevin Young), made a difference.

The post 2025 Montverde Invitational Scouting Report appeared first on Swish Theory.

This new approach has been interpreted by many as an abandonment of the high school athlete, it’s as though college programs are openly saying, “why recruit an 18-year-old unknown when there are reliable veterans available?” And while some teams may subscribe to this thinking, in reality, it’s a deeply flawed approach and ultimately the wrong takeaway from this era of college basketball. The two most recent national champions, for example, both featured relatively unheralded freshmen in Thomas Haugh from Florida and Alex Karaban at UConn, both of whom made significant contributions to their title efforts.

Both teams recognized the futility in basing their recruiting strategy on the number of stars a player had next to their name. With the level of roster churn in college basketball, finding freshmen who could fit their system and adapt to whatever shape the roster takes year over year was the winning formula in today’s age. With this in mind, I made it my goal to write about players who stood out not solely because of their tantalizing upside, but because of their proven ability to contribute to winning. By analyzing stats and film from the three major grassroots circuits, here are 6 players I believe have the biggest standouts of the grassroots season so far.

Class of 2026

Anyone familiar with my writing probably understands that a good deal of my evaluations heavily feature statistical analysis, which leads to higher quality work but probably doesn’t make for the most riveting reads. In the interest of engaging the reader, I present the table below. For context, 4 of 5 players below were one-and-done bigs, and one is a big man in this current class – based on these statistical profiles, which player would you prefer?

Now for the reveal: players B-E were all top 20 picks after their freshman years, and player A is 7’0″ Guinean center Arafan Diane.

Arafan Diane: A Modern Throwback

Rankings (As of 7/10/25)

• ESPN: 34
• ON3: 22
• 247: 15

Arafan Diane is comfortably the highest-rated player included in this article and has been one of the biggest risers in the 2026 class this summer. Diane first caught my attention playing for the Guinean team during the 2024 U17 World Cup; his combination of size, strength, and soft touch set him apart from other bigs at the event. Although Guinea were decisively beaten by Spain in the Round of 16, I’d designated Diane as a player to watch. For a big at that age, even demonstrating infrequent flashes of coordination is notable, and Diane displayed reliable touch around the basket and from the free-throw line, where he shot 73.8% on 42 attempts. Despite my optimism, I would not have predicted that this would be Diane’s worst outing over the next calendar year, and the World Cup would mark the beginning of Diane’s rapid ascension towards the top of the class.

Diane’s improvement across the board this year has been staggering. Arafan still doesn’t have the most expansive repertoire of post moves and he’s extremely reliant on getting to his right-hand, confining him to turning around over his outside shoulder on the right block and his inside shoulder on the left. But Diane’s ability to apply physicality and create finishing windows has grown immensely.

Take the clips below, for instance. About a year ago, if Diane didn’t receive an entry pass directly over the block, he’d have significant struggles backing his man down and elevating through contact. Diane was obviously still a BIG player at the time, but not necessarily the strongest.

Fast forward to roughly a year later. If Diane was denied a deep post-entry, he could make the catch in the short corner and back his man down into the basket. The patience with his footwork and balance on these attempts is a night-and-day difference.

I’d referenced the lack of counters currently available to Diane, but the few options Diane had shown an affinity towards have also gotten much sharper. On the right block, if Diane couldn’t get to a hook shot over his outside shoulder, he’d typically spin baseline. In the first possession of this clip, you can see how that move would typically lead to disaster, but by the end of Diane’s high school season he could spin baseline, process the help, and decelerate quickly enough to create a clean look at the rim.

In the second possession of that compilation, Iowa United ran ‘Flex‘ action, which was a staple of their playbook during both their prep and AAU seasons. Over the year, Diane grew comfortable making reads out of this play and generally recognizing help off his post-ups.

Maybe the most consequential development for Diane’s game has been his improved conditioning and the impact it has had on his mobility. Comparing the clip below exemplifies how much more dynamic Diane has become. From laboring in the to complete the press break in the first clip to confidently driving off the DHO keeper in the second clip.

Becoming better conditioned has provided Diane with a wealth of easy baskets from just running the floor. In the following play, Diane beats incoming SMU big man Jaden Toombs up the floor for an easy dunk, and Toombs is undoubtedly one of the best defenders in the country!

Continuing to work on his conditioning could put Diane in an incredibly rare class of big men. It may sound like hyperbole, but there simply have not been many players in the modern history of the NBA who possess Diane’s size and movement skills. This February at this year’s Basketball without Borders Camp, Diane measured in with a 9’4.5″ Standing Reach and weighed 313 pounds. Using Mark C’s Draft Combine App, I found all the players who had recorded similar numbers at the Combine and listed them below.

The fact that Diane is comfortably the youngest of these players and is still within striking distance athletically bodes well for his translation to the next level. But the department where Diane could stand to improve the most is definitely his lateral movement. Arafan’s limited backpedaling and change of direction are preventing him from being an impactful rim protector; correcting these issues and erasing reps like the plays below could be what separates him from the rest of the big men in the 2026 class.

Overall, though, I have little doubt Diane will walk into college as one of the best offensive bigs in the country. The aforementioned physical tools and touch give him such a strong foundation on this end. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Diane is shooting at a decent volume from the midrange or even from 3 by the time his freshman year comes around. Outside of his stellar free-throw shooting, Diane routinely hits these high-degree-of-difficulty touch shots…

…which is a common sign for latent shooting potential. However, even if the shooting doesn’t immediately materialize, the strides Diane has made in such a short time easily qualify him as one of the 10 best prospects in the 2026 class.

Colben Landrew: The Prototype

Rankings (As of 7/10/25)

• ESPN: 68
• 247: 62
• ON3: 71

When I think of national recruiting sites’ perception of Colben Landrew, the first and only word that comes to mind is ‘confusing.’ Before getting into the details of Colben Landrew’s game, if I were to tell you a player had posted these kinds of numbers…

…had just been named the player of the year in the highest classification in Georgia, all while standing 6’6 in shoes with a 6’11 wingspan, you would also probably find it hard to believe that consensus opinion amongst industry experts is that there are at least 60 players better than the player I had just outlined. But therein lies the rub with Colben Landrew, who, in my opinion,n is without a shadow of a doubt the most underrated player in the class of 2026.

The reasoning behind titling Landrew’s section ‘The Prototype’ is that, as it stands, I cannot think of a single team at any level who turns down a wing with Colben Landrew’s skillset. Per Cerebro Sports, Landrew has shot 39% from three (200 attempts) and 77% from the line (122 attempts) over the past two years. A sterling shooting resume for any high school player, never mind one of Landrew’s size.

But what’s especially enticing about Landrew’s game goes well beyond being a wing with shooting touch and defensive chops; Landrew’s game is much more in step with what is increasingly being demanded of wings, namely that they create their own shot.

Similar to the dynamic mentioned with Arafan Diane, Landrew’s high school (Wheeler) and AAU team (Game Elite) are not too dissimilar. In both settings, ’27 guard Kevin Savage, a fantastic player in his own right, runs the show, and Landrew is deployed more frequently as a forward than a guard. Instead of running a high volume of PNRs, the plays typically called for Landrew are ‘Pistol’ and variants of it, such as ‘Pistol Miami‘, both of which can be seen below.

Or Landrew will operate out of ‘Horns’ alignments where he’s adept both driving to the middle of the floor and making reads, or being the trigger man for sets from the elbow.

And while Landrew has been effective out of these playtypes and as a complementary offensive player in general, I think this utilization has somewhat masked, or at least muted, how high-level of a creator he is.

Of the 826 possessions Synergy has logged for Landrew, only 6% of them consist of PNR Possessions. Considering how gifted Landrew is as a ballhandler and driver, this is not a trend I expect to continue wherever his next stop may be.

What gives me confidence that Colben Landrew will become a featured ballhandler at the next level is how effective he already is creating without a screen. The lack of PNR reps in Landrew’s career to date has forced him to create against set defenses often, and even under these difficult circumstances, Landrew has routinely risen to the challenge. Although Landrew doesn’t have the most electric burst, he’s constantly changing speeds, is always the first to initiate contact on drives in order to keep his defender off-balance, and has the vision to find his teammates when he collapses the defense.

Unlike the majority of players his size, Landrew thrives navigating tight spaces, his ability to stop on a dime and create driving angles out of nothing is truly an outlier skill within the class.

Circling back to Landrew’s stat profile from the beginning of the section, his free-throw and dunk rates have surged this year in large part because of the advancements he’s made athletically and as a ballhandler. The aforementioned ability to decelerate in concert with the threat of Landrew’s pull-up jumper and his overwhelming strength as a ballhandler should see his foul-drawing translate in virtually any setting.

This skillset makes Landrew uniquely qualified to take on a much greater diet of ballscreen actions, and judging by the limited sample we do have available, he will handle this responsibility well.

Terrence Hayes Jr.: Utility Guard

Continuing with the theme of profiling players where the perception doesn’t match the production, there may not be a more underappreciated ’26 in the country than the 6’2 Gary, Indiana, native, Terrence Hayes Jr.

Rankings (as of 7/10/25)

• ESPN: N/A
• 247: N/A
• ON3: N/A

The fact that the buzz around Terrence Hayes Jr.’s recruitment hasn’t at all reflected his level of play this summer isn’t necessarily the biggest surprise. Hayes’ game is unique, and doesn’t exactly resemble what many evaluators associate with elite guard play. For Indiana Elite, Hayes’ backcourt partner Luke Ertel handles a lot of the traditional point guard duties, consensus 5-star wing Anthony Thompson demands his own touches (for good reason), and Hayes is asked to fill in the gaps.

For the majority of scouts and coaches who watched Indiana Elite, I’m assuming they saw a smaller player playing off the ball in a complementary role and immediately wrote him off. Conventional thought dictates that in order to play basketball at a high level, a guard needs to be proficient in the PNR, and any player incapable of running a high volume of ballscreens at the high-school level doesn’t deserve serious consideration. That line of reasoning is not only antiquated, but in Terrence Hayes’ case, extremely wrong! What makes Hayes a special player and the kind of guard who should be the MOST sought after is exactly what many probably see as his greatest weakness. That Hayes drastically impacts the game WITHOUT needing a heavy diet of ballscreens is exactly what makes him special

For starters, Terrance Hayes (#10 in the clips below) is an ELITE rebounder for his position; as I write this, he is averaging 2.4 offensive rebounds per game. Hayes’ timing, willingness to play through contact, and exceptional leaping separate him from the majority of guards on the glass.

Hayes’ activity on the glass helps mitigate any limitations he may have as a spacing threat at the moment. But when Hayes is placed on the ball, he utilizes a dynamic first step to get downhill — he’s especially effective rejecting ballscreens and consistently kills ICE coverages.

Even with Hayes’ inconsistencies as a shooter, he has no issues creating in the halfcourt when his drives are walled off. Shooting 45.6% (21/46) on non-rim 2s, Hayes has reliable scoring counters when he can’t get all the way to the rim.

Another grassroots scout described Hayes’ approach on the defensive end as ‘he plays with a mean streak’, and I don’t think there’s a more apt description for Hayes’ style. Despite having a thinner frame, Hayes will frequently switch onto larger guards or frontcourt players and oftentimes dissuades them from attempting to exploit the ‘mismatch’ with his quick hands.

With Hayes’ athleticism and situational awareness, he’s able to make plays from all areas of the court and in a variety of roles. Off-ball, Hayes’ presence turns driving lanes into danger areas for opponents.

The intersection of downhill explosiveness and ballhawking ability on defense allows Hayes to make the most of the havoc he creates on defense. There are only a few players who can keep up with Hayes in the open court and the steals he accrues are consistently converted into points.

All in all, while he is not without his flaws, Terrence Hayes Jr. embodies what should be considered above all else when it comes to evaluating guard talent. Hayes contributes to the possession battle on both ends of the court, and to a degree where I struggle to see him not being a significant contributor at whatever level of college basketball he decides to play.

Class of 2027

Jalen Davis: Changing of the Guard

Rankings (as of 7/10/25)

• ESPN: Unranked
• 247: 34
• ON3: 44

When I first saw Jalen Davis play a little over a year ago, and went to talk to others about his game, someone had told me he was ‘laconic’. And I was extremely jealous because there really wasn’t a better way to sum up his game, on the court Jalen Davis is all about getting to the point.

Through his first two years of grassroots basketball, Jalen Davis has been ruthlessly efficient, and the numbers reflect his playstyle.

To contextualize how impressive Davis’ scoring has been, below are the only players across the three major shoe circuits to score over 20 ppg. Davis is tied for 3rd in scoring, and on comfortably the highest efficiency.

But, closer examination of each player’s playtype distribution would show Davis is scoring in a much different fashion than his peers.

What’s behind these numbers makes Jalen Davis such a dynamic offensive threat, and a player whose game is uniquely tailored for the next level.

The foundation of Davis’ offense is his jumpshot. Possessing pristine mechanics to match the stellar shooting indicators, Davis is 92.6% (101/109) from the line in AAU so far. Additionally, Jalen’s process on the catch is fat-free: there’s almost no unnecessary movement or clock wasted pounding the ball.

Davis’ team frequently calls ‘RAM PNP’, where Davis receives a down-screen before setting a ballscreen which he may ghost depending on the coverage. In the plays below, Davis’ defender lingers on the ballhandler (or miscommunicates the switch) and Davis pops for the 3.

Eventually though, defenses adjust, and when it comes to high-caliber shooters, their default response will be to run shooters off the three-point line. What makes Davis such an exciting offensive player is how consistent his decision making is in these situations. Where high school players typically fall apart, Davis thrives. Despite being just a high school junior, Davis is already reading closeouts at a college level.

Overall, Davis’ halfcourt offensive refinement is well beyond his years. Beyond the efficiency, Davis is deployed in a variety of actions and his comfort toggling between playing on- and off-ball is a trait shared with the best offensive players at the next level. Whether Davis is running ‘Zoom‘ action…

Or asked to ‘Replace the Roll‘

Davis’ description is beyond that of just ‘primary ballhandler’; he’s forced to problem-solve in every area of the court and answers the call to do so consistently.

Jalen Davis’ feel for the game is rare without mentioning his defensive impact. Almost more impressive than the number of steals he acquires is how controlled Davis’ aggression is. Boasting a Stock (steals + blocks) to Foul ratio of 4.7 Stocks to 1 Foul is incredible. Even accounting for the amount of zone Davis’ team, Beauchamp Elite, runs this is a level of mistake-free defensive production I have yet to see from another player Davis’ age. Plays like the one below exemplify how decisive Davis can be when he sees an opportunity to take the ball from an opponent.

To put a bow on it, the past two summers Jalen Davis has put together is unequivocally one of the best two-way resumes in the country. Anyone with this shooting ability or defensive instincts alone would make for an impressive prospect. Pairing the two together places Davis firmly amongst the names to know nationally in the 2027 class.

Isaiah Hill: Rim Protector+

6’11 big Isaiah Hill has been among the most dominant rim protectors regardless of class, and possesses shot-blocking instincts and discipline well beyond his age. Hill currently leads all EYBL age groups in total blocks, and no matter where Hill is positioned he has the range to defend the rim from various areas of the court.

A major differentiating factor between Hill and his peers at the position is the coverage versatility he’s already shown at such a young age. Hill is fluid enough on the perimeter to play at the level in ballscreen coverages, disrupting the timing and comfort of opposing ballhandlers while preventing the offense from generating downhill momentum.

At this stage Hill seems to actually relish the opportunity to play on the perimeter defensively. Take the plays below, for example. Hill trusts himself to recover to the ballhandler, not overextending which would allow a mismatch to form.

Patience is a common theme of Isaiah Hill’s defense. It’s rare not only compared to his contemporaries, but relative to all highly regarded big-men of the past few high school classes.

As you can see, Hill is not only the most prolific shotblocker in this group of highly recruited bigs, but also has the third best Block/Foul ratio of the group. Being the least mistake prone rim protector while accumulating the most blocks is an extremely rare combination.

Hill’s comfort on the perimeter is noticeable on the offensive end as well. He’s comfortable stringing together multiple dribbles on drives to the rim when the opportunity presents itself.

There are subtler indicators of Hill’s coordination for the position, like the play below, where Hill seamlessly transitions from securing a pocket pass to finishing on a roll to the rim.

And perhaps most intriguing in Hill’s offensive game is his willingness to shoot from three. Hill currently boasts a robust 0.38 three-point rate, and while the efficiency isn’t particularly stellar he has projectable shot mechanics.

As the AAU season comes to a close, I can’t help but think Isaiah Hill was one of the biggest snubs from the USA U16 Americas team. A center with his size and skill is exceedingly rare, and when you account for him being one of the youngest players in his class (will not turn 16 until August), it becomes abundantly clear that few players share the long term potential of Isaiah Hill.

Carson Crawford: Keeping it Simple

Of all the players covered in this article, none have undergone a bigger improvement over the past year than 6’7 Orange Park wing Carson Crawford. A quick look at Crawford’s stats will verify as much:

What’s made Crawford’s leap so impressive isn’t any particular isolated skill improvement, as you can see Crawford hasn’t exactly exploded as a three-point shooter. It is that Crawford has become an expert in getting opportunistic buckets. Crawford seldom has his number called, as per Synergy over 75% of Crawford’s offensive possessions consist of Transition, Cut, or Putback buckets.

The sequence below is an apt representation Crawford’s role and how he has, in many ways, become the lynchpin of a Florida Rebels team with the second-best point differential in EYBL’s 16u age group. Crawford gets the helpside block on the defensive end, runs the floor, and finishes the dumpoff pass on the other end.

Unlike most dynamic wings his age, Crawford is perfectly content doing the dirty work on both ends. Currently sitting second in all EYBL age divisions in double-doubles with ten, Crawford is relentless on the glass and frequently finishes his offensive rebounds with putbacks above the rim.

But again, Crawford is a selfless player and doesn’t hunt offensive rebounds solely with the intent of scoring. Crawford subscribes to the Houston Cougar’s school of offensive rebounding — when he cannot secure the rebound for himself Crawford will tip out the ball just to keep the possession alive.

As with any wing though, what will ultimately determine Crawford’s offensive ceiling is whether or not he will develop into a reliable spacer from the 3-point line. At the moment, Crawford doesn’t have a significant three-point rate, but his consistent touch from the line (over 70% for his career) along with the comfort from the midrange…

…bodes well for him eventually developing into a consistent shooter from deep. Even without being a volume shooter, Crawford has been one of the most productive players in his age group, and I do not see this changing no matter how long it takes for his three-point shooting to materialize.

Conclusion

With this being the first installment of my grassroots series, I want to again reiterate that this isn’t a ranking or a pro projection, but rather I wanted to spotlight players who should be highly sought after because of how they contribute to winning. The combined team record of the players covered in this piece is 67-17, as, regardless of the holes in each player’s respective game, they’ve shown an aptitude for contributing to team success. And because of this, no matter their current ranking, each of these players is currently underappreciated.

The post Swish Theory Summer Standouts: Names to know from the grassroots season so far appeared first on Swish Theory.

BOOMSHAKALAKA!

Joshua Lewis makes the highlight poster dunk of the weekend

Postgame Interview with Joshua Lewis (Blake)

Great game out there. Crazy poster slam! What that feel like?

“Yessir! That felt great, I think that’s the best one I got so far in my career, so that felt really good to get a good one.”

What’s your mentality like entering games?

“Just be locked in. Bring energy. Help lead my team. Especially since we’re in a tough situation with our coach being out right now, so I definitely got to step up and be a big leader on the floor.”

What kind of skill development are you working in practice the most; what are you doing now and what do you hope to develop in the future?

“Just continue to get my handle better and get stronger, stay in the weight room; those are probably the two biggest things I’m working on. And just getting my shot more consistent, for sure”

Are there any players, former or current, that you study, that might inspire your game or model some of your skills after?

“Yeah, recently I’ve been watching a lot of Shai, I really like the way he moves on the court. But just any big guard that’s my size, handles the ball, you know those guys like Kevin Durant, Brandon Ingram, Paul George, Shai, all those type of players, I watch all of them for sure.”

Any recruitment updates? You thinking anywhere, eyeing anywhere?

“Yeah I’ve been talking to Iowa a lot, they’ve been on me a lot. I’ve been talking to Michigan some, Marquette some. I’ve been having some good recruitment, N.C. State some, Texas A&M, just to name a few.”

What’s going to lock it in for you?

“That gut feeling, that’s it. I feel like when you know, you know.”

The Teams

Oak Ridge
Duncanville
Blake
North Broward Prep
Pepperville
Southeastern Prep

The Standout Players

Jamier Jones
Kayden Edwards
Joe Philon
Beckham Black
Jalen Reece
Joshua Lewis
Jason Johnson
Cam Smith
Christopher “Deuce” Hunt
Chudier Dew yak
Ryan Baxley
Zyree Brown

Day 2 Game 3 – Oak Ridge vs. Duncanville

Kayden Edwards and Jamier Jones traded blows back and forth like they were in a heavyweight fight, each dropping 40+ points before the final bell!

In the marquee matchup of the weekend, Duncanville outlasted the host team, Oak Ridge, in double overtime late into Saturday night, winning 95-90.

Jamier Jones used his mobility, power, and touch inside to create a walking mismatch near the rim, recording a new career-high 41 PTS & 11 REB.

Kayden Edwards showed out as the highlight prospect of this event, dropping 45 PTS against Oak Ridge after a 30 PT outing the day before against Pepperidge.

Duncanville

#5 6’3” Guard Kayden Edwards – 45 PTS – 5 REB – 3 AST – 2 STL (14/23 FG – 4/10 3P – 13/14 FT)

Explosive quick first step burst. Soft touch finishing at the rim. Money pull-up jumper. Tough shot maker any spot on the court. Tight ball control. Defensive instincts, jumping passing lanes, timing up deflections. Great awareness when to use pump-fakes. Good feel playmaker. Draws fouls attacking the rack and threatening the pull-up.

Kayden Edwards stayed hot shooting all weekend. After a 30 PTS & 10 REB win over Blake the day before, Kayden lit up Oak Ridge for 45 PTS – 5 REB – 3 AST – STL, hitting tough bucket after bucket from every angle, drawing fouls and getting downhill with ease, converting 14/23 FG from the field, 4/10 3P from downtown, and 13/14 FT from the pinstripe.

Kayden’s tough shot making off the dribble and ability to burst to the rack with ease was on full display as his standout skills, making any shot from anywhere on the floor.

In the first half of the final game against Oak Ridge, Kayden Edwards got to the rim, hunted contact, and showed off shooting touch at every level: a pick six layup, quick burst to the rim drawing a foul, a strong take to the rim for a finger roll, a clean running FLOATA, a corner triple, a bump and finish at the basket, an AND1 putback in the paint, and a bailout putback middy.

The buckets didn’t slow down in the second half: Kayden drilled a pull-up three, splashed a catch-and-shoot triple, hit a defender with a killer crossover into a layup, made good team-first read extra passes, drew a foul on a pull-up jumper.

His instincts impressed on the defensive end, making a deflection to block a shot under the rim to stop a layup, and even stealing the tip off in an overtime period and getting a defender to leave his feet on a pump-fake.

#0 6’2” Point Guard Beckham Black – 8 PTS – 7 AST – 7 AST – 2 STL (2/5 3P)

Beckham Black, Kayden’s Duncanville backcourtmate and brother of the Orlando Magic’s Anthony Black, impressed with good two-way feel for the game, forcing deflections with defensive instincts, making good reads with the ball, and even pulling up for a handful of off-the-dribble three pointers with one falling through the net in clutch time of a double-overtime victory.

I asked Anthony Black after the game how he would describe his brother, Beckham, as a person off the court:

“Funny guy. Shoot, he’s a kid, so still growing up.

It’s cool to see him maturing, but, a good kid.

Loves basketball, loves to compete. Super proud of him.“

While his teammates filled up the box score, Beckham Black showed his incredible two-way feel for the game.

Looking to make the best decision for the team every time down. Hitting pull-up 3pt jump shots when needed. Active hands deflections timing up forced turnovers. Downhill driver finishing at the rim and looking for open shooters. Racking up assists finding open teammates. Running the offense creating drive and kicks, hockey assists, and potential assists moving the ball after creating advantages.

Black’s vision was on full display in the first half, making a drive-and-corner-kick 3pt assist, a hockey assist that led to a triple, team-first reads for extra passes, a potential assist to the top of the key out of a baselines out-of-bounds set, and a kickout off an offensive rebound to Kayden, even showing off the handles with a killer crossover into the finger roll for good measure.

In the second half, Beckham’s two-way feel for the game was made evident: A wraparound pass to a cutter, a swing pass 3pt assist to Kayden, a drive-and-kick 3pt assist to Deuce, a sick swing pass overhead, a lead pass to the roller in pick-and-roll.
Beckham hit a pair of big threes, one after forcing a steal and walking up to the 3pt line for a pull-up jumper, and another that tied the game late to send it to overtime.

#2 6’1” Guard Christopher “Deuce” Hunt – 23 PTS – 5 REB – 4 STL – 2 AST (8/14 FG – 5/6 3P)

Knockdown C&S 3pt shooter (at least 4 3PM). Active hands digs for steals without fouling. Lookahead passer.

Deuce Hunt brought a reliable scoring option for Duncanville throughout the weekend, posting 18 PTS – 7 REB – 4 AST – 3 3PM against Blake on Day 1 and balling out on both ends against Oak Ridge on Day 2, dropping 23 PTS – 5 REB – 4 STL.

Deuce showed shooting touch in the clutch, hitting two big free throws to go up by 4 points with 36 seconds left, drilling a catch-and-shoot triple late in overtime, and splashing triples throughout the game.

#4 6’7” Forward Cam Smith – 6 PTS – 2 AST – 4 BLK – 1 STL – 3 Deflections

Shot blocking rim-protection. Quick second jump. Great timing defensive instincts. Smooth stroke 3pt shooter. Grab-and-go handles to bring the ball up the floor. Long length used effectively. Active hands deflections. Good vision passer.

Putting a lid on the rim throughout, Cam Smith came up big on both ends, bringing real D&3 impact, racking up at least 4 blocks, 1 steal, and 3 deflections. Cam dominated one possession with defensive instincts, timing up a block at the rim and recovering with a quick second jump to block another shot right after. Later in the game he even blocked a 3pt shot, somehow extending to the shooter from the paint.

Cam is only credited with 6 PTS, but he stayed ready from behind the arc, knocking down one catch-and-shoot triple, and he made a good play at the rim in transition with a bump-and-finish AND1, scoring three the old fashioned way. Smith kept his head up, finding an open shooter on the drive and kick and an open cutter slicing down the middle of the paint.

#10 6’1 Guard Gary Jones – 6 PTS – 4 REB – 2 STL

#3 6’3” Guard Jirehn Mitchell – 5 PTS – 2 REB

#11 6’0” Guard Chris Gooden Jr. – 2 PTS

Jirehn Mitchell showed touch passing vision on a pass he caught and immediately swung while still in the air and got a stop contesting Jamier Jones by moving his feet and staying long and tall without fouling. In double overtime, Jirehn drew a foul rolling to the rim, while Chris Gooden Jr. made a big winning play taking a charge against Jalen Reece. Gary Jones made smart cuts and tough baskets underneath the rim.

Oak Ridge

#1 6’6″ Forward Jamier Jones – 41 PTS – 11 REB – 4 AST – 4 STL – 2 BLK (18/26 FG)

Tough shot making at the rim. Body control in the post. Controlled driver. Mobility. Agility. Dexerity. Strong and finesse finisher at the rim. Defensive instincts with effective length. Heads up connector passing. Draws fouls driving downhill and in the paint.

Oak Ridge’s Jamier Jones was a walking mismatch against Duncanville. Whether it was securing early post up positioning on the block, accelerating into drives from the perimeter, or timing up self-alley layups to himself, there was nothing Duncanville could do to stop him from putting the ball in the hoop, scoring a career-high 41 PTS on the night on 69% FG% and pulling down 11 REB to boot with a physical, athletic advantage able to reach a higher point than anyone else on the court.

Scoring in different ways, especially on the move, like in a stampede action already running off a screen before catching the pass on the drive to the rack. Pulling up for a tough contested middy. Grab-and-go coast-to-coast through the defense. Sweet drives into the paint with smooth finishes inside. Powering through mismatches with a big man size advantage. Good footwork down low with a strong move through contact for an AND1 finish in the paint. Power slam after power slam. Whether it was downhill off the dribble or early post-up positioning, Jamier Jones got to the rack with ease.

Jamier brought real defensive impact between guarding the ball at point of attack and forcing Beckham Black to pass the ball, to tools like anticipation and timing with the athleticism to force a pick six steal into a breakaway slam.

Flashed nice vision on a pass underneath the basket. Handled clutch time, drilling a free throw in the final minute of a close game. Drew fouls attacking the rack with an AND1 drive below the rim to cut the lead to two late in the contest. Converted a bump-and-finish layup through contact to extend a late lead.

#2 6’0″ Guard Jalen Reece – 16 PTS – 9 AST – 4 REB – 3 STL (3/7 3P)

Natural point guard. Pull-up jump shooter. Soft touch FLOATA finishing at the rim. Runs the offense, directs traffic. Finds and feeds mismatches. Post entry bullet passes and clean kickouts to open shooters. Effective flare handles.

Jalen Reece flashed creative vision and tight ball control, setting up teammates with post entry passes throughout, looking for his teammates with quick-trigger passes and highlight dimes, finishing with 16 PTS & 9 AST.

Sending a bullet overhand pass to open teammates and quick post entry passes all night, Jalen found Jamier Jones for highlight connections including one clutch no-look pass for a power slam in overtime.

Reece showed off the handles and touch with a mean crossover into a finger roll finish, spinning into a running FLOATA and splashing a catch-and-shoot triple, all in double overtime.

Jalen used active hands and good timing to create deflections, too.

#3 6’3” Guard Will Jackson – 11 PTS – 5 REB – 2 AST – 2 STL (3/5 3P)

Will knocked down a couple of three pointers with at least one coming off the dribble before hitting two clutch free throws late in the game. Brought good energy, took a charge on a hustle play, flew in for an offensive rebound in traffic.

#4 6’7” Wing Treyvon Maddox – 12 PTS – 8 REB – 3 AST – 2 BLK (3/5 3P)

Treyvon played with high motor and toughness. Active hands defense created a deflection and steal. Energy on the glass led to an offensive rebound where he drew foul shots on the putback attempt. Driving strong to the rack, drawing two free throws, and knocking one down to extend his team’s lead to three with 37 seconds left in overtime. On top of his energy, Maddox showed deep shooting range, drilling a contested pull-up three and a catch-and-shoot triple.

#5 6’7” Forward CeZanne Mosley – 10 PTS – 5 REB

CeZanne took advantage of his size mismatch down low, finishing strong in the paint, showing fundamental footwork on the spin moves in the post, drawing the AND1 foul out of a baselines out-of-bounds set. Nice vision on high-low passes.

Entering the weekend at home, Oak Ridge was coming off two losses against fellow Marquee Florida High School Basketball Programs, Montverde and IMG Academy.

Losing to Duncanville was the fourth loss in a row for Oak Ridge, as the host team was taken down by Pebblebrook on Day 1 of the weekend, where Jalen Reece posted a statline of 28 PTS – 8 AST – 5 STL – 3 3PM and Jamier Jones finished with 14 PTS – 6 REB – 3 AST – 4 STL.

Pebblebrook’s #14 6’3” Guard Jaylen Humphrey led the way with 17 PTS & 6 REB; #2 5’10” Guard Zyree Brown scored 13 PTS; #15 6’10” Center Fallou Dioum scored 12 PTS in the matchup.

Against Southeastern Prep, Dioum showed good timing on a block while #20 6’7” Wing Anthony Moon knocked down a catch-and-shoot triple.

Southeastern Prep’s #23 (no roster listed) impressed in the fourth quarter of a blowout win against Pebblebrook. Flying up and down the court, throwing down high-flying slams, popping out of the gym athletically on his dunks, rebounds, and contests.

In the opening game on the first day of Hoopfest Florida, Blake’s 6’7” Wing Joshua Lewis scored 32 PTS – 4 STL – 1 BLK and 6’8” Guard Joe Philon scored 16 PTS – 8 REB – 3 STL against Duncanville.

Against Blake, Beckham Black dropped 11 PTS – 3 REB -3 AST -3 STL, “Deuce” Hunt posted 18 PTS, and Kayden Edwards went off for 30 PTS – 4 REB – 3 AST – 2 STL.

In the second game on Day 2, Joshua Lewis and Joe Philon led Blake to a victory over North Broward Prep, while Chudier Diew yak stood out the most for his team in defeat.

Day 2 Game 2- North Broward Prep vs Blake – Standout Players

Blake

#1 6’9” Wing Joe Philon – 7 PTS – 7 REB – 4 AST – 3 BLK – 2 STL (4.0 A/TO)

Joe Philon impressed with all-around athleticism, versatility, and two-way feel. Philon showed incredible defensive instincts making a block off a quick second jump, swatting another shot from behind on a different possession, poking the ball away for a steal at one point, and trapping an opponent in the corner to help force a deflection.

Philon flashed soft touch by splashing a catch-and-shoot corner triple and convering a tough driving bump-and-finish lay-in.

One aspect Philon could improve was decision-making in transition, where he forced one or two errant passes at teammates’ feet that probably could have been easier to catch in stride rather than trying to perfectly time a bounce pass on the run.

#5 6’7” Guard/Wing Joshua Lewis – 13 PTS – 8 REB – 2 AST

Joshua Lewis made the SportsCenter Top-10 worthy highlight of the night: rising up, climbing the ladder, floating even higher after making contact, and throwing down the poster slam.

Lewis pulled up for at least three elbow middies, swished in a running FLOATA, drew the foul hunting contact beneath the rim, hit the skip pass to the corner, made a well-timed cut off ball for the rim finish, and pushed the pace when opportunity struck.

#20 6’6’ Forward Jason Johnson – 18 PTS (7/9 FG) – 7 REB – 2 AST – 3 STL – 2 BLK

Jason Johnson impressed in many facets of the game.

Jason knocked down a triple, made a huge block, showed swarming defense with a full court press steal leading to a breakaway bump-and-finish AND1 runner, all in the first half. In the second half, Johnson threw down monster dunks, made multiple soft touch finishes at the rim with one drawing a foul, and knocked down a jumper running off a screen.

#2 6’0” G Rashif Sinkfield – 2 PTS – 3 REB – 2 AST – 1 STL
Rashif flashed good feel with the drive-and-kick corner 3pt assist and crafty finishing at the rim.

#3 6’0” G Marion Ward – 11 PTS – 3 3PM – 2 AST – 2 STL
Marion showed of the jumper pulling up for a transition triple and splashing in a corner three, the defensive instincts forcing a turnover, and the finishing touch on a breakaway layup.

#4 5’11” G TJ Daniels – 8 PTS – 2 REB – 1 AST – 2 STL
TJ brought good effort trapping a defender in the corner to force a deflection, showed off nice vision with a no-look dumpoff pass, and flashed the 3pt shot with a catch-and-shoot corner three.

#12 6’3” G Jordan Mickens – 2 PTS – 5 AST – 2 STL
Jordan showed good vision with a solid drive-and-kick read for the corner 3pt assist.

North Broward Prep

#3 Guard Ryan Baxley – 9 PTS – 5 AST – 4 REB – 1 STL

Ryan Baxley flashed his soft touch at the rim with a floater, clean shooting range drilling catch-and-shoot threes in the corner and in transition, vision on a nice look-ahead pass, and good defensive instincts on closeouts and loose balls forcing a turnover.

#5 6’9” Wing Chudier Diew yak – 8 PTS – 3 REB – 1 BLK (2/4 3P)

Chudier Diew yak impressed with shooting touch at the rim and beyond the arc, drilling multiple catch-and-shoot threes and finishing an up-and-under cleanly.

Chudier brings a high motor on hustle plays, pulling down a big rebound in traffic, fighting for loose balls to force the turnover, and using the length effectively as a rim deterrent.

#10 6’5” Wing Luigi Borio – 6 PTS – 5 REB – 1 AST – 2 STL – 1 BLK
Luigi added a catch-and-shoot triple of his own and even timed up a nice block on a floater attempt.

#24 Big Francesco Borio – 4 PTS – 5 REB – 1 AST – 2 BLK – 1 STL
Francesco finished strong a the rim with a bump-and-finish through contact and a mean AND1 putback.

#30 Gavin Gorman 6 PTS (2/4 3P) – 2 REB – 1 AST
Gavin splashed a few catch-and-shoot triples

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In 1995, 12 wolves were transferred from Western Canada to two different acclimatization pens in the Yellowstone National Park in an effort to restore the wolf populations of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.

This was just the first of many steps that led to the current, healthy wolf populations and to a series of numerous direct and indirect consequences that unexpectedly even positively affected the landscape of the park itself.

The wolves started putting pressure on the elk population, diminishing their number, thus allowing the willows to start recolonizing the park. The increased availability of building materials allowed beavers to thrive and expand, and ultimately the countless engineering works of these rodents modified the course of the rivers. An incredible story that became emblematic of the crucial balancing role of apex predators within habitats.

This dynamic is called “trophic cascade” and is also identifiable in other lesser known situations like the reintroduction of the Tasmanian devil.

This video pretty much became a cornerstone of whatever ecology course of study.

What does this even have to do with basketball?

When I started watching some G League games and stats this season, something didn’t feel right to me. The “landscape” didn’t look the same as I remembered.

Thinking about the possible reasons that caused such a change in the teams’ rotations I remembered the recent introduction of a third two-way contract. This brought to my mind the Yellowstone wolves and I hypothesized that this could lead to a similar series of ripple effects.

Is it possible that a small change in a crucial part of the system caused a major change in the scenery? Is it possible that the addition of the third two-way caused a significant shift in the minute distributions?

No Country For Rookies

What first struck me as I approached this G League season was the apparent scarcity of rookies playing prominent roles.

When I try to decide which game to watch I look up box scores on the G League site, and I’m generally subject to the “New Shiny Toy Syndrome,” preferring to watch games where a bunch of rookies play a relevant role. I found it much more difficult in the first part of the 2024-25 season, and I often ended up watching the same few teams.

Trying to clarify the situation, the first thing I did was check the stats on the beloved and despised G League site (clear room for improvement for a more enjoyable and easily accessible product, as I pointed out in another article) which confirmed my first impression.

After putting everything down on a spreadsheet, I found that the share of rookie minutes among the top 100 players dropped from 34% during the 2023-24 Showcase Tournament to 24% in the 2024-25 Tip-off Tournament. This is certainly a significant difference (it was even larger in the first months of the season, around -13/-14%) that deserves attention and further analysis.

Even just looking up box scores it is evident that some teams generally didn’t even start a rookie. For example, this was the case with the College Park Skyhawks (they had in Djurisic their rookie star, and he was still dealing with a foot injury, to be honest), Long Island Nets, Windy City Bulls, and Capital City Go-Go, which had only 83 minutes total played by rookies over the whole tournament.

The Osceola Magic (recently rebranded after the legendary chief of the Seminole) deserve a special note for the uniqueness of their case: no rookie suited up for them during the Tip-off Tournament, and they had an average age of 25.8 years.

The complete Osceola Magic roster for the Tip-Off Tournament

Could the introduction of the third two-way be the trigger of a similar change in the minutes’ distribution?

Good things come in threes

The introduction of two-way contracts in 2017 was a game changer for the empowerment of the G League. Those represented a new frontier of player development and became a tangible connection between two almost separate “habitats.”

In a matter of few seasons, the abundance of talent on the margins of the league made clear the insufficiency of just two two-way spots. Therefore, following the new Collective Bargain Agreement, the NBA introduced the possibility of signing a third player with a two-way contract starting with the 2023-24 season.

Examining how the two-way distribution changed before and after this new introduction is interesting. Obviously, the two-way contracts aren’t set in stone and things can change throughout the year, but as of today, thirty-three rookies signed a two-way contract for the 2024-25 season. During the 2022-23 season, the last before the introduction of the third two-way, 30 two-way players out of 60 available spots were occupied by rookies.

While the raw number of rookies obviously increased, the overall percentage dropped by 13%. We could suppose that the third two-way allowed the teams to approach this matter with a more developmental view, stimulating them to work on fringe players for more seasons. This means more two-way contracts are allocated to players in their second or third season.

At the time of the last CBA negotiations, the goal of the league itself was to give teams the tools to develop players with fewer than four years of experience playing part-time in the G League and in the NBA.

Along with this comes a series of considerations. There are some ifs and buts, but a two-way contract can be worth up to $578,577 (50% of the regular NBA minimum). More spots mean more potentially life-changing money for fringe players, which means more good G League players have a great reason to stay around longer, taking their chance in the minor league without signing abroad. This kind of enrichment and improvement of salary conditions for a part of the players leads to more competitiveness and to a higher level of the sport.

As an example, one of the players signed with a two-way contract most recently, Daeqwon Plowden, who is 26 and is in his third G League season, probably wouldn’t be on a two-way contract at this point of his career without the introduction of the third spot.

While a similar dynamic is clearly beneficial for the league in a vacuum and potentially more propaedeutic to NBA success, it could lead to an environment initially less friendly for rookies and newcomers.

Just a bad harvest?

While my initial hypothesis is supported by some statistical evidences as we saw, it’s probably too early to have a definitive answer for the questions posed in the introduction.

There could actually be a simpler reason that caused a similar shift in the minutes’ distribution: the level of the current rookie class.

There’s talent in every rookie class, and this year’s isn’t an exception, but it looks less rich than others that preceded it. Already during the scouting process, there were some doubts, especially about the absence of top-tier prospects, and the NBA Rookie of the Year race is confirming it so far.

Even simply looking up the playing time in the NBA, we can notice the absence of rookies playing 30 or more minutes and even how there are few playing more than 20 minutes per game. Along with it comes a general impression of a class that is struggling to shine in the league. And while this isn’t a real demonstration of a bad class, it certainly is a symptom of a weird one that is leading to an equally weird race for Rookie Of the Year with no real favorite.

The lack of rookies’ minutes in G League could be just a reflection of an overall rookie class that’s also not particularly strong or deep.

Equilibrium

In the case the league is indeed experiencing the described dynamic, this however could not last forever.

When apex predators recolonize a certain territory after an extended period of absence, the population of their main prey can face a drastic decrease because the animals don’t have the needed defensive strategies anymore and don’t know how to evade predation attempts. The casual observer can mistake it for a local extinction, but it’s just a transitory fluctuation within the normal predator-prey interactions.

An example of a model that simulates the interaction between a population of predators and preys (rights reserved to Arizona State University)

Even if there’s an apparent shift in rookie minutes and two-way allocations, this could represent a similar oscillation that the system will re-balance in the near future. It’ll be interesting to keep track of its evolution going forward.

As you probably understood reading this article, it’s very difficult to analyze and define such a volatile and ever-evolving league like the G League (just consider the league reached the ever-chased 30 teams with NBA affiliation only this season, for example) but, at the end of the day, as I said in a DM to Matt Powers when I started thinking about this article, I don’t have the perfect answer for this question, but guessing is the fun part.

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