I’ll be making a preliminary argument for Donnie Freeman using highlights only. This time of year, I am not looking to make completely detailed evaluations of prospects. I’m painting with a broad brush and simply taking note of players who catch my eye. Highlights are great for that. This article advocates for Freeman while also showing you how I use highlights in a productive way.

Let’s start with the basics. Donnie Freeman is a former 5-star recruit who was listed at 6’9, 205 pounds for Syracuse last year as a freshman. In 2024-25, he averaged 30.5 points and 18 rebounds per 100 possessions and had a 56.6 2P%, 33.3 3P%, and 79.6 FT%. Other notable statistics include a 4.1 OBPM and 3.1 assists per 100 compared to 4.1 turnovers. Below are all his per 100 and advanced metrics, courtesy of Sports Reference.

Before we get into highlights, I should note that Freeman has allegedly grown an inch in the offseason and is now 6’10. What we know so far is already quite intriguing. Freeman has a pedigree going back to high school, produced well on a per-possession basis, might still be growing, and is a good bet to shoot based on the FT% and decent enough 3P%. That brings us to the highlight plays. Let’s dive in.*

First, a midrange shot. Watch how Freeman stays calm amidst chaos in the paint. As soon as he finds space, his eyes are on the rim, and his energy transfers cleanly into a shot. The ball gets a shooter’s bounce off the rim, too.

Next up, Freeman finishing through contact after a post catch. Love that he stays patient with his footwork and that he seeks out contact. Additionally, he doesn’t get thrown off his spot. Sometimes, young players resort to awkward movement patterns when faced with contact. But Freeman doesn’t do that here. Great stuff.

This next one screams NBA forward to me. Freeman is operating at the top of the key and quickly makes the correct decision to keep the dribble handoff and take it all the way to the rim. This play requires great court mapping and coordination, which has become increasingly necessary for NBA forwards.

Now for the one that made me sit up in my chair a bit.

Oftentimes, I’ll watch a high-level flash play and wonder how translatable it actually is. Not on this one. That self-creation was pretty damn cogent. Freeman seems comfortable sizing up his man, and he has a knack for getting low on his drives and exploding into a high-release point jumper. More on that later.

Opportunistic cutting is one of the most important off-ball indicators for future offensive success. This next clip shows Freeman doing just that. Great job by Freeman to cut behind his man as soon as he sees his head turn towards the ball. He puts himself in a great spot to make the pass easy for his teammate as well. The timing and positioning on cuts is often taken for granted, but if cutting were easy, more prospects would be good at it!

Next, a clean pull-up two that showcases Freeman’s high release point. All the previous observations about Freeman’s eyes and energy transfer on his pull-ups apply here, too.

Next, Freeman gets really low on a drive to the rim and showcases soft short-midrange touch.

On this unremarkable swing pass, I wanted to point out how quickly Freeman gets the ball out of his hands as well as the communication to his teammate to keep swinging the ball. It’s not flashy by any means, but I love to see prospects tuned into what other players should do on court, not just themselves.

Next, a really smooth movement three:

I can’t get over how quick and smooth Freeman’s shot motion is at his size. I’d drop some players it reminds me of, but it’s too early to get crazy.

Next, I’ll show a couple passing highlights. The first clip is a really good entry pass, another skill sometimes taken for granted (note the wide arm angle and use of spin on this one). The second clip shows real versatility. Freeman receives a ball screen, backs down his man into the mid-post, and delivers a good skip pass.

Lastly, two more excellent shots. First, a smooth fadeaway. Second, a midrange out of the short roll that shows how soft Freeman’s touch already is.

The touch in that second clip is legitimately special. You almost never see a basketball swish through the net that softly from the free throw line besides, well, on free throws.

Ok, let’s take a breath. There’s so much to like here, and I’ll get into all of it in a second. But I want to single out a specific trait that Freeman showed us in those highlights: his ability to get his shot off using fluid energy transfer and a high release point.

My work over the years has referenced my belief in a high release point as a potential star trait. But, I’ve had some misses projecting under-the-radar star wings and forwards using this idea (among other things, of course). Reflecting on why that might be, I think quality shot preparation may help separate the hits from the relative misses.

Check out this shot from college Kawhi Leonard:

What do you notice? Well, if you’re anything like me three years ago, you fixated on the high release point on Kawhi’s pull up. But his lower body is immaculate, too. The feet are square, he explodes into the jump, and his core strength keeps him stable and balanced throughout the entire shot. These traits, combined with the high release point, made pull-up jumpers easier for Kawhi than most players.

Let’s look at another example from a player who more closely resembles Donnie Freeman physically: college Pascal Siakam.

On that play, Siakam shows smooth movement and touch in the short midrange. He keeps the ball high, and the ball falls softly through the hoop. Again, Siakam made this look easy because of fluid energy transfer from his lower body to his upper body. As a prospect, Siakam fell short of ideal thresholds on traditional shooting indicators. But, this type of fluidity and touch in the short midrange should have clued more NBA teams into potential development down the road.

Those are just two examples of NBA stars taken outside the lottery in their respective drafts who had high release points and functional lower body mechanics on self-created opportunities. That combination allowed both players to seize the on-ball opportunities they received in the NBA.

Looping back to Donnie Freeman, I saw that same functionality on his pull-up jumper. He makes shooting off the dribble look easy. Go back to the clips I showed of Freeman shooting and watch his lower body. He’s balanced, explosive, and has soft touch to boot. You almost never see that from 6’10 guys.

What else did we learn from those highlights? We saw functional strength. We saw movement shooting. We saw glimpses of decisiveness within a team structure. We saw coordination, fluidity, passing flashes, and involvement in NBA-style actions. All of that, plus a projectable pull-up jumper that shares important qualities with NBA development success stories, makes a very enticing case for Freeman.

I’m intentionally not jumping to any conclusions about where Freeman might stack up in this class. It’s too early in the cycle, not to mention that highlights alone are insufficient for doing so. That said, this guy has green flags that point to a potential star.

Look at how much we teased out of one highlight video. Pretty cool if you ask me. Going into next season, I have a lot of questions I’m excited to see Freeman answer. How does he look physically after the growth spurt and post-injury? How consistently does he play within the construct of a team? How will he look against power conference competition? Is he good at defense??? We didn’t really get any highlights of him on that end, unsurprising given his very low stock rates.

All of those questions will be answered with time and analysis of full games. Highlights, by definition, don’t directly tell us what a player needs to work on. Only full games can complete the picture. For me, highlights help build the skeleton of my understanding of a prospect. The strengths shown in these videos (and sometimes what isn’t shown) tell a story.

What I’ve tried to show you today is the story Donnie Freeman’s highlights told me. Without having watched a single full game of his, I have my initial “skeleton” understanding of Freeman. From here, I’m going to dive into some of his film at IMG Academy and full games of his from Syracuse. I also plan on watching Freeman’s Syracuse team early and often once college basketball season starts. I suggest you do the same.

*Credit to the ACC Network for the video.

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