One of the other sites reports UM is looking at a 2015 italian kid…anybody got a name?
@Balas_Wolverine: U-M’s John Beilein watching 2015 Italian Nicola Akele, now at IMG Academy
Nicola Akele, plays for John Mahoney at IMG
If you guys remember, Beilein was at the NPSI watching Jamal Murray a couple weeks back. Looks like Akele had 12 points in a game later that day.
http://netscoutsbasketball.com/blog/2015-national-prep-school-invitational-day-2/
He’ll be 20 years old before next season begins.
Defensively reminds me of Levert with his long arms.
Some film on Akele below
Prelim opinion (caveat applies because film is from one year ago in most cases) - long frame very similar to THJ, good catch and shoot player, poor ballhandler (that may be kind based on the second clip), looks to be athletic but doesn’t necessarily use it on offense, the thing that really sticks out to me is his ability/willingness to slide his feet on D - kid really takes pride on defense. Can’t really provide a truly informed opinion because the film is so old, but looks to have too much overlap with the current roster with Irvin, Robinson, Dawkins…basically just a one dimensional catch and shoot type player. Might be ok if we didn’t have 2 guys in Robinson and Dawkins with 3 years of eligibility, but just seems to be overkill at this point.
It’s hard to know at this point what they’re thinking.
We’ll get Duncan eligible. Looking at Akele in '15. Rowan and Towns in '16.
We’ll have Irvin and Dawkins that can play the 3/4 positions.
We need guys that can create and none of the above really fit that bill extremely well.
Shoot? Yes. Score? Yes.
I’m still hoping we add a combo guard or a 2 guard that can handle well like Langford or Murray. I liked Brown too but that’s a pipe dream.
As JBlair stated, I’m fine with taking him if we can guarantee we get a couple Langford/Murray types. But if we’re going to take a late flier on a 15 prospect, I’d rather go after a MAAR type that can be somewhat of a threat to penetrate.
I’d imagine JB is just doing his due diligence in case we have unexpected attrition after this season. If we take Akele this year, and don’t have any surprise departures, we would only have 1 additional spot available for 2016. With our need for creators, that would not seem to be great roster balance.