Yeah, that’s wrong. I assume he’s just looking at his crystal ball on 247 and tweeting that. We went through this one last week.
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Does anyone know if Jordan Poole has any particular close friends in aau that he’s working hard on?
Justin Smith is new to the radar and on the Mac Irvin Fire with him.
Yeah Scout insiders say that Poole has been told by the staff to work on recruiting Justin Smith.
FWIW, I saw Smith live in 3 games last weekend playing with his high school team at a shootout in suburban Chicago. Great athlete–runs well, explosive and effortless leaper, very quick first step, above average lateral quickness–but his skills are still a work in progress. His shot doesn’t look bad, but he’s not a consistent or a confident shooter (and hasn’t been throughout his career)–right now, he’s more a GR III level shooter from 3 than anything more than that. He can handle well enough to take the ball baseline, but doesn’t seem to want to handle in the open court (reminds me of THJ when I saw him live in high school). He’s a good passer, though not a great one. He alternates between spurts where he wants to take over and dominate and ones where he’s very willing to defer to others on his team. By all accounts, he’s a great kid and a terrific student, and I think he could be a very good basketball player at the high major level with reasonable development, and a bit more aggression. I’d put him at low 4* status (80-100) with a chance to move up.
In terms of class building, I’d be happy to have him and would take both he and Matthews, but if the latter happens, I think someone else in the class needs to be a shooter–whether Young, Davison, Cain (if we want to take 3 wings), Lawrence, or whomever else becomes available, or an absolute star (Wilkes, Jackson). I like guys like Tillman, Dawson, Gaines (I know Matt didn’t like him, but he’s so productive and efficient that I can’t help thinking he saw him in a bad game), but IMO, those guys wouldn’t quite fit in a class with both Matthews and Smith unless we’re going 5 deep (which we could do if Donnal doesn’t get a fifth year or there is attrition) and adding a shooter with the 5th. I’m all for getting more athletic, but we need two shooters in this class–Poole is one, the other is yet to be determined.
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Yeah, I’ve seen Smith described as a three-and-D, but he hasn’t really been consistent with his perimeter shot. Interesting part is that he takes them in EYBL whereas someone like Donnie TIllman doesn’t take them.
He took a fair number of them Saturday too. Guys lay off him because he’s more of a threat at the basket, and he hasn’t got a big enough body that if you give him room and he takes a few dribbles, he can back you down the rest of the way (as maybe Tillman can). The shot looks OK–a little flat perhaps, but surely not broken–but he doesn’t look like he really believes in it yet, and he doesn’t make a high percentage, either Saturday or previously. I don’t mean to sound like I’m underselling him–I think he could be a very good player, he’s clearly by orders of magnitude an athletic upgrade, he’s a great kid, and he has a very good offer list–I’d be happy to have him. As a shooter, though, not there yet.
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Does he project to small ball 4 or more of a 3? Just wondering if he is the same mold as Matthews/Cain/Wikes, or Young/Tillman/Jackson, for our scheme.
Kyle Young was playing with a sports hernia and is going to take June off.
Here’s his quote on Michigan:
“Coach Beilein came for an in-home visit at our house not too long ago. He loves my style of play that I bring and how I would fit well into what they do.”
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Livers? He would be a four IMO.
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Would love to steal him from Sparty.
Jackson, Eastern are finalists for USA U17. 2018 Brandon Johns appears to have been cut.
Few quotes from Jaren Jackson out at USA Basketball.
Justin Roberts committed to DePaul
Damn I really liked him. I thought he was a solid realistic back up option who’d do well. I wonder if he’ll stay committed. In case guys like Dawson fall through
I didn’t really see Roberts as a great fit. For a guy to backup and maybe play next to X, I’d rather maybe more size and shooting just to fill in some of the gaps.
Agree. Much prefer a guy like Dawson. Nice handles though.
I see that for sure I guess I’m just worried a highly rated guy who could be a combo guy like Dawson will be off out by x. You think a top hundred back up pg will be willing to come in behind x who’s potentially a three or four year guy Dylan? I just liked his handle, mid range game/ to the rack skills. Super quick. Couple that with the lower ranking/schools like DePaul being on him most I felt he’d be pretty attainable. Plus he mentioned he heard from us a lot. Oh well if we can get a Dawson or Davison type that fits better I agree.