Easley is a kid who used to just overpower everyone when he was younger, now is adjusting to playing more on the wing as he’s not bigger and stronger than everyone when he was earlier in his career. Projects pretty perfectly to the four in Michigan’s offense in that sense that he can do a bit inside and out.
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Reegs - the kid can definitely shoot from midrange, no doubt about it. He’s not the most athletic guy around in terms of verticality, but he is strong and has motor. I think he’d be a plus rebounder. Has more skill than you think. This is film of Easley v Scruggs in a 1 v 1 battle - Easley’s handle and skill at that size for a freshman is really nice IMO. Would love to land him
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I noticed this also. I get that he’s trying to develop his shooting touch but it’s a bit odd that a guy with that frame would settle for so many jumpers.
@MattD, how would he compare, athletically and skill-wise, to say, DeShawn Sims? (I presume that a decade down the road from Peedi we’re picking “Plan A” guys of at least his talent level.)
So hard to say because Easley is only a sophomore, and I haven’t seen him live. My gut tells me that Easley is probably the better shooter, and has more motor, whereas Sims was the better athlete with more explosion.
Highlights I put together of Darius Bazley in Atlanta for EYBL Session 4
JM - this is why rankings, without live evaluation and/or film is useless. This kid, Darius Bazley, is so talented its unreal. I’m talking NBA potential. For context, this kid is unranked by every major service - I want you to tell me he’s not a legit top 50 talent! For contrast, you have kids like Zak Irvin that were ranked in the 50-100 range at the same stage, but clearly lacked this type of talent. We also have kids on our board such as Austin Boucher and Robby Carmody that are ranked, and while they are nice players, don’t even compare in terms of talent and upside. This kid is 6’8 with isolation ability, he’s basically everything you wish Kam Chatman could’ve been had he been more athletic. Bazley has Lamar Odom written all over him IMO.
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He’s very impressive. Certainly from a size, athleticism, and skill standpoint, I’d love to see us recruit him. Obviously the interest would have to be mutual and his academics would have to be in order. Any idea on those fronts?
I think it’s a little unfair to compare him to Irvin. Just totally different types of players. Irvin was overrated as a top 25 kid, but appropriately rated around 60-75.
LA you get my point though - just trying to show JM that rankings, without more, just don’t mean much. Bazley is unranked - so let me ask you - would you rather have an unranked Bazley or 3star Austin Boucher?
I think all reasonable people agree that rankings are just one tool of many, especially at younger age levels. Not really any need to debate it in every thread.
The kid just oozes talent and athleticism. At that size and as young as he is, to do what he does is pretty amazing. There is no question in my mind that JB would definitely see everything you, LA, and, I’m guessing, all the rest of us see, but I agree with LA, his grades would have to be in order, and he’d have to be interested in Michigan. He’d also have to be a great kid who JB would want to coach in practice everyday. Now if he has all of that, I would love to see Coach B go after him big time. Have you posted one of your interviews with Darius? I’d love to read what he says beyond the the tape, because going by the tape, he looks really special, with a VERY high ceiling! Thanks for posting!
Cant speak to his grades, but after receiving a Florida offer a few days ago, assume the grades are fine. From my view, it’s JBs/the staffs job to get him interested in UM rather than vice versa. It’s also the coaching staffs job to ensure he is coachable, after all, if college coaches are considered mentors in addition to coaches (as opposed to the NBA), then it is the partial responsibility of the coaching staff to aid in transitioning these kids from boys to men on and off the court. In other words, if the kid can play and has the grades, the rest is on the staff.
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Bazley, of course. He does look like a young Lamar Odom. He would really fit our system nicely.
Robby Carmody, to me, seems criminally underrated as a three star. He’s got great hops and a nice outside shot. That’s a kid I really want in the 2018 class.
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LOL. Please not the Corey Sanders debate again. And please don’t compare Corey Sanders to Russell Westbrook.
Sanders was also suspended for 2 weeks in his first season at Rutgers. FWIW.
There’s nothing wrong with ‘swag’ and Michigan has had plenty of players who had plenty of it… look at the way Nik/Trey played. That’s not what anyone is saying and I don’t really get why it keeps coming up.
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Robby is #48 per Scout. As Dylan says, rankings this early just don’t mean that much because they haven’t been updated. Post summer we’ll get a better gauge
That seems about right - didn’t know he was that high. Hopefully he stays right there instead of shooting up the rankings and getting interest from Duke and Kentucky.
Back to '18 kids–I know there are many who believe we should be extending more offers and extending them earlier, but for the upcoming '18 class, should this be tempered by in any way by what’s happening with the '17 group and a transfer like Matthews? In other words, is whether we want to offer a guy like Easley right away dependant in any way upon who we get at 4 in the class of '17–he’s more duplicative of a guy like Young than of some of the more athletic guys who don’t shoot as well. Johns and Carmody might be different–Johns may be good enough that it doesn’t matter who we sign at his position in '17, and Carmody plays a position already accounted for in the '17 class and he’s a good compliment. Don’t get me wrong–I’d love a commitment from a guy like Easley who I think is really good, and I’d offer him and adjust on the fly–I’m just raising a topic for discussion from a roster building/management standpoint. Thoughts?
I don’t think 17 should impact it all to be honest. Offer all the kids that are qualified as no brainer offers, and manage the ‘committable’ offers later if necessary. In other words, the Jim Harbaugh approach.
Also, after watching Brandon Johns extensively, I certainly don’t think he’s good enough to take irrelevant of 17.
Let’s focus on the priorities of who we’d like to see Michigan focus on rather than the same debates over offering/not offering/volume/timing/etc.
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For the record, I hope we offer Easley and Carmody early and prioritize them. Do we also need to go after a big man in this class? I’m of the opinion we need to sign an average of (1) 5 every class. Wagner in '15. Teske and Davis to cover '16 and '17. That means we need to target an '18 big. Who are our options?