Mark Deeks
| Username: |
Mark Deeks |
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admin@shamsports.com |
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614 |
| Bio: |
I am continuously intrigued by the esoterica and minutiae of all the aspects of building a basketball team. I want to understand how to build the best basketball teams possible. No, I don’t know why, either. |
The Basketball Manifesto
November 17th, 2020
The Basketball Manifesto is a 3,775 page, 1.2 million word-ish basketball reference book. And it is free to download. It contains reviews, strategies, ideas, opinions, and a whole lot of thoughts on stuff. This document contains reviews, strategy, assessments, ideas and plans for every NBA team and every NBA player. It seeks to: 1) Look at the assets a team has to work with. 2) Look at what it already has. 3) Look at what it needs to address. 4) Lay out conceptual strategy for it all. 5) Discuss without preaching, except in some slightly preachier moments. It does this 30 times for 30 NBA teams. Then it does the entire G-League, twice. Then it does the annual draft pool, twice. And then it does the EuroLeague…..twice. You get the idea, and if you don’t, you will do once you open it. It’s very, very densely full of content. All in all, it gets quite big. This is a PDF file, and a live document. The links are navigable; the thing self-references. It is, I hope, a website you can download. And it is the pride of my life. Download it at the link below, do please share it to all other basketball fans, email me your thoughts, and let’s have a conversation. Thank you! – Mark Deeks DOWNLOAD THE BASKETBALL MANIFESTO HERE BACKUP LINK BECAUSE APPARENTLY GOOGLE’S GOT A MARDY ON TODAY . Alternatively, if you want to just download separate sections of The Basketball Manifesto, rather than the whole shaboodle, use the following links: 2019/20 G-League 2018/19 G-League
Prince Williams – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Prince Williams PG/SG – 6’5, 200lbs – Born 22nd August 1992 Iowa Wolves Williams has been in and out of the G-League in his three professional seasons, grinding through a first season with the Greensboro Swarm after making the team through the local tryout route, being acquired and waived by the Texas Legends four times last season, before eventually ending the year with the Wolves, who also designated him as a returning player for this season. Waived after only five games, however, Williams ultimately spent the majority of the season in Georgia, averaging 15.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals in 12 games. Having done very little through his first three collegiate years, Williams won the AAC Most Improved Player award as a senior after being a good shooter (79th percentile at spot-up shooting) where once he had not been one. A big point guard by trade, having that shot gave Williams some pro intrigue; after all, a 6’5 point guard who shoots 40% from three does sound good. Williams does not however create with the ball, and three years of sporadic run at this level have left him found wanting. – 20th June, 2019 This above is extracted from the following page in the The Basketball Manifesto, an entirely free 3,775 page, 1.2 million word-ish basketball reference book which contains reviews, strategies, ideas, opinions, and a whole lot of scouting on men’s world basketball. – View tons more player profiles like this from the Manifesto here.
Hakim Warrick – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Hakim Warrick PF – 6’9, 219lbs – Born 8th July 1982 Iowa Wolves Warrick left the NBA six years ago, cut by the Magic at the 2013 trade deadline, and is now 36 years old. The G-League has in recent times served increasingly often as a place for multi -year NBA veterans to come and try their hand at getting back into the big dance, with some successes (Damien Wilkins and Emeka Okafor, for example), yet Warrick’s absence from the big league has been a particularly long one. He has been employed in that time, of course; a season in China, a half-season in Turkey, a season split between Australia and Greece; a couple of summers in Puerto Rico; brief stints in the Lebanon and Israel. Yet the NBA has been a long time gone. It is intriguing if a bit harsh on Warrick to reflect on how the NBA has moved on in that time. At his peak, Warrick was an athletic but undersized power forward, stuck with the dreaded ‘tweener’ status. He was never a big time rebounder, and never an impactful defender of any area of the court, but he was extremely athletic. He liked to run, and he liked to dunk, and in an era of stretch bigs, high ball screens and roll men, Warrick could have thrived more than when forced to post up as he so often was, back when such things were considered orthodoxy. Of course, Warrick himself was never an outside shooter, and in the years hence, he still has not shown himself to be one, either. 6-9 shooting from three this season is fun, but not meaningful. Warrick retains much if not all of the athleticism of his youth; the hope is that that plus name recognition makes him […]
Jonathan Stark – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Jonathan Stark PG – 6’0, 180lbs – Born 23rd May 1995 Iowa Wolves Jonathan Stark was the Ja Morant before Ja Morant. The two briefly play together at Murray State for one season, and whereas the over-exuberant, dynamic yet wild Morant (at that time) would be the spectacular if inconsistent playmaker, Stark would be the half-court scorer. It is thus good to see him get back into a full-time point guard mentality, just as he had been before his unison with Ja. To be sure, Stark can score the ball. Small though he is, he plays off the ball, getting to the rim on curl plays and shooting a nice pull-up. Stark puts in a lot of movement off the ball, using a lot of baseline cuts as well as being in motion endlessly above the break, pushing the ball in transition, shooting with a quick release and with NBA range. There would be some heat checks, and Stark, recognisant of his small size, would use subtle fakes and a high floater inside the arc rather than take on the trees, which is inefficient if necessary. Yet he scored 20 points a game playing as a primary scorer alongside Morant, and the fact that he can do that whilst also playing as an on-ball lead guard, a genuinely good pick-and-roll passer and post feeder, makes for a versatile and skilled offensive player even with the small size. The small size does prove to be an obstacle defensively, where, despite a good effort level and few mistakes, Stark finds it difficult to apply ball pressure or bump people off the spot. He will work to recover and pursue, gets low and chases hard, yet it is difficult for him to make an impact, even at the smaller point guard […]
Evan Smotrycz – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Evan Smotrycz PF – 6’7, 230lbs – Born 2nd August 1991 Iowa Wolves Back in the day, there was a stretch in which Michigan decided to run the offence through Smotrycz. What a time that was. Things were different in the Michigan programme back then, and they were also different for Smotrycz, who transferred out of the Wolverines program to avoid having to play the centre spot only to go to Maryland and find he had to do it there as well. But then the Terrapins also ran the offence through him, for an entire season. What a time to be alive. Smotrycz’s college career was defined by inconsistencies on both ends, mixed with intrigue in how he seemed to always do a little bit of everything, however sporadically. A good outside shooter for a big man, Smotrycz slightly undercut that by being far too aggressive with his jump shot at times, and also missing a very large amount of layups. This is not ideal when you’re playing centre. Also not much of a ball-handler unless he is able to look at the floor while doing it, Smotrycz’s abilities to drive the close-outs his shot would draw, or pump-fake and get to the cup that way, were always a bit hit-and-miss. When he pulled these things off, he was versatile and new-age. When he didn’t, he was a turnover-prone shooter who got blocked a lot. Regardless of the results, Smotrycz would always play hard. Too hard, sometimes, yet he put forth the energy to mask the fact that with a small wingspan and little athleticism, he did not have the physical tools to thrive defensively at a higher level. Smotrycz has made improvements in his man -to-man defence over the years and is surprisingly good when playing in […]
Xavier Silas – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Xavier Silas SG – 6’5, 198lbs – Born 22nd January 1988 Iowa Wolves Silas was in the NBA last year, called up at the end of the season by a Boston Celtics team that ran out of ball handlers at one point. There was a time when that is what Silas was – over the course of his career, he has become more of a catch-and-shoot specialist, and, as can be seen from his 95th percentile shooting here this year, he remains a good one. The mid-rangers of his younger days are now threes, and it is an important weapon to have. It is also however the only weapon he seems to have any longer. Silas seems to be losing his athleticism, and with that, his slashing game. Without that, he is a good three-point shooter, but so are many other players. Those other players will usually be bigger, quicker, and thus better equipped to both run the court, drive curls and defend their position. There was a time that Xavier Silas was a good defender at both guard positions who got his own offensively, who could take turns at the point guard spot, knife into the lane and make things happen off the dribble. He does not appear to be that player any longer. Silas still plays hard and he still plays smart. At the G-League level, he is a solid veteran role player worth having, not just for the shooting but also the experience. Yet in no longer being a positive overall defensive player or someone who can creates in the pick-and-roll or push the ball, his role is starting to get quite small. Or, maybe he was just hurt all year and he is about to have a beautiful comeback. Let’s hope it is the […]
Jaylen Johnson – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Jaylen Johnson PF – 6’9, 230lbs – Born 7th August 1996 Iowa Wolves Declaring for the NBA Draft after his junior season at Louisville in 2017, Johnson is still young and therefore still a project. In what would have been his senior season, he received a 10-day call-up from the Chicago Bulls – albeit without playing any game time, instead being one of several players they called up without playing so as to get more money to their G-Leaguers – and then went to summer league with the L.A. Clippers. He is on the NBA radar on account of having NBA athleticism. Further development to his skill set has been required, and having progressed in every major statistical category this G-League season compared to last, perhaps it has been forthcoming. Johnson’s basic numbers are down across the board this season due to a big decline in his minutes per game. Yet in every efficiency metric, he improved. Johnson became a better and more efficient scorer from all areas, hit more jump shots, fouled less, turn the ball over far far less and ultimately was a big positive in a smaller role. His game is best defined by his athleticism, where his length and good frame make him an agile player who gets into a lot of space, and back when he was wild and unskilled, he was at least aggressive. Overly aggressive, but decisive nonetheless. Now that he has more poise and strength in his frame, Johnson is a stretch four with an unblockably high shot, doing so without losing his ability to score on the move or finish around the basket. There are still areas of his game to work on. Johnson’s jump shot improvements are valuable, yet he does not seem to have put in the […]
Marquise Moore – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Marquise Moore PG/SG – 6’2, 208lbs – Born 22nd December 1994 Iowa Wolves I love four things in this world. Sausage sandwiches, the lead singer out of The Interrupters (call me, Aimee!), 6’7 point guards who can’t shoot, and extremely undersized guards who rebound like centres. Here, then, is Marquise Moore, and I won’t hear a word said against him. As a senior at George Mason, Moore averaged 10.9 rebounds per game. He did this while playing at the point guard position. That is tough to fathom. It should have course therefore be taken as a given that Moore plays with a tremendous level of energy, particularly on the defensive end. He is an athlete, certainly, but one with a furious level of determination. Moore goes after every loose ball and wins ones he should have no rightly business getting. Sometimes, smaller players grab a relatively high number of rebounds because they are essentially playing as undersized frontcourt guys – DeMarcus Gatlin from Sam Houston State is one that comes to mind, as is Javonte Green from Radford, because apparently that’s how my mind works (call me, Aimee! I can change!) – but Moore really is doing it while playing the point guard position. It is unique what he is doing. Of course, this is a bonus rather than a requirement. What Moore needs is to be able to play the point guard position in every other way, or the shooting guard spot at least. With a distinctly below-average jump shot, Moore is not the most creative player with the ball in his hands either. He is instead better served when cutting off the ball for athletic finishes, attacking the rim and getting to the line. Yet playing a ball-handling spot does not much allow for that. If […]
William Lee – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
William Lee PF – 6’8, 210lbs – Born 10th January 1995 Iowa Wolves This was Lee’s first professional season out of UAB, and it began with a summer league stint with the Memphis Grizzlies. After not getting a training camp contract from them, he initially signed in Serbia with Dynamic Belgrade, yet left just before their season started, signed a one-day contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves and then was allocated to Iowa, where he spent the entire season. However, Lee did not translate the two-way game he had demonstrated with the Blazers previously, and found himself behind the pace offensively in particular. An athlete, a dunker and a shot blocker, Lee has a very good professional projection based on that alone. Yet at UAB, he also was a 59th percentile spot up shooter. It was not much, yet given that Lee has a very limited handle on the ball and rudimentary post-up moves, it added an offensive dimension beyond merely cutting and rolling to the rim. When Lee is not able to dunk, he struggles to finish around the basket, even with all that athleticism – he tends to go up rather soft, and his lean frame does not take a bump well. The jump shot and the threat of it open up the court for him, giving him some room in which to drive. It only works though if he hits his shots. This year, he did not hit enough of them, and when combined with all of the things that he does not do offensively, this made him a distinct net negative on that end of the court. Consistent balance and release point on the shot will be key to him taking a lot of the variance out of his shooting game. Lee made a portion […]
Darius Johnson-Odom – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Darius Johnson-Odom SG – 6’1, 220lbs – Born 28th September 1989 Iowa Wolves Prior to his return this season, Johnson-Odom had been away from the G-League for four years. The vast majority of that time had been spent in Italy, where he had been amongst the country’s highest scorers, leading it outright last season with Vanoli Cremona. Johnson-Odom always has been and always will be a scorer, a prolific one by volume as well as efficiency. Of that, there has long been no doubt. Johnson-Odom gets his points in pretty much every way conceivable. He is a ball-dominant player by trade, but if ever he is run off the ball, he has a very good spot-up shot he can use. When on the ball, he also shoots off the dribble, albeit not as well, yet he is primarily looking to get beyond the first line of the defence and make things happen. Johnson-Odom is very strong for his small size, and without having the greatest speed, he also pushes the ball wherever he can. If you need someone to get you a basket, he is always a good bet – he can drive both ways, finishes extremely well at the basket with his very strong upper body, makes excellent reads and never wavers in his confidence. Johnson-Odom, simply, is a workhorse. Given his size, DJO is always going to be a defender of point guards. Or at least, he should be. Playing alongside Jonathan Stark and Marquise Moore this season saw him play a lot of shooting guard, a position well suited to his offensive game yet one at which he gives up a significant degree of size. It is thus not a surprise that he was an overall net negative as a defensive player considering that the […]
L.G. Gill – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
L.G. Gill PF – 6’8, 210lbs – Born 24th December 1994 Iowa Wolves This season was Gill’s second in the G-League, one which began as a returning player with the Greensboro Swarm (whose roster he had made last season via the local tryout route) before immediately being traded to Iowa in exchange for the returning player rights to Terry Whisnant. Gill subsequently mostly came off the bench for the Wolves, filling in as a starter where required, and provided a decent burst of athleticism and occasional post-up play. There is nothing spectacular about Gill’s game. He is an OK jump shooter, an OK post player, an OK transition player, yet very rarely a creator. He simply does not have that level of ball skill, footwork or shot-making talent, as evidenced by his free throw stroke. Any offence that Gill gets is situational rather than by design. He moves a little off the ball to get open and has some decent athleticism to go with his energy, but ultimately this is a underskilled player with no left hand, inconsistent finishing from all areas, bad hands and interior instincts with a wing’s frame. You don’t seek points from Gill – you just like the ones he gets for you out of the blue. And to change that, he needs to take and make more jumpers. On the defensive end, Gill also plays with energy, but seems to somehow never win any possessions. He is not a rim protector, he is not a passing lane player, and he is not a rebounder, hindered by a lack of core strength versus his peers. He is instead an energetic player who moves his feet and keeps his hands up, rather than somebody who jumps to contest or reaches to win possessions. Gill is […]
Canyon Barry – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Canyon Barry SG/SF – 6’6, 205lbs – Born 7th January 1994 Iowa Wolves The latest from the production line of Barrys is Canyon, the first in a generation to unashamedly shoot the underhand free throw. This was his first G-League season after spending his initial professional campaign split between Finland, the Czech Republic and China; the Timberwolves signed him for about 25 minutes so that they could allocate him to Iowa, hoping he could develop into an NBA-calibre shooter. The percentages Barry shoots suggests this is very possible. Barry has a quick release and works off the ball to get open, with the kind of shot that sets can be run for. He shoots with nice form and a high arc, running off the ball more than playing on it, but effective when he does given his judicious decisions on when to drive and when to reset. To look to Barry to be a creator, though, is to be overly ambitious; he is instead a spot-up guy and a floor runner who goes to the wings, dribbles and passes little (especially with his off-hand), and is there to do his one major skill. Sometimes he forces up shots and throws wild passes, but with a shooter of this calibre, you would rather he be overaggressive than passive. Defensively, Barry exhibits good defensive reads and timing, although he does not have the best foot speed. Barry has decent size for the wing but is not an explosive athlete, therefore he has to rely on positioning and good reads to survive on that end. He just about holds his own, but he is the kind of player that an athletic ball-handling opposing wing would go at, and not someone you really want to have stuck in a switch. Among all […]
Jovan Mooring – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Jovan Mooring PG/SG – 6’2, 205lbs – Born 14th December 1994 Fort Wayne Mad Ants On a UNLV team built with finishers yet few shooters – Brandon McCoy, Tervell Beck, Will’s brother Kris Clyburn, the always-fun Shakur Juiston – Mooring was charged with the task in his two seasons as a Runnin’ Rebel to create offence and stretch the floor. Picked up by the Mad Ants in the middle of February, having begun the season drafted 13th overall in the G-League Draft by the Grand Rapids Drive and spending the first three months with them, Mooring had a similar role here. He contributed, up to a point, and certainly plays with effort. It is not however a role he is naturally adept at filling, particularly the floor-spacing part. Mooring would prefer to run the court. He is in his best rhythm there, better at attacking an unset defence rather than trying to sneak through or shoot over an established half court unit. A small scorer by trade, Mooring’s game resides somewhere between the two guard spots; he is not big enough to just raise up from outside, nor a good enough shooter to do so, nor an isolation player from a standing start, instead being much more effective when catching the ball from outside. The Runnin’ Rebels as constructed rather relied on him to be the pick-and-roll ball-handler quite a bit anyway, and Mooring had some good moments, splitting doubles, using his decent speed, driving to dump to McCoy and Juiston around the basket and shooting a runner. That said, his offensive flow was never the best; Mooring could hit tough shots, but also took too many of them, would sometimes barrel into the lane without much of an idea of what to do when he got there, […]
Ike Nwamu – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Ike Nwamu SG/SF – 6’5, 205lbs – Born 3rd January 1993 Fort Wayne Mad Ants Nwamu’s best skill is his dunking, and I don’t think anyone will dispute that. He is a very explosive leaper and a player who loves to finish with power at any opportunity; the Mad Ants will have known when they traded for him in January (along with Jordan Barnett, sending Elijah Stewart and the returning player rights to Alex Hamilton to the Wisconsin Herd) that they were getting a fun player, and a reasonably useful one. Nwamu’s skills development outside of that, however, seemed to stagnate this season. Playing in the G-League for his third consecutive season, Nwamu’s main offensive value outside of the dunk is volume outside shooting, and while he will occasionally do some work off curls and the like to get open, he in large part camps out on the wings, waiting for reverses or kick-outs. He is a decent shooter who can have hot streaks, and the high volume counts for something, but the habit he has of tending to hold the ball for a bit after catching it does not help his efficiency. If he could shoot quicker and run more off the ball, he would only stand to benefit, because it is a nice stroke he has. Combining it with the dunks makes for a useful, and rare, two-pronged attack of skills. As a pro, Nwamu has cut down on the turnovers that once plagued his game. Fairly rudimentary in his handle and right-hand dominant, Nwamu is more poised and considered on his drives to the rim, perhaps recognisant of the fact that he is much better served as a finisher than a creator. When it is not a dunk, he struggles to finish at the rim, […]
Jared Sam – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Jared Sam PF – 6’10, 210lbs – Born 17th May 1995 Fort Wayne Mad Ants In his first three years at Southern University – and by the way, the commitment shown by the naming committee back in the formative days of that establishment is something we could all learn from – Sam was a low-usage player, whose highest usage rate was the 18.4% mark of his junior season, on which he shot a .655% true shooting percentage. As a senior, Sam was given a much bigger offensive role, thus shooting the usage rate up to 25.9%. The true shooting percentage, however, plummeted down to .520% accordingly. The offensive diet did not change much in that time. There was still no perimeter ball-handling involved, and only a small increase in the number of spot-up jumper attempts; Sam was still almost entirely employed in the paint, with a high volume of post-up possessions, put-backs and looks off of cuts and dump-off passes. Specifically, the post-up was always a big part of things. You would think that Sam, a wiry 6’9 with good speed and mobility but without much core strength, would be the kind of player best served catching the ball on the move as much as possible, rather than arbitrarily being given the post-up role purely because he was the biggest player on the team (and because an excessive focus on post-up play is a legal requirement of college basketball playbooks, or so it seems). Alas, old coaching habits die hard, and thus Sam was regularly found with his back to the basket. So if he looked a bit unfamiliar with the more face-up, on-the-move role that the Mad Ants try to put him in, that will be because of the four years of different usage that he had […]
Travin Thibodeaux – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Travin Thibodeaux PF/C – 6’8, 242lbs – Born 19th February 1996 Fort Wayne Mad Ants In Thibodeaux’s first professional season, he added size, rebounding and some interior defence to a team that otherwise lacked for them. He was not spectacular in any area, but he was solid in all facets, which accorded with the CV he was brought in with. Thibodeaux made the Mad Ants roster via the local tryout route, and stayed on it for the full season. He benefitted from a big increase in playing time and responsibility on the court when the Pacers waived Ike Anigbogu, and down the stretch of the season, being the leading frontcourt minutes getter by season’s end. In that role, Thibodeaux – who had led New Orleans in every leadable category as a senior the previous season – became more of an interior player and rebounder than as an upperclassman. Having made his way coming up as primarily a post player, Thibodeaux expanded that over his Privateers career to begin exhibiting an inside/outside game; baseline jumpers became straight -away trailer threes, and post feeds became going out to get the ball. With a handle and some touch, he did better going to get it than in relying upon the team’s limited guard play to set him up. With the Mad Ants, however, and with the distinct leap in talent this meant, Thibodeaux forwent being ‘the man’ and became a role player. He set screens, used his physicality (with a decently strong frame), attacked the offensive glass and accepted a reduced offensive role. In doing this, Thibodeaux made himself a good candidate to return in the future. It is always an adjustment going pro, and he made it, playing as essentially an undersized centre in a lowusage role very different to […]
Tra-Deon Hollins – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Tra-Deon Hollins PG – 6’2, 195lbs – Born 22nd August 1995 Fort Wayne Mad Ants Hollins returned to the Mad Ants to begin this season, having played 41 games with them in 2017/18 in his first professional season out of Omaha. Last year, he was a bench player averaging 4.0 points, 4.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game, yet in an expanded role in 30 games this season, Hollins upped those numbers to 7.3 points, 7.9 assists, 2.5 steals and 0.5 blocks per game. He is a rather unique type of point guard; a slightly undersized player with decent quickness who pushes at every opportunity, and who is very unselfish, in large part because he sorely lacks for a jump shot of his own. Hollins also has excellent steals numbers, and while steals are not in themselves precise indicators of good defensive impact or not, they are always a good sign of effort, and Hollins puts it out there on that end. There is some passing lane defence, to be sure, but also good hands he always holds up, good reaches when helping onto big men, and a good understanding of where the next pass will be thrown. Offensively, pair him with some good shooters and a big man to run pick-and-roll/pop with, and he can find them. It is a limited yet rare package that helps a team in its own ways. It is a shame however that Hollins was waived after 30 games due to what the Journal Gazette reported as being failed drug tests. Je’Lon Hornbeak survived his suspension and stayed on the Mad Ants roster, but Hollins didn’t, and whatever the reasons behind that were, he has not the G-League job security to be risking it. – 20th June, 2019 This above is extracted […]
Stephan Hicks – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Stephan Hicks SG – 6’6, 200lbs – Born 2nd April 1992 Fort Wayne Mad Ants If you come out of a mid-major school, the G-League is often the best way to get from there to the highest levels. As one of many examples, think on how David Nwaba went from Cal Poly to guaranteed NBA contracts via D-League tryouts. And this year, after four seasons with the Mad Ants, Hicks did the same when he received a thanks-for-sticking-around midseason 10-day contract from the Pacers, à la Trey McKinney-Jones last season. He never actually took the court, but it’s a big step. Over his four years with the Mad Ants, Hicks has sought to expand his game. He arrived as a constant transition threat, off-ball cutter, athletic finisher, dunker and rebounder with decent spot-up shooting, and he still is that, yet he has tried to develop somewhat as a ball-handler, shooter and scorer. The release on the shot is not as smooth as the rest of his game, and he remains somewhat average as a shooter, yet Hicks plays within his role, makes few errors, still continues to leak out at every opportunity and knows his offensive role. More than anything, Hicks has been asked to be very versatile defensively, playing a lot more power forward than before after a career hitherto as a wing. The rebounding tenacity comes in useful here, and the big wing has become a viable small-ball four man. Consistent, flexible and hard-working, Hicks has used the platform of the G-League to build a CV that should get him a long playing career. Given that he stands out neither a shooter or a defender, it is not likely to be at the NBA level beyond the occasional toe-dip, yet having come as far as he […]
Je’lon Hornbeak – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Je’lon Hornbeak PG/SG – 6’3, 190lbs – Born 1st May 1994 Fort Wayne Mad Ants Hornbeak spent two years with Oklahoma, two years at Monmouth and now two years with the Mad Ants, which is pleasingly symmetrical. To have spent two full seasons with a G-League team, even if near to the end of the bench, is a decent achievement that not many manage in a league with such high roster turnover. And the fact that Hornbeak has done so speaks to the useful role that he plays, and his good contributions within it. Whether he is playing the point guard or shooting guard spot is somewhat arbitrary, because offensively, his role is off the ball. Hornbeak may have the build of a lead guard, but not the handle; distinctly right-hand dominant, he lacks the ability to change direction or handle in traffic with any regularity. If asked to create with the bounce, Hornbeak struggles, as he can not create space, consistently get to the rim, or shoot off the dribble. Instead, Hornbeak’s offensive role is to spot up, leak out, keep the ball moving and be patient. It is a low-usage role many players can fill; nevertheless, with his 47.3% three-point shooting this season paired with two consecutive seasons above the 40% mark for Monmouth, it is one he fits well. Hornbeak’s main value to the team comes defensively. He is a face-up, pressure defender in the backcourt, including on those bigger than himself. Hornbeak communicates, rotates, stays at home when he should and helps when he should. He is essentially a three-and-D undersized combo guard, then, and while he does not have the size, speed or skill to do so at the NBA level, he has made himself into a very solid G-League role player. That […]
Omari Johnson – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Omari Johnson PF – 6’9, 220lbs – Born 26th May 1989 Fort Wayne Mad Ants Johnson finished last season in the NBA with the Memphis Grizzlies, having been called up right at season’s end from their affiliate, the Hustle. In order to obtain his G-League rights, then, the Mad Ants traded the returning player rights to both Jarrod Uthoff and Chris Fowler, as the training camp contract he subsequently signed with the Indiana Pacers was not enough to get his G-League rights. (Returning player rights trump allocated player rights.) Johnson made it into the NBA proper with the Grizzlies last year after so many years on the fringes largely on account of his much-developed three-point stroke, which last year saw a high volume of shots returned at a high efficiency. Combined with his physical profile – a lengthy 6’9 with good athleticism – and that seemed to be exactly what the NBA was looking for. As can be see in these statistics, however, that shooting did not sustain. To be sure, Johnson is still a good outside shooter, yet with each passing year, the outside shot becomes a bigger part of his game, so it is imperative that he makes a lot of them. Johnson very rarely handles the ball or takes anyone down low, and only really defends other face-up forwards such as himself, therefore needing to hit perimeter shots to have an overall positive impact on the game. He did this, but not enough to make himself a candidate at the next level up like he did last season. There are many players in similar frames to Johnson coming to the G-League, casting up outside jumpers, hoping to get noticed. Last year, on account of his efficiency and reputation, Johnson stood out from the pack. But […]
Rob Gray – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Rob Gray PG – 6’2, 182lbs – Born 3rd April 1994 Fort Wayne Mad Ants Having averaged 18.8 points per game over three seasons with the University of Houston, it was likely if not inevitable that Gray would receive a summer league invite and possible training camp contract with the Rockets. Indeed, he received both. Yet for whatever reason, Gray did not make his way to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, instead entering the G-League via the draft route, where the Mad Ants were looking for a playmaking guard to replace Walt Lemon. Gray is definitely that. He is uber-aggressive offensively, to the point that he was once benched for selfishness and inattentiveness to the greater goals of the offence around him, something he has improved on subsequently. With the build of a smallish point guard, he can take over games with his scoring spurts; quick and with a tight handle, Gray creates space for weird-looking jumpers and gets all the way to the rim any time he has single coverage. Even when he ends up taking a bad shot, his aggression is sufficient to move a defence around enough that things open up elsewhere. ‘Dynamic’ is probably the word; ‘fearless’ is definitely another. Alongside spot-up shooters such as Jordan Barnett and Demetrius Denzel -Dyson, this was needed. Due to his size, Gray only defends the point guard spot, and while he can be a pest when engaged, he often isn’t. He is also often hidden when possible, given his offensive responsibilities, yet he is unreliable on this end. Offensively, though, he is reliable. Aggressive, confident, always willing to step up and always attacking, Gray’s confidence has got him this far, and it could get him many more years as an Edwin Jackson type once he leaves the […]
Demetrius Denzel-Dyson – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Demetrius Denzel-Dyson SG – 6’5, 200lbs – Born 22nd February 1995 Fort Wayne Mad Ants Denzel-Dyson was very briefly signed by the Pacers in training camp, with the “official” announcements of his signing and his waiving by the team’s Twitter account coming only four hours and 28 minutes apart. Just about enough time to watch Gone With The Wind and have a bath. They did so because they wanted to allocate the undrafted Samford senior to the Mad Ants, intrigued as they were by his combination of athleticism and jump shooting. Rodney Carney’s cousin transferred to Samford after two years with UMass, two years in which he took a lot of three-point shots without hitting them. That changed immediately upon his arrival to the Bulldogs; Triple-D (or D3 or 3D or Trips or whatever) hit 46.0% as a junior and 42.1% as a senior, which sustained to a 40.9% mark in his first professional season. Indeed, it is a somewhat limited offensive package; as a senior, a combined 75.7% of his offensive possessions came either as a spot-up shooter, off a screen or in transition. Denzel-Dyson finds it hard to get to the rim otherwise, and lacks ball-handling and passing vision; he is in to score, and he lives for catch-and-shoot threes. Considering the three-and-D ideal, then, a good athlete like 3D with shooting percentages that has the makings of a good case. There are however things to address going forward. Notably, Denzel-Dyson struggles to finish at the rim when it is not a dunk, and his shooting becomes much less effective when done off the dribble. His defence is also more scrappy than it is refined. The G-League is a good place to work out these kinks, so it would be a sensible decision for him to […]
Jordan Barnett – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Jordan Barnett SF – 6’7, 215lbs – Born 31st December 1995 Fort Wayne Mad Ants Barnett was on the cusp of the NBA to begin his first professional season on account of the good job he did as a senior at Missouri of showing how he can fit the NBA’s three-and-D model that non-star wings are ordered to follow. He arrived at Mizzou after two years at Texas as a good athlete and capable shooter, someone who moved his feet well defensively when engaged but who was never consistently so. He left as a much better shooter than that, as well as being at times a disruptive wing defender. Long and lean with good speed and leaping ability, Barnett has an NBA wing player’s physical profile, which is always a good start. He uses that profile to get jump shots away, normally of the catch-and-shoot variety, often in transition. And although he has little in the way of a nuanced handle on the ball or ability to change direction, Barnett would at least cut to the rim, particularly via the baseline, to get efficient finishing opportunities that way. Combined with a 41.2% three-point shooting stroke as a senior, Barnett adhered to the template pretty well. There is no in-between game, little handle, a tendency to disappear for stretches (borne out of an inability to create offence, something particularly notable late in games), and the defensive effort would remain more intermittent than ideal even to the end. But given the rest of his profile, that was fixable. Signed by the Bucks and allocated to the Herd, though, Barnett immediately regressed back to his former shooting numbers in the low 30% range. The above profile only works if he is hitting the catch-and-shoot opportunities he relies upon. After being traded […]
Travis Trice – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Travis Trice PG – 6’2, 177lbs – Born 22nd January 1993 Austin Spurs The Spurs acquired Trice from the Wisconsin Herd for Nick Johnson two thirds of the way through the season, and in so doing, they got themselves a lead guard. Because of his size, Trice cannot play or guard any position other than the one spot. He is small (the 6’2 listing, which like all listings in this Manifesto is taken from the NBA’s official numbers, seems generous), with no great wingspan or strength to compensate. To survive defensively, then, Trice has to utilise his speed and put on as much pressure as he can with footwork and energy alone, staying in front and contesting cleanly. And notwithstanding the permanent disadvantages he has, particularly on any kind of switch, he does that. Trice applies that speed offensively too to be a dynamic lead guard who exploits the in-between game well and often. Shooting a lot of pull-up jumpers, Trice pairs that by utilising hesitations, stutter-steps and the like to get to the rim, and although he struggles to finish there with inefficient floaters, the fact that he is prepared to try means having to defend him accordingly. This in turn makes the step-back especially deadly, because defenders really must track back as if he is going to go the whole way to the bucket. Trice’s ability to stop on a dime when running at high speed and then shoot has become the defining characteristic of his game as a pro, and it is an impressive feat whenever a player so undersized can create for themselves an unblockable shot. Passing off of that threat when appropriate, and being shoot-first while being unselfish, makes for quite the half-court primary playmaker. From an NBA point of view, Trice’s size […]
Cameron Rundles – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Cameron Rundles PG/SG – 6’2, 180lbs – Born 27th April 1988 Austin Spurs Rundles is a somewhat unlikely candidate to have made a G-League debut at age 30. He made the team via the local tryout route back in October, and survived all the subsequent roster turnover to still be there at the end, making it through a full season at the end of the bench after a seven-year international professional career taking in too many countries to mention. (Although due to personal bias, I will mention that he played one season in Britain at one point. Not many players in this Manifesto can say that.) Where once he was largely used as a defender and streak-shooter prior to his senior season at Wofford, Rundles has played the majority of his professional career on the ball as a point guard. An athletic player with speed and a long stride if not necessary a big leaper, Rundles combines that athleticism with a good catch-and shoot jump shot, and makes good passing plays out of the pick-and-roll. He can play three-and-D, with some physicality to go with that good length and speed, or he can play more as a playmaker; the versatility is a virtue. His numbers in his inaugural G-League season, however, were not good. Not when compared to some of what he has done on the continent. Rundles has been all over Europe in his professional career, and even returned to Wofford (where he spent three years after two with Monmouth) to be an assistant coach back in 2012 -13 in the midst of that tour. He should be able to eke out some more seasons at the lower tier European competitions yet, but the G-League may have been a step too far. – 20th June, 2019 This […]
