HS All-Star Games

[dukebluedevils05]

Can someone explain to me the deal with Foster. Last summer he was terrible right? Or was that last Spring? And he’s been very good for how long now?

He was poor last year at Oak Hill. Started last spring/summer off slow with his new AAU team, erupted towards the end of the circuit season. Again started off slow this past high school season at a new school, came on near the middle of the season and was good the rest of the way (in the game against Sierra Canyon at UCLA he made a series of clutch plays at the end to seal it after being pretty meh earlier in the game). We’ll see how it goes next season. His history suggests he’ll start slow at minimum IMO.

 

[Dukenation12]

Bronny got all the invites but Foster dominated him every time they faced!

 

[Dukenation12]

 

[Grit]

MaxPreps has him at 105/279 (38%) from three and 77% from the free throw (about 5 taken per game). If these are the types of threes he's shooting those numbers at, he should be an awesome fit as a starter next year.

 

[rome8180]

Damn, he looks great there. I thought he'd become more of a 3pt shooter, but there are a lot of strong physical drives and great athleticism. He looks like a completely different player than the last time I watched him.

You know who he reminds me of? Markelle Fultz. Not broken Philly Markelle Fultz, of course. A little bit of current Orlando Fultz with the way he uses his body on his drives, and a little bit of Washington Fultz with the way he shoots.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

 

[rome8180]

This is a real game. I'll watch this one.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

There are still 6 minutes left in the game as I type this, so it could look stupid in retrospect. I loved what USA did when it was time to get serious and stop toying with World.

Flagg and his HS teammate Newell were in the frontcourt with 3 guards. You could debate which one was the “center” but who cares? They were interchangeable, and K would’ve loved having these guys in his defense. Both were guarding 25 feet out really well, picking up anyone 1-5 on switches, recovering, somehow also protecting the basket. That defense was incredible, and it’s the best use of Flagg. I wish we had Newell coming to join him.

His offense was nothing special. Started off with 3 midrange fadeaways, which was disconcerting. Didn’t take many more. Focused on facilitating and turning defense into transition offense. I think AD is his closest single comp.

Evans probably isn’t ready yet. USA coach certainly didn’t think so. I don’t think he’s OAD.

I’m not sure Ndongba played at all?

Unrealistic people are going to be disappointed by Maluach. He was just kind of there, being tall. Definitely a project. Unfortunately a project who is almost certainly OAD. Stewart should probably start over him. Best thing I can take away from that is, optimistically, Maluach was preventing a layup line from ever starting by USA, by standing near the rim. I don’t know if that’s accurate.

 

[deepdarkblue]

Maluach- Bum
Ngongba - Bum (DNP)
Evans- Bum (actually shot 3-4, not bum, just borderline homeless)

Flagg - God Tier

 

[rome8180]

Evans was +9 in five minutes. Winner.

 

[rome8180]

I also can't help but notice that all of Maluach's FG attempts were twos. I'm confused. I'd heard he was this Brook Lopez-level floor spacer.

 

[childress22]

One thing Maluach did look good at -- setting actual contact screens and still getting from the top of the key to rim in lightning speed. Those guards weren't looking for him most of the time, but that's should be there 3-4 times a game.

 

[bdotling]

You could see Maulach’s potential. He moves super fluidly for his size, not a plodder at all. He just needs to get stronger. I felt like that really held him back. His guards also missed him or were late getting it to him on a lot of his rolls. If Lively is an example of John’s development of a player of this prototype, I’m hopeful.

Evans only played during scrub minutes which was disappointing. He also just looked shorter to me than I thought he was. His last shot was this fadeaway baseline mid range jumper that took 4 bounces to go in where he could have just gone to the hoop.

I felt like Cooper has hyper awareness. He knows when to try hard and when not to. Usually made the right play. Figured out how to dominate with early foul trouble after sitting a ton of the first half. His rebounding was very nice though sometimes I feel like he tries to one hand it with such force he sometimes lost it. He could have had more rebounds than he had.

 

[bdotling]

One thing Maluach did look good at -- setting actual contact screens and still getting from the top of the key to rim in lightning speed. Those guards weren't looking for him most of the time, but that's should be there 3-4 times a game.

Ya just wrote the same thing. His guards (and the US guards) were chuckers. Though I did like Traore’s game

 

[rome8180]

Tyrese had a good connection with Lively on the lob. I imagine the same will be true of Maluach. It should also help Tyrese by giving him another option on his drives. The opposing big will have to choose between stepping up or dropping back to deny the lob.

 

[bdotling]

Tyrese had a good connection with Lively on the lob. I imagine the same will be true of Maluach. It should also help Tyrese by giving him another option on his drives. The opposing big will have to choose between stepping up or dropping back to deny the lob.

Yeah very excited for Tyrese with him, Cooper and Sean. I hope this also lets him drive/finish better as defenders will have to choose

 

[rome8180]

Does anyone else have real trouble tracking parallel lines on box scores like this? Or am I just old? Or both?

I thought Ngonba was 0-2 in 10 minutes. Someone else pointed out that he was DNP-CD. I looked back at it. I still saw 0-2. I looked back at it again and finally saw it properly.

 

[StopThePumpFakesShav]

Time for a pair of reading glasses for our guy Rome. I’m thinking the half glasses, maybe in red.

 

[physicsfactor]

Does anyone else have real trouble tracking parallel lines on box scores like this? Or am I just old? Or both?

I thought Ngonba was 0-2 in 10 minutes. Someone else pointed out that he was DNP-CD. I looked back at it. I still saw 0-2. I looked back at it again and finally saw it properly.

That’s crazy! I had also seen 0-2 in 10 min until I looked again after your post. I do have my annual eye doc appointment coming up. I’ll let you know what he says.

 

[rome8180]

Does anyone else have real trouble tracking parallel lines on box scores like this? Or am I just old? Or both?

I thought Ngonba was 0-2 in 10 minutes. Someone else pointed out that he was DNP-CD. I looked back at it. I still saw 0-2. I looked back at it again and finally saw it properly.

That’s crazy! I had also seen 0-2 in 10 min until I looked again after your post. I do have my annual eye doc appointment coming up. I’ll let you know what he says.

If it's a brain tumor, we can have a joint funeral. Our tombstones will say "Game" or maybe "Flagg is not a 3."