Duke’s Cam Reddish made a strong impression at Wednesday’s pro day in Phoenix, writes Mike Schmitz of ESPN. With more than 35 prospects on hand, Reddish put on a shooting display that caught the attention of an estimated 100 scouts and several general managers.
Reddish was projected as a high lottery pick last fall, but his stock slipped during a disappointing freshman season. However, he was in top form at the workout, sinking shot after shot in a variety of situations before stopping his session because of a minor groin injury.
Jarrett Culver, Keldon Johnson, Mfiondu Kabengele and Luguentz Dort were other top prospects at the event, along with a large collection of potential second-rounders.
There’s more draft news to pass along:
- In the same article, Jonathan Givony looks at how pro days sponsored by agencies are gradually replacing individual workouts. These events enable players to show off their strengths and hide their weaknesses, allowing someone like Georgios Papagiannis or Rashad Vaughn to rise dramatically. “We’ve completely lost control of the pre-draft process, and we have no one to blame but ourselves,” an unidentified GM said. “Instead of spending time getting to know the guys we are about to invest millions of dollars in, as well as our job security and having our coaching staffs put players through meaningful workouts, we are sitting in traffic on the 405, shuffling between airports and watching celebrity trainers put players through dog and pony shows, with highly scripted routines against cones that tell us absolutely nothing about how they might perform in an actual game.”
- Givony also takes a look at players who might be on the fence about staying in the draft ahead of Wednesday’s deadline and unveils an updated top-100 list that hasn’t changed much at the top.
- A few more players reached draft decisions this morning. Caleb Daniels, who is transferring from Tulane to Villanova (Twitter link), Al-Wajid Aminu of North Florida (Twitter link) and Troy Baxter Jr. of Florida Gulf Coast (Twitter link) will all pull out of the draft, while Charlie Brown of St. Joseph’s (Twitter link from Goodman) will keep his name in.
- Matisse Thybulle of Washington may have a draft promise from the Celtics, tweets Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. The small forward is slotted at No. 28 on the new ESPN list, and Boston holds picks No. 14, 20 and 22.
Thybulle plays such good defense that his coach designed a wacky zone scheme I’ve not seen before, apparently designed to advantage of his movement and anticipation up top. Unfortunately in the tourney Nassir Little & UNC burned it from the baseline & they lost.
The major scouting sources have overlooked him but googling found some interesting commentary. link to thestepien.com
Thybulle’s 3pt% declined his senior year but I think there was a plan to defer a bit to some younger gunners the Huskies brought in… again, which did not work well vs UNC. The PAC10 as a whole had some confidence problems in 2019.
Anyway a good pick even at 14 IMO. (Espn #28; Aran Smith has him at 53 but they’re not updating their list! He started low)
Interesting that he is being connected to the Celtics, who have Marcus Smart, and were connected to Josh Okogie in mock drafts last year.
That’s PAC 12! Thybulle is an outstanding defender with a huge wing span, not a guy who will score in the half court offense but will thrive in a fast paced offense.
“unidentified source” = fake news
what a waste of internet space
Authentic or not… They don’t have it as tough as NFL scouts at pro days. But I liked the rant, which sounds like NFL news from maybe 15-20 years ago.