Luka Garza projects as a second-unit center who can beat up reserve bigs with his offensive skills, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz (Insider link). While Garza is the most dominant scorer in college basketball this season, his defensive limitations will prove problematic at the next level. A best-case scenario would be for Garza to develop into an Enes Kanter-type player. ESPN currently ranks Garza as the 46th-best prospect in this year’s draft.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- Former No. 5 pick Thomas Robinson has parted ways with Bahcesehir in Turkey, he told JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors (Twitter link). It’s a matter of seeking another opportunity, with the 29-year-old looking to return to playing as soon as possible. He played 313 NBA games with six teams in 2012-17.
- USA Basketball is planning to create a “bubble” in Las Vegas for Team USA, Australia and Spain where they can train and play exhibition games against one another prior to the Tokyo Olympics, Brian Windhorst of ESPN reports. Team USA is tentatively planning to open training camp the week of July 4 while the NBA playoffs are ongoing.
- USA Basketball has petitioned the U.S. Olympic Committee, the IOC and FIBA — which runs the Olympic basketball tournament — to change the rules for when rosters for the Games must be submitted, Windhorst adds in the same report. Normally, the rosters must be set several weeks in advance but the NBA playoffs may not end until three days prior to Team USA’s first Olympic game.
- Greensboro Swarm head coach Jay Hernandez provides details in a HoopsHype post on how his team is preparing for the G League season in Orlando while under quarantine.
An Enes Kanter type player? Enes Kanter himself was drafted 3rd overall. Can’t we just admit that scouting and prospect ranking is all just a guessing game? It’s more a case of luck and opportunity than skill in 95% of cases.
Who is saying it isn’t a guessing game? It’s all estimations based on best information available, as well as organizational needs, with a pinch of personal bias. Not sure this is news…
watching garza play for POY two years in a row and the have kofi gonna be drafted before him is just weird.
Thomas Robinson could get on with POR, CHA, ORL, BRK, and anyone else who could use a rebounder in the 2nd unit.
CHA is a long shot, unless they are seriously attempting a playoff run?
It’s been years since I heard that name. I doubt the market for backup PF’s is that strong, he had 5 seasons to prove himself and failed.
Scouts do what scouts do. Today, a talent assessment is a profile of mostly physical athletic attributes (performance stats are only selectively mixed in and tend to be props), and the comps just follow along on that basis. It works to put guys in different categories. Good news for guys who don’t fare well is that few who read (vs write) these assessments believe they are more than a snapshot, with a shelf life of less than a year.