Kenner League Notes: Weekend 3!

Here are your Kenner League Notes from Weekend 3 action!

SATURDAY GAMES

Qudus Wahab: 16 pts, 7-8 2 pt, 2-3 FT, 0-2 3pt, 5 reb (2 off), 5 bl

-looked good offensively today. Had a number of nice left hand finishes. His footwork is definitely improved on offense. He can put the ball on the floor for maybe one dribble when he has a little space.

-baseline left handed jump hook off a baseline spin move. Good footwork

-bodied out on a defensive board easily, allowing an off. board outback

-good defensive play - forced a badly missed layup at the rim

-Another nice lefty finish in the lane

-6 foot turnaround jumper in the lane going to his left

-bad D - left roll man wide open

-nice offensive board, jump hook finish

-allowed an offensive rebound basket on a foul shot

-Great euro step lefty drive. Pump and go move from the foul line. A move he could not have made during his first stint at Georgetown

-good catch/finish on a lob pass with 40 seconds left in the game to put team up 3. -Tough catch and a soft finish over a defender. Rather than try to dunk it, he recognized that the best move was the soft catch/redirect into the basket

Wayne Bristol: 11 pts, 4-4 2 pt, 0-2 FT, 1-3 3pt 3 reb (1 off), 1 asst, 1 st, 1 bl, 3 TO

-it is kind of tough to get a read on Bristol. He tends to make mistakes when he tries to be too aggressive with the ball - turnovers, bad misses. But then he’ll have a nice strong drive/finish, or hit a mid range turnaround jumper

-Handles the ball a lot in kenner, even playing some PG this weekend. This is not his strength - will be much better playing off the ball.

-he plays hard, is pretty athletic, and has a strong frame. I think he’ll be best as a complementary player - not trying to initiate too much himself, but instead making plays when a teammate pressures a defense, and creates an opportunity for him.

-Nice putback basket on off. Board

-good awareness/hustle to break up a transition pass

-Bad turnover - lost his dribble under only light pressure at the top of the key, led to fastbreak layup on the other end

-drove right into a help defender in the lane for another turnover

-airball on a pullup 3 in transition

-nice transition drive floater from maybe 2 feet away, over the defender

-missed his two foul shots pretty badly - both line drives, need more arc

-backed down his man for a turnaround 10 foot jumper in the lane

-drew a charge up 1 with 1:30 to play. Big defensive play.

Primo Spears: 23 pts, 7-19 2pt 6-8 Ft, 1-5 3pt, 1 reb, 4 asst, 2 st, 1 bl

-fadeaway one legged bank shot from 7 feet

-grabbed D board, went end to end for a LH finish through traffic. Very high level move

-nice kick out pass for an open corner 3

-step back 3 off the dribble. Immediately tried it again - airball

-effectively aggressive driving to hoop and drawing fouls

-blocked a 3 point jumper

-threw a nice lob pass in a half court set

-used his body to create space on a drive, +1 finish through a defender - did this twice in a row late in game

Jay Heath: 21 pts, 9-15 2 pt, 1-5 3pt, 8 reb (1 off), 8 asst, 2 st, 1 TO

-very strong driver with a great left hand. Gets low, with just enough burst to get his shoulders past defender and use his strength to maintain enough separation to finish.

-passed very well today - really played like a point guard

-beat Mutombo at the rim for a basket

-tried a tough dunk on cut to the rim, but was a bit too far away when he took off and banged it off the front rim

-nice floater from about 6 feet

-good look ahead passer for easy transition layups. Hits one or two of these in each game

-good baseline spin move into a layup

Ryan Mutombo: 10 pts, 5-5 2pt, 9 reb (6 off), 3 bl, 3 TO

-Ryan plays smart D. He knows were to be, talks, doesn’t overcommit hunting blocks, etc. His feet are slow so he’ll struggle on the perimeter, but he does a decent job preventing easy blow-by drives. He’ll give up a midrange jumper rather than overplay and get beat badly off the dribble.

-nice pass to a cutter in the lane, but he missed layup

-nobody over 6’5 or so on the other team - so nobody Ryan could really guard easily. But he did a decent job taking advantage of his height to score a bit offensively.

-had a nice follow tip on an off. Board

-Good D on a heath drive, forced a bad miss on a layup

-nice bounce pass to a cutter - layup again missed

-good D on a guard attacking him from the perimeter, forced a turnover

-block lead to easy fast break layup

Jordan Riley: 14 pts, 5-10 2pt, 1-2 FT, 1-5 3pt, 4 reb (1 off), 1 asst, 1 TO

-looked more comfortable and in synch today. His coach starts him on the bench, and does not give him consistent playing time - which has to be frustrating.

-forced a lob pass from midcourt - broken up easily

-went end to end with a d board, very strong finish through contact with his left hand, kind of flipped back over his head.

-hit a tough pullup jumper over defender from 17 feet

-Good lob pass, teammate missed layup

-tried a spectacular driving dunk over defenders, but front rimmed it

-nice bounce pass in the lane for open layup

Dante Harris: 2 pts, 0-2 2pt, 2-3 FT, 4 reb, 1 asst

-sat out pretty much the full second half, with ice bags on both knees. Did not play on Sunday, was not in the gym

Bradley Ezewiro: 16 pts, 5-9 2pt 3-6 FT, 1-5 3pt, 4 reb, 1 asst, 1 TO

-He is a big guy - very broad, powerful frame

-Does not play with a ton of energy. A lot of drifting on the perimeter on offense, standing/watching on D, jogging rather than running.

-but when he turns it on, he is very explosive athletically for his size/build

-airballed two of his first three 3 point attempts

-had a nice cut to the basket, but missed a right hand finish (he’s a lefty) over defender

-ran the floor hard for a strong finish on the break

-I’ll have a lot more on Ezewiro in the Sunday notes - he played a more effective, engaged game on Sunday

Dante Bass: 13 pts, 5-6 2pt, 1-5 3pt, 10 reb (4 off), 3 asst, 1 st, 2 bl, 3 TO

-I say it every week - Bass knows how to play. Good, quick decisions. Unselfish, doesn’t force shots. Very high level athlete. He has lots of skill work to do. But even now, with a pretty raw skill set - he can still be a contributor because he plays smart and uses his athleticism to play good D, run the floor, etc.

-beat his man downcourt for an easy dunk

-nice transition pass for a dunk

-D board, immediate pass to midcourt leading to fast break dunk. Similar pass a minute later.

-good help D: saw smaller teammate matched with a bigger guy in the low post. Darted over to help, shut down the post up attempt

-off. Board follow up dunk

Bryson Mozone: no stats

-I did not realize that Mozone was on the court until fairly late in the game - I did not recognize him, and the PA guy had not said his name. So just some general impressions

-Has decent height and good length. Thin frame.

-moves very smoothly in everything he does. Can handle a bit, has a nice looking shot

-was barely touching the ball on offense most of the game

-late in the game, I think he realized that he had to be assertive if he wanted to get any shots off. So he started attacking and looking for his shot more aggressively in the final 10 minutes or so.

-hit a couple of 3s and a few other baskets. Scored maybe 10 points in the final 10 minutes

-hard to make much assessment off this one game, where I was not paying careful attention to him until the final minutes. But in general he looked like a player who can contribute. A long 6’6 shooter with a smooth overall game. Hopefully I’ll get to see him again over the next two weekends

SUNDAY GAMES

Wayne Bristol: 4 pts, 2-3 2 pt, 0-3 3pt, 4 rebs, 1 asst, 2 TO

-turnaround 7 foot J in lane over defender

-airballed a wide open, deep 3

Primo Spears: 26 pts, 7-16 2 pt, 4-8 3pt, 3 reb, 5 asst

-Primo is a talented player. Good handle, quick, can shoot and finish at rim

-but he has dominated the ball in every game this summer. He tries to attack off the dribble pretty much every time he has the ball. Often this results in a pullup mid range jumper/step back 3 off some tricky dribble moves.

-He misses a lot of these tough shots, and they take the team out of any offensive flow

-but he hits enough of these shots to show his talent - they look great when they go in, and he can get these shots off cleanly pretty much whenever he wants

-he also makes some very nice passes off his attacks when he decides to drive rather than pull up. And he finishes pretty well, making baskets and drawing fouls

-ideally - in real games, he’ll dominate the ball less and focus more on creating for teammates rather than focusing so much on getting his own shots. If he is as ball/shot dominant in real games as he has been this summer, I don’t think it will be a net positive for the offense.

-got blown by on his perimeter D a few times early in the game, leading to easy layups

-hit a number of flashy pullup/step back threes, including two in a row in the second half that got the crowd going

-when he digs in and really engages - he can play some tough half court perimeter D. But he does not do this consistently. Good to see that he has the physical tools to play good perimeter D - hopefully he’ll be more consistently engaged defensively in real games.

-went end to end with a D board/finish twice in a row in the first half. Finished one with a nice spin move

-nice Pick/Roll pass for a basket

-split two defenders, finished with layup

-tried a very tough, forced spinning baseline floater - hit the side of the backboard

-struggled defending in the low post against a stronger, slightly taller, skilled player. Opponent started effectively running their offense through this low post mismatch for a while

-Nice spin move on a drive, finished with a layup over the defender

Qudus Wahab: 14 pts, 7-12 2 pt, 0-2 FT, 0-1 3 pt, 6 reb (2 off), 1 asst

-Matched up with GW center Noah Brown. Brown has probably been the best big man this summer. He is 6’11, 270, moves well, has some touch around the basket. Bigger and stronger than Wahab

-good pass to open corner 3 - shot missed

-very tough turnaround J from 5 feet over Brown. Backed him down get in good position, but was still fading away on the shot

-foul shooting did not look as good this weekend, after looking much improved the previous few weeks

-missed an open 3 and an open 16 footer. Both shots looked good. But even with a much improved outside shot, opponents would probably still be happy to let Wahab fire away on wide open jumpers. He is not going to hit enough of them to force his defender to come away from the basket and guard him more closely

-another good pass to a corner 3 shooter

-hit a running hook over Brown - very good move

-jump hook finish over defender after an off. Board

-good job getting leverage with his lower body and muscling through brown for a finish at the rim. Did this a couple of times

-team had a big lead, he sat for the last 10 minutes of the game

Dante Bass: 2 pts, 1-5 2pt, 0-3 3pt, 2 reb, 1 bl

-help D on Bristol forced turnover

-missed spectacular dunk attempt off the back rim

-quick outlet pass of D board leading to layup

-lob dunk finish in transition

-missed wide open dunk off a good baseline cut

-airballed an open 3

Jay Heath: 23 pts, 5-8 2 pt, 1-3 FT, 4-10 3 pt, 4 reb, 2 TO

-was much more in shooting guard mode today, compared to more point guard mode on Saturday

-pull up 3 off the dribble

-nice transition bounce pass leading to foul

-had multiple strong lefty finishes at the rim

-had some problems defending taller opponents around the basket. They were able to rise up over him to finish pretty easily multiple times

Ryan Mutombo: 11 pts, 5-10 2 pt, 1-1 FT, 5 reb (3 off), 2 bl, 1 TO

-decent game matched up with Ezewiro. Could not do much to slow him down when Bradley had position underneath

-good roll to the hoop for a dunk - Ezewiro lost him badly

Jordan Riley: 4 pts, 2-6 2 pt, 0-1 3pt, 5 reb, 1 TO

-playing time was again sporadic. Never got into any kind of rhythm, did not play as well as he did on Saturday

-always plays good D. Engaged, pressures his man, knows what to do/where to be

-Airballed a 13 foot jumper -barely got the bottom of the net

-hit a pullup 14 foot jumper

Bradley Ezewiro: 23 pts, 8-11 2 pt, 1-3 FT, 2-7 3pt, 8 reb (4 off), 1 asst, 1 st, 1 bl,

3 TO

-This guy is a real adventure! He is very physically talented. A rare combination of size, strength, quick feet, explosiveness; and some ball skill in terms of shooting and touch around the hoop

-but his intensity really drifts. Stands around a lot on both ends. Doesn’t box out consistently on D. Will turn it on to make explosive plays on both ends, but will allow an easy cut by his man for a basket, or spend multiple possessions just hanging out by the 3 point line on offense. Does a lot more jogging than running hard

-but when he engages and explodes into action - he is a pretty special talent. If the coaching staff can get him to play with focus/intensity consistently, they could have a big time player on their hands. If they don’t - he’ll still be a contributor, but he’ll also be fairly frustrating because it will be obvious how much more he could do if he played hard more consistently.

-had a bunch of thunderous 2 handed dunks - almost all his baskets. He did have a couple of nice non-dunk finishes that showed good hands/touch down low

-his release is slow, and he settles for 3s too often - but he is a legit open 3 point shooting threat. Just needs to be more selective about when he fires one up.

-had a number of very hard fouls. When he gets beat on D, he tends to just hammer the offensive player rather than to try to make a recovery play. He had a few Laimbeer-Pistons level physical fouls in this game! And he committed a lot of fouls - at least 7, maybe more

-very quick/explosive off his feet. He blows right through defenders at the rim for power dunks unless they can really get their body on him

-Mutombo caught a pass wide open at the rim. Ezewiro hit the turbo button and exploded from the foul line to hammer block the shot. It is these flashes of immense physical talent that are so tantalizing with Ezewiro.

-on the one contested 3 he tried - hit the side of the backboard. Needs to be pretty wide open on his 3s, due to his slow release

-showed good awareness and timing in breaking up a lob pass on a fast break

-In some ways - it is amazing that a player with the obvious physical talent of Ezewiro barely played at LSU last year. But after you watch him for a few games - you can see that his inconsistent effort/focus could well have been frustrating to coaches, and could have contributed to his limited opportunity

-But the guy is a legit talent. I will be surprised if he does not get lots of playing time. He has the offensive skills to play the 4, but playing Ezewiro and Wahab together defensively might be problematic. Neither of them is going to defend real well on the perimeter. Although Ezewiro may have quick enough feet to be OK as a perimeter defender, if he brings the focus and energy on D consistently.

-One image I can’t get out of my mind - Ezewiro and Akok matching up in practice. They are polar opposites physically. I would be constantly afraid that Ezewiro would throw that huge body into Akok’s super thin frame and hurt him.

Additional notes:

-Mozone’s team was playing in the final game Sunday, but I had to leave prior to this game

-Akok did not play this weekend, but he was in the gym on Saturday without any limp or wrap on his leg from last week’s awkward landing

-Anglin did not play this weekend, but I saw him walking around campus on saturday without any visible limp from getting his foot/leg banged up last weekend.