re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

Latest ESPN mock has JD going to the Grizzlies in the second round and no sign of Keon or Shack.

Keon and JD will get drafted. Shack will be the starting guard for the Pakistan bombers

Understood, but would not mind seeing 3rd year walk on Delany Heard get that last scholarship unless somebody really good reclassifies or transfers. Heard played with the older guys (Bediako, Gurley, Burnett, Miles) in the team camp scrimmage last weekend and looked pretty good.

Watched some private footage from the practice they had at camp the other day…Brandon Miller is as good as advertised

His shot just looks so smooth (and he didn’t miss too many). He looks even taller/more athletic than even I realized. He had a nice poster over someone (was hard to tell over whom), but he abused the rim. Made shots inside and out. Just didn’t look like a freshman at all.

Also, Sears looks legit. He was everywhere. Hitting shots inside and out, rebounding the ball, had some nice passes. Just looked super comfortable.

Athletic - Hollinger Top 75 NBA Draft Prospects

Tier X: Disappointing one-and-dones

42. JD Davison | 6-3 freshman | PG | Alabama

I get why teams may be down on Davison — he was a hot mess this past year, shooting erratically and not really running the team the way you’d like. That said, the difference between his athleticism and the other available options at this point in the draft is pretty jarring, with a 9.8 percent rebound rate from the point guard spot and multiple instances of easy levitation around the rim.

Davison is also capable of making some incisive passes and running a team; he just tries to do all kinds of crazy stuff on top of it, and the result was a sky-high turnover rate (6.1 per 100 possessions in SEC games).

Davison’s shooting is another question mark. He made 30.8 percent from distance while pushing a line-drive shot from in front of his chest that didn’t always come off his hand clean. He’s going to need a lot of work to make opponents respect his perimeter game, but if he becomes even remotely average, he’ll blow by defenders and open up the rest of his game.


Tier XII: The best of the rest

63. Keon Ellis | 6-4 senior | SG | Alabama

Ellis was invisible on the court at the combine and measured just 6-3½ in socks (Alabama listed him at 6-6), which probably nuked his chances of getting picked in the top 40, but there is still a 3-and-D package to sell here. Defensively he’s pretty solid — he gets into the ball, has active hands and often took the challenge of checking small, fast guards. He lacks strength in close quarters and sometimes succumbed to quick changes of direction, but he won’t’ be a target on that end of the floor.

Offensively, I don’t love the optics on Ellis’ stroke, but for his career, he made 37.1 percent from 3 on high volume and 83.1 percent from the line, so maybe I should shut up. He needs to show more vitality off the dribble, but he finished chances when he got them.

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Jon Rothstein
@JonRothstein
NEWS: Matchups for the 2023 Big 12/SEC Challenge are set, according to sources.

Arkansas at Baylor
Kansas at Kentucky
Texas at Tennessee
TCU at Miss. St
Alabama at OU
Auburn at WVU
Ole Miss at Oklahoma St
UF at Kansas St
Iowa St at Missouri
TTU at LSU

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Oklahoma..........again