Anthony Mason Jr

Anthony Mason Jr - After underperforming at St John's, in large part due to injury, Mason landed a training camp contract with the Heat and has parlayed that into an extended D-League run. The early returns on his first professional experience are good; Mason is averaging 15.1 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.1 blocks in 35 minutes per game for the Sioux Falls Skyforce, shooting 51% from the field and 74% from the line. He puts up this universal stat line as an athletic, hustling, aggressive 6'7 small forward. Such aggression leads to mistakes - overpassing, shot selection, running through people on offense, running away from people on defense, etc - and the outside shooting, ball handling and ability to create his own shot are far behind the athletic stuff. But Mason rebounds, runs, dunks, finishes, passes, hustles and defends, all sought-after commodities. Comparisons between Anthony Mason Jr and Patrick Ewing Jr are highly valid and run beyond things their fathers did.

Mason Jr - better known as "Yung Mase," where dropping the O makes it cooler - averaged 14.0 points per game for St John's in his junior season. However, he then got injured after only three games of his senior season, and took a medical redshirt; he returned last season at half speed, averaging only 7.0 points per game in 19 contests. This killed whatever draft stock he had, and it was no surprise to anyone when Mase went undrafted. When he was at his best, Mason was more athletic than his old man, a 6'7 combo forward with good athleticism and decent defense, but with high turnovers, bad shot selection, and a mediocre outside shot. The hampered Mason took far less shots in whatever senior season he had, yet he was just as inefficient. Mason's best bet would be to go to the D-League, get healthy, and try to earn a call-up the Renaldo Major way. That, in fact, is probably why he's here.