Isaac Hamilton – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Isaac Hamilton SG – 6’4, 185lbs – Born 14th May 1994 Canton Charge Hamilton could be a good role player if he fully embraced a role. Slightly undersized for a high-level two-guard yet smooth and fluid in his motion, with enough speed to be competitive, Hamilton has good passing vision for a wing player, which, when combined with off-ball movement and his love of running the wings in transition, could make him a very solid role player to any point guard willing and able to consistently get beyond the first line of a defence. The problem though has been that Hamilton has long wanted to be more of a focal point offensively. Prone to stopping the ball at UCLA, Hamilton’s destiny as a player is as a spot-up threat from the wings in the half court, and as a lane runner in transition. Combined with his fakes and feeds to the interior, he has long had potential as an off-ball shooting threat, something he is better suited for than trying to be a playmaking guard given his lack of core strength and limited handle in traffic. Yet Hamilton has never been the calibre of shooter that would make such a package work. This year in particular, he lost his shot; combined with a long-standing apathy to the defensive end, and he wound up being neither half of the desired three-and-D controlled off-guard NBA teams would like to see. Hamilton has now spent two years in the Cavaliers’ system. He began his pro career with a summer league stint with them, itself followed up by a training camp contract and an allocation to Canton, where he has now played two years. His numbers in this, his second season, are however way down on those of year one. And those […]
Chance Comanche – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Chance Comanche PF/C – 6’10, 210lbs – Born 14th April 1996 Canton Charge Fair play to anyone in any professional who has a marketable skill and who seeks to get paid for it. So you should (says Mark in his free Manifesto). Having not done much in his first two seasons at Arizona, the traditional argument would have been that Chance Comanche should have stayed in school, built up his body, his skills and his CV. But that argument only holds water if Comanche was being developed in the right way. Long and a good athlete, Comanche should be a rim-runner. He should be hustling around, running the court, rolling to the rim, catching the ball on the move, dunking on people, crashing the glass, spotting up where possible, getting to the line, hitting them and playing defence. Not trying to post up all the time in a thin-framed body not designed for carving out space, and with a shortage of poise, footwork and composure down there. At Arizona, where he was primarily being used as a post-up player, he was being played to his offensive weaknesses, and if his defensive awareness and uncertainty suffered as a result, there was probably a causative link there. In fairness, Comanche does have some touch around the basket. He does not take bumps too well, yet when he is able to finesse it home, he has touch with both hands, including a particularly good off-hand. Defensively, his awareness is picking up, and while he still needs both more interior strength and better perimeter footwork, he has an impact as a rim protector. If he can pick up his effort on that end, and develop into an excellent roll man, he has some Dwight Powell potential in him. That’s not what Arizona […]
Nigel Johnson – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Nigel Johnson PG – 6’1, 190lbs – Born 20th January 1995 Canton Charge In four years at three prominent schools – Rutgers counts as prominent, despite the profound struggles of, ooh, the last forty years or so – Johnson never once cracked the 40% shooting mark from the field. Only once did he surpass the .482% true shooting percentage he shot as a freshman; it was in the .521% he shot the following year as a sophomore. Considering he is a score-first small guard who has never displayed much of an affinity or an intent for playing the point guard spot in a more traditional style, this is something of an issue. The solution is to use Johnson in a specific way. He is not a lead guard you can reliably turn to to move around a defence, steady the ship or close out games. He tends to dominate the ball as though he is that, but he isn’t. Instead, Johnson is best served as a change-of-pace guard off the bench. Inefficient though he can be, he can score in bunches, and he is a very good shooter when taking the right kind of shots (i.e. catch and shoots rather than shooting on the move). When he can pair that with defensive commitment, he becomes a useful reserve guard. When engaged defensively, Johnson has good hands, which he pairs with his good speed to be a presence at the lead guard spot. He only defends one position, but if he can defend it with zest, that counts for something. At Virginia, he never looked entirely comfortable in the pack line defence, and all too often missed his spots. But that is in the past now. Now, if Johnson can prove his value as a committed defensive hounder of […]
Malik Newman – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Malik Newman SG – 6’3, 190lbs – Born 21st February 1997 Canton Charge Newman’s first professional season was a strange one. Leaving Kansas after his sophomore season, he went undrafted, went to summer league with the L.A. Lakers, signed a two-way contract with them on the first possible day to do it, yet never even made it out the month of July before they ended it. Subsequently picked up by the Miami Heat for training camp, he did not make their roster, was allocated to Sioux Falls, then was traded in mid-season for Emanuel Terry, and thus found himself closing out the season here with Canton. This is probably not the sort of journey he declared for. Finding himself somewhere between the two guard positions, Newman has the height and size of a point guard with the game of a microwave two. Dynamic and a good athlete, Newman moved more off the ball in his time at Kansas, thus becoming more of a catch-and-shoot three-point player than a primary handling lead guard. This is probably a better use of his skill set. Yet if he is to only be a secondary ball-handler, he is a bit small for the off-guard role. Newman is nevertheless a very good spot-up shooter and a transition specialist, the two main areas of his offensive game. Jumping high to shoot, Newman also adds a pull-up two, and has some craft with his hesitation moves to get to the cup rather than just always raise up. He makes quick decisions rather than linger on the ball, which opens up the court for him, and although he is a limited playmaker for others, he can at least get his own in isolation with the handle. With step backs and pro moves, he will be a […]
Malachi Richardson – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Malachi Richardson SG – 6’4, 200lbs – Born 5th January 1996 Canton Charge Richardson was picked up by the Charge at the end of the G-League season, with not even enough time to appear in a single game. He had spent the majority of the year in the NBA, beginning with the NBA champion Toronto Raptors (who had traded the expiring salary of Bruno Caboclo for him at the deadline in 2017-18 just to then not play him; by the way, it feels weird to be calling the Raptors that), but never appearing in the rotation. The fact that the Raptors sought to constantly upgrade their wing depth in the forms of Pat McCaw and Jodie Meeks was a bit of a damning indictment of Richardson; he was salary dumped onto the Philadelphia 76ers at the deadline, immediately waived, and thus now is looking at having to fight his way back in from the G-League. Can he do it? Only if his defence gets better. Richardson is not as quick as many of the candidates for the coveted three-and-D role that are around not only in the G-League, but also in this year’s draft class. He was drafted in the first round in the belief that he would be able to go on to fill this role at the NBA level, yet he has now been passed over not only by the team that drafted him, but the team that got him for absolutely nothing. Within three years, he has been rejected by three NBA teams, and the supposed three-and-D shooter does not have a legacy of being either. The G-League is quite a good option for those looking to reclaim their career in such a way. After all, Danuel House did it just this season. If you […]
JaCorey Williams – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
JaCorey Williams PF – 6’8, 220lbs – Born 12th June 1994 Canton Charge Williams has intrigued the Cavaliers for sometime now. They have signed him for each of the last two training camps and allocated him to Canton both times; they are clearly none too subtle about wanting to keep him around. And so while Williams has yet to make the regular season roster, don’t think for a minute the Cavaliers brass didn’t notice the subtle improvements in his output this season. The biggest one is in his assist rate. A face-up power forward who has hitherto been more of an athlete than a skill-based player, Williams’s continuing developments in his ball skill and his offensive poise will be key to him being able to convert this physical profile into an NBA gig. Williams left Arkansas after three seasons to transfer to Middle Tennessee State to prove that he was able to do more than just defend as a press specialist and get garbage points – and also just a liiiiiittle bit because of a forgery arrest that saw him dismissed from the team – and in demonstrating far greater post-up ability in that season than Arkansas ever allowed him to do, he achieved that. Now, with the physical profile of a face-up four, Williams is out to prove that he can add some handle to that game. There is range still to add to the jump shot. Williams continues to be a post-based player, someone featured regularly in the Charge’s half-court offence, and who is always able to get to his much, much favoured left hand. Mobile and athletic, he also runs the court well, goes to the glass and still gets those garbage points, and-1s and short hooks. Williams is improving his ability to drive from […]
Scoochie Smith – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Scoochie Smith PG – 6’2, 180lbs – Born 11th November 1994 Canton Charge Smith spent his first professional season mostly in Australia with the Cairns Taipans, yet for whatever reason, the Australian season ends very early. This thus gave him time to return to America and be picked up by the Charge last March, and after a summer league stint and training camp contract with the parent Cavaliers, Smith returned to the Charge for the full season this time around. A ball-dominant pass-first point guard, Smith consistently yields high assist numbers based in part on his speed and the resultant ability to collapse the defence, and in part through simple execution. Between driving and kicking and swinging the ball around the perimeter, he gets the big numbers in the ultimate unselfishness category without having done too much to shift the defence. Careful and controlled, Scoochie plays with a high IQ, makes few mistakes with either the handle or the pass, initiates without being spectacular and is reliable without being counted upon. On the defensive end, it is a similar story. A small guard and a defender of one position and one position alone, Smith uses his speed and puts forth good effort to go with good timing. He does not much impede anybody bigger than him on switches and whatnot, yet at least he wins possessions. As an individual scorer, he is a mediocre jump shooter who tends to contort wildly at the rim, who for whatever reason struggles in transition and always has done. But if you want a steady, controlled ball-handler, who serves as a pick-and-roll playmaker and an unselfish initiator at point guard – that is to say, the opposite of Kobi Simmons – then The Scooch could be your guy. – 20th June, 2019 […]
Levi Randolph – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Levi Randolph SG – 6’6, 210lbs – Born 3rd October 1992 Canton Charge I am glad that Randolph is giving it a go in the G-League before he enters the prime of his career and before it is too late for a call-up, because I really feel he has a chance at one. Having been in summer league for each of the past four seasons, managing to appear on the rosters of nine different franchise’s summer league teams in that span, Randolph is very much on the radar. Yet after spending his first professional season with the Maine Red Claws, he spent two years in Italy and France, and while he is of course more than entitled to make that money, players don’t get called up from there. They get called up from exactly where he now is, if they put in full seasons of quality work. And that is exactly what he just did. Randolph is a scoring guard by trade who is slightly undersized for the highest level but makes up for it with good length, speed and athleticism. In his senior season at Alabama back in 2015, he was no less than 75th percentile in every offensive category, and the only one below the 80th percentile mark was the 75th percentile spot-up shooting. This is an incredibly versatile and talented scorer who shoots off screens, who takes it in strong given half a lane, who gets to the rim in transition and semi-transition, and who makes plays for himself and others. Randolph gets to the rim going right and passes off going to his left, with slightly too high of a dribble to play the point guard spot but a player with genuine creativity, energy and skill. He gets buckets, simply, and particularly with weapons […]
Phil Carr – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Phil Carr SF/PF – 6’8, 200lbs – Born 20th October 1995 Canton Charge Although his first professional season started off with a one-day contract with the New York Knicks in order to get him allocated to Westchester, Carr was waived out of the Knicks organisation altogether when Westchester cut him as well in early January. While the Knicks liked the potential they saw him as a face-up four, they also saw the rawness within him, rawness also on show in his 13 games with Canton. At his core, Carr is a face-up four who shoots a lot of mid-range jump shots that have the potential to be turned into three-pointers. His handle is loose, and he wisely does not much of that; instead, long and agile, Carr tries to get jumpers away through pick-and-pops as much as he can. He will also cut and roll to the rim, although any finish other than the dunk is a tad unreliable. On the defensive end, Carr won his conference DPOY award as a junior. That conference was the MEAC, which is not exactly replete with 6’8/6’9 athletes with recovery speed, so he had an advantage over the field there. Nevertheless, Carr has good shot blocking timing when in position, and he potentially has the ability to defend stretch fours like himself on the perimeter. At the pro level, though, Carr’s relative inexperience exposed his shortcomings. Defensively, he was often out of position and fouled on the recovery, while offensively, he simply did not make enough shots. Carr needs strength and skills reps on the court, and more court time in order to slow him down. If it all comes together, he is the right sort of player for modern basketball. As of right now, though, he has a long way […]
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman SG – 6’4, 190lbs – Born 1st September 1994 Canton Charge Bobby Longname spent his first professional season with the Charge after making the roster initially as a local tryout player. He came in with a solid role player résumé; good shooter, good defender, part-time point guard, occasional creator, pink shoe wearer, and one who never ever turns the ball over. And apart from the pink shoes, he stuck to the brief. A cutter, extra passer and unselfish player, Abdur-Rahkman began to emerge as a player once he began hitting jump shots. His driving game is not stellar, reliant largely on straight lines, and without the threat of a jump shot to make a defender play him differently, it was very defendable. As he improved as a shooter, though, Abdur-Rahkman became a very effective offensive complement, as the Charge also realised. Spotting up off the ball, while patient and measured when on it, Abdur- Rahkman is not really the end-of-the-shot-clock type of player despite Michigan’s usage of him as it in the past, yet on all other types of offensive possession, he finds ways to contribute. Even thus far in the pros – where the defenders are bigger and the game is more athletic, thus a greater impediment around the basket to a smaller off-guard like himself should he ever venture in there – he plays within his limits and does not take on challenges he cannot win. And he still never, ever turns it over. Defensively, at both guard spots, is where he excels more. Aggressive on that end, Abdur-Rahkman frustrates and disrupts, always seemingly the one to break things up without necessarily having the steals numbers to show for it. He is a good on-ball defender at both guard spots, and has decent-enough length […]
