Prince Williams PG/SG – 6’5, 200lbs – Born 22nd August 1992 Iowa Wolves Williams has been in and out of the G-League in his three professional seasons, grinding through a first season with the Greensboro Swarm after making the team through the local tryout route, being acquired and waived by the Texas Legends four times last season, before eventually ending the year with the Wolves, who also designated him as a returning player for this season. Waived after only five games, however, Williams ultimately spent the majority of the season in Georgia, averaging 15.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals in 12 games. Having done very little through his first three collegiate years, Williams won the AAC Most Improved Player award as a senior after being a good shooter (79th percentile at spot-up shooting) where once he had not been one. A big point guard by trade, having that shot gave Williams some pro intrigue; after all, a 6’5 point guard who shoots 40% from three does sound good. Williams does not however create with the ball, and three years of sporadic run at this level have left him found wanting. – 20th June, 2019 This above is extracted from the following page in the The Basketball Manifesto, an entirely free 3,775 page, 1.2 million word-ish basketball reference book which contains reviews, strategies, ideas, opinions, and a whole lot of scouting on men’s world basketball. – View tons more player profiles like this from the Manifesto here.
Hakim Warrick PF – 6’9, 219lbs – Born 8th July 1982 Iowa Wolves Warrick left the NBA six years ago, cut by the Magic at the 2013 trade deadline, and is now 36 years old. The G-League has in recent times served increasingly often as a place for multi -year NBA veterans to come and try their hand at getting back into the big dance, with some successes (Damien Wilkins and Emeka Okafor, for example), yet Warrick’s absence from the big league has been a particularly long one. He has been employed in that time, of course; a season in China, a half-season in Turkey, a season split between Australia and Greece; a couple of summers in Puerto Rico; brief stints in the Lebanon and Israel. Yet the NBA has been a long time gone. It is intriguing if a bit harsh on Warrick to reflect on how the NBA has moved on in that time. At his peak, Warrick was an athletic but undersized power forward, stuck with the dreaded ‘tweener’ status. He was never a big time rebounder, and never an impactful defender of any area of the court, but he was extremely athletic. He liked to run, and he liked to dunk, and in an era of stretch bigs, high ball screens and roll men, Warrick could have thrived more than when forced to post up as he so often was, back when such things were considered orthodoxy. Of course, Warrick himself was never an outside shooter, and in the years hence, he still has not shown himself to be one, either. 6-9 shooting from three this season is fun, but not meaningful. Warrick retains much if not all of the athleticism of his youth; the hope is that that plus name recognition makes him […]
Xavier Silas SG – 6’5, 198lbs – Born 22nd January 1988 Iowa Wolves Silas was in the NBA last year, called up at the end of the season by a Boston Celtics team that ran out of ball handlers at one point. There was a time when that is what Silas was – over the course of his career, he has become more of a catch-and-shoot specialist, and, as can be seen from his 95th percentile shooting here this year, he remains a good one. The mid-rangers of his younger days are now threes, and it is an important weapon to have. It is also however the only weapon he seems to have any longer. Silas seems to be losing his athleticism, and with that, his slashing game. Without that, he is a good three-point shooter, but so are many other players. Those other players will usually be bigger, quicker, and thus better equipped to both run the court, drive curls and defend their position. There was a time that Xavier Silas was a good defender at both guard positions who got his own offensively, who could take turns at the point guard spot, knife into the lane and make things happen off the dribble. He does not appear to be that player any longer. Silas still plays hard and he still plays smart. At the G-League level, he is a solid veteran role player worth having, not just for the shooting but also the experience. Yet in no longer being a positive overall defensive player or someone who can creates in the pick-and-roll or push the ball, his role is starting to get quite small. Or, maybe he was just hurt all year and he is about to have a beautiful comeback. Let’s hope it is the […]
Jonathan Stark PG – 6’0, 180lbs – Born 23rd May 1995 Iowa Wolves Jonathan Stark was the Ja Morant before Ja Morant. The two briefly play together at Murray State for one season, and whereas the over-exuberant, dynamic yet wild Morant (at that time) would be the spectacular if inconsistent playmaker, Stark would be the half-court scorer. It is thus good to see him get back into a full-time point guard mentality, just as he had been before his unison with Ja. To be sure, Stark can score the ball. Small though he is, he plays off the ball, getting to the rim on curl plays and shooting a nice pull-up. Stark puts in a lot of movement off the ball, using a lot of baseline cuts as well as being in motion endlessly above the break, pushing the ball in transition, shooting with a quick release and with NBA range. There would be some heat checks, and Stark, recognisant of his small size, would use subtle fakes and a high floater inside the arc rather than take on the trees, which is inefficient if necessary. Yet he scored 20 points a game playing as a primary scorer alongside Morant, and the fact that he can do that whilst also playing as an on-ball lead guard, a genuinely good pick-and-roll passer and post feeder, makes for a versatile and skilled offensive player even with the small size. The small size does prove to be an obstacle defensively, where, despite a good effort level and few mistakes, Stark finds it difficult to apply ball pressure or bump people off the spot. He will work to recover and pursue, gets low and chases hard, yet it is difficult for him to make an impact, even at the smaller point guard […]
Evan Smotrycz PF – 6’7, 230lbs – Born 2nd August 1991 Iowa Wolves Back in the day, there was a stretch in which Michigan decided to run the offence through Smotrycz. What a time that was. Things were different in the Michigan programme back then, and they were also different for Smotrycz, who transferred out of the Wolverines program to avoid having to play the centre spot only to go to Maryland and find he had to do it there as well. But then the Terrapins also ran the offence through him, for an entire season. What a time to be alive. Smotrycz’s college career was defined by inconsistencies on both ends, mixed with intrigue in how he seemed to always do a little bit of everything, however sporadically. A good outside shooter for a big man, Smotrycz slightly undercut that by being far too aggressive with his jump shot at times, and also missing a very large amount of layups. This is not ideal when you’re playing centre. Also not much of a ball-handler unless he is able to look at the floor while doing it, Smotrycz’s abilities to drive the close-outs his shot would draw, or pump-fake and get to the cup that way, were always a bit hit-and-miss. When he pulled these things off, he was versatile and new-age. When he didn’t, he was a turnover-prone shooter who got blocked a lot. Regardless of the results, Smotrycz would always play hard. Too hard, sometimes, yet he put forth the energy to mask the fact that with a small wingspan and little athleticism, he did not have the physical tools to thrive defensively at a higher level. Smotrycz has made improvements in his man -to-man defence over the years and is surprisingly good when playing in […]
William Lee PF – 6’8, 210lbs – Born 10th January 1995 Iowa Wolves This was Lee’s first professional season out of UAB, and it began with a summer league stint with the Memphis Grizzlies. After not getting a training camp contract from them, he initially signed in Serbia with Dynamic Belgrade, yet left just before their season started, signed a one-day contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves and then was allocated to Iowa, where he spent the entire season. However, Lee did not translate the two-way game he had demonstrated with the Blazers previously, and found himself behind the pace offensively in particular. An athlete, a dunker and a shot blocker, Lee has a very good professional projection based on that alone. Yet at UAB, he also was a 59th percentile spot up shooter. It was not much, yet given that Lee has a very limited handle on the ball and rudimentary post-up moves, it added an offensive dimension beyond merely cutting and rolling to the rim. When Lee is not able to dunk, he struggles to finish around the basket, even with all that athleticism – he tends to go up rather soft, and his lean frame does not take a bump well. The jump shot and the threat of it open up the court for him, giving him some room in which to drive. It only works though if he hits his shots. This year, he did not hit enough of them, and when combined with all of the things that he does not do offensively, this made him a distinct net negative on that end of the court. Consistent balance and release point on the shot will be key to him taking a lot of the variance out of his shooting game. Lee made a portion […]
Jaylen Johnson PF – 6’9, 230lbs – Born 7th August 1996 Iowa Wolves Declaring for the NBA Draft after his junior season at Louisville in 2017, Johnson is still young and therefore still a project. In what would have been his senior season, he received a 10-day call-up from the Chicago Bulls – albeit without playing any game time, instead being one of several players they called up without playing so as to get more money to their G-Leaguers – and then went to summer league with the L.A. Clippers. He is on the NBA radar on account of having NBA athleticism. Further development to his skill set has been required, and having progressed in every major statistical category this G-League season compared to last, perhaps it has been forthcoming. Johnson’s basic numbers are down across the board this season due to a big decline in his minutes per game. Yet in every efficiency metric, he improved. Johnson became a better and more efficient scorer from all areas, hit more jump shots, fouled less, turn the ball over far far less and ultimately was a big positive in a smaller role. His game is best defined by his athleticism, where his length and good frame make him an agile player who gets into a lot of space, and back when he was wild and unskilled, he was at least aggressive. Overly aggressive, but decisive nonetheless. Now that he has more poise and strength in his frame, Johnson is a stretch four with an unblockably high shot, doing so without losing his ability to score on the move or finish around the basket. There are still areas of his game to work on. Johnson’s jump shot improvements are valuable, yet he does not seem to have put in the […]
Marquise Moore PG/SG – 6’2, 208lbs – Born 22nd December 1994 Iowa Wolves I love four things in this world. Sausage sandwiches, the lead singer out of The Interrupters (call me, Aimee!), 6’7 point guards who can’t shoot, and extremely undersized guards who rebound like centres. Here, then, is Marquise Moore, and I won’t hear a word said against him. As a senior at George Mason, Moore averaged 10.9 rebounds per game. He did this while playing at the point guard position. That is tough to fathom. It should have course therefore be taken as a given that Moore plays with a tremendous level of energy, particularly on the defensive end. He is an athlete, certainly, but one with a furious level of determination. Moore goes after every loose ball and wins ones he should have no rightly business getting. Sometimes, smaller players grab a relatively high number of rebounds because they are essentially playing as undersized frontcourt guys – DeMarcus Gatlin from Sam Houston State is one that comes to mind, as is Javonte Green from Radford, because apparently that’s how my mind works (call me, Aimee! I can change!) – but Moore really is doing it while playing the point guard position. It is unique what he is doing. Of course, this is a bonus rather than a requirement. What Moore needs is to be able to play the point guard position in every other way, or the shooting guard spot at least. With a distinctly below-average jump shot, Moore is not the most creative player with the ball in his hands either. He is instead better served when cutting off the ball for athletic finishes, attacking the rim and getting to the line. Yet playing a ball-handling spot does not much allow for that. If […]
Darius Johnson-Odom SG – 6’1, 220lbs – Born 28th September 1989 Iowa Wolves Prior to his return this season, Johnson-Odom had been away from the G-League for four years. The vast majority of that time had been spent in Italy, where he had been amongst the country’s highest scorers, leading it outright last season with Vanoli Cremona. Johnson-Odom always has been and always will be a scorer, a prolific one by volume as well as efficiency. Of that, there has long been no doubt. Johnson-Odom gets his points in pretty much every way conceivable. He is a ball-dominant player by trade, but if ever he is run off the ball, he has a very good spot-up shot he can use. When on the ball, he also shoots off the dribble, albeit not as well, yet he is primarily looking to get beyond the first line of the defence and make things happen. Johnson-Odom is very strong for his small size, and without having the greatest speed, he also pushes the ball wherever he can. If you need someone to get you a basket, he is always a good bet – he can drive both ways, finishes extremely well at the basket with his very strong upper body, makes excellent reads and never wavers in his confidence. Johnson-Odom, simply, is a workhorse. Given his size, DJO is always going to be a defender of point guards. Or at least, he should be. Playing alongside Jonathan Stark and Marquise Moore this season saw him play a lot of shooting guard, a position well suited to his offensive game yet one at which he gives up a significant degree of size. It is thus not a surprise that he was an overall net negative as a defensive player considering that the […]
L.G. Gill PF – 6’8, 210lbs – Born 24th December 1994 Iowa Wolves This season was Gill’s second in the G-League, one which began as a returning player with the Greensboro Swarm (whose roster he had made last season via the local tryout route) before immediately being traded to Iowa in exchange for the returning player rights to Terry Whisnant. Gill subsequently mostly came off the bench for the Wolves, filling in as a starter where required, and provided a decent burst of athleticism and occasional post-up play. There is nothing spectacular about Gill’s game. He is an OK jump shooter, an OK post player, an OK transition player, yet very rarely a creator. He simply does not have that level of ball skill, footwork or shot-making talent, as evidenced by his free throw stroke. Any offence that Gill gets is situational rather than by design. He moves a little off the ball to get open and has some decent athleticism to go with his energy, but ultimately this is a underskilled player with no left hand, inconsistent finishing from all areas, bad hands and interior instincts with a wing’s frame. You don’t seek points from Gill – you just like the ones he gets for you out of the blue. And to change that, he needs to take and make more jumpers. On the defensive end, Gill also plays with energy, but seems to somehow never win any possessions. He is not a rim protector, he is not a passing lane player, and he is not a rebounder, hindered by a lack of core strength versus his peers. He is instead an energetic player who moves his feet and keeps his hands up, rather than somebody who jumps to contest or reaches to win possessions. Gill is […]
Canyon Barry SG/SF – 6’6, 205lbs – Born 7th January 1994 Iowa Wolves The latest from the production line of Barrys is Canyon, the first in a generation to unashamedly shoot the underhand free throw. This was his first G-League season after spending his initial professional campaign split between Finland, the Czech Republic and China; the Timberwolves signed him for about 25 minutes so that they could allocate him to Iowa, hoping he could develop into an NBA-calibre shooter. The percentages Barry shoots suggests this is very possible. Barry has a quick release and works off the ball to get open, with the kind of shot that sets can be run for. He shoots with nice form and a high arc, running off the ball more than playing on it, but effective when he does given his judicious decisions on when to drive and when to reset. To look to Barry to be a creator, though, is to be overly ambitious; he is instead a spot-up guy and a floor runner who goes to the wings, dribbles and passes little (especially with his off-hand), and is there to do his one major skill. Sometimes he forces up shots and throws wild passes, but with a shooter of this calibre, you would rather he be overaggressive than passive. Defensively, Barry exhibits good defensive reads and timing, although he does not have the best foot speed. Barry has decent size for the wing but is not an explosive athlete, therefore he has to rely on positioning and good reads to survive on that end. He just about holds his own, but he is the kind of player that an athletic ball-handling opposing wing would go at, and not someone you really want to have stuck in a switch. Among all […]
