Prospects of the future, 2015 and beyond:

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#1
We tend to get wrapped up in the present, and forget that all the great players we watch today, and in the past, came from the future at one point in time. The present represents reality, but the future represents hope. Sometimes false hope, and other times, players named Kobe and Lebron. We get upset when we lose our favorite player through freeagency, or a trade. But my grandmother always told me that no one, and I mean no one is irreplaceable. So with that said, I'm going to use this thread to list players that I think have a chance to be a star in the future.


Stephen Zimmerman: 16 years old. class of 2015. 7'0", 225 Lbs, Center.

Zimmerman is a very special player for a 16 year old. Its not often you find a player that big and that skilled at that age. Right now he's one of the most heavily recruited players in the country. He already has offers from Kentucky, UCLA, North Carolina, Duke etc. He's a very athletic player that can play above the rim. He runs the floor extremely well. He can score from 18 feet in with a nice looking jumpshot, and he is pretty nifty in the post with very quick feet and some spin moves. Defensively, in highschool, he's a beast, blocking shot after shot. Granted, many times he's going up against players shorter than him. But sometimes its his athleticism that gets him a blocked shot as he chases a player down and blocks him from behind. And yes, I have seen him play, and more than once.

At the Nike Summit he had a chance to go up against older and more experienced players, and handled himself quite well. He outplayed Kaleb Tarczewski, the 7 foot center from Arizona, and while he struggled in the low post against the 6'10", 270 Lb Jahlil Okafor because of strength issues, he acquitted very well overall. Right now all he has to do is get into a weight room and add muscle. Especially lower body strength. This is a kid that can do it all at an early age, and I look forward to watching him progress. Here's a little video.


 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#2
Udoka Azubike: Center, 6'11", 240 Lbs, class of 2016, currently 14 years old.

Azubike is at the moment an athletic man child. He runs the floor very well, and finishes with thunderous dunks. I grant you that its not that hard against his current competition. As a sophmore in highschool, he's simply a man among'st boys. Originally from Nigeria, he's a very hard worker with big ambitions. He wants to be the best. At the moment he's on the right track. He still has a lot of work to accomplish to reach his goal, but he certainly has the time to do it. In the post all he has is a single dropstep move, which is adequate against his current competition, and he has no game away from the basket. But he's a very good athlete, who rebounds like crazy, and blocks shots, without fouling. In other words, there is the foundation there to really build on. If he puts in the work, and continues to get stronger, and god forbid, continue to grow, he could be something special in three years. Here's a short video.


 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#3
Eric Mika: C/PF, 6'10", 220 Lbs. BYU

I have Mika listed as a star of the future because after on year at BYU, his freshman year, he goes on a two year mission. Very common for BYU players. I would suspect that he would come back and play at least one more year. But at the moment he's the heir apparent to Brandon Davies, and he'll probably start. He's a very good athlete and an explosive leaper. He has close to an NBA body already and is very strong in the lower body. Offensively, he has a lot of skills, but none of them are really polished, but thats to be expected at this point. One can only hope that he puts in some time on the practice court while on his mission. I think he has NBA talent. He needs to work on his post work. As of now he relies on his athleticism and quickness in the post. He does have a nice mid-range jumpshot, but needs to get more consistent with it. He runs the floor extremely well, and is excellent at rebounding out of his area. Defensively he shows promise. He could, should be a decent to good shot blocker. He has good length and excellent leaping ability. Just a matter of more experience. He really stood out at the U17 games going up against some of the best competition in his age group. He also happens to be a very intelligent kid, and very mature for his age. Here's a short video.


 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#6
Ben Simmons: SF/PF, 200 Lbs.

Simmons is Australia's other player. I say that because Dante Exum is the name you hear throw around by the scouts. But Simmons, who had Committed to LSU for next season, is generally regarded as the next best player to come out of Australia. At 17 years old (Turned 17 on the 20th of july, which I might add is my birthday) his game is still unrefined. He sort of good at everything, and not particularly great at anything, other than being a very good athlete. He's an average ballhandler, and a decent passer. He can hit the occasional pull up jumper, and he can play above the rim. He runs the floor very well, and when in the post, shows good patience. Being left handed, he sometimes takes other players by surprise with his moves, but he capable of scoring with either hand. At highschool, he's a man among'st boys, stronger and quicker than most of the opposition.

He has yet to establish a true positon, and that may be determined by his growth and skill level down the road. If he ends up at the SF position, and he's certainly athletic enough, his ballhandling needs to improve a tad, as well as his outside shot, which has a slow release, and has a little bit of a strange look to it. Of course getting a look at him up to now has been difficult, but he has been on ESPN a couple of times. Once with the highschool championships, and with the U17 games when he played on the Australian national team. He did give Exum a run for his money in a slam dunk contest. Here's a short video.


 
S

SacKings2002NBAChampions

Guest
#7
Nothing wrong with posting future talent. In fact, I encourage it because who knows, we might end up not making the playoffs again next year and by some chance get a lottery pick ;)
 
S

SacKings2002NBAChampions

Guest
#8
Here's your #1 draft pick of 2016


Say hello to the next young European phenom. Ukraine has never produced a high-level NBA wing player. That appears all set to change as the 16-year-old Mykhailiuk has emerged with as much potential as any European wing prospect ever. He has eclipsed Mario Hezonja, a potential lottery pick who had similar types of things written about him two years ago at age 16.

Mykhailiuk is both polished and athletic, while showing a lot of room for growth. He was not only the best player of the event, but also the most entertaining. He finished with eye popping stats: 25.4 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists. He possesses ideal size and physical attributes for an NBA wing player, combined with incredible body control, quickness and athleticism for his age.

Physically, what impresses most about him is his incredible hand-eye coordination and explosiveness, with the ability to change direction on a dime with the ball on his hands. But it's his creativity that makes him very unique. Offensively he showed an impressive variety of moves starting from the dribble, with the ability to create his own shot basically in any situation and against any kind of defense: from pulling up for a shot after a crossover to attacking the basket in traffic.

His shot mechanics are fluid and quick, with range to the NBA 3-point line. He played almost 40 minutes per game, being consistently double and triple teamed every time he touched the ball, and he showed the ability to draw fouls quite effectively. He’s also able to combine his physicality with effective footwork to post up smaller defenders. In transition with momentum, he’s simply unstoppable.

Despite being the best player and scorer on his team, he showed off some great passing skills and instincts, as he consistently tried to get teammates involved during the game. In addition, he has a great attitude -- he never got frustrated, despite playing with weaker teammates on a low-profile team.

On the defensive end, he uses his remarkable athletic abilities and long arms to work the passing lanes, with a knack for steals to start the break. Sometimes he takes difficult, off-balance shots, and he can get caught over-dribbling, but this could be due to the level of his teammates. He can occasionally struggle to keep up with some quicker, smaller guards.

He’s already one of the best athletes in Europe, as he showed in a game when, after splitting the double team, he took a Eurostep on the big-man helping going left and dunked on him, while getting fouled, too. The Ukrainian basketball legend Oleksandr Volkov, who played in the NBA for the Atlanta Hawks, described Mykhailiuk as the best player in Ukraine history to come after him.
 
#10
I don't think he has elite quickness - he can't get past his opponent, even when he really tries, until Italy game and even then he uses spin move. He's a crafty scorer from 3-point line to the post.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#11
As is my norm, I won't comment on players that I haven't seen play. At least as far as my personal opinion goes. However, interesting player, and this is a good forum in which to bring him to our attention. I'm curious what some of our foreign based posters have to say about him.
 
S

SacKings2002NBAChampions

Guest
#14
Interestingly, he wears the jersey #16
A shooter who loves the 3 point shot
It's hard not to assume that his fav player growing up was Stojakovic considering they're both euro players :)

He's actually an extremely talented kid and the most sought after prospect in Europe currently. He's no doubt going to be a superstar. He's a better mans Mario Hezonja from Croatia who is projected to go lottery in 2015 draft himself :)
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#15
Interestingly, he wears the jersey #16
A shooter who loves the 3 point shot
It's hard not to assume that his fav player growing up was Stojakovic considering they're both euro players :)

He's actually an extremely talented kid and the most sought after prospect in Europe currently. He's no doubt going to be a superstar. He's a better mans Mario Hezonja from Croatia who is projected to go lottery in 2015 draft himself :)
How about he becomes a star first before declaring him a superstar.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#17
For those that know nothing about Seventh Woods, he is currently a 6'2", 170 Lb, PG. He turned 15 on Aug 8th 2013. He was a freshman in highschool last year and averaged 19.3PPG, 4.3 APG, 3.5 RPG, and 2.7 SPG. He led his team to a 22 and 5 record and the state championship game. He was the starting PG on the US, U16 team (means under the age of 16 for those that don't know) and led his team to 5 straight victory's and the gold medal. Obviously, he's probably not done growing yet. His favorite player to emulate is Chris Paul.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#19
Mykhailiuk just got added to World Team in Hoops Summit. We'll get to see him against top older athletes.
I'm looking forward to seeing him. Maybe I'll learn how to pronounce his name. I see that Capela is playing as well. Should be a good game. One of the few highschool all star games where both teams actually try and win. For those interested, the game is on ESPN 2 at 4pm pacific this coming saturday april 12th.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#23
Baja what do you think about Ivan Rabb? Who would you prefer between him and Zimmerman?
Well to be honest, I've seen more of Zimmerman than I have Rabb. Both look like good prospects, and both are at the top of the list of the top 100 highschool players in their age group. But until they get to college and you get to see them against equal competition, it's hard to really judge them. Right now I lean toward Zimmerman. He's 6'11" and a good athlete. Plus he's played in some of the all star games and I believe he played in the U 16 games as well. Rabb is long and lean, and most of his scoring is around the basket. So far, he's shown an ability to block shots, but when you consider most of his competition is 2 to 4 inches shorter than him, it's hard to project him to the next level. He obviously needs to get stronger, but then so does Zimmerman.

Next year at this time, there will be more talk about them, and I'm sure we'll be watching them in the Nike Hoop Summit. By the way, I believe the Jordan Brand Classic is next weekend. I'll have to look up the date.

I found a video of Rabb.


 
#26
anybody seen stuff from this kid:


he has had a lot of hype based on that mixtape, some making weird claims along the lines of "At best, he turns into a Kevin Durant-Chris Paul combo in Dikembe Mutombo’s body." but physically he looks scary, he already seems to have some devastating skills, considering he started playing organised basketball in 2010, and he seems to have his head screwed on right.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#27
anybody seen stuff from this kid:


he has had a lot of hype based on that mixtape, some making weird claims along the lines of "At best, he turns into a Kevin Durant-Chris Paul combo in Dikembe Mutombo’s body." but physically he looks scary, he already seems to have some devastating skills, considering he started playing organised basketball in 2010, and he seems to have his head screwed on right.

Yeah, he's the hot item in the class of 2016. Right now just about every major program is recruiting him. Kentucky, Duke, UCLA, Michigan, Syracuse, Louisville, etc. Too early to tell just how good or bad he'll be, but he certainly has a lot of tools to work with. Naturally he dominates at his current level. Definitely someone to keep you eye on.
 
#28
Ben Simmons, who will suit up next season for LSU, is playing right now for Montverde Academy. He's a 6'8" forward with good handle, and he sometimes plays PG alongside another long guard, 6'9" EJ Montgomery. This allows Montverde to have lineups, where everyone is at least 6'8", and all the way up to 7'2" center Koumadje. Talk about undersized HS basketball. :eek:
 
Last edited:

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#29
Simmons and Ivan Rabb are the top two highschool players in the 2015 highschool class. At the moment, that class looks like a weak class compared to last years and this coming class. A couple of other players worthy of a mention are Diamond Stone, a 6'10" PF/C, and Stephen Zimmerman, a very talented, but thin 7'0"center. Ironicly, of the fiour I mentioned, the only one that I haven't seen play is Simmons. But when it comes to highschool, its catch as catch can.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#30
The class of 2016 is starting to look like a strong class. It's still early, and some may fall by the wayside. The jump from highschool to college is a big one. One extra year of maturity in highschool can make a huge difference, catapulting a player to the top of the class, only to see the same player slide back to reality in college. Shabazz Muhammad springs to mind. Anyway, this is a kid that has the look of an NBA player. He'll certainly be highly recruited by the top schools. After that it's up to him. Here's a short video of Josh Jackson, a 6'8" SF. Pay attention to number eleven.