I watched the Washington/Mt. St. Marys game the other night to get a look at their touted freshman Isiah Stewart. The 6' 9", 250 lb PF/C. He was pretty much as advertised. He's built like a linebacker with long arms which help him guard taller players. And he has serious hops along with very good shotblocking timing. He needs to work on his rebounding fundamentals. He constantly lost position to smaller, weaker players. It wasn't from lack of effort, but lack of fundamentals.
Right now I would comp him as a Holmes type of player. Very good athlete with a non stop motor. He's very good around the basket, currently shooting around 60% overall. However, he appears to have little to no game away from the basket. But, it's early, and he's young. So we'll see where he's at in 10 or so games.
I thought Jaden McDaniels, the brother of Jalen McDaniels, Gotta love how they play with first names just to confuse us, player well. He didn't shoot the three well on this given night, but he has nice form, and his shot looks relaxed and is always on line with the basket. Plus, he had a couple that were halfway down and popped out. Point being, I think he shows potential as a 3 pt shooter. Aside from that, he impressed me with his ball handling, rebounding, and defense, which belies his 6'10", 185 lb body. He also defended well on the perimeter against quicker smaller players and surprised me with his passing ability. There might be something there.
The surprise player was Nahziah Carter, a 6'6", 205 lb SG/SF. This is his junior year, and after being played sparingly his first two years, he suddenly averaging just under 36 minutes a game. He's also averaging 18.5 ppg while shooting 48% overall and 50% from the three. However lets remember that he's only played two games, so those stats are somewhat worthless at this point. That aside, he was very impressive. He's a terrific athlete with an explosive first step off the dribble.
Twice in the game with the ball on the perimeter, he exploded by his defender, and left the earth from about 10 or so feet from the basket which resulted in two of the most spectacular dunks I've seen so far this year. This kid has serious hops. On his first dunk, his head was almost above the basket. However, what really impressed me was his defense. Several times he became isolated on the perimeter against Mt. St. Marys quick little PG who couldn't get past him. He certainly earned his way onto my watch list.
Thought I would do an update on Carter now after 8 games. He's now averaging 31 mpg and 14.6 ppg, while shooting 51.8% overall and 48.0% from the three. He's also averaging 1.8 steals and 6.6 rebounds. So far so good. He's starting to look like the real deal.
