Portsmouth Invitational Team Previews - Norfolk Sports Club

Maurice Kemp - Kemp is a athletic wing with legit size at 6'8. He already takes advantage of his physical tools on the defensive end, showing lock down abilities. Kemp plays with good effort on both sides of the ball. He can cover both forward positions at the college level, although his slight frame will force him out on the perimeter full time in the NBA. While his calling card is defense, Kemp scored over 20 points per game in each of his last 9 career games. Kemp isn't much of a shooter, but does a good job attacking the rim. He plays under control and picks his spots carefully. He doesn't have elite explosiveness or any advanced ball handling moves, but he is fundamentally sound on his drives. He doesn't overcomplicate things. Kemp is every bit the team player and could eventually help at NBA team after improving in the D-League.

DJ Cooper - Cooper may have been the best passer in college basketball this season, putting his craftiness on complete display. He is able to deliver passes in a multitude of ways and does a good job seeing the court and keeping his head up at all times. Cooper looks to push the ball whenever possible and is able to maintain complete control of the tempo. In the halfcourt, Cooper can struggle at times to get by his man as he is only an average athlete and he will settle for NBA 3s past his range too much. At 5-11, Cooper doesn't have the athleticism or shooting ability to overcome his shortcomings which will most likely keep him from being drafted.

Scott Wood - There isn't a whole lot to explain about Scott Wood's game. He played on a loaded NC State team and was their 3-pt specialist. With so many athletes surrounding him, Wood wasn't asked to do anything but shoot - something he has always does very well. He is an elite shooter with effortless mechanics and plenty of range to adjust to the NBA line. However, Wood will need to find other ways to contribute to teams if he wants to separate himself from other shooters that have came and went.

Vander Joaquim - Athletic big man who came up through the program "Basketball Without Borders" and has experience playing with the Angola National Team. He is an opportunistic finisher at the rim with quick leaping abilities. Joaquim can also hit the outside jumper and has done so more and more over his career, to a point where he efficiency saw a hit this season due to his tendency to play on the perimeter. Joaquim is better off playing inside, working on his post game, and taking advantage of his athleticism in the paint. He still needs a lot of work to ever make the NBA, but he's the kind of player the Portsmouth is made for.

Jack Cooley - Cooley is one of the best rebounders in the country, making good use of his girth and toughness on the inside. Cooley is best described as a lunch pail guy who quietly does the dirty work without complaining, but he attempted to take on more of a leadership role this season. His defense has improved and he's looked lighter on his feet, but this is still an area of concern. Cooley finished the season with a rough stretch of games, often disappearing for long stretches.

Will Clyburn - On a team that was centered around 3-pt shooters, Clyburn was the guy who did everything else to help Iowa State win. He is a solid defender with versatility to cover multiple positions, good rebounder, and an explosive leaper capable of finishing strong at the rim. Clyburn is also stronger than he looks and is good at generating contact at the rim. He's a solid ball handler as well - capable of getting all the way to the cup. He struggled with his mid-range game this year - not converting many jump shots while looking tentative in no-mans land as well.

Momo Jones - Jones may be best remember for his tournament against Duke in the NCAA Tournament while playing with Arizona. Jones ended up transferring to be with an ill family member, but his scoring never slowed down. He was 3rd in the NCAA in scoring this year playing in the up and down style of the Iona Gaels. While Jones is a great scorer, he doesn't show much hope as a point guard and at a generously listed 6-0, he is a long shot to even get a sniff at the NBA.

DJ Richardson - Richardson is a 6-3 shooting guard who contributed four years at Illinois due to his solid role playing abilities. He is a great shooter, strong defender, and capable playmaker for his teammates off the dribble. However, Richardson doesn't do anything great and never really made a name for himself in the Big Ten. He has a chance to step up his play here at the PIT, but he hasn't "wowed" scouts during his 4 year stint at Illinois. Solid player, but not NBA worthy.

Most likely to be drafted?

This is a rather weak roster that I wouldn't be surprised to have 0 NBA draft picks, but Jack Cooley will get late second round looks due to his rebounding ability.

Summer League Invites?

DJ Cooper can run an offense and get the ball to his teammates hands in good positions, which is valuable in a camp where teams want to see what their draft picks can do. Maurice Kemp and Will Clyburn may also get a chance to show what they can do depending on what they show in the next few days at the PIT.

Overseas Bound?

The rest of this roster will need to start out at a smaller level European team, but Scott Wood has the shooting ability to work his way up through the ranks. DJ Richardson can be a solid pro as well.

12/20/12 Games to Watch and a Recap of Last NIght

I didn't get a chance to recap the North Carolina State/Stanford game yesterday, so I'll do it now since it was a notable game.

Lorenzo Brown was the "good" Lorenzo Brown that we saw last year. He finally got the better of another good guard - Chasson Randle being the victim. Brown did a great job finding the hot hand early on - finding Scott Wood in position to hit 5 3-pters in the first half. After Wood cooled down, Brown looked for his own offense in the second half and finished with 24 points on 15 shots.

Brown did a nice job pushing the ball in transition. His craftiness with the ball allowed him to navigate through traffic at a controlled pace, using his size to help shield the ball, and hit an array of floaters in the lane. He also showed the Eurostep a couple of times. The eurostep, his size, his craftiness, and his touch help make him a very good scorer inside when he is aggressive.

Brown is not the only NC State player who uses to floater to score in bunches - all three of Rodney Purvis's field goals came off floaters and TJ Warren has a very good floor game as well. Purvis was key in the first half before Brown took over and was able to blow by Stanford's slowish guards at ease. I cant think of another team that uses the floater as well as the Wolfpack.

Inside, CJ Leslie really struggled in the first half. He was bullied by Dwight Powell (who scored 15 first half points) and completely out of sync offensively. He airballed a long fadeaway, turned it over on a lazy pass, and took multiple bad shots on out of control drives. In the second half, some of his wild plays started to actually fall for Leslie and he finished with 16 points. Still, its been the same story with Leslie for years. He has awful offensive possessions and then shows the flash of the spectacular. The bottom line is he doesn't have anything reliable on the offensive end. His jumper is inconsistent and his awkward, out of control drives are more style over substance. He is the next Andray Blatche.

Meanwhile, Richard Howell continues to impress. He was always the garbage man for Leslie, but has taken over - for now at least - as the Pack's leading scorer. He is still mainly a garbage man, but he's terrific at his role. Howell is so tough inside finishing through contact, has good footwork, and surprisingly quick moves to the bucket. Unlike Leslie, he has efficient ways to score. On top of that, he's a better rebounder and worlds better defensively. He's certainly the better player at this stage and Leslie's "prospect" label is wearing off. When this season is over, I wouldn't be surprised to see Howell be selected OVER Leslie in the draft.

In last night's action, there was a good chance to see three first round power forwards in Jackie Carmichael, James Michael McAdoo, and Anthony Bennett.

Carmichael was huge in a slight upset at Dayton. He does a great job moving his feet on both sides of the ball and being active. He is a big guy, but moves lightly on his feet and is surprisingly explosive. He draws charges and guards the pick and roll with expertise. Offensively, he does a great job sealing off defenders on his back, has patience in the post, and has great footwork. He has soft touch around the rim and can step out and hit the jumper. With his skillset and BBIQ, Im not sure he is even capable of a bad game. He had 25 points and 14 rebounds last night.

Illinois State actually almost lost the game even though they were up 7 with under two minutes left. In a puzzling move, Illinois State called a timeout while up 4 points with under a minute to play. At the time there was 4 seconds left in the shot clock, but Carmichael had the ball in post and looked capable of getting a good shot. Instead, the timeout was called by the coach and the turned it over try to get the ball inbounds. If you call a timeout in that situation, you better have a great inbound play in mind. That play was a possible 4 point swing and gave Dayton a chance for a game winner in the final seconds. Illinois State got lucky to hold on.

For UNLV and Anthony Bennett, they had a date with Northern Iowa and looked great early. Anthony Bennett dominated on offense early - hitting a couple of threes and looking like a guard in transition. Its amazing how well he plays in transition at his size. He had a play where he grabbed a rebound, brought it up with the defense already set, yet still was able to take it all the way into the lane for a lay-up. He made it look easy.

And while Bennett had some jaw dropping plays, he didn't take advantage of Northern Iowa's size inside. His points came on jumpers and off the dribble. The problem with Bennett is he doesn't handle physical play much. He can out-muscle guys, but when the defense pushes back, he backs down. It happened last game against UTEP and UNI followed the same plan. Bennett was quiet in the second half mainly because he couldn't get good post position.

And defensively, Bennett played terrible post defense and allowed smaller UNI players to rebound over him. His help defense has been a problem this year, but he did have 3 solid blocks in attempt to block the rim.

From the surface, this looked like another Bennett statement game and he really did have some impressive stretches - specifically in the first half. But there are still things that hold him back from being an ideal top 5 selection.

James Michael McAdoo struggled again and the North Carolina Tar Heels ended up losing to Texas. Texas was too physical for UNC and were able to hit shots from outside. Like Jackie Carmichael, McAdoo has good footwork, explodes quickly, and a good feel for the game. Unlike Carmichael, McAdoo plays soft, rushes decisions, and takes low percentage shots. McAdoo was pushed around all game and unable to mix it up inside against the Longhorns bigs. McAdoo has a nice ceiling, but he won't reach it if he doesn't show more toughness and strength. Hes making the game harder on himself.

Games to Watch Tonight

Lehigh at North Texas 8pm

The big game on tonight's schedule is North Texas vs Lehigh which tips at 8pm. By last count I saw, 54 NBA scouts had requested credentials to tonights game - easily the most scouts congregating for a single game (no tournament) this year. All the buzz is about Tony Mitchell and CJ McCollom, two low-major players who have a shot at being selected in this years lottery.

Another reason all the attention will be in Denton tonight is because there aren't many other good games. Duke, Michigan, UCF, Memphis, and Arkansas all play and are worth checking out, but none of the games offer much to see.