Kevin Durant Skills Academy Notes

Last month, I was on hand for the first (and only) session at the Kevin Durant Skills Academy open to the media. Here are some of the players who stood out:

TJ Warren - The first thing I noticed about jumper was how slow his release was on his jumper and how little elevation he got while shooting it. Still, the North Carolina State forward used his body around the basket as well as anyone and has great touch in the lane.

Jabari Parker - Parker was arguably the best college prospect there, even though he has yet to even play his first game. He went head to head with Kevin Durant in drills and held his own and looked more fluid than advertised. He handles the ball well and is able to handle contact at the rim thanks to his solid frame.

Damyean Dotson - This was a tough setting for Dotson, who normally has the height advantage playing against shooting guards. In this event, Dotson was one of the smaller and weaker plays in attendance so he lost a lot of his advantages. He's a good but not great shooter, and is still working on getting strong enough to attack the basket.

Cleanthony Early - Early was one of the biggest surprises here. He was very aggressive and stout on defense and showed off a lot of versatility. On offense, he showed the ability to shoot long jumpers off the dribble - looking more fluid than expected. In terms of projecting him to the NBA, he will still be fighting an uphill battle trying to prove he is not a tweener.

Alex Poythress - Poythress was easily the most impressive prospect from a physical and athletic standpoint. He's a legit 6-9 with a chiseled frame and elevates at the rim with little effort. He can also shoot the ball well. Just like last year though, Poythress didn't standout in actual games the way he should.

Gary Harris - Harris is bigger and more explosive than expected. He was right at the top of the list when it came to skill level and he's able to hit his jumper from anywhere on the court. His play was very impressive.

Geron Johnson - Johnson measured out great at the camp - sporting a wingspan over 6-8 and a strong 203lb frame. He can shoot off the dribble or the catch, breakdown defenses, and finish strong at the rim. He likes to push the pace and has all the tools to be a great defender. The biggest question mark is his shot selection and whether or not he will be able to play the point in the NBA. Nice prospect.

Glenn Robinson III - Robinson III had one of the best strokes at the camp, but didn't assert himself as much as he could have. He won't be able to take a backseat at Michigan anymore and it will be interesting to see if he's able to step up.

Winston Shepard - Shepard had the height to see over defenses and was aggressive and creative enough to be a playmaker here. He has a bright future as a point forward, but will need to tighten up his handles to truly take advantage of his gifts. He was a little too upright with the ball in his hands and it led to turnovers.

Shabazz Muhammad vs Jamaal Franklin

In a battle against dynamic shooting guards, the elder Jamaal Franklin came out on top of the highly touted Shabazz Muhammad. Experience prevailed over youth in the game as well, as UCLA fell to San Diego State 78-69. UCLA hung with SDSU through the first half, but the Aztecs got hot from deep to bury UCLA in the second half. Franklin finished with 28 points and Shabazz had 16.

This was my second look at Franklin this year. The first time was on a boat against Syracuse's 2-3 zone which wasn't an ideal situation to scout him. Franklin struggled badly to get anything going in that game and had a lot of bad turnovers. Last night, Franklin had a much easier time against UCLA's version of the 2-3 zone, as one would expect.

Early on Franklin acted as a facilitator and did a nice job getting his teammates involved with some quality finds. His teammates didn't help him out much by converting (Franklin finished with only 3 assists), but his 1/2 A/TO ratio doesn't illustrate how he played. In fact, this was one of the best games I've seen Franklin play. He was under control for the most part and played with a lot of fire.

He got hot at the end of the 1st half from 3 and ended up looking for his own shot more in the second half. He chucked quite a few 3s in the final 20 minutes, but nothing out of his role. SDSU needs him to be an aggressive scorer. Franklin cooled off quickly from 3 though, and finished 3-10 from deep on the night.

The rest of Franklin's game consisted of him taking advantage of defenders closing out on him for the 3 and him driving past them. Franklin doesn't have the surest handles in traffic and turns it over a fair amount. He's a guy who could benefit from learning to slow his game down, but probably won't ever get there. He definitely has the capabilities to make spectacular plays throughout the game.

Franklin could be a good player at the next level if he isn't asked to do too much. He is a great athlete, can shoot the ball, create his shot a bit, and finish in transition. He also has good court vision but can be careless passing the ball.

He's a guy who could give a coach headaches, but from all reports, Coach Fisher loves coaching him and raves about his work ethic. His competitiveness and intensity was certainly on display last night and he took on the challenge of defending Shabazz Muhammad. Franklin is a guy who carries a chip on his shoulder and you could tell he wanted to prove that he is the better player.

For one night, he was.

Shabazz struggled for most of the game, despite finishing with 16 points. Jamaal Franklin has a problem with always driving left and its a similarity Shabazz shares as well. Shabazz has had to work very hard for his points this year. He's been forced to run the court in transition and try to muscle shots up in the post instead of creating his offense from the halfcourt on the perimeter.

Part of this is because he is rushing things. Another part is him trying to be too perfect. A bigger part may be that Shabazz just isn't that skilled. The only thing Shabazz has proven to do very well at this point is bully smaller guards.

When you have the athletic ability that Shabazz has, you can slow the game down and force players to play at your pace. You don't need to make hasty decisions as soon as the ball to catch the defense out of position. Shabazz needs to take his time more, measure the defense up in triple threat position, and plan how to attack. He should be able to drive by defenders in isolation sets. If he can't, then it is time to re-evaluate his pro potential.

We aren't at that point yet.

Shabazz looked very average through most of the game, but in the final couple of minutes he finally started to attack from the perimeter. He hit a jumper coming off a screen. He got all the way to the basket. He broke a defender down for a nice floater. That floater is something that he showed off multiple times in the game. He has good touch on it and gets it off quickly - almost flicking it at the basket.

Defensively, Shabazz is still struggling. He looks off balance in his defense stance and was beaten lateral on a few occasions.

Player to Monitor

There was a freshman point forward in this game who has potential to be a first rounder and his name isn't Kyle Anderson. While Anderson has looked like a 4 year player this whole season - looking even slower than advertised and not making enough plays to make up for it - Winston Shepard has looked like a solid prospect.

Shepard can cover multiple positions well (unlike Anderson who can't cover any) and really played great defense last night. He also got the offense into some sets and looked like a potential leader down the road. I like how he can get into the lane and maintain control. He can dribble it in the mid-range area where his height allows him to see over bigs to make easy passes to teammates or take a short jumper himself. Shepard needs his production to come along and he should be in school for at least another year or two, but in my opinion, he's a better prospect than Anderson.