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  • I will be attending the University of Memphis.

  • You're looking at the number one player in the country when he goes to the basket.

  • He's unstoppable.

  • A transcendent player for this program.

  • James Wiseman ruled ineligible by the CIA.

  • If there's a lot more to come with this story, no one's best interest to serve that James Wiseman is going to spend a year without anyone seeing him play basketball.

  • GM to pass up on him won't be around very long.

  • You're talking about a physical specimen.

  • He's ready for the NBA right now.

  • Four.

  • Mark I'm James Watson.

  • Okay?

  • James Wiseman, a potential number one pick and arguably the most physically impressive center prospect I've ever evaluated.

  • Its Wiseman's combination of rare, superhuman physical gifts and his potential as a ball handler and shooter that gives him, or upside than any big man in the entire draft us.

  • It's Wiseman's agility and coordination close to 71 £250 with a 75 wingspan that makes him so tantalized.

  • Wiseman shares some dimension similarities to a young Joel Embiid, DeAndre Jordan and JaVale McGee.

  • Yet he is far more fluid as a runner more in the mold of a Jarron Jackson Jr type.

  • From the mobility standpoint, Wiseman is gonna make his money around the rim in the half court and has a chance to be one of the league's most lethal vertical spacers.

  • From the moment he steps foot on an MBA floor, he has a huge catch radius.

  • He's extremely agile, getting into ball screens, and he's explosive with a head of steam.

  • Throw it up near the rim.

  • He's gonna go get it.

  • Wiseman should be a point.

  • Guards dream.

  • That's a lot of catcher, but it's not just the bounce and the go go gadget arms, either.

  • Yes, soft touch with his left hand around the rim and a fair amount of finesse and deception for a seven footer.

  • Now he does have his shortcomings inside the paint, however, sometimes playing much smaller than his tools suggest by shying away from contact and relying too much on touch shots when he could simply go rip the rim off or go through help side defenders.

  • His tendency to avoid crowds and contact is most pronounced on this possession.

  • Against Oregon, Wiseman turns what should be a power dribble finish against 65 guard Will Richardson into a 15 ft following.

  • He has considerable shooting potential but still has to become much more consistent with his jumper to justify how often he'll settle Waas when he's fully engaged.

  • James Wiseman has a chance to be an absolute force on the offensive glass.

  • His motor has really improved over the course of these last few years, and his length and quickness figure to make him a major factor in these situations, where Wiseman has a chance to be truly elite, maybe even special someday is at the rim defensively now, while his instincts still coming along, his discipline still has room to improve.

  • Wiseman shares a lot of the same qualities that you will see from some of the MBA's top Rim protectors.

  • He has a huge standing reach.

  • He's fairly quick off the floor, and he already showcases pretty sound timing, rotating from the weak side, especially on these baseline drives, erasing shots with relative ease.

  • Now Wiseman is still a little bit green in terms of his discipline.

  • Like I said, as you'll see here against already, he could do a much better job of being active with his hands to take away drop offs in the paint and then is a little bit jumpy on ball fakes, negating his huge standing reach and quickness.

  • But when Wiseman does stay down, he changes so many shots in the paint.

  • He will, however, get put on an occasional poster and can stand to improve his verticality technique at the rim like you'll see from an Anthony Davis and some of the league's top defensive anchor.

  • His tools are certainly there, but he's still learning how to play that cat and mouse game as the back line defender, plucking at guards before recovering to his own man.

  • Another key quality in the MBA's best shot, where Wiseman has by far the most room to improve, is as a pick and roll defender.

  • Now, it's not a matter of sheer ability, okay, he's light on his feet.

  • Very agile, long arms, super rangy should actually be an asset in pick and roll situations down the road.

  • It's more a matter of his lack of high level experience.

  • He hasn't played all that many games against elite competition, and that showed both in his film at Memphis and his high school tape now here against Oregon, Memphis guard Damian Ball should be forcing Pritchard to his left hand as it seems, based on where Wiseman is standing, that Memphis wants the week, the ball screen here.

  • Even so, Wiseman needs to put himself in position to contain the ball handler and react to Pritchard.

  • Then, when he isn't able to recover and contain the Valentine, he could have still broken this play up by simply hustling inside of Shakur, Houston, with Precious actually helping up the link.

  • He doesn't and Oregon gets a wide opened up here during the Nike Hoops Summit game, just looking out flat footed.

  • He is not in the stands or in position to contain the ball.

  • Instead, he's late reacting and gives precious a wide open lane to the rim.

  • It's gonna take him some time, but he has the foot, speed and length to be a factor in pick and roll situations.

  • Here in the Jordan Brand Classic game, you can see he's more than capable of sitting down, squaring up the ball, jabbing at it with his left hand to make coal Anthony feel uncomfortable and then forcing him into a contested pull up three.

  • He's still very much learning on the job, though, and can do a much better job of staying with the ball handler until the guard defender gets back in front.

  • He doesn't always take the best angles, either, as Nico Mannion exposes here with the pick and roll split, attacking Wiseman's top foot because he doesn't always square up the ball like he could.

  • That hinders his ability to play that cat and mouse game deterring penetration, yet also retreating back to the roller at the guard, throws a pocket pass when he is fully locked in, focused on staying disciplined.

  • He could be an asset in these drop situations here against Peyton Pritchard.

  • He does an excellent job of giving himself the necessary room to stay in front, yet also being close enough to contest that Pritchard pulls up because of his length.

  • He's able to drop deep into the paint yet still contest pull up tubes, which every end the A team wants to more or less conceived.

  • He also covers a ton of ground when he's fully motivated, as you'll see here with Memphis icing the screen in the sideline alley, he has Mawr defensive range than any big in this draft class, Wiseman does have the foot speed to step out and switch, pick and roll, forcing guards into tough shots over length.

  • Now he could be a little bit handy at times.

  • But his reach, combined with his mobility, will eventually give his future head coach the luxury of shifting him all over the floor on defense.

  • His technique isn't always perfect, however, as he gets into turn and chase mode rather quickly instead of simply squaring up the ball and keeping it contain.

  • Wiseman is still very much developing as a scouting report defender, not always perfectly understanding the strengths and weaknesses of his opponent here.

  • Oregon intentionally gets him on an island against Shakur, juiced in ah, strong right hand driver who rarely looks at the rim from the perimeter rather than gapping juiced in giving him some space and forcing him into a contested jumper.

  • Wiseman allows him to rip right, get a step to the rim and finished.

  • But with more experience in Polish, Wiseman should become a weapon in one on one situations, given his agility range and never ending arms.

  • Even against fellow projected first round pick Isaiah Stuart, Wiseman had some bright spots staying down, walling up in utilizing that 75 wingspan toe four Stewart into tough shots.

  • The pain, Of course.

  • The discipline is still coming along, given his sometimes jumpy nature, but when he's second off the floor, his length usually does the rest.

  • That fluidity is clearly most apparent in the open court, where Wiseman glides across the floor with his long strides, putting constant pressure on the rim before finishing emphatically in space.

  • Now, when Wiseman's fully revved up, he has the speed to be the first big down the floor, almost every possession, and he's big enough to catch 2 ft in the paint, even against the physical defender like Isaiah Stewart.

  • What makes Wiseman different than your typical Rim to Rim big is that he also has the handle tow.

  • Push it off the brake himself, weaving through traffic like a guard before finishing the goofy foot layup with soft touch.

  • Now, coaches will want to keep it simple with Wiseman early in his career, but there's certainly a considerable amount of untapped potential as a ball handler that could make Wiseman a mismatch, problems both in transition and the half court.

  • While he projects more as a diver offensive rebounder elite finish early on in his n B A career.

  • Wiseman does have a little bit more offensive upside than your traditional run and jump big, and that starts with his face up game in the mid post.

  • Now he's most comfortable in mid range areas, where he shows sharp footwork in tremendous touch on either side of the floor.

  • He loves Thio inside, pivot size up his defender and then get to his bread and butter, even mixing in step backs on occasion.

  • Then, because he's a threat as a shooter, defenders try to crowd his airspace, opening the door for ripped through attacks.

  • Now we don't see those confident drives quite as much as we like.

  • However, as Wiseman likes toe live off.

  • These LaMarcus Aldridge esque follow weighs a bit too often, especially considering the success rate.

  • On top of that, he can still stand to shore up his right hand in these situations, as he's extremely left hand, dominant as a ball handler, finisher and passer.

  • At this stage of his career, he prefers toe face the basket, but Wiseman does have the natural size to do some damage on these hard ducats, especially if teams try to switch a small until with that said, he's not the most naturally physical player, not always holding position like he could in the pain.

  • But even if he does get moved off this spot, his reach and touch still make him a threat on long range jump hook.

  • As you'll see here against both Stewart and long arm trend in Watford, Wiseman's left hand jump hook is nearly impossible to block once he gets full extension, then he's starting to become automatic with his left and right shoulder tournament, especially when he's this decisive with his moves.

  • While the game has certainly trended more toward threes and dunks from Big Man, having such a smooth turnaround will allow Wiseman to punish switches, which he figures to see a fair amount of in the NBA.

  • He relies a little too much on the dirt, one leg follow ways.

  • But the simple fact that he could get to these shots with ease speaks to his footwork and potential in these areas.

  • What could really make wise when the best player to come out of this draft is his chute?

  • If he can evolve into a legitimate NBA caliber three point shooter.

  • He's gonna join a very short list of supersized NBA centers who can space it to three of the shooter, can space it vertically as a lot catcher and put a lid on the rim defensively.

  • Now, if you look at his shooting mechanics, there aren't a lot of things to suggest that he won't eventually at least become a threat as a three point shooter.

  • Now, maybe some spotty free throw numbers in high school, but has a very smooth, repeatable stroke, as you'll see here during his high school days.

  • Once he start making enough threes to force harder close outs to at least a hand contest, he'll be able to fully utilize his fluidity and incredibly long strides as a driver, like you'll see here against potential 2021 Topic.

  • Evan Mobile.

  • You won't see many seven footers in the world with this type of coordination and grace with the hard jab spin move back to his left before stretching out into the nifty right handed finish.

  • Wiseman's potential as a ball handler and as a shooter will carry much more weight if he's able to develop into an above average past like we've seen from modern MBA centers like Bam!

  • Out of Bio now passing still definitely an area where Wiseman has room to improve.

  • As you'll see here against Oregon, Wiseman has one of Memphis's best shooters wide open in the corner from one more pass, but instead tries to step back into a mid range pull up.

  • Then, here in the McDonald's All American game, he does a nice job of establishing position and aggressively calling for both.

  • Yet he misses Jeremiah Robinson Earl cutting along the baseline for a handoff.

  • But the flashes are there for Wiseman when he has time on his side and is able to collect his thoughts and scan the floor here, finding shooter Matt Hurt open on the wing.

  • Then, here in the Jordan game, he feels the double team coming from the baseline side attacks to his left and drops off the nifty bounce pass to Khalida Whitney.

  • Becoming a better passer in the short roll situations is gonna be huge for Wiseman moving forward as you'll see the MBA's best.

  • Biggs started to become Mawr and more adept at picking defense's apart in these four on three situations here with two committed to the ball.

  • Wiseman has plenty of options, with Boogie Ellis on the left wing and another shooter in the right corner.

  • Wiseman does draw the foul, but he's still becoming more and more comfortable at making those quick automatic reads, as opposed to putting the ball down in traffic.

  • But the flashes are often enough to generate some optimism.

  • James Wiseman is arguably one of the most difficult prospects toe project in the entire 2020 MBA draft, largely because of his limited sample size playing only the three collegiate games at Memphis.

  • Now we've been evaluating Wiseman for what seems like forever, since he was a 15 year old at USA Basketball Camps on the Feed A circuit Nike, you IBL, McDonald's All American Jordan brand classic Nike Hoops Summit and then during his brief Memphis career.

  • But your average MBA executive, I'm talking president.

  • I'm talking general manager.

  • Maybe they caught a little bit of the Hoop Summit week.

  • Maybe they were at Memphis Pro Day or the Oregon game, but they're simply not as big of a resume to go off of as compared to an Anthony Edwards or maybe a collegiate upperclassmen so a little bit more uncertainty there surrounding Wiseman.

  • There have always been some questions about the toughness that resolve the feel for the game.

  • But when you strip away all the drama at Memphis, okay, you still have a kid who's near 7 ft one and is a physical Marvel runs as well as any big man prospect I've ever seen.

  • On top of that has potential to space the floor as a shooter, shows you glimpses as a ball handler and could be a nice bit in today's game defensively, with his ability to protect the rim of the high level and maybe even step out and switch ball screens eventually.

  • So I do think there's been a level of nit picking going on with him, both from NBA teams and from media members.

  • So as long as he lands in the right situation, an NBA team that's gonna force him to focus on the little things first rebounding, protecting the rim, guarding, picking role and finishing, then he's got a chance to down the road continue to add those skill pieces and eventually being all star someday if he completely buys in.

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I will be attending the University of Memphis.

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