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Following potential 2017 draftees...

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I think this is my first mention of Gabriel on JF, from almost exactly 2 months ago when he first blew up (was in the 2016 thread).

Back to 2016 though, Wenyen Gabriel looks absolutely out of this world, I wanted to stop by and bring that up. I think he's at-least on par with Miles Bridges and Jonathan Isaac, I suspect he's a lottery or top-10 pick. Put him on a loaded team and he's gonna shine even brighter IMO. I actually think he's got a decent chance to end up as the top Wing from this class, even over Josh Jackson..

Gabriel is the type of PF you can put at SF, he's got the ballskills, shooting and the athleticism in spades. He runs the floor like a truely elite athlete for that size, crazy long strides, He shows great balance body control and timing on boards and blocks, He will cause all sorts of mismatches anywhere on the court. PKM - please tell me it's not a foregone conclusion he's going to Duke. He looks like the goods.


I actually posted his video in the 2018 draft thread, because he's obviously very skinny for a 1 and done. UK was certainly the right choice for him, no other team will get him ready for what he was saying he wanted, like UK will.

He's also probably Cal's best SF NBA prospect, I love MKG, Gabriel has more upside though, for sure.
 
Gabriel reminds me of Aminu, just a bit skinnier. Makes sense why PGAB loves him since also likes Aminu. If he can be Aminu, but actually develop ball skills, he can be great.
 
Yo PKM a few questions -

-Do you have a guesstimate on Gabriel's weight nowadays? I'm assuming 190lbs. The same AAU coach that Noah Vonleh had, said he put on 20lbs this year and wants to put on another 20 by this time next year. Is that the plan? a target weight of 210-220?

-Just how tall is he? 6'9" 6'9½" or 6'10" I've seen all 3 listed multiple places.

-Is that it for Small Forwards? It's time to consider the dust settled? 0 chance Bridges shocks all of Michigan and commits to UK?

-What do you make of his intelligence? He seems really bright, no?
 
Yo PKM a few questions -

-Do you have a guesstimate on Gabriel's weight nowadays? I'm assuming 190lbs. The same AAU coach that Noah Vonleh had, said he put on 20lbs this year and wants to put on another 20 by this time next year. Is that the plan? a target weight of 210-220?

-Just how tall is he? 6'9" 6'9½" or 6'10" I've seen all 3 listed multiple places.

-Is that it for Small Forwards? It's time to consider the dust settled? 0 chance Bridges shocks all of Michigan and commits to UK?

-What do you make of his intelligence? He seems really bright, no?

If he's not 6'10 he's missing it by a hair. I'd call him 6'9.75
He weighed on his visit at 193.
I don't know what the target weight is or whether is has been discussed yet, but Cal did tell him they were going to get him on a 4500 calorie per day diet and he would live in the weight room.
He's a bright kid, humble, and extreme work ethic.

As for small forwards, yeah, I think that's it.

Our targets are;

Gabriel (committed)
Sacha Killeya-Jones (committed)
Tai Wynyard (committed)
-----------
Fox (we feel almost certain)
Monk (we feel we will get him)
-----------
Bridges (MSU bound)
Bam (long shot - NC State)
Giles (long shot - Duke)
Simmons (I just don't think we want him)
Ayton (long shot to reclassify)
Bolden (long shot - best guess is 'Bama)
Alkins (I think we stopped recruiting him, sadly. NC State)
Adebayo (long shot - NC State)


My best guess at the class;
Fox
Monk
Gabriel
SKJ
Wynyard
and one of Giles, Bolden, Bam, Adebayo, or Ayton

We should return Humphries (which could be quite good in year two, I think), Matthews, Mulder, and probably Lee.

After losing Ulis, Briscoe, Murray, Poythress, and Skal

------------
So best guess line up for 2016/17 is;

Fox/Hawkins
Monk/Mulder
Gabriel/Matthews
Unknown recruit/Lee/Wynyard
SKJ/Humphries

I actually like this line up;

Fox
Monk
Mulder
Gabriel
SKJ
 
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Since it's pretty much me and PG_AB in here, I will also discuss this year's UK team.
-
PG - what's your thoughts?
-

Ulis/Briscoe
Murray/Mulder
Matthews
Poythress/Lee
Skal/Humphries
-

I like this line up;
-
Ulis
Briscoe
Murray
Poythress
Skal
6th man - Mulder
7th man - Lee
8th man - Matthews (defensive stopper)

(I'm putting hyphens in strange places because the formatting is screwed up on the board.)
 
If he's not 6'10 he's missing it by a hair. I'd call him 6'9.75
He weighed on his visit at 193.
I don't know what the target weight is or whether is has been discussed yet, but Cal did tell him they were going to get him on a 4500 calorie per day diet and he would live in the weight room.
He's a bright kid, humble, and extreme work ethic.

As for small forwards, yeah, I think that's it.

Our targets are;

Gabriel (committed)
Sacha Killeya-Jones (committed)
Tai Wynyard (committed)
-----------
Fox (we feel almost certain)
Monk (we feel we will get him)
-----------
Bridges (MSU bound)
Bam (long shot - NC State)
Giles (long shot - Duke)
Simmons (I just don't think we want him)
Ayton (long shot to reclassify)
Bolden (long shot - best guess is 'Bama)
Alkins (I think we stopped recruiting him, sadly. NC State)
Adebayo (long shot - NC State)


My best guess at the class;
Fox
Monk
Gabriel
SKJ
Wynyard
and one of Giles, Bolden, Bam, Adebayo, or Ayton

We should return Humphries (which could be quite good in year two, I think), Matthews, Mulder, and probably Lee.

After losing Ulis, Briscoe, Murray, Poythress, and Skal

------------
So best guess line up for 2016/17 is;

Fox/Hawkins
Monk/Mulder
Gabriel/Matthews
Unknown recruit/Lee/Wynyard
SKJ/Humphries

I actually like this line up;

Fox
Monk
Mulder
Gabriel
SKJ

Sweet. I'm really amped about this pull. IMO - the choice he made is totally in his best interests. So I'm legitimately glad for him...

Kinda called this from get-go on the other forum I post on(after hyping up Jonathan Isaac months prior). I debunked the minutes available at Duke for him at somepoint here too.. Obviously this is off the consensus, but I have him rated higher than Jayson Tatum...:cool:

Since the commitment, I've gotten some funny backlash. (Now that he's headed to Kentucky everyone wants to call him a PF - and ask how it will work.. :P)

One final question on Gabriel - Is he still growing? As I'm sure you know he started HS at 6'1" and has been spurting up ever since..
---

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Even though Ayton dropped in my 2018 mock (Carter's the new #1), I prefer the scenario where Ayton re-classes up, over landing Harry Giles, just because of the roster composition, plus Duke and UK would be on such an obvious collision course, it'd really add to CBB as a whole. Utahan's just looking to watch Frank Jackson would get sucked in ...

To me this Ayton story is now whats got my attention the most, now that Gabriel's selected.

Killeya Jones, is a player, at this point, that I'd describe as a watered down version of a prospect like Skal or Giles.. He's earned that In my book. Obviously he'd have 0 problems playing next to Giles, not saying they're redundant in any sort of way.

Giles obviously brings a ton to the table, one of those things is being able to hang with players on the perimeter.. Which I'm not all that sure he'd be able to showcase at UK like WCS did playing PF..

Ayton kind of brings the stuff to the table, that could be really useful at C. Plus the rebounding would just be friggin insane. That wou;dn't be a team Coach Cal would need to scream "Grab the ****ing ball" to from the side-lines..

Ayton for a handful of reasons, could be well served re-classing up, Obviously It's a descions with millions of dollars involved, I think he might be able to get drafted higher in 2017 than 2018, despite what they say about these classes. Especially if Coach Cal is extolling his virtues during another beastly season...

Obviously - He'd kill it playing C in college next season. He's not as assertive as he could be, but in the glut of stars there would be at UK, he wouldn't need to be.. It's honestly a perfect landing spot for Ayton. Hopefully the people advising him are aware of this..

Ayton might be able to make a better run for the #1 pick in 2017 than 2018.. I seriously believe that..

---

As for the future roster composition, As long as they get Fox it's too good to be true -IMO... Once you start talking about all these other top players, that I like individually, It's tough for me to not write crazy things about what I think they could do together... The team is going to be very difficult to beat, I can't stress that enough...


I think while opposing fans are rationalizing the beatdowns their teams are receiving from UK, Many will say to themselves "[Mulder] is the lowest rated player they recruited?!.. are you kidding me?"..

As I've been saying for some time, consider me to have Mulder as highly rated as anyone.. Infact show me the person who's got him rated higher than me, and I'll put him 1 spot ahead of that.. (Which is basically how I get with some of these prospects, when I have high conviction e.g. Dennis Schroder..)

--

I'm probably not the best person to ask about how all these pieces would mix.. I can't come up with a much better answer then "I wouldn't be surprised if they went undefeated, or close to it"
 
Since it's pretty much me and PG_AB in here, I will also discuss this year's UK team.
-
PG - what's your thoughts?
-

Ulis/Briscoe
Murray/Mulder
Matthews
Poythress/Lee
Skal/Humphries
-

I like this line up;
-
Ulis
Briscoe
Murray
Poythress
Skal
6th man - Mulder
7th man - Lee
8th man - Matthews (defensive stopper)

(I'm putting hyphens in strange places because the formatting is screwed up on the board.)

This years team is going to surprise the nation once again, even though there's nothing shocking about UK having the best team..

Ulis is the key, and I wouldn't bet against him. I could see him cementing a spot in the first round with a blow-out season, he's too good at too many different things for me to really just keep him in the 2nd round because of his height. I've also concluded he's got a pretty damn good build, in the context of 5'9"-5'10" players (6'3" wingspan)

Jamal Murray and Mulder will provide the firepower that some have trouble finding when they look at the roster. I'm sure there's posts on Jamal Murray from me during that first Nike Hoops summit, where I said he looks like a 5star player, his part to this story will always be very crazy to me since I kinda saw his trajectory well before it picked up much steam. Murray's experience vs older players also makes him a fairly unique story for a freshman anyways, I'd call it battle-tested..

Marcus Lee is an X-factor, I honestly don't know what to expect from him - other than not much progress on his skills...

Charles Matthews will certainly get drafted, he reminds me of Troy Williams from Indiana that some have mocked in the 1st round this year...

Briscoe is another story that as you know, I was going to follow closely regardless of where he landed.. I don't think he could've picked a better spot to go, I don't think Coach Cal is going to let him dance with the ball (Which many who have seen him play are expecting), I don't think thats out of his comfort zone either, Briscoe can slash/make quick reads, get shots off quickly, while drawing tons of fouls and making good passes, plus he's built not-far-off from Marcus Smart, so he's got plenty of defensive potential. Almost an 8" difference in his wingspan and height without shoes, that's elite anyway ya slice it.

Poythress should be great this year, not expecting any crazy skill increases, though markedly improved FT %'s might really help his cause. I believe he's going to come crashing thru the paint, out of no where to make great tip in / rebounding/ defensive plays that spark the crowd, as he always has done.

Humphries is someone I've got mocked as a top-20 draft pick eventually, and I stand by that. He's going to look totally different in 2 years.
 
Peeks do you know particulars on Ayton's credit situation? I wouldn't normally ask, but I've come across people saying his handlers don't care much for academics, and that he's headed overseas


This situation is fluid with him just announcing his departure from Balboa City HS.. figured id throw it out there though... always suspected he'd finagle his way to the 2017 draft.
 
Since it's pretty much me and PG_AB in here, I will also discuss this year's UK team.
-
PG - what's your thoughts?
-

Ulis/Briscoe
Murray/Mulder
Matthews
Poythress/Lee
Skal/Humphries
-

I like this line up;
-
Ulis
Briscoe
Murray
Poythress
Skal
6th man - Mulder
7th man - Lee
8th man - Matthews (defensive stopper)

(I'm putting hyphens in strange places because the formatting is screwed up on the board.)

They better trot out Anthony Davis somehow if they are going to beat NC.
 
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