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Here's a rundown of who played well on the first day of the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament:
In Game 1, my main man, Xavier's Josh Duncan, had a decent showing with 14 points 7 rebounds, and 3 assists while shooting 2 of 4 from 3.
However, the scouts were most impressed with St Joe's Pat Calathes, courtesy of DraftExpress:
The most impressive player on the floor in both games, and really by a huge margin, was St. Joe’s forward Pat Calathes. He came off the bench like a hurricane scoring 8 points and grabbing 6 rebounds in his first 8 minutes on the court, knocking down shots, showing a nice first step taking his man off the dribble, running the floor in transition, and looking extremely active crashing the glass.
His incredible feel for the game was evident from the moment he stepped out on the floor, particularly with the terrific court vision he showed on a number of drive and dish plays or post-entry passes—often times bringing the ball up the floor and starting up his team’s offense as their defacto point guard. He finished repeatedly around the hoop with his left hand, scored on catch and shoot 3-pointers or pull-up jumpers from mid-range, and generally did everything humanly possible to show just how versatile and skilled a player he is in this setting.
Defensively, the biggest question mark most people have about him, Calathes did a solid job staying in front of his man, and even when he got beat at one point, still managed to recover nicely and block the player’s shot at the rim. He did have some problems getting backed down around the basket by stronger players than him (he only weighed out at 206 pounds reportedly)—he will clearly have to work on his technique here and find a way to add some bulk to his lanky frame. It was nice to see how active he was trying to contest shots, using his length and timing intelligently in transition to bother players—but it won’t be quite the same against NBA caliber players most likely.
Speaking to NBA people here about Calathes, it seems this was the first time that many here had seen him—which probably ends up working in his favor considering how impressive he looked. We heard comparisons to Mike Dunleavy being made here on more than one occasion, and one NBA scout we spoke to who is extremely familiar with his game even went as far as to say that in his mind, Calathes is just as gifted athletically as Dunleavy is.
There just aren’t many players who are 6-10 ¼ (his measurements today) that can beat players off the dribble from the perimeter and handle full-court pressure the way he did today, and the fact that he’s as versatile as he is and clearly nowhere near a finished product at this point makes him all the more unique. We’re looking forward to seeing how he can follow up his performance today in the next game—he’s been ranked all season on our board, so we obviously weren’t caught off-guard by the way he played—but he really exceeded all expectations.
Game 1-Boxscore
In Game 2, the standout player looks to be UMass' Gary Forbes, he finished with 26 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and hit 4 3-point shots. Now Forbes was a big time scorer in college but I think the 6 assists and 4 3-point shots will stand out with the scouts. Forbes is not normally a good 3-Point shooter, shooting only 29% on the year. I would think this is something that scouts would be looking for him to improve.
Draft Express was also impressed with Forbes:
Gary Forbes had a very nice showing—scoring 26 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 6 assists on 10-18 shooting in 35 minutes. Forbes showed his credentials as a scorer through and through, putting the ball in the basket in a variety of ways, be it with his mid-range jumper, his shifty first step and body control taking the ball to the rim and finishing with either hand, stroking 3-pointers coming off screens or pulling up on the move, or otherwise. He looked a bit more athletic than we initially thought he was, and also more unselfish than we had seen at UMass—and seems to be helping himself quite a bit with the way he’s played so far. We’ll keep watching and follow up with a more in-depth report.
Other standouts in Game 2 include:
Virginia Tech's Deron Washington, who had 22 Points and 9 rebounds. Washington is a physical freak but he only shot 1 of 5 from 3 in this game and I think that could be his weakness when it comes to the NBA. You would think that he has the size(6ft7) to go along with his athleticism that would make him a good defensive player, so this may be something for him to focus on as far as finding a niche in the NBA.
Iowa State Center Jiri Hubalek also performed well, here is what DraftExpress had to say about Jiri:
Jiri Hubalek might have had the best game of his entire career—scoring 27 points to go along with 10 rebounds, and 3 assists on 10-19 shooting. Everything was dropping for him, be it spot-up 3-pointers, mid-range jumpers, crafty layups off the glass after sharp cuts to the hoop, put-backs after offensive rebounds (some his own), or basic back to the basket moves around the paint. He had 18 points in the first half alone, on 7-9 shooting, but cooled off a bit after that. As impressive as he was with his extremely confident display and undoubtedly high skill level, you’ll have to excuse us for being a bit skeptical considering that he only averaged 12 points per game playing for an awful team in the Big 12 this year. Maybe he can keep this up, though…you never know.
Game 2-Boxscore
In Game 1, my main man, Xavier's Josh Duncan, had a decent showing with 14 points 7 rebounds, and 3 assists while shooting 2 of 4 from 3.
However, the scouts were most impressed with St Joe's Pat Calathes, courtesy of DraftExpress:
The most impressive player on the floor in both games, and really by a huge margin, was St. Joe’s forward Pat Calathes. He came off the bench like a hurricane scoring 8 points and grabbing 6 rebounds in his first 8 minutes on the court, knocking down shots, showing a nice first step taking his man off the dribble, running the floor in transition, and looking extremely active crashing the glass.
His incredible feel for the game was evident from the moment he stepped out on the floor, particularly with the terrific court vision he showed on a number of drive and dish plays or post-entry passes—often times bringing the ball up the floor and starting up his team’s offense as their defacto point guard. He finished repeatedly around the hoop with his left hand, scored on catch and shoot 3-pointers or pull-up jumpers from mid-range, and generally did everything humanly possible to show just how versatile and skilled a player he is in this setting.
Defensively, the biggest question mark most people have about him, Calathes did a solid job staying in front of his man, and even when he got beat at one point, still managed to recover nicely and block the player’s shot at the rim. He did have some problems getting backed down around the basket by stronger players than him (he only weighed out at 206 pounds reportedly)—he will clearly have to work on his technique here and find a way to add some bulk to his lanky frame. It was nice to see how active he was trying to contest shots, using his length and timing intelligently in transition to bother players—but it won’t be quite the same against NBA caliber players most likely.
Speaking to NBA people here about Calathes, it seems this was the first time that many here had seen him—which probably ends up working in his favor considering how impressive he looked. We heard comparisons to Mike Dunleavy being made here on more than one occasion, and one NBA scout we spoke to who is extremely familiar with his game even went as far as to say that in his mind, Calathes is just as gifted athletically as Dunleavy is.
There just aren’t many players who are 6-10 ¼ (his measurements today) that can beat players off the dribble from the perimeter and handle full-court pressure the way he did today, and the fact that he’s as versatile as he is and clearly nowhere near a finished product at this point makes him all the more unique. We’re looking forward to seeing how he can follow up his performance today in the next game—he’s been ranked all season on our board, so we obviously weren’t caught off-guard by the way he played—but he really exceeded all expectations.
Game 1-Boxscore
In Game 2, the standout player looks to be UMass' Gary Forbes, he finished with 26 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and hit 4 3-point shots. Now Forbes was a big time scorer in college but I think the 6 assists and 4 3-point shots will stand out with the scouts. Forbes is not normally a good 3-Point shooter, shooting only 29% on the year. I would think this is something that scouts would be looking for him to improve.
Draft Express was also impressed with Forbes:
Gary Forbes had a very nice showing—scoring 26 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 6 assists on 10-18 shooting in 35 minutes. Forbes showed his credentials as a scorer through and through, putting the ball in the basket in a variety of ways, be it with his mid-range jumper, his shifty first step and body control taking the ball to the rim and finishing with either hand, stroking 3-pointers coming off screens or pulling up on the move, or otherwise. He looked a bit more athletic than we initially thought he was, and also more unselfish than we had seen at UMass—and seems to be helping himself quite a bit with the way he’s played so far. We’ll keep watching and follow up with a more in-depth report.
Other standouts in Game 2 include:
Virginia Tech's Deron Washington, who had 22 Points and 9 rebounds. Washington is a physical freak but he only shot 1 of 5 from 3 in this game and I think that could be his weakness when it comes to the NBA. You would think that he has the size(6ft7) to go along with his athleticism that would make him a good defensive player, so this may be something for him to focus on as far as finding a niche in the NBA.
Iowa State Center Jiri Hubalek also performed well, here is what DraftExpress had to say about Jiri:
Jiri Hubalek might have had the best game of his entire career—scoring 27 points to go along with 10 rebounds, and 3 assists on 10-19 shooting. Everything was dropping for him, be it spot-up 3-pointers, mid-range jumpers, crafty layups off the glass after sharp cuts to the hoop, put-backs after offensive rebounds (some his own), or basic back to the basket moves around the paint. He had 18 points in the first half alone, on 7-9 shooting, but cooled off a bit after that. As impressive as he was with his extremely confident display and undoubtedly high skill level, you’ll have to excuse us for being a bit skeptical considering that he only averaged 12 points per game playing for an awful team in the Big 12 this year. Maybe he can keep this up, though…you never know.
Game 2-Boxscore
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