This is part II of Jason Taylor's impressions from the Desert Reign tournament held recently. The first part, released this past Wednesday, had impressions of Anthony Marshall, Justin Hawkins, and Daquan Cook. The article continues here:
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| Savon Goodman dunking ally-oop from Daquan Cook |
Savon Goodman - The first impression
of Goodman as he stepped on to the court, is that all competitors might need to spend time running back and forth between
the dorm buffet line and the weight room.
Okay, maybe that is a stretch for my “first impression”, but the
assertion is entirely safe having watched him play. Let me just say this… UNLV fans are going to
LOVE this kid. You know, like, a few
years ago, how much we complained about needing toughness - guys that could
scrap, scuffle and rebound by sheer physical domination? Remember, especially before getting Moser,
how a high-in-the-air rebound almost always went to SDSU, or UNM? Remember how much we’ve complained about big
guys that can’t drive from 18 to 22 feet out and just cram it down somebody’s
throat, or finish on the break? Rebel
fans - have no fear, Savon Goodman is here!
That’s right, I’m sayin’ it with confidence. We’re gonna’ Love This Guy. Not only can the thick-bodied 6’6” 210lb forward
pound, he can fly! You saw the dunk in
the video. He was easily a good foot
over the rim. Then, “Oh, ya. I forgot to mention, he’s got a soft touch.” He can bull his way in, get knocked in the
air, and still balance out a nice touch to put the ball in the basket. The down side? He needs to work on form in his jumper, and
he looks to me to be a less than 60% free throw shooter. That’s okay, though. I’ll take all the “and-nones” he can dish
out. If you remember J.J. O’Brien, who
transferred from Utah and almost came here last year but went to SDSU after
Bryce Jones committed, Goodman is his ultimate replacement. He scored around 30 points in the game I
watched, almost all of them coming at the rim.
Nice!
Moving
on to Katin Reinhardt - Flash,
ah-ah. Katin is the guy, who whenever he
has the ball, we’ll be drawing breath, anticipating - something. We’re not always going to get exactly what we
hope for, especially as he “freshmans” out of the gates, but this kid is a showman,
he loves UNLV, and we’ll love him back.
He can seriously break ankles with his cross-overs, and he has great
form on his pull-up jumpers, which he’s very confident in using - maybe overly
so at times??? He can drive, dunk, pass,
and shoot. Consistency and balance will
be his biggest questions. Anything can
happen, but I definitely see him as a shooting guard, vs. point guard, to start
off as a Rebel. I believe he’ll be an
early season contributor.
Demetris Morant - I saw Morant play last year in the Addidas 64 tournament,
and then, of course, in the Desert Reign game as well. To give background, this kid just won state
in the triple jump and the high jump. He
cleared 6’10” to win. That’s
insane! To give perspective, according
to my sports-expert friend, Pete, the great Wilt Chamberlin set a record way
back in the day with a 6’11” jump. The
kid is athletic! However, he’s the “quiet
kid” on the court. He does fine,
retrieving rebounds for put-back dunks, and he gets a share of blocked shots,
but as I’m sure he would admit, he’s a few years away from making an impact as
a Rebel. I hope he has a great work
ethic, because he has all the potential in the world if he’s driven.
Bryce Jones - When I mentally insert him into a line-up, I think, “How
big and athletic can we get?” Marshall,
Jones, Moser, Bennett and Birch… 6’3”,
6’6”, 6’8”, 6’7”, and 6’9 - average vertical, atmospheric. I predict stretches of time - say 3-minute
blocks - this season that the other team simply doesn’t get a rebound! Jones will be difficult to defend. He has supreme confidence, and can score from
anywhere. Turn-around 15-foot jumpers,
3-pointers, finishing dunks - he has the full repertoire. However, he may have a switch. He’ll change some games for us, much like
Chase did last year, and then, he may go absent at times. Overall, he’s a tremendous recruiting ‘get’;
he’ll bring attitude and toughness, and he’ll be contributing right away, I
believe. Stylistically, he’s more
Kobe/Jordan-esque than anybody else on the team. Whether he can perform similarly… well,
that’s almost impossible. More than
anything, though, this kid is a high-level competitor.
And
finally, Khem Birch - Khem is a game
changer even if he never sees the offensive end of the court. His defense is crazy good. He has Joel Anthony’s timing, but can
probably out jump him by a good 6 inches.
Like Joel, he doesn’t need time to get off the floor - for rebounds, or
blocks. I’ll make some early
predictions: Khem is ineligible to play until December, but he’ll still lead
the MWC in blocked shots on the year.
How’s that for steppin’ out?
Then, rebounds - He will outrebound Mike Moser on a per game basis. So while he may not have more total rebounds
at the end of the season than Mike, I’m predicting that he’ll have more
rebounds per game than anybody on the team, and conference. He has a similar style and ability to Mike,
but he rebounds from the inside out, vs. Moser, who rebounds from the outside
in. In other words, he starts his
efforts near the basket. He looks like
he can guard out to the perimeter as well.
These facts, assuming they hold true, definitely make him strong NBA
material in my mind. Then, yes, he has
offense. He can grab an offensive
rebound six feet on the side, and put it right back up without needing the
backboard. He’s active and talented. He may not be the leading overall point per
game scorer on the team, but he’ll definitely have games where he’ll be the
leading scorer. Like Moser, he just has
too much that can’t be taken away.
So that’s it. This all sounds pretty exciting as I write
it. Every position is stacked. Thomas and Lopez, I believe will still be
contributors. They’ll have their chance
to play some good minutes early in the season.
The rest of the season will depend on how well they establish
themselves, because it’s entirely possible that one of them will get very few
minutes once Birch comes on.
Another exciting element is the fact
that the supposed “best player on the court”, Anthony Bennett, isn’t even
mentioned yet. He didn’t play in the
Desert Reign tournament, and I haven’t seen him play, other than
highlights. He has been nominated by
some national media to be the second most NBA eligible player in the 2012 class
next to Shabazz Mohammed. I’m hoping
that Bennett will finally fill the shoes of the great Larry Johnson. They seem to have similar builds and
styles. Fingers crossed on that one too!
Speaking of Bazz, I’m actually glad he
didn’t choose UNLV. We needed a power
forward so much more than a shooting guard, or small forward. There are those that wonder if we can manage
all our talent. I believe we have a very
good chance of doing that as the team stands right now. This, however, would have been much more
difficult had Bazz come. We would have
been lighter in the frontcourt, and doubled up in the backcourt, possibly
giving rise to some unhappy bench minutes for top talent. The balance just wouldn’t have been there.
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