By the way - STILL confounded by the love for Nerlens Noel. They virtually concede in their writeup he has NO offensive game to speak of....then rank him as the 5th best player in college hoops.
They don't say he has no skills. They say "does not possess the offensive skills of number 1 NBA draft pick [Anthony] Davis. " It's hardly the same thing. Davis was a guard who grew half a foot to be a center.
From UK's official bios:
Anthony Davis. 32 pts, 22 rebounds, 7 blocks per game at Perspectives Charter High School in Chicago
Nerlens Noel: 12.6 pts, 7.2 rebounds, 3.6 blocks per game at Tilton High School.
Anthony Davis, at Jordan Brand Classic: 29 pts, 11 rebouds 5 blocks
Nerlens Noel at Jordan Brand Classic: 4 pts (2-6), 5 rebounds 3 blocks
Nerlens Noel - Adidas Nations recap (Aug, 2012):
Nerlens Noel F 6’11” Kentucky Fr. -- 2g, 26 mpg, 6.0 ppg, 4-6 fg, 66.7 fg% 4-8 ft, 3.5 rpg, 4 blk, 5 to
"Noel got blasted for his performance at Nations and decided to shut things down after the second day. His obsession with facing the basket and working on his ball handling needs to be junked in favor of adding core strength and developing a back to the basket game. He shows some touch on his shot but just doesn't have any muscle memory on any post moves, and appears completely lost attempting to create points in the paint, as he even drew comparisons to Samuel Dalembert."
and - "Noel showed up at the adidas Nations camp last weekend and, by virtually every account, was a major disappointment. While longtime high school gurus knew that Noel was incredibly raw, NBA scouts got a pretty big taste of just how raw he was. Offensively, Noel struggled to do anything other than dunk the ball. Defensively he showed why he was a terrific shot-blocker, but did little else to impress.
Last year Anthony Davis showed up at the LeBron James Skills Academy and virtually every scout in attendance claimed he was the best prospect there. I couldn’t find anyone who was willing to say the same about Noel.
“He’s got the raw abilities, but he doesn’t have any of the intangibles of Anthony Davis,” one scout said. “I think he’s going to get better and [UK coach John Calipari] will help him a lot. But I told my GM to temper his expectations. We’re probably going to see a season closer to Andre Drummond’s than Anthony Davis.”
Again, not horrific, but not #5 player in basketball. Hassan Whitehead redux. MAYBE.