Offensively, Black is an extremely savvy player who has a decent physical profile and skill set, but uses his high awareness and quick decision making to get the most out of his tools.  Black is a solid athlete who has a decent first step and who possesses solid handles.  He can execute a variety of textbook moves ranging from crossovers, hesitations, and changing pace to try to throw the defense off.  And if he gets a step on the defense, he will effectively use a hostage dribble to keep the defender behind him while he surveys opportunities.  The problem is despite all of this, he simply isn’t that elusive or speedy.  He will use screens to help create additional advantages.  This works to some degree, partially as Black is able to read and react to defensive coverages very quickly.  This allows him to drive, shoot or pass the ball either to the screener (on the roll or pop) or to another teammate.  This is another strength of Black’s.  He may not be a three-level scorer, but he is a three level passer.  He reads the court and makes anticipatory passes.  He can hit cutters, whip passes crosscourt to shooters, and can hit his roll man at various angles.  He can throw basic passes and more advanced ones with generally good touch and accuracy.  While he has a decent amount of turnovers, more of these were due to ball handling, either getting picked or getting trapped and then throwing a desperation pass.  This passing would be a lot more dangerous if Black was more of a threat to score.  Black’s big issues are he’s not great inside and he’s not a great shooter.  When Black gets into traffic he doesn’t have a lot of countermoves, great body control, or great leaping / hangtime.  He does have decently broad shoulders and a good sense of angles and touch, so he tries to shield the defender to get up his shot, but if he can’t he doesn’t have anything to fall back on.  Speaking of falling, Black needs to continue adding muscle (he was up to 210 at the combine, but was lighter during the season), he seems to have a high center of gravity or is simply playing off balance when he gets inside and when he is bumped, it throws him off and he struggles to move anyone in the post.  The other issue is Black isn’t a great shooter.  He’s improved and is passable in catch and shoot situations despite some stiff, mechanical form.  However, aside from needing to improve his outside shot, he poses no threat from the midrange, either dribbling into a shot or executing a step back, which would help open up driving lanes.

Defensively is where Black really shines.  Black plays with a very strong motor and great physicality.  He has an aggressive style that can lead him to overplay at times, but also put a lot of pressure on opponents.  Black is a strong help defender, who gets a decent amount of blocks in help for his size and gets steals jumping into passing lanes or digging to knock balls away from drivers and then uses his ball handling to immediately transition into offense.  He also rotates and communicates well, moving around the perimeter, tagging rolles, and making good decisions without losing his man.  Notably, Black has really quick reaction times and good foot speed defensively and is decently springy jumping up to contest shots, which allows him to pressure and even block some shots on the perimeter.  When guarding outside, Black has good lateral speed, doesn’t fall for many fakes, and has a strong ability to change direction.  This allows him to move his feet and stick with potential drivers and recover to stay with them when they to throw him off with a countermove.  He’s also wide enough and strong enough, that is makes it a bit harder for players to get outside of him and turn the corner or bump him off.  His biggest weaknesses are that at times he plays too upright and perhaps related, he has good but not elite lateral speed, so some quicker guards can simply “turn on the burners” and drive right by him and he doesn’t quite have the recovery speed to catch up.  He’s also benefit defensively from adding some weight as when he rotates inside, he can provide some mild congestion, but simply isn’t big enough to bother a lot of bigger wings and big men near the hoop.  Finally, I would note that I did think Black looked a bit more human when matched up against prospective NBA players like Brandon Miller and Chris Livingston, so it’s possible that he’ll simply be a good and not great defender at the next level.

Note: I do think that for some of Black’s struggles offensively, that he was a bit miscast this year due to necessity.  In the NBA, he is likely a connector or more complementary player.  Originally, Nick Smith was likely going to be the high volume creator and Jared Walsh was probably supposed to soak up a bit more usage as well.  But Smith was hurt and struggled to regain his form and Walsh struggled a lot offensively.  So Black was basically cast in a primary creator role that wasn’t an ideal situation.

Part of this will sound exactly like Amen’s write up, as they were both able to dominate OTE and as twins, unsurprisingly share some of the same positive physical tools.  However, their games also have some important differences.

Offensively, Ausaur plays more of a wing role, whereas Amen was the primary ball handler.  Like Amen, Ausaur is an elite athlete.  He is an explosive leaper, who is able to throw down some thrilling dunks in space, whether on drives, in transition, or cutting in the half court.  He’s also very fluid and has great body control, and shared Amen’s ability to palm the ball and contort his body while moving his arm into a better angle to score, which allowed him to his some circus shots inside.  Playing a bit more off ball, Ausaur is more active.  He shows more willingness to relocate along the three point line (and not just to put his hands up to get the ball to run a possession).  He’s also a very active cutter into space, who looks for lob opportunities and has great hands for catching and finishing at the rim.  Ausaur’s handles are decent, but noticeably a step down from Amen’s.  He seems to have practiced all of the same moves as his brother and has a full arsenal of moves he can deploy, but overall, his handles are more functional and his moves are a bit slower and his handle is looser, making him less elusive in the halfcourt.  Don’t get me wrong, he shares Amen’s quick first step and is a big threat in a straight line drive opportunity.  However, when his first move is unsuccessful, he doesn’t have the same counters or ability to shake defenders that Amen showed.  This is compounded by the fact that like Amen, his shot is a bit of a mess.  The form and results are not quite as bad as Amens.  However, mechanics were stiff and he kicks his legs far out, while almost pushing the ball.  This allowed defenders to play off of him and prevents him from pushing defenses with a midrange shot or step back when they are trying to stop his initial drive.  On a positive note, like Amen, Ausaur is a three level passer.  He actually seems to make the simple and correct play a bit more, but is still able to hit shooters, cutters, and rollers from all over the floor.  He has good vision and a cannon of an arm, allowing him to throw some pretty impressive crosscourt passes with strong touch and accuracy.  He was also very strong on the glass for the Reapers using his athleticism and anticipation to keep possessions alive, though he also had some pretty big advantages here against the OTE high schoolers.

Defensively, Ausaur played with more intensity and more of a sense of urgency than Amen.  Like his brother, Ausaur has strong lateral quickness and an ability to change direction well.  However, he was more willing to get down into a stance (he still did not enough, but noticeably more) and hound ball handlers, using pressure to disrupt offensive possessions and his quick hands and timing to strip or poke the ball away from his opponent.  Ausaur flashed some ability to navigate screens.  Again, like his brother, he would play upright too much and sometimes get caught on them.  But when he looked more locked in, he would quickly jump under the screen and back to his man.  Now, I would have liked to see him fight through some more screens.  In the NBA, someone like Curry or Paul George will simply hit the three while you run under a screen, but in OTE, the effort and speed he had was enough to stop any the other team gaining an advantage.  Ausaur did have the strength to absorb contact and wall up against OTE player, but will benefit from adding more as he jumps up two levels to the NBA.  Ausaur also has good timing inside, getting blocks and providing some weakside help.  And he is a grab and go threat on any defensive rebound, who can immediately turn up court, but who also looks to pass and move the ball instead of just dribbling the whole way himself.

Gradey Dick is first and foremost an elite movement shooter who creates creates enormous gravity providing spacing for his teammates.  Dick’s value starts with his strong shooting ability.  He has clean mechanics, a high release point, and the ability to get his balance and fire up an accurate shot with a quick release.  That’s already extremely valuable; however, Dick is more than a spot up shooter; he is able to hit shots relocating, coming off screens, or dribble hand offs.  He’ s equally adept at shooting after using a couple of dribbles to set up his shot, get into a stepback, or as an escape dribble to evade a defender trying to close out on him.  Compounding this value is Dick’s motor.  Offensively, he’s like a shark who is alway moving and hunting.  This forces the defense to always be aware of Dick and often to try to dedicate a defender to face guarding him, which opens up significant space for his teammates.  This also manifests in transition opportunities, where Dick has the speed and athleticism to run inside and score, but also can sprint to the corners creating spacing or can be lethal as a trailer taking advantage of a scrambling defense.

Beyond shooting, the rest of Dick’s offense is a mixed bag.  To Dick’s credit, he is savvy about using the threat of his shot to set up defenders and open up driving lanes.  He has a bit of a frenetic, sped up style and uses a series of headfakes, jab steps, and hesitations force the defender to commit or play up on him, where  Dick he does possess a quick first step and has the speed / handles to take advantage.  However, if those tricks don’t work, Dick doesn’t have especially advanced handles and when he forces the issues, it can lead to turnovers or him driving out of control into traffic.  Dick is actually pretty athletic in space (which shows on some of his dunks and charging in for offensive rebounds), but when his momentum is stopped, he looks pretty pedestrian and lacks an real countermoves at this stage.  Inside, Dick has a few good tools; again, he is athletic and possesses some decent bend and hangtime.  However, doesn’t have great touch and isn’t particularly strong so when he does absorb contact it can impact his balance and accuracy.  This may explain why he’s a bit contact adverse and when there’s congestion inside, he tends to throw up some pretty wild shots.  Further developing his floater or just stopping to drill a mid-range jumper would help.  He also may need to slow down or at least have the game slow down for him.  The frenetic style that helped him set up defenders on the perimeter seems to work against the rest of his offense.  Dick is actually a pretty decent passer.  Nothing too advanced, but when the defense shifts to stop him, he makes the right read and can deliver an accurate pass.  However, when he’s sped up or he drives into traffic, most of his turnovers come from getting stripped or forcing a poor pass out of a bad situation he’s gotten himself into.

Defensively, Dick is a bit more challenged, but also not a lost cause.  First, Dick plays with the same frenetic energy and strong motor on defense that he does on offense.  He has good anticipation, speed, and quick hands that allow him to generate turnovers by getting into passing lanes and getting some strips.  He’s also a solid defensive rebounder who uses his athleticism and speed to pursue the ball.  Oddly though, he rarely seems to try to move up court and turn the defense into offense, but tends to hold the ball and then pass to his PG or at lease pause a couple of beats before dribbling.  On the ball, Dick has good lateral speed and his quick, springy jumping ability allows him to contest jumpers.  And while the lack of strength seems to hurt him when he gets bumped on offense, on defense, he shows some wiry strength and gets most of his blocks when offensive players try to dive into his chest to create space.    The problem with his on-ball defense is that he struggles to stop and restart his momentum, which makes him susceptible to countermoves, even some pretty simple crossovers and stepbacks.  Maybe due to this, he also tend to play a couple steps off players, which can make him vulnerable to a decent jab step.  Dick also really struggles with screens.  He has a tendency to either get stuck on them or to go under the screen, which frees up a lot of shooters (which will only be worse in the NBA).  Likely because of this, he also tends to brace for screens, which then leaves him at a big disadvantage when the ball handler rejects the screen and just drives to the hoop.  Off ball, Dick hustles and shows the ability to play in a good team defense.  He’s strongest helping along the perimeter, where his speed and athleticism help him rotate and contest shooter.  Inside, while he does his best to rotate and tag down or provide weakside help, he just doesn’t have the strength or overall length to really make an impact.

Note:  I am a bit conflicted about my assessment above that Dick plays off of players, which can indicate a lack of confidence in speed / ability to guard close.  I want to mention it here, because it shows a potential flaw in scouting that’s healthy to discuss.  Dick doesn’t always give ball handlers space, but he did it enough to notice.  However, when I looked into the players he gave space to, sure enough, some were really bad outside shooters so it may have been a smart decision, but others like Sir’Jabari Rice and Adam Flagler were very good outside shooters.  So I think the point here is correct.  But when analyzing film, I do encourage people to at least consider these are often smart player and coaches.  And sometimes the “flaws” we spot are actually savvy and intentional strategies.

Coulibaly is an interesting case in that he has a good base of skills and was a bit of a Jekyll & Hyde where he was very aggressive and showed more creation and passing instinct in the junior league and then was a lot more passive in Jeep Elite.  Now, that’s expected both because the competition is better and it’s not a surprise that Coulibaly couldn’t execute at the same level as an 18 year old in a top tier league.  But also because the Metropolitans 92s were competing for a title and were led by a fringe prospect named Victor Wembanyama, so it’s also natural that when Coulibaly joined at midseason he sought to fit in.

With that context, offensively, we saw a very mixed bag from Coulibaly offensively.  He has decent handles for a wing, but they are fairly loose.  In LNB Espoirs, they let him run a lot of P&R on his possession to try to help free him up.  At his best, Coulibaly could use his quick and long strides to get to the hoop quickly and convert.  But when the defense recovered or he had to create for himself, he had a decent first step, but his moves were basically a quick straight line drive or pretty rudimentary crossover or behind the back move that didn’t prove to be very elusive.  It doesn’t help that Coulibaly’s shot is also still very inconsistent.  In rhythm, Bilal is a pretty solid shooter.  The release on his jumper can be a little long and funky, but he can convert.  However, he is not at a movement shooter yet at all and really struggles off the dribble, even airballing multiple shots that didn’t appear heavily contested.   When Coulibaly did get free, he was a mixed bag around the rim when there was any congestion.  Bilal has strong fluidity, long arms, and good hang time.  When his body and brain were in sync, he had some impressive finishes.  Other times, he looked like a bit of a flailing mess tossing up wild shots.  Basically, he has good physical tools, but doesn’t yet know how to use them and at times seems to jump into traffic and hope for the best.  Coulibaly is decently active without the ball, relocating along the perimeter and cutting inside when there is a seam.  He is a good lob target and his tools seem well suited to scoring in space or with a light contest in these more simplified situations.  Same with crashing the glass, where Bilal’s fluidity and body control allowed for some highly acrobatic put backs and dunks.  Coulibaly shows some upside as a passer, he had more of an opportunity in LNB Espoirs, but he could struggle with even fairly basic entry passes and just had too many sloppy turnovers even on basic swings around the perimeter and on inbound passes.  He needs some real improvement to his awareness.

Defense is a very similar story.  Mostly great tools, but mixed understanding.  Coulibaly has long arms that help him contest shots inside and out and to create some congestion around the rim.  He has a solid motor and will hustle back on the break where his open court speed and long arms help make him a nuisance around the hoop.  And he can use his quick hands and long arms to get into passing lanes or pick ball handlers.  He has good physical tools for defense, his long arms, good closing speed, and good lateral speed can help him contest shots on the perimeter in rotation and make him strong defending in isolation, where he has a good ability to change direction and can jump quickly, allowing him to stay in front of ball handlers and contest counters like step backs.  But again, the awareness at this stage seems low and he overhelps and leaves his man for threes, gets caught in no man’s land hurting the defense, struggles to navigate screens and takes poor angles.  There were a couple of screens where Coulibaly just reflexively goes around it and his man rejects the screen and pops to the corner and Bilal is just looking around completely lost.  He’s also not the most physical player and doesn’t show much fight around screens, either getting caught up or even just stopping.  Now he does try.  he does rotate.  He does tag rollers and dive into the key to help.  He just loses his man in the process and doesn’t always use sound judgement.  This is pretty much the pattern, I could keep listing the good (he closes out on shooters) and they are all a bit offset by poor awareness or inexperience (he runs at them and is very vulnerable to fakes).  More than anything, the question is if he can learn and get the game to slow down.

It feels like there are a lot of prospects where there is a clear split between their offensive and defensive ability.  For most prospects, it seems to be great skill and shooting with open questions about if they can be a credible defender.  Clark is fun in that he is almost the exact opposite case.

Offensively, I wouldn’t say that Clark is a mess, but he it’s definitely the part of his game that raises questions about his role in the NBA.  First the good.  Clark has a very high motor and great functional strength.  He plays basketball like he’s a football player and openly invites contact and absorbs it well. At this stage, his handles are more functional than anything.  He is pretty dependable doing a straight line drive or a quick move like a crossover.  But he’s not really shaking anybody and is not very elusive.  About the only semi-dependable counter he has is a spin move he loves to lean on when someone stops his initial drive, but once someone stops his Plan B, well, there is no Plan C.  At the next level, he will clearly only be driving opportunistically when the defense is off balance or he gets cross matched on a poor defender.  Once inside, Clark pretty much relies on strength and using his body to shield the defender for a good angle.  He is pretty athletic in the open court, but in traffic, he’s much more human and at times looks like he’s straining to try to reach an angel for a shot.  Clark doesn’t have any real hangtime or fluidity to help here.  And he doesn’t have a strong runner or floater to take any pressure off of his need to get deeper.  He also doesn’t have the threat of a dependable shot to take open up driving lanes or to serve as a threat of a step back or even quick pull up.  Clark isn’t much better shooting from the perimeter; however, his shot also isn’t broken.  He has a bit of a big dip and sort of wind up he takes at times and he doesn’t always seem to have an ideal follow through.  But it’s not like watching one of the Thompson twins.  Clark is also a credible passer.  He’s a bit better than basic and will move the ball around the perimeter, feed the post, and he loves to drive in to about the free throw line and then kick the ball out to one of his shooters.  He’s generally pretty careful with the ball and doesn’t make a lot of risky passes.

Defensively is where Clark shines.  He was almost made in a lab to be the near perfect defensive wing.  Clark has really high awareness on this end of the court.  He has elite anticipation, long arms, quick hands, and a strong motor that allow him to generate turnovers in any way imaginable.  He jumps into passing lanes, executes digs, strips ball handlers, anticipates plays inside and bats away entry passes as a helper.  He also rotates extremely well and provides excellent help both inside and out.  He covers ground quickly and is able to close out and contest shooters.  He rotates down and tags rollers, checks big men, and rotates along the perimeter as the defense shifts.  And while he is limited helping against big men inside, he is strong enough and jumps well enough he can at least provide some legitimate congestion and make their lives more difficult. He has really strong lateral speed and a strong ability to change direction, but north to south and east to west.  This makes him fantastic at guarding players in isolation, switching to guard up, or helping in rotation.  Clark also has wide shoulders and as strong frame, which makes it harder for players to get outside his shoulders and turn the corner.  And if they do, Clark has solid recovery speed to try to catch up and contest.  Clark is also very strong at navigating screens.  He has the strength, savvy, and gives the effort to fight through or can quickly maneuver around.  This makes a big difference when teams try to shake him off their player with an off ball screen or in the P&R.

Note: Clark tore his achilles in March and he could miss a significant portion of his rookie season