Purdue's elite camp Saturday was a great event, but it was a lot of players and so little time, so it's not like we got to lock in on certain players and really scrutinize them, but here are some random thoughts on some of those we tried to watch most.
JP Macura: Player, plain and simple. He can really shoot and really scorer, but he's also a good passer and, I don't quite know how to put this, but he's just in tune with the game at all times, aware of everything going on around him.
Macura is tall and relatively long and kind of a sneaky player defensively, smart and cunning, as evidenced by a couple instances.
On one, he was jumping with an offensive player as if to challenge his shot, only to give the appearance of standing down on the play and being content to helplessly drifting out of bounds. Instead, he pulled a 360 in the air to challenge the shot. Hard to describe in words, but he seemed to be playing possum, for lack of a better term.
Later, he scored a layup, then pulled the old, 'Look, I have to turned my back to the in-bounder and am not paying attention' routine, then wheeled around quickly and stole the in-bound.
You can tell he is just really smart and really knows the game and it's not hard to figure out why coaches are so smitten with him.
Barret Benson: As president of the Barret Benson fan club (as a prospect) I was very interested to see how Benson would fare Saturday, figuring a really good day could net him an offer there and there. He was solid and is absolutely an early offer consideration for Purdue, for which there might be real value in being the first Big Ten team to make that call on him.
Benson is all of 6-foot-10 now and just looks young, an indicator perhaps he's going to be enormous. Benson has good hands and feet and runs well.
He does not yet finish around the basket as well as he will one day, but he always rebounds, he always alters or blocks shots and he always plays at or above the rim.
Everything Benson does on both ends he seems to do with both hands and he goes and gets the ball. He is not passive like that. For a guy who'll be a true center, he's what you might call a successive jumper where he can sort of bounce in threes to follow misses, chase rebounds or challenge shots. He gets back off the floor quickly, I guess is what I'm trying to say.
Kyle Guy: Nothing new here: Guy just fights like hell. He is no more than 6-1 and a bony 160-something, maybe, but he plays so much bigger than he is.
Fans of whatever college team he plays for will probably love him and those of college teams he'll play against will probably hate him.
Oh, and he is a really good shooter who can make shots from mid- and long-ranges.
Cordell Pemsl: Not sure the young power forward from Iowa is a fantastic athlete at this stage, but he is huge for a projected 4, looks like he plays well in the post, can pass and face up some and shoot. He didn't shoot long jumpers well in the instances I saw Saturday, but that he was trying to suggests he can.
And he is just a delightful kid. And I do NOT throw the word "delightful" around, you know.
Nai Carlisle: Carlisle was very good Saturday, really getting to the basket and making things happen. He is quick enough off the dribble to beat the first guy, then physical enough to ward off secondary defenders.
He always makes good decisions and his fundamentals are advanced for his age, a credit to his coaching, among other things.
Carlisle will defend anyone lined up across from him and that's a huge checkmark in his favor.
The final piece is his jumper, which can run hot and cold, but by every account, he puts in the work. Saturday, when the camp broke for lunch and everyone scattered, he stayed behind and shot around.
CJ Walker: Like Carlisle, Walker's a 2016 point guard, which is where the similarities end.
Carlisle is big and strong. Walker is small, thought really looking like he's gotten just since July, especially in his upper body.
Walker gets a little crazy sometimes, but he can absolutely blow a game up as a scorer and he's often brilliant in the open floor. For as small as he is, he uses what he has brilliantly at the time in staving off shot-blockers and he really shot the three well Saturday, looking like less of a set-shot guy this weekend than he did even in July.
Would be very surprised at this point if both Walker and Carlisle aren't Big Ten-caliber prospects in 2016.
D.J. Wilkins: Don't want to put this on him too strongly, in terms of being a guy who can score at all three levels and do it very well, he is very E'Twaun Moore-ish. Even in his body and in the coolness he plays with, he's E'Twaun Moore-ish.
And he plays quarterback in football, which hints at both leadership and toughness and competitiveness that he wants to play multiple physically draining sports.
He is an offer-worthy player now, IMO.
I just want to reiterate what I mentioned earlier: Wilkins played a football game last night, then had to watch film and go through Merrillville's punitive Saturday running - the whole team runs X amount for every personal foul committed in the game - and had every reason not to come.
What's it say about his interest in Purdue that he drove all the way down to basically play in three pickup games?
Joey Brunk: The 6-10 2016 center from Southport is big, but not the quickest-footed athlete out there. Yet. You always have to say "yet," especially with young bigs.
But he is huge, coordinated, has good hands and is not a Frankenstein by any means in terms of mobility. That's a compliment.
Glynn Watson: Watson was dominant Saturday, a very positive sign for a player who was inconsistent and turnover-prone in July. Someone got on him, clearly, because there was no coasting on his part Saturday.
He is excellent in the lane and in the open floor and can make pullups. His three-point shooting is unrefined, I guess you'd say, but he isn't completely incompetent with that phase of his game. He does make shots.
It's took Hyron Edwards didn't come. It would have been interesting to see those two match up.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2013. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
JP Macura: Player, plain and simple. He can really shoot and really scorer, but he's also a good passer and, I don't quite know how to put this, but he's just in tune with the game at all times, aware of everything going on around him.
Macura is tall and relatively long and kind of a sneaky player defensively, smart and cunning, as evidenced by a couple instances.
On one, he was jumping with an offensive player as if to challenge his shot, only to give the appearance of standing down on the play and being content to helplessly drifting out of bounds. Instead, he pulled a 360 in the air to challenge the shot. Hard to describe in words, but he seemed to be playing possum, for lack of a better term.
Later, he scored a layup, then pulled the old, 'Look, I have to turned my back to the in-bounder and am not paying attention' routine, then wheeled around quickly and stole the in-bound.
You can tell he is just really smart and really knows the game and it's not hard to figure out why coaches are so smitten with him.
Barret Benson: As president of the Barret Benson fan club (as a prospect) I was very interested to see how Benson would fare Saturday, figuring a really good day could net him an offer there and there. He was solid and is absolutely an early offer consideration for Purdue, for which there might be real value in being the first Big Ten team to make that call on him.
Benson is all of 6-foot-10 now and just looks young, an indicator perhaps he's going to be enormous. Benson has good hands and feet and runs well.
He does not yet finish around the basket as well as he will one day, but he always rebounds, he always alters or blocks shots and he always plays at or above the rim.
Everything Benson does on both ends he seems to do with both hands and he goes and gets the ball. He is not passive like that. For a guy who'll be a true center, he's what you might call a successive jumper where he can sort of bounce in threes to follow misses, chase rebounds or challenge shots. He gets back off the floor quickly, I guess is what I'm trying to say.
Kyle Guy: Nothing new here: Guy just fights like hell. He is no more than 6-1 and a bony 160-something, maybe, but he plays so much bigger than he is.
Fans of whatever college team he plays for will probably love him and those of college teams he'll play against will probably hate him.
Oh, and he is a really good shooter who can make shots from mid- and long-ranges.
Cordell Pemsl: Not sure the young power forward from Iowa is a fantastic athlete at this stage, but he is huge for a projected 4, looks like he plays well in the post, can pass and face up some and shoot. He didn't shoot long jumpers well in the instances I saw Saturday, but that he was trying to suggests he can.
And he is just a delightful kid. And I do NOT throw the word "delightful" around, you know.
Nai Carlisle: Carlisle was very good Saturday, really getting to the basket and making things happen. He is quick enough off the dribble to beat the first guy, then physical enough to ward off secondary defenders.
He always makes good decisions and his fundamentals are advanced for his age, a credit to his coaching, among other things.
Carlisle will defend anyone lined up across from him and that's a huge checkmark in his favor.
The final piece is his jumper, which can run hot and cold, but by every account, he puts in the work. Saturday, when the camp broke for lunch and everyone scattered, he stayed behind and shot around.
CJ Walker: Like Carlisle, Walker's a 2016 point guard, which is where the similarities end.
Carlisle is big and strong. Walker is small, thought really looking like he's gotten just since July, especially in his upper body.
Walker gets a little crazy sometimes, but he can absolutely blow a game up as a scorer and he's often brilliant in the open floor. For as small as he is, he uses what he has brilliantly at the time in staving off shot-blockers and he really shot the three well Saturday, looking like less of a set-shot guy this weekend than he did even in July.
Would be very surprised at this point if both Walker and Carlisle aren't Big Ten-caliber prospects in 2016.
D.J. Wilkins: Don't want to put this on him too strongly, in terms of being a guy who can score at all three levels and do it very well, he is very E'Twaun Moore-ish. Even in his body and in the coolness he plays with, he's E'Twaun Moore-ish.
And he plays quarterback in football, which hints at both leadership and toughness and competitiveness that he wants to play multiple physically draining sports.
He is an offer-worthy player now, IMO.
I just want to reiterate what I mentioned earlier: Wilkins played a football game last night, then had to watch film and go through Merrillville's punitive Saturday running - the whole team runs X amount for every personal foul committed in the game - and had every reason not to come.
What's it say about his interest in Purdue that he drove all the way down to basically play in three pickup games?
Joey Brunk: The 6-10 2016 center from Southport is big, but not the quickest-footed athlete out there. Yet. You always have to say "yet," especially with young bigs.
But he is huge, coordinated, has good hands and is not a Frankenstein by any means in terms of mobility. That's a compliment.
Glynn Watson: Watson was dominant Saturday, a very positive sign for a player who was inconsistent and turnover-prone in July. Someone got on him, clearly, because there was no coasting on his part Saturday.
He is excellent in the lane and in the open floor and can make pullups. His three-point shooting is unrefined, I guess you'd say, but he isn't completely incompetent with that phase of his game. He does make shots.
It's took Hyron Edwards didn't come. It would have been interesting to see those two match up.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2013. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
