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Message: [QUOTE="444JR, post: 5093824, member: 5904"] He was a freshman who got a late start with the team because his high school finished later. Then he picked up an injury in the summer that delayed his integration even more. A couple of factors that explain why it took him time to get up to speed, yet he finished the season as an important part of the 8 man rotation that may have been the most dominant team in the history of college basketball. He’s got great size at 6’7, a dynamic athlete in terms of his fluidity, tons of skill with a deep bag of iso moves, and he’s shown himself to be a team first guy willing to simplify his game to fit the system. Despite the slow start he was the only freshman besides #4 overall pick Stephon Castle to feature regularly down the stretch for a team that went 37-3 and dominated college basketball. The guy hit three straight 3s in the BET championship game against a top 10 ranked opponent to break the game open. We’ve seen enough sophomore(2nd year) leaps from guys under Hurley(Bouknight, Hawkins, Clingan, Newton) that I’m inclined to expect it again. I watched 10+ full games of JStew with Seattle Rotary and Garfield HS and have seen what he can do as a first option playmaker and scorer. From my pov, he’s got that quiet assassin approach to his game, much like Tristen Newton. Although he shows more emotion than TNew after big plays, so I think he’ll step up as another leader, culture setter, and on court extension of the coaching staff this season(which will help Karaban and Diarra in setting the tone for the new guys). A lot of this can be said of Solo Ball too, but I view JStew’s game as more developed right now(having only seen very small sample sizes of their play this summer, I’m expecting leaps from both sophomores). [MEDIA=youtube]Rolpdm0wScE[/MEDIA] If you watch some of these highlights from his freshman year, I think there are plenty of instances that showcase his pro ready ability after getting his first full offseason of college basketball under his belt. Skipping to the end of the video(start of the season), I think he had plays that showed his NBA level talent against lesser teams like Arkansas Pine Bluff: very frustrating start to the game against a lesser team until JStew came in and made a couple plays off the dribble and a tough finish at the rim off a baseline inbound. Manhattan: Showcases how well he understands spacing and moving off the ball despite being much more ball dominant in HS. Pure catch and shoot 3. Northern Arizona: his finish in transition looked like something Jayson Tatum would do. Much lesser competition, but I’m trusting the eye test and Hurley’s ability to develop talent. I’m making a prediction, so it’s not an exact science by any means. [/QUOTE]

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