But your evaluation of him is that he doesn’t play well through contact and is reluctant to shoot from deep. Those seem to be important skills to play in the ACC let alone professionally at his size. My point is that he is still really young and he will get better in time. At Duke- multi year means at least 2 years. Given his age - I suspect he will be at Duke at least two years.
Rivals has him ranked #5,
https://n.rivals.com/prospect_rankings/rivals150/
"This is the best of all possible worlds."
Dr. Pangloss - Candide
Unfortunately, these days skills and OAD status are only marginally related. If he truly becomes a consensus top 10 player, he won't spend two years in college, regardless of his ability to finish through contact and reluctance to shoot from outside. Those things may somewhat limit his effectiveness at Duke, but both are things they can teach in the NBA; they won't scare GMs away from drafting him. And his young age would probably be considered a plus. Hard to imagine a guy turning down a chance to be a lottery pick.
The DBR podcast interview with his AAU coach pretty much said this. They are going in with the "mindset" of playing 4 years at Duke, but if opportunities emerge (aka projected lottery pick), he'd be foolish to pass up the chance to make NBA money. I don't see how that is different from any other Duke player (other than perhaps Jalen Johnson). If a recruit is not going all-in on the program, he's doing himself and the team a disservice.
Yup. Of the 51 players rated in the top 10 of the RSCI in the last five years (there was an 11th guy one year due to a tie for the 10th spot), 46 of them played zero or one year of college basketball. Of those rated in the top 7, in fact, all 35 played zero or one year. So yeah, if Kyle is a consensus top 5 player, he'd be the first in a long time to play a second year of college.
Yikes. I stand corrected. I wonder if we have ever seen such volatility in rankings. Looking at Rivals top 6, there are 5 double digit jumps. Kyle’s 43 place jump is not even the biggest in the top 5 as Yohan Traore at number 4 jumped 60 spots (Rivals seems to really like Dream City Christian as besides Yohan, Shaedon Sharpe from there jumped 10 spots to number 1 in its rankings).
ESPN currently has Filipowski at #8 in the class. http://www.espn.com/college-sports/b...playerrankings
Per Wikipedia(!), the 247 composite rankings are between ESPN, Rivals and 247's (which has Kyle at #37). So, the 247 Composite has him (updated as of 8/26, when, I'm guessing Rivals updated?) at #15.
In short - if he's not already in the range where, as Tommy noted, all or substantially all of the players would be expected to be one and done, he's very, very close (assuming those rankings hold through his Senior year).
The unusual volatility in player rankings has to be Covid-driven.
Kyle Filipowski and his the Wilbraham and Monson Academy took on Life Christian of Florida at the Hoophall Classic on Monday. Filipowski put on one of the better performances of the event, scoring 28 points on 10-16 FG attempts to go along with 10 reb, 5 blks, and 3 asts in just 24 minutes of action. "Flip" displayed a complete package, scoring from all three levels, defending the paint, switching onto guards, taking the ball in transition, and finding teammates for open looks. He's a special talent.
Worth noting that Life Christian plays a 4-guard lineup that meant Kyle was guarding a guy on the perimeter pretty much all game (Kyle's bother, who is going to play ball at Harvard for Tommy is a less mobile post player who cannot guard outside the paint). Kyle showed real defensive footwork and fundamentals to keep his man from just driving past him every time. Kyle was also able to play his usual face-up game featuring 3-pointers and stellar passing despite being guarded by someone who was comfortable playing outside. I agree with the assessment of DBA... Flip is special.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
I do not doubt Filipowski is special, but I think you're over selling his defense. This is HS basketball; tough to extrapolate defensive ability.
All the scouting reports focus heavily on Filipowski's offense. A few say he can 'defend multiple positions' and 'if he maxes out his defense ability, he has a place in the league'. Not exactly singing Filipowski's defensive ability.
Our defensive guru next year is Lively. This kid can easily guard the 3-5 and is a legit rim protector. He's a slightly shorter (wingpsan), more versatile Williams on the defensive end.
I love the Filipowski/Lively combination. To me, it's like the Pacers frontcourt (Turner, Sabonis). They seem fairly interchangeable as a 4/5, so it'll be fun to watch them drive opponents nuts.
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill
President of the "Nolan Smith Should Have His Jersey in The Rafters" Club
While it's true that it was a HS basketball game, the opponent matters. Filipowski was guarding legit high-major prospects one-on-one. He wasn't Zion going up against the neighboring HS team. This was a team loaded with guys that will start in college, some as freshmen.
I am not saying Flip will be a great defender in college. I'm just noting the level of competition and that he held his own when asked to defend some of the better guards in the country. That's impressive.
We often overestimate our recruits' defensive abilities. I'm not saying this is happening with Filipowski, but if I were a betting man, I'd argue he's, at best, a competent defender with freshman lapses in judgement.
My rule of thumb is if scouts do not talk about defense, you can safely assume the player isn't good at it or needs tons of improvement. And when scouts do get defense wrong, it's usually elite HS defenders who struggle in college. Look at this scout's take on AJ Griffin:
I will admit that Keels is the exception to this rule; his defense was called 'adequate' in HS; safe to say defense is one of his calling cards.One thing that stands out with Griffin is his high level understanding of the game (thanks NBA dad). His awareness on the defensive end is impressive and he can defend just about any position on the floor. He’s a pesky on the ball defender who seems to take a lot of pride in taking the ball off the ball-handler.
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill
President of the "Nolan Smith Should Have His Jersey in The Rafters" Club
To be clear, my Flip defense comment was not meant to imply that he will be an elite defender in college capable of guarding 1-through-5. I was merely pointing out that he seemed to have better than expected, instincts, footwork, and quickness for a 6-11 dude. I'm not envisioning him matching up favorably with top end ACC 2s or 3s... but if he isn't completely lost when being caught switched onto a wing and can capably defend ACC 4s then it makes it much easier for Duke to put him and Lively on the floor together.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
I haven't written anywhere that Flip will be a plus defender. The phrases I used were "switched onto guards" and "held his own." I don't think that's overestimating his defensive abilities. One of those statements is just an observation, that he was defending guards. After watching more tape of him, my hope and expectation is that Flip is competent. If he's a neutral or even a slight plus on defense and provides three-level scoring and facilitation on offense, that's a heck of a player right there.
I am not sure I agree here regarding this video evidencing Filipowski’s defense. LCA played Montas (6’6” SG/SF) and Garcia (6’7” SF), Donato (6’7” SF with one arm - phenomenal story), and James (6’8” C). Filipowski was certainly taller, but it wasn’t like he was was facing a team of high-level, super-quick guards. Worth noting that none of those guys are high-level recruits either (Montas appears to be the top prospect but outside the top-250. Also, I saw quite a bit of 1-3-1 zone being played by Filipowski’s team, so I am not sure how much there is to glean about his defense anyway.
Another reason to watch this video: some highlight plays by Hansel Emmanuel Donato, #24 for Life Christian, who is a high-level player despite having one arm amputated below the shoulder. Truly remarkable if you haven't seen him play before.
He has an offer from Tennessee State but I have not seen any definitive statement of where he will play next year.