by The NBA G League’s Winter Showcase concluded on Thursday, bringing together multiple team managers and front office staff for a four-day summit. The event serves several purposes each year: a testing ground for G League candidates, a testing ground for new rules (this year the league tried the fourth quarter, goal score rule) and an opportunity for teams. meet and discuss trade and other business.
In the context of the 2023 auditions, the main draw on Showcase was G League Ignite without Scoot Henderson when I watched it on Tuesday (nearing a comeback after his concussion and nose injury at the end of November). Another key player eligible to be selected was NBA Academy Africa guard Thierry Serge Darlan, who this week has a huge platform to showcase himself between a pair of Academy offenses and games against the prep school teams at the nearby Tarkanian Classic.
Henderson’s absence on Tuesday was a bummer, but the game offered a helpful evaluation point for Ignite’s potential customers, some of whom I was able to catch for the first time. Here are my main takeaways from my expeditions in Vegas over the past few days.
G League Ignite guard London Johnson impressed the scouts at the Winter Showcase.
Lucas Peltier/USA TODAY Sports
London Johnson, G.
I was quite impressed with my first live look at 18-year-old Johnson, who will spend the next two seasons with Ignite before qualifying for the 2024 draft. A glimmer of hope in Henderson’s absence was watching Johnson play the starting minutes for Ignite, where he made a positive first impression with his quarterback stance and defensive-side play. For a player who was in high school less than a year ago, he looked pretty comfortable at the G League level, and that in itself is a strong indicator of his NBA future.
Johnson is already Ignite’s best perimeter defender, with exceptional lateral agility combined with a desire to play both sides. While not spectacularly disruptive yet, considering where it is at such an early stage, it envisions a clear positive further down the road. The biggest determinant in his final ceiling depends on his offensive play, where he plays well and has a terrific change of pace but doesn’t yet have the chops to really take over the games. Johnson is a good jump shooter and has demonstrated his ability to shoot from the bounce, an area that needs to continue to improve. While he’s showing his ability to pass, I’m still wondering what level of quarterback he’ll eventually reach, as he’s not yet a prolific creator. As he continues to increase his physical strength and evolve into the floor leader role, it’s reasonable to expect really good things in the future. He has 18 months to draft and seems ahead of schedule at his comfort level at Ignite, so there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic.
Leonard MillerF.
Based on what I’ve seen so far this season, Miller seems like my best bet to become the next Ignite candidate selected after Henderson is off the board. The question is what range ultimately exists, as the range of outcomes for him remains quite wide. He’s been pretty prolific with some bouncing box scores playing multiple minutes early in the season. And the fact that he can produce at this level despite all the things he doesn’t know yet is a positive sign. Miller didn’t play very well in Tuesday night’s Showcase, shooting only 3/13 but 14 rebounds. He is still a long way from accelerating as a decisive and reliable shooter, two key elements in his long-term projection.
It’s easy to characterize what Miller hasn’t done well yet – he’s still pretty crude – but in the end, his mix of 1.85cm features and skills will be appealing to teams that can be patient with his development. his legal size has become a prolific rebounder, able to defend multiple positions and eventually have a good enough passer and ball possession to act in a variety of points and roles in an attack. reader of the game, but shows a better understanding of his own role. Having just turned 19, Miller gives him so many tools to work at the basic level or higher that it gives him a few different paths to viability so help him out on this draft night after all. There’s still a risk factor here, but he’s currently his first-round contender. I have a little more confidence in its legitimacy.
Sidy Cissoko, G.
The 18-year-old French winger Cissoko offers a pretty interesting development prototype with enough size, handling, passing and defensive intelligence to add versatility to their 6′ 7″ formation. It’s not quite there yet, at least not on a consistent basis, as it has a tendency to hover on offense. and he doesn’t always impact the game in his minutes, but he seems to have made progress in his shooting since I last spent it with Ignite in October, which is very important: If Cissoko becomes a proper catch and shooter, he’ll raise his floor significantly, otherwise it’s a single shot that sets him apart from his peer group. Doesn’t have offensive skills.
Defensively, Cissoko seems to be in a pretty good place as she’s tall, wide and agile enough to take on the guard. He’s big and strong but not really a beast physically by NBA standards, and he’s currently projecting more as a team defender who works well with a plan than as a destructive, destructive type of man. There are definitely some things to like here and for now it’s a mix of the end of round one / the beginning of round two.
King of Mojave, G
The 20-year-old King is starting to recover a bit, playing in the early minutes up until this point in the season, putting in a handful of strong performances along with some inconsistent performances. While it doesn’t have the creative skills or the assertiveness to make it any more than that, as a 3-and-D type wing it has a physical profile that should fit the bill. As most Australian candidates do, King competes and does the little things well. He has a chance to be a pretty good role player. But it will need to be much more efficient to get there, and up to this point, this component is still a question mark. It should find a runoff/two-way mix in the spring.
Babacar Sané, F
Born in Senegal, 19-year-old Sane is a product of NBA Academy Africa, who joined Ignite in late October, and it was my first time seeing him play. 6′ 6″ listed, his physical profile at 194 is massive, his broad shoulders and great proportions for a wing make it hard to miss him as a candidate. Sané still continues to accelerate at this level. the game moves a little too fast for him most of the time, but he’s very tight on Tuesday He’s played and has the kind of tools to keep NBA teams looking at him for the long haul. He’s not close to being ready for the NBA and yet to say, ‘He hasn’t had much of an impact on a regular basis, but it will be fascinating to see where he is developmentally by the end of the season.
Efe Abogudi, F
Abogid joined Ignite after a couple of good seasons at Washington State and was previously part of the NBA’s Global Academy program and NBA Academy Africa. Now that he’s back on the NBA floor with Ignite, he thinks he’s in the mix for a two-way contract and potentially a second-round pick. While not a physically overwhelming player for someone his stature, he was efficient and productive in his minutes, rebounding with an engine, effectively holding the basket and showing the ability to knock the occasional shot. It didn’t do much on Tuesday and can sometimes get lost in the flow of the game. But there are tools here to work as useful energy in the long run, if not a ton more than on the surface.
Thierry Serge Darlan, G.
Finally, a few thoughts on Darlan, considered by some in the league to be arguably the best African guard candidate ever (although in terms of context, the historical bar isn’t very high there). He’s weighing what he’s going to do next season with the heignite and college route options, but it’s also available for the draft. Darlan is still learning the intricacies of defensive play and was prone to making mistakes in the two games I’ve seen, but in the end, his game has a lot of intriguing elements: he’s a good athlete, he’s showing off his skills as a quarterback, he’s playing defense. He takes a good position and always plays with a loving passion. Placed in a strong development context, his game can rise, and it’s clear he has some sort of NBA future waiting for him.
The big developmental question here is whether Darlan can really play as a quarterback in the long run or if he needs to walk away from the ball, which changes the criteria for how good a defender and shooter he should be. It depends on both his skill development and how quickly he adapts to the level he’s playing next season, and that will take time. That kind of environment is hard to judge—Darlan’s NBA Academy Africa team played a lot of games this week, and there were times when he was under some pressure—but it looks like he’ll be on the radar for the draft this year. if he chooses. I think it might be a good decision developmentally to take a longer route and get to a level where Darlan can play in the early minutes and be allowed to get over his mistakes. Regardless, this is a player to watch, especially if he chooses to test the auditions this year.
