As some of you already know, Mogbo started high school at 5'9. A recent article from the Palm Beach Post states he was 6 foot ending high school, and he had another late growth spurt taking him to his current height at 6'8. (I dont know the veracity of this, as looking back at old articles, he was listed as 6'6 in his senior season) This lead to the big man with dribbling, passing and vision combination that led to us drafting him.
However, the "guard to big man by late growth spurt" player, with AD being the touted example, often is also able to shoot due to their experience as a guard. That leads to the question of Mogbo's lack of shooting. He shot two 3's in the last two years. How is it possible that he was a guard all through high school, and his shooting is "2 threes in 2 college seasons" level shooting? Did he not look at his size, and say I need to learn how to shoot to make it in college and beyond? Is it possible that he was able to shoot as a guard, and his shooting is not as abysmal as it is reported, and that his lack of shooting volume was more of coaching/opportunity issue? Or even better, is he a clairvoyant, and he knew he was going to have an 11 inch growth spurt, so he said "I'm gonna be 6'8, 7'+ wing span, fuck learning how to shoot", and that's why he's so good at defense, because he can predict the future?
I did try to look up his high school stats, and he averaged 12.1 pts/8.6 reb/1.8 ast/2.9 stl/1.5 blk as a senior, but I can't find shooting splits.
by myeezy
9 Comments
On further digging, I found his senior season shooting splits in high school:
10/48 from 3, shooting 21%
45/71 from the line, shooting 63%
RIP
Mogbo with a shot would have been a lottery pick.
Let’s temper our expectations.
Rodman also had a late growth spurt and couldn’t shoot… I’d settle for that trajectory.
Let’s temper our expectations here. He’s a second rounder for a reason.
A bit older, shooting has been an issue. So that limits his perceived ceiling, at the moment.
Can he improve? Most definitely. So let’s hope the raptors picked up a guy with some untapped potential and let the good times roll.
He’s 21, now that’s definitely “old” by rookie standards and it’s up in the air on if he’ll ever develop a shot.
That said he’s also 21, and it’s possible something just clicks and he figures out what shooting form makes him a reliable nba shooter when he’s given the opportunity to work one on one with NBA shooting coaches instead of college ones.
My expectations from him are to just be a defensive anchor who can pitch in offensively when needed. Anything more is a bonus
He doesn’t need a shot tbh that’s the thing, if he can play with shooters around him, cutters, he can excel, he would do very well next to Kelly as both compliment each other and make up for the deficiencies each has
So yeah, while I’m skeptical about him ever developing his shot, I will say that this brings up what I think is high potential vs. low potential in growth-spurt guys. Compare him with someone like Knecht, who also famously had a late growth spurt. I think what scouts are intrigued by in these situations is someone who grows enough that they’re bringing skills not normally found at their position into their position. I think this is why late growth-spurt guys tend to outperform expectations… pre-draft, their not only growing into their bodies but also into a new position, but that combination of size and skill is what gives them a higher upside.
So Mogbo having great passing, and good perimeter defense, and some ball-handling ability, all of those are an example of that. Knecht, meanwhile, has shooting and shot-creation but not really any other classic guard skills, and after his growth spurt he still only projects as a SG. He didn’t end up with an intriguing skill/size, combo… just a fairly typical SG game and body.
Now, Knecht could have a very solid NBA career, but there’s nothing to suggest he’ll be anything really special, IMO. Mogbo, on the other hand, may not have as much of a chance to make it as a rotational player… but if he does, he’s could be a much more valuable type of player than Knecht. I was actually making a similar argument about Kyshawn George prior to the draft; totally different kind of player than Mogbo, but the same idea was that he was bringing a really intriguing mix of guard skills into a position where they were less common.
I mean when he was 5’9 / 6 ft he probably didn’t think he would come close to the NBA and he also wasn’t practicing his jump shot that much with the same rigor he would have otherwise
kelly olynik is a prime example of guard turned centre after growth spurt