KSR's takeaways from Kentucky MBB Pro Day
John Calipari opened Kentucky’s annual Pro Day event with a clear statement. “Daimion, go jump,” the UK head coach yelled in sophomore forward Daimion Collins’ direction.
“Watch this,” he told the scouts from all 30 NBA teams in attendance lining the Joe Craft Center sideline.
Collins ran up to the basket, leaped and smacked the top of the backboard with ease. Pogo stick, superhuman stuff. He was later credited with a team-high max vertical of 46.5 inches.
Scouts came for a show, and Calipari wanted to give them one right from the jump — literally.
It was the start of a Pro Day that put Kentucky’s length, athleticism and skill on full display in the two-plus-hour event that included physical testing, individual work and scrimmaging in front of several dozen scouts — multiple for every team. Familiar faces included Chuck Hayes (Houston Rockets), Tony Delk (Dallas Mavericks), Tayshaun Prince (Memphis Grizzlies) and Brandon Weems (Cleveland Cavaliers), all in NBA roles scouting their former school’s best talent.
And there was plenty of it from top to bottom.
Let’s start with the one holdout, CJ Fredrick, who turned his ankle Saturday and was unable to participate with such a quick turnaround. “Unbelievable year and a half to get to this point, down to 8% body fat. Confident,” Calipari said of the sharpshooting guard. He added that Fredrick wants to participate in the team’s scrimmage on Monday and could if he really wanted to, but the UK head coach is holding him out for precautionary reasons. No reason to rush back just for the sake of participating, but it was made very clear that it’s nothing serious and he will not miss any real time leading up to the season.
The event started with some stretching and testing, namely the vertical leap. Collins, as expected, was the star of the show. Jacob Toppin (45 inches), Kareem Watkins (43 inches) Cason Wallace (42 inches), Adou Thiero (41 inches) and Chris Livingston (40 inches) weren’t far behind. Thiero cupped the top of the measuring stick twice and needed the bar to be raised on both jumps, scary to think about considering he’s 6-foot-6 and growing — he told KSR this summer he could eventually hit the 6-10 mark.
As for Collins and Toppin, the entire gym stopped in its tracks to marvel at each leap, truly must-see athletes. Freaky alien stuff from the forward duo.
From there, full-court layups to get warmed up, followed by full-court 2-on-1 and 2-on-2. Cason Wallace was a standout defensively, jumping the passing line for a steal while trying to slow down a 2-on-1 in transition. Jacob Toppin knocked down a filthy hesitation pull-up jumper in the full-court 2-on-2s and followed it up with an alley-oop slam where his head was clear above the rim.
It was also our first viewing of Ugonna Kingsley Onyenso in a competitive setting, where he ran the floor well and was fluid in his movements. The 6-foot-11 center also showed off a smooth shooting stroke both in the 2-on-1 and 2-on-2 period before really ramping things up in the individual shooting drills that followed. It’s a fundamentally sound shot that falls at a high rate in catch-and-shoot situations. That would continue in the five-on-five scrimmages a bit later.
Chris Livingston also did some good things on both ends, namely a swatted ball into the Joe Craft Facility wall on a failed alley-oop lob attempt. His defensive versatility is intriguing.
That rolled into a brief 4-on-4 period, one that saw a primary ball-handler bring the ball up the floor into live action. Sahvir Wheeler, Cason Wallace, Antonio Reeves and Chris Livingston split reps as the lead guard in this drill.
Then, the good stuff: 5-on-5 live scrimmages — the longest period of the day, split in two with a shooting drill serving as a makeshift halftime.
The lineups were split into two core groups:
- Sahvir Wheeler, Antonio Reeves, Jacob Toppin, Lance Ware and Ugonna Onyenso
- Cason Wallace, Adou Thiero, Chris Livingston, Daimion Collins and Oscar Tshiebwe
Wallace got things rolling with a pretty lob to Tshiebwe for a soft finish inside in front of Onyenso., followed by a catch-and-shoot mid-range jumper for Tshiebwe. Like a free safety waiting to pounce on a deep ball, Wallace then snatched back-to-back passes for steals, one leading to a breakaway dunk.
Tshiebwe then caught Onyenso on an and-one putback lay-in, followed by a response on the other end from Onyenso: a pivot pull-up from the right elbow right in Tshiebwe’s face. It was a sequence that showed the value they bring to the table for each other, brute strength and physicality for Tshiebwe and length for Onyenso. The players need one another, a wildly crucial tool for their development.
The deep balls started flying with Jacob Toppin and Sahvir Wheeler knocking down back-to-back 3-point baskets from the left wing, followed by Adou Thiero responding on the other end with a three from the right wing.
Then came the silly stuff from Daimion Collins, who grabbed a ball from mid-air — think it was a lob, but maybe a shot? — with his Inspector Gadget arms for the block/steal, followed by a putback dunk on the other end. A few possessions later, he drilled a pull-up hesitation mid-range jumper, a fairly ridiculous sequence that led me to write “Daimion Collins is a clear first-round pick” in my notes.
Another thing to keep in mind? Eight made free throws for Collins on eight attempts. He drew fouls and converted.
Blown whistle, Calipari steps in on the other end of the floor. It came after a pass from Antonio Reeves, swinging it on the perimeter. “You’ve scored 1,500 points in your career. Shoot the ball,” he shouted. The Illinois State transfer’s hesitancy to launch the rock transitioned into an iso dribble straight out of an BallIsLife mixtape to set up a stepback corner three that fell just short. He followed it up with a catch-and-shoot three from the right wing. To put it simply, Reeves has got a lot of s*** to his game, a deep bag of tricks he’ll steadily unpack throughout his debut season.
Oh, how about more Oscar vs. Ugo action? The center duo followed it up with another mini run of their own, trading off mid-range jumpers showing off their face-up games. Tshiebwe then went straight through Onyenso’s chest and scored over his outstretched arms that combine for a 7-foot-4 wingspan. The veteran drew a foul on the freshman shortly after, who scored on a fancy up-and-under through contact for his first inside bucket of the day shortly after. Again, absolutely incredible for his development having a player like Tshiebwe to learn from on and off the floor. It’s not every day you get a Consensus National Player of the Year to serve as your teacher, mentor and development coach.
A few positional notes to slide in, as well: Cason Wallace spent the entire 5-on-5 session as the lead point guard against Sahvir Wheeler, a head-to-head battle. Elsewhere, Chris Livingston spent significant time working as a fourth guard in a small-ball four role, a position he played at Oak Hill running the dribble-drive. He has true two-through-four positional versatility, and that was shown yet again in the live periods in front of NBA scouts.
We also got the public debut of the Helmet Award, with players who dunk on their teammates earning the honor of placing a UK Football helmet on the heads of their poor poster victims.
Today’s award recipients? Cason Wallace on a dunk on Jacob Toppin and Lance Ware on a dunk on Daimion Collins.
Chris Livingston also punched one near Toppin that was voted a non-poster, but still deserving of praise.
As a cool-down before part two of the scrimmage, Calipari conducted his go-to 5-minute shooting drill. Jacob Toppin was a top standout, hitting 58 in the right corner. Ugonna Onyenso also separated himself as a mid-range jump shooter, knocking down 15-footers from the baseline with ease. Antonio Reeves was also a clear standout from the left wing, while Sahvir Wheeler also impressed on the right wing.
Then to close out the evening, a live 5-on-5 period featuring a jump ball, referees and a kept score — the whole nine yards. This time, a complete play-by-play breakdown with a few notes sprinkled in here and there:
- Steal for Onyenso on Wallace
- Tshiebwe make from 16 feet, top of the key
- Toppin baseline floater, fouled
- Missed first free throw, made second free throw
- Thiero missed three from the left wing
- Ware miss from the right elbow
- Wheeler miss from the right wing
- Collins miss from the left wing
- Reeves made three from the right wing
- Livingston made three from the left wing
- Tshiebwe drive left baseline, fouled on the floor
- Ware jump hook missed from the left baseline
- Collins putback dunk off his own miss
- “Good stuff happens when you throw it to Daimion,” Calipari told the team right after.
- Ware drives baseline, smooth spin and score
- Reeves miss left corner three
- Collins pull-up jumper from 16 feet at the top of the key
- Ware miss inside
- Livingston breakaway transition slam
- Toppin miss left wing
- Wallace floater blocked by Wheeler
- Wheeler airball on a left-baseline floater
- Collins picked off by Wheeler
- Toppin turnover leads to Thiero breakaway lay-up attempt, close goaltend by Toppin
- Collins block on Ware
- Onyenso rebound, fouled on putback attempt.
- Missed free throw, made second
- Double-clutch pull-up from Collins, but fouled
- Makes both free throws
- Reeves stepback jumper left elbow. Silky move to create space, better finish
- Wheeler miss from the right wing, Antonio miss from the left wing and Toppin miss baseline fadeaway
- Collins miss, rebound Tshiebwe for the putback score
- Wheeler hesitation pull-up right elbow jumper
- Onyenso fouls Tshiebwe on the drive
- Tshiebwe makes both
- Onyenso airballs a baseline floater
- Wallace dunk on Toppin to earn Helmet Award
- Toppin missed three
- Livingston baseline dunk (near Toppin, but not enough of a poster for a Helmet Award)
A few quick thoughts on individual players:
- Daimion Collins may have been the best player on the floor. Knocked down jumpers with ease, threw down highlight dunks, defended well with several blocks and steals, rebounded well and knocked down free throws. As I mentioned earlier, he’s a clear first-round pick in my eyes.
- Jacob Toppin made himself quite a bit of money at Pro Day, as well. Measurements off the charts and looked the part on both ends. Just too much size, skill and athleticism to not think big regarding Toppin’s future as a basketball player.
- Chris Livingston as a fourth guard is quite intriguing and really opens things up for Kentucky. Really a perfect fit if that’s what Calipari chooses to do long-term.
- Cason Wallace is going to be a day-one star, especially on the defensive end. Instincts and basketball IQ are simply absurd.
- Antonio Reeves is such a creative creator as a scorer. And he’s a shot-maker. He’s going to play a lot of minutes on this team.
- Ugonna Onyenso is much further along than I anticipated offensively, specifically as a jump shooter. Confident out to the three, but really thrives in that 14- to 17-foot range. Again, love the work he’s getting on a daily basis against Oscar Tshiebwe. It’s going to help them both long-term.
- Sahvir Wheeler with a solid outing, looked to distribute and make plays.
- Lance Ware embraces his role and will be an important piece. Moving really well.
- Adou Thiero was fine, some good and some bad. Missed a few assignments and get chewed out by Calipari, knocked down a three.
- CJ Fredrick will be back very shortly, no long-term concerns. Calipari said he’s down to 8% body fat and in phenomenal shape.
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