So yesterday I went to the Big Apple High School Invitational at Baruch College in NYC to watch Moyer's South Kent (CT) play against Rawle Alkins' Word of God (NC). It was a lot of fun and a good game with lots of scoring to go around. A few thoughts:
Matthew Moyer:
-Overall, he didn't have his best game--probably 12 points and 8 boards. He didn't do much in the first half, probably because his teammates were getting wide open 3s whenever they wanted to because Word of God was playing something that resembled a 2-3 zone, where the "3" stood near the basket and never contested on the wings. Two nationally ranked players, Tremont Waters a 2017 5'11 pg, and Myles Powell, a 2016 6'2 sg hit 8-10 3s between the two of them in the first half.
-He did have one thunderous dunk on a fast break in the first half where he trailed the play, caught the ball close to the free throw line and threw it down one-handed from well, well above the rim. I hadn't realized that he could get up like that--his head had to be close to the rim. It was easily the most exciting play of the game!
-In the second half, South Kent started to pound it to him inside where he scored very effectively. He doesn't have polished post moves to speak of, but he's very effective getting his shot off by jumping over the defense with a sort of baby hook. He mostly just power dribbled into his man and went straight up. He did have one nice pivot move into a fading hook/layup. Unfortunately, just as he was getting going, he picked up two quick and very questionable fouls and had to head to the bench where he spent most of the second half as his team was up by a wide margin.
- My analysis (based on one game) of his skills is that he's not a player who has a clearly defined way to score at this point against set defenses. He has a shaky, but promising handle and nice touch but no go-to post moves. He lacks the strength to really fight for position against post players, but has the tenacity and aggressiveness to make up for a lot of that. His body also looks like it could put on some weight and not lose its effectiveness. He missed both jump shots he took and has a funky release, but there wasn't enough to get a handle on his skill--he looked comfortable enough shooting.
-What Moyer is is a long, springy, Syracuse-mold athlete. He not only gets up high, but gets up quickly, multiple times in succession if need be. There was one possession where he tipped the offensive rebound off the rim, did it again and missed, did it again and missed, and finally made the tip. It was impressive as he essentially was playing volleyball with himself, despite there being taller players on the opposing team also going for the ball. Moyer was also asked to defend a smaller wing for much of the game, and while he got beat occasionally, he mostly kept the ball in front of him and used his length when beat to bother his matchup enough to discourage him from shooting.
-My read of Moyer is that his best-case sort of comp would be Shawn Marion, a high energy 3/4 who defends multiple positions, shoots enough to keep defenses honest, scores a little bit inside, is a nightmare in transition, and is just good enough at everything to be an extremely useful player. He won't be that his freshman year, in all likelihood, but if he stays a few, he could start to get there. Again, that's a best case scenario of course.
Rawle Alkins:
He had a very bad game, drew two charging calls, and ended up with 9 points I think, 5 of which came in the last 30 seconds when the game was out of reach. He seemed a little passive, but the South Kent defense also keyed on him a lot. That said, it's clear why he's a Top 10 player nationally. He's built like a truck and is a smooth athlete with great body control. He reminds me a LOT of Lance Stephenson in terms of build, but bigger, if possible. He was very unselfish (perhaps too much so) and had a good attitude throughout the game, even when calls and the game went against him.
The Coaches:
About a quarter of the way through the game, Chris Mullen came in and sat on the far side of the gym. Soon after, Rick Pitino and Kevin Willard (Seton Hall) joined. They laughed and talked throughout much of the game.
ME:
I was eating some chips in the lobby in between games when the South Kent team walked through presumably leaving. When Moyer walked by, I stuck my hand out and said "good game Matthew". He stopped, shook my hand and remarked "nice shirt" (I was wearing an under armour Syracuse shirt. He remarked that he hadn't played well, and I (sort of awkwardly) patted him on the back and told him that "it was exciting" and how much I was looking forward to seeing him succeed next year. He thanked me and told me that he appreciated me coming out and showing support. He was extremely polite and seems like a great young man. I was pretty excited to meet the guy--I wished I'd come up with something more original and nice to say, but all in all it was a great experience!