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Message: [QUOTE="SP_Gilbs, post: 4694704, member: 2017"] Heres my report on Donnies games this weekend, have game numbers with notes I made during the game followed by his overall totals. The competition was decent but definitely not as tough as what he sees in the EYBL: Game 1 18 min 16 PTS(all in second half) 7/14 FG 2/3 3PT 1 blk 5 reb 2 in and out mid range jumpers. Very skilled but Needs to improve physicality. Dealt with foul trouble in first half and didn’t score at all. Needs to tighten up handle a bit but for someone 6’9” it’s pretty solid Game 2 33 min(went OT) 25 PTS 10/16 FG 0/1 3PT 5/11 FT 9 reb 3 stl 1 blk Runs the court well, finishes in transition. Active hands on defense, couple nice steals. Opposing team is really small and has no answer for Donnie. Lots of dunks. Really impressive and 1 drive to the hoop that I haven’t seen anything like from him till this point. Couple of nice jump hooks. Struggled at the line(missed final 5 attempts) and with his jumper overall although he had a very nice dribble from around the top of the key into a 15 foot baseline pull up that probably should have been an and 1. Game 3 21 min 16 PTS(all in first half) 6/11 FG 1/2 3PT 3/5 FT 2 STL 2 blk 1 reb Donnie played at the front of a press for a majority of the game and was a menace causing several deflections and turnovers. Really liked him in this role and think he’d fit our occasional press perfectly. First time I’ve noticed him recognizing when the double comes and making some solid passes out of it. Opposing team is pretty overmatched so it’s hard to read too much into this game but Freeman looks really good once again. A bit sloppy with the ball and has a few turnovers, first time I’ve seen him struggle with turnovers. Couple really nice blocks at the rim, which has been a theme throughout the games I’ve watched so far. Only 1 rebound is less than ideal but him being at the front of the press definitely contributes to this, still would like to see a couple more. Sat the whole 4th quarter because team was up 20+ Game 4 30 min 22 PTS 8/19 FG 2/6 3PT 4/6 FT 5 blk 6 reb 3 ast 2 stl Struggling early, jumper looks off again. Active on defense, doing well staying in front of smaller quicker guys. Looking good in the press again, very active. Making a major impact on the defensive end so far. Some nice passes. Back to back drive to pull up 15 footers made then a made 3 followed by a couple free throws. Really taking over in the third quarter. Has had an unreal impact on the defensive end in this game, reminds me of the way AD use to take over games at Kentucky defensively. Hit a really difficult on the move 1 dribble highly contested 3 to give his team a 1 point lead with 17 seconds left that they ultimately won on a buzzer beater. Efficiency was lower this game but thought it was his best overall performance, heavily impacted the game in all aspects and I also think this was the best team that they played. Had a few guys that were similar in size to Freeman so he couldnt just overpower them and dunk everything. Totals: 25.5 MPG 19.75 PPG 51.6% FG 41.6% 3PT 54.5% FT 5.3 REB 2.3 BLK 1.8 STL Overall impression: Coming into this I had only watched Freeman play in AAU games which is a far different setting. There are so many great players on his team in AAU that he doesnt get to showcase his entire game and is simplified to mainly just post ups and occasional pick and pop sets. On his high school team however, Freeman is looked at as the go to option and given freedom to do basically whatever he wants in order to win the game. While there is still a lot of development to be made on the offensive end you can see glimpses of a truly dominant modern day big forward that the NBA covets. The jump shot is pretty inconsistent but when he gets hot he can hit 3 or 4 in a row and its not limited to spot up shots. There were several instances where Donnie took his man off the dribble and hit a contested 15-17 foot jump shot. He doesnt attack off the dribble a lot, and when he does it looks a bit wild, but you can see it starting to come together for him and I think with another year plus of development it can be a solid weapon when he arrives here. Defensively, he was a force and teams had a ton of trouble scoring on him in the paint. In the final game that I watched, it was one of the more impressive defensive performances ive seen. He was all over the places causing deflections and altering/blocking everything near the rim. In the press, he operated at the top in a similar role that we saw Maliq Brown play last year and he was phenomenal. Several deflections and forced turnovers that led to easy buckets and I think he'd be a real weapon here for us. The main weakness for him right now is his weight. He can get pushed around down low and needs another 15 pounds of muscle to counter this. Overall, was left extremely impressed by this weekends performance to the point where I now only expect him to be with us for 1 year. Even without a lot more development by the time he arrives on campus, Donnie has the measurements, athleticism, and flashes that the NBA looks for. If he does happen to have another strong developmental year and puts on some weight, I think were looking at a top 10 type of draft pick. [/QUOTE]

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