Was able to watch a couple of Joseph's recent HS games and also a Malachi Richardson one as well on Sunday. Reviews and thoughts below.
Joseph
Game one vs Wilbraham & Monson(Goodluck Okononboh)-20pts, 9ast, 2rbs, 1stl, 8to, 3-7 3pt, 3-4 ft. 89-86 victory.
Game two vs Tilton in a quarterfinal playoff game-11pts, 5ast, 4rbs, 4stls, 1blk, 2to, 1-4 3pt, 2-2 ft. 75-59 victory.
Outside of the turnovers, it was a pretty solid outing in both games for Joseph. People unfairly label him as a scoring guard, but trust me he's definitely a pass first PG. He's always looking to move the ball and make the extra pass, which at times in a strange way does more harm than good for him. For example, there was one play in crunch time after his team blew a 21pt 2nd half lead, Joseph drives to the lane and instead of shooting a floater over Goodluck, he decided to throw a behind the back pass to the perimeter that was stolen and scored on the other end. That definitely won't fly next season. He has terrific version and a quick first step, but at times he's prone to making careless What passes. It'll be day and night as far as tempo is concerned going from Ennis to Joseph. Joseph doesn't waste any time pushing the rock when a transition opportunity presents itself and the scoring success rate has been highly positive in the games that I have seen. His 3pt shot is pretty respectable. He gets good elevation and has a nice release on his shot. His bread and butter move as mentioned before back in the summer is his mid-range shot, but it's nice to see that he can occasionally knock down the long-range bomb. I was a little critical of his defense when I last saw him over the summer, but he really stepped it up in both games that I watched. His opponents had a hard time getting past him. He deflected a few passes, came away with several steals, and when somebody tried to post him up down low he actually came away with a block shot. As noted above, both games were 36 minutes and he played every single minute of both. You could say on one hand it's a positive that his condition is that good. On the flipside, in the last 5 minutes of each game he really struggled with his shot and looked to be on tired legs. Plenty of his jumpers were front rim misses and that's usually due to fatigue. He's a prideful kid that's a competitor and definitely won't back away from a big challenge. He'll start but at this point I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with him playing more than 30 minutes a night next season. It's disappointing that we only got one year of Ennis, because the perfect situation for Joseph and SU next season would've been for him to be that legitimate backup at the point, learn behind Ennis and then get the keys to the Benz the year after. Now we have to hope and pray that the staff can add another ball handler to help him out because if he's our only option at PG, then I guarantee you that his tank will run on E by season end. With that said, next season will be a huge learning experience for him and I really like his physical tools and potential. I personally think we could be looking at a taller version of Flynn when he enters his sophomore year.
Malachi Richardson
Wildwood Catholic first round playoff game-21pts, 8rbs, 3ast, 2stls, 1blk, 1to, 4-6 3pt, 5-5 ft. 53-45 victory.
We might have missed out on James Young last year but this kid is pretty much a replica and may even be better than him in a few years. The first thing you notice when looking at him is how long his arms are(wingspan is supposedly close to 7ft) and how effortlessly he gets his shot off from deep. Very much Southerland like with how fast he can catch and let it rip. When I watched him last year at Roselle, he was basically a catch n shoot guy, but now he has expanded his game and is much more comfortable putting the ball on the floor and getting off his own shot. He even led the break numerous times in transition and always made the correct pass. He would've had about 8ast if his teammates were able to finish better. Defensively he does a solid job staying in front of his man using his length to cause problems. He rebounded his area well but at times would get lazy and watch the ball in the air instead of getting after it letting the opponent come away with the offensive board. Richardson gives plenty of versatility because he can play both positions at the 2 and 3. Plus he has the overall intangibles that we saw missing from this team this season as far as having players who could do a variety of things on the floor. At 6'6, Richardson can shoot, handle, and pass. He's just an overall playmaker that will fill out the stat sheet every game once he gets the playing time. Best part of the game for me was when Richardson's team was down by 5 in the last qtr and he suddenly scored six straight points in about a minute to give his team the lead and they never looked back. Love players that aren't afraid to step up in crunch time.
A few other observations.
With the uncertainty of DC2 for next season it sucks now that we couldn't land a player like Goodluck. He was an absolute beast against Joseph's team and has stepped up his game on offense now. He knocked down a few mid-range shots, scored in the low post, and threw down some filthy dunks in transition. We already know that he would've been a terror for opponents sitting in the middle of the zone. Oh well though, since you can't obviously get them all.
Keep an eye on Joseph's teammate in the 2015 class name Jalen Adams. He's a 6'3 combo guard that is really really good and should see his recruitment blow up once the AAU/Camp season takes place. Adams can score from three levels, is very athletic, and gets after it on D. Joseph unfortunately doesn't like to mix it up for rebounds unless the ball comes directly to him but that's not the case with Adams, who is always battling with the big boys for boards on both ends. Joseph is basically Scoop, while Adams plays the Dion role. Meaning that while Joseph runs the show, it's basically Adams who is counted on to get that big bucket and make a play when needed during crunch time. He dropped 36pts in the game against Goodluck team, and then had 15pts with over 10ast in the next game. I was told that Hop likes him.
Watching these HS games with how well these kids pass, space the floor, and actually execute a play makes me just smh at what we watched from this SU team on offense at the end of the season.
