Okay, I finished watching IMG's game against Combine Academy (the only full length game I've found of them so far).
My unofficial numbers for Justin Taylor are:
- 15 points on 51.2% TS%
- 2/6 from 2 point range, 2/6 from 3 point range, and 5/6 from the free throw line
- 0 rebounds (they swap between man and zone and he plays on the backline of the zone, so he should fit in with our current forwards in that regard)
- 2 assists to 0 turnovers (including a half court alley oop)
- 1 intentional foul towards the end of the game
- FWIW, shot 16/23 on corner 3's during warmups and 13/20 from above the break
The good:
- Hops into his jumper with some good rhythm.
- Had some nice, hard backdoor cuts that could have led to layups if his teammates were paying attention.
- For the most part, he quickly decides if he's going to attack or just keep the ball moving around.
- Had a couple pull-up jumpers as he came around screens and another play where he patiently curled around the screen and probed the defense before getting to the rim.
- His shot looks good to me; if I were to nitpick, he sometimes jumps slightly backwards on his jumper instead of slightly forwards or at least straight up. But he seems further along mechanically than Bunch or Copeland.
- As mentioned in the Quadir thread, this is pretty obviously a worse level of competition than what Bunch is facing in the NIBC games, but having said that, Taylor was at worst the 2nd best player on his team (I'd probably lean towards Justyn Fernandez as having the best performance here/also just like Fernandez's combination of athleticism and shooting ability).
The bad:
- 0 rebounds as one of the biggest players on the court leaves a bit to be desired. Had 5-10 rebounds that he just couldn't hold on to and ended up being deflected out of bounds or ripped out of his hands.
- Something to keep an eye on as more film comes out: he was driving to the left and beat his man but froze up and settled for a fadeaway jumper that got blocked...potentially uncomfortable finishing with his left hand?
- Pretty basic ball-handler at this point in time, though he seems pretty comfortable moving off-ball and I imagine that's how he'll be utilized most of the time.
- 1/3 at the rim, 1/3 from mid-range, and 2/6 from 3; none of that is good, though his FT numbers and warm up numbers were both promising IMO.
The rebounding is a bit scary considering what we're dealing with at Syracuse this season, but offensively, he seems to at least have a chance at contributing early on.
Here's a clip of one of his buckets at the rim:
