Sheed on the Hawks

Class of 2025 deep cuts: Jordan Scott, Jaylen Harrell Michigan State and Providence have snapped up a couple of exciting, underrated high school wings

good morning, here's my latest piece on the 2025 freshman class where i try to look for potential underrated guys. To begin with, let's look at Michigan State's Jordan Scott and Providence's Jaylen Harrell

sheedinatl.substack.com/p/class-of-2...

Chris Cenac and the anatomy of a unicorn Houston's Cenac is 6'10", but too often plays smaller than that. Should he relish a scaled down role instead?

Chris Cenac is an unusual prospect. He's big, but he doesn't always play like that. I dive into Cenac's style of play at Link Academy, potential role at Houston and strong tools that provide room for scalability

sheedinatl.substack.com/p/chris-cena...

Tounde Yessoufou: a two-way monster or a defensive specialist? Yessoufou has drawn Anthony Edwards comps, but right now looks to have a more clear-cut upside on defense

good morning, here’s my piece on Baylor’s Tounde Yessoufou: i talk about his defense, two-way potential, a more realistic comp than Anthony Edwards as well as some of the main questions i have about Yessoufou for next season

sheedinatl.substack.com/p/tounde-yes...

Jaden Toombs deserves your attention Somewhat flying under the radar, the SMU big has a lot of traits for a modern NBA big

good morning, here’s my piece on Jaden Toombs, a promising freshman big for SMU. I look at his strong feel for the game, some physical concerns and the ways he can potentially mitigate them

sheedinatl.substack.com/p/jaden-toom...

Jayden Quaintance is a defensive prospect made in a lab At just 18, the new Kentucky Wildcat has nearly limitless defensive potential

good morning, here’s my piece on Jayden Quaintance, diving into his outstanding defense: the playmaking, rim deterrence and underrated foul aversion, as well as the good and concerning aspects of his profile

sheedinatl.substack.com/p/jayden-qua...

U18 Eurobasket prospects that have caught my eye Spain's Ian Platteeuw won the MVP, but is he the best NBA prospect at the U18 Eurobasket?

i've kept an eye on FIBA U18 Eurobasket

overall it feels like it could be a weaker bunch than the 2024 U18's which produced four 1st round NBA draft picks this summer, but still some really interesting prospects to look out for

sheedinatl.substack.com/p/u18-euroba...

good morning, i'm finishing up my 2026 NBA Draft top3 review with AJ Dybantsa

in this piece i dive into Dybantsa's outstanding and efficient scoring, offensive projection and the defensive playmaking questions that ultimately make me slightly lower on him

sheedinatl.substack.com/p/aj-dybants...

The analytics will love Cameron Boozer, and so should you Duke's Cameron Boozer is the cerebral prospect of the 2026 NBA Draft

here's my article on Cameron Boozer - a truly incredible prospect who may be the most accomplished high school player ever

i dive into his diverse offensive skillset, defensive playmaking and college projection

sheedinatl.substack.com/p/the-analyt...

Screw it, I'm starting the cycle with Darryn Peterson at 1 The Kansas guard is a special two-way prospect

here’s my take on Darryn Peterson, the 2026 NBA Draft prospect that i have at 1 right now: his statistical profile, offensive game, outlier stocks and two-way potential

sheedinatl.substack.com/p/screw-it-i...

Jase Richardson's turnover economy almost beat the Raptors A look at how the Orlando Magic rookie's connective skills helped stabilize a shaky Summer League team struggling with relentless on-ball pressure

i really enjoyed Jase Richardson's offensive game against the Toronto Raptors

so here's my extended breakdown on how Richardson stabilized and impacted the game by not turning it over and turning Toronto's on-ball pressure into advantages for his team

sheedinatl.substack.com/p/jase-richa...

I have no idea what the Pelicans are doing (and what it means for Derik Queen) The New Orleans Pelicans may already be compromising their 2025 lottery pick

the New Orleans Pelicans paid a lot to trade up and get Derik Queen at 13. But they still have Zion Williamson and Yves Missi. And they also signed Kevon Looney

what is Queen's role in this ill-fitting ensemble? I examine his struggle playing with Missi

sheedinatl.substack.com/p/i-have-no-...

icymi, here's what i wrote about the struggles of Kasparas Jakučionis in the California Classic games and the role adjustment he's likely to undergo in the NBA

Is it time to get worried about Kasparas Jakučionis? The answer is probably somewhere between a 'yes' and a 'no'

1/15 from the field, 6 assists and 12 turnovers in 3 California Classic games. What happened to Heat's Kasparas Jakucionis?

i tried to contextualize and make sense out of his difficult start to the Summer League

sheedinatl.substack.com/p/is-it-time...

FIBA U19 reflections: Dybantsa, Steinbach, Peat and others The 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup is now behind us, so let's look at some of the top performers

i've been watching the FIBA U19s, so here are some things that i saw over the past week or so. The players i cover in more detail (link below):

- AJ Dybantsa
- Hannes Steinbach
- Koa Peat
- Tyler Kropp
- Mikel Brown Jr.

also brief words on a few others

sheedinatl.substack.com/p/fiba-u19-r...

Dash Daniels: Great Defensively, Questions on Offense Dash Daniels struggled offensively in Australia's win against France in the FIBA U19 World Cup, but at least partly made up for it with his defense

ESPN projects Dash Daniels as a top10 pick in way-too-early 2025 NBA draft, i broke down film the performance of against France U19's from yesterday, check it out!

sheedinatl.substack.com/p/dash-danie...

2025 NBA Draft Grades: Slam Dunks for Raptors, Suns and Bulls, Questionable Nets and Pelicans The first round of the 2025 NBA Draft is in the books and boy did it serve up some surprises.

all grades are here 👇

sheedinatl.substack.com/p/2025-nba-d...

outside of the obvious one in Cooper Flagg, i have four other A+ grades on yesterday's 1st round draft picks

2025 NBA Draft Grades: Slam Dunks for Raptors, Suns and Bulls, Questionable Nets and Pelicans The first round of the 2025 NBA Draft is in the books and boy did it serve up some surprises.

here are my 2025 NBA draft first round pick grades, check it out!

major winners are the Mavs, Raptors, Suns, Bulls and Magic

big L’s from the Nets and Pelicans

open.substack.com/pub/sheedina...

my main questions with Queen:

- can he be a functional player on a team that’s not built to cater to his specific skillset?
- if he struggles anchoring the defense, does he produce enough offensive value to justify keeping him on the floor?
- can he become a more efficient passer long term?

Queen is not very quick laterally, so his defensive transition may be hampered by stuggles defending the better spaced, larger NBA courts

he lacks the size and body balance to stand up to bigger guys in the post. Per Synergy, Queen is just 47th percentile in post-up defense efficiency

.. some his best moments blocking shots on defense are indeed closer to what i would see in a wing defender prospect as he's good protecting the basket from the weak side

..his box DBPM stats are dragged down by the fact that Queen has a below average 3.8% BLK rate, which is more of a good wing defender level metric, rather than of a defensive anchor at the center position...

defense is a two edged sword for Queen. He grades out as a pretty good defender in terms of advanced metrics measuring overall defensive impact: 3.7 DBPM, which is good for 22nd among all underclassmen last season, and 3.02 DBPM (second on his team behind Julian Reese) and 2.27 in box DBPM...

...Queen is a more of a finesse offensive rebounder who uses his spatial awareness and anticipation to get himself in positions to tip the ball in

Queen is an above average rebounder not just on defense, but on the offensive glass as well. As an off rebounder, he’s not someone in the mold of Mitchell Robinson, ala a player who gets offensive rebounds by using his physicality to outmuscle opponents on the glass....

also, Queen has a tendency to misread passing angles, like here on these pretty sloppy high low plays

Queen has a high center of gravity and while driving has a tendency to show a bit too much of the ball which makes him succeptible to having the ball swiped out of his hands. Also, as good as his handle and footwork are, he doesn’t necessarily have the strongest grip on the ball going to the basket

...for example, other playmaking bigs in this class like Collin Murray-Boyles had better stats (21.1% AST and 1 A/TO) and Thomas Sorber (15.6% AST on 1.1 A/TO) had better numbers, so you kind of have to wonder if the ‘baby Jokic’ comps are legit for Queen

despite that, Queen, for a player that’s being sold as a playmaking big, he logged a pretty mid assist rate of just 11.6% on 26.9% usage and 16.5% turnover rate, good for just 0.8 assist to turnover ratio...