NBA Comparison: Kevon Looney/Clint Capela

Strengths: A seven foot pogo stick. Bigman with elite size and athleticism … 7-2 wingspan on a 7-foot frame with a 37 inch max vert, these are elite center stats and he plays as athletic as the numbers would indicate … Rim runner, ally-oop extraordinaire … Really explosive dunker and plays with a high motor … Tries to dunk everything and gets a lot of highlight plays at the rim … If his feel for the game continues to improve, there’s a lot to be excited about with Missi’s upside … Plays with a lot of determination and intensity … Very good rim runner … Gets a lot of dunks on ally oops … Showed solid progress as the season went along and even became more adept at putting the ball on the floor and using his speed advantage to get by opposing bigs off the dribble getting to the basket … Big potential as a shot blocker. A good shot blocker with rim protector potential, if he can continue to learn spacing and not bite on fakes … Shows very good timing and anticipation on blocks … Good hand eye coordination and soft / strong hands … Does a very good job of grabbing boards and catching passes, even out of his area … Excellent body control for a big … Listed at May, 2004 born making him just 20 years of age, giving him plenty of upside from a strength and development standpoint … Shows a lot of upside with not only his effort and size/ath package but also some touch on his shot … Displayed some nice touch on shots around the rim that were not dunks … At 230 lbs, has solid core strength, showing the ability to fight through contact and not get knocked off balance easily … Strong second jump … Showed solid competitiveness to step up his level of play against better competition …

Weaknesses: Lacks great feel for the game and polish on both ends of the floor … Offensively still very limited in terms of creating baskets and playing the pick and roll/pop game … Still has a lot of plays where his lack of experience and feel for the game are exposed … Defensively he gets lost too easily and does not have a great feel for positioning and where to be in help defense … Shot form needs work. Big hands get in the way and create side spin on his shot release. Really has no shooting range to speak of at this point and his improvement in this area will surely require time … While more of the nuance aspects that can be learned and improved over time, it means that he’s probably not ready to hit the court and produce right away, making him a bit more of a project than the average bigman being considered in his draft range … Just a 61% FT shooter and gets most of his baskets on assisted plays at the rim … Not the most fluid athlete in the open floor, while he runs fast, his body type and athleticism make him appear less athletic … Averaged 10 ppg, and has yet to show he can be much of a factor offensively outside of rim running … Lack of assists, 0.4 apg to 1.1 to, and passing ability exposes his low level feel for the game … A solid rebounder but can improve on technique and boxing out etc, hit the boards hard but can improve … Averaged just 5.6 rpg in 23 mpg …

Outlook: A boom or bust type pick who could really develop into a force at the next level or struggle to adapt and fall short of his vast potential … Projects as a likely mid first rounder, likely in the mid teens to early 20s on draft night …

Notes: Measured: 6′ 10.75” barefoot, 229.4 lbs, 7′ 2.00” wingspan,  9′ 1.50” standing reach, 31 standing vert,  38.5 max vert at the 2024 NBA Draft Combine … Native of Yaounde, Cameroon. Emigrated to the USA in 2021 .. Played high school ball at Prolific Prep in Napa, California … Made big strides in his time in high school and entered Baylor as a top 30 prospect …

Aran Smith 5/27/24