Latest news with #SamVecenie
Boston Globe
27-06-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Five things to know about Celtics' second-round draft pick Amari Williams
He was productive at the mid-major and high-major levels Williams came off the bench as a freshman for Drexel, which plays in the mid-major Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), but emerged as one of the league's top players in his sophomore year. Advertisement He won CAA Defensive Player of the Year three consecutive seasons and was a first-team All-CAA selection in his final two years at Drexel, averaging 12.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game as a senior while leading the Dragons to a second-place finish in the league. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Williams received a major jump in competition with his transfer to Kentucky in a loaded SEC, and he was a key piece for a Wildcats team that reached the Sweet 16. At Kentucky, he became just the second men's player in SEC history — and 25th in NCAA history — to record at least 375 points, 300 rebounds, 100 assists, 40 blocks and 20 steals in a single season. He has a history with Great Britain's junior national teams Advertisement The Nottingham, England, native grew up playing both basketball and soccer before deciding to focus strictly on basketball in his mid-teens. He took part in Great Britain's national program at the Under-16, Under-18, and Under-20 levels, and got onto the radar of college coaches with his performances at global tournaments including the NBA Academy Games and Basketball Without Borders. When he debuts with the Celtics, he will become just the third active NBA player from England. He is an excellent passer One of Williams's top attributes is his playmaking ability. He averaged 3.2 assists per game at Kentucky and was lauded for his ability to find backdoor cutters and use his long reach to pass over the top of defenses. He was tied for the Wildcats' team lead in assists with 115, the most ever tallied by a 7-footer at Kentucky in a single season. The Athletic's Sam Vecenie wrote that 'Williams could be a terrific passing big man in an era when just about every team is playing five-out even with non-shooting bigs.' His offensive game is primarily around the basket Williams is a traditional center on the offensive end, with a game predicated on post touches, finishing around the rim, and crashing the offensive glass. He took only four three pointers last season, and 30 in 141 collegiate games. Williams was efficient around the rim last season, shooting a team-high 56.1 percent from the field and 64 percent on shot attempts at the rim. He also has displayed a consistent ability to get to the line over his college career, averaging above five free throw attempts per game each of the past three seasons (he shot 62.3 percent at the stripe last year). Advertisement His defensive versatility will be critical to NBA success Williams has all the requisite measurables of an NBA big man and racked up numerous defensive accolades in college for his high-end interior defense. But his future with the Celtics will be determined in large part by his ability to translate his defensive game against the talent and screen-heavy play style of the modern NBA. Yahoo's Kevin O'Connor writes that 'he does a great job of playing his angles as a drop coverage defender,' but warns that 'he struggles to recover when he's pulled out to the perimeter. He can't be relied on to switch screens. Asking him to defend a 3-point shooting big would not go well at this stage of his career.' Likewise, Vecenie notes that 'NBA players will turn the corner against him far too easily. The good news is that he has the length to recover in these circumstances. But he needs to become utterly elite with his angles in drop coverage to make this work.' Matty Wasserman can be reached at
New York Times
26-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Jazz draft Rutgers star Ace Bailey with No. 5 pic
The Athletic has live coverage of the 2025 NBA Draft The Utah Jazz selected Ace Bailey with the No. 5 pick Wednesday night. Bailey, the 2024 Mr. Georgia Basketball, played his only collegiate season for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, whom he led in minutes and total rebounds this past season. He started in 30 of Rutgers' 32 games, averaging 17.6 points, 1.3 assists, 7.2 rebounds and a steal per game. Bailey, 18, made 46 percent of his shots and 69 percent of his free throws. Advertisement Bailey led his team with 38 blocks and scored 527 points, the second most for a true freshman in Rutgers history. He also tied the program's single-game freshman scoring record with a 39-point performance against Indiana. Rutgers, which struggled mightily whenever Bailey was off the court, posted a 15-17 record and lost to USC in the opening round of the Big Ten tournament. Going into Wednesday, Bailey drew substantial attention and speculation with his decision not to visit any NBA teams before the draft. It's anyone's guess whether that impacted who ultimately took him. The Athletic's Sam Vecenie projected him as a clear top 10 pick ahead of the draft, with huge potential upside. The ceiling for Bailey is the second-best player in this class if he improves his areas of need. Particularly, he needs to improve his flexibility and ability to play with bend while also getting stronger. That would allow him to access more power and use his gifts across the court in a more functional manner. Once he does that, Bailey would be able to start working on improving his gathers and ball pickups around the rim on his drives to improve his finishing, which would also hopefully get defenders more off-balance and give him more options. That would improve his shooting percentages, which again, even on pull-ups this year, were markedly low. Then, on defense, it would allow him to play the leverage game better. Hopefully, better engagement on that end would follow, too, but he showed enough upside on that end to become a player. If all of this happens, there's serious All-Star upside. Anyone who says that doesn't exist is flat-out wrong. There is a chance Bailey could morph into a playmaker and star-level difference-maker on the wing. Ultimately, though, it all feels like a bit of a house of cards. He needs to improve the bend and flexibility, which would then improve certain parts of his game. Then, he'd need to also keep improving the shooting percentage, and oh, by the way, he'd also need to keep improving his ability to make decisions off his drives as a passer, and then on top of that he needs to get locked in more consistently and showcase better engagement on defense regularly. There are just a lot of moving parts that make me somewhat uncomfortable with drafting a player like this in the top five. There are so many areas that need improvement. The good news is there's a floor. Already, Bailey is a shooter off the catch and a player with size, length and athleticism who has shown moments on defense at 18 years old. That should allow him to stick in the NBA for a long while, even if the upside case doesn't totally come together. Advertisement Where Bailey lands is probably going to tell the tale of his career. I would love to see him end up in a situation where he can learn to play more consistently off the ball early in his career, develop his feel for the game a bit more and not be thrust into a primary scoring role. That would allow him to develop slowly and work on all the many parts of his game that need development. Think of the players like this archetype who have had success. Jayson Tatum landed in a Boston situation that didn't rely on him to be the guy until Year 3. Paul George basically came off the bench in Year 1 before blossoming in his third year. Kawhi Leonard didn't play much on the ball until his fourth year. Bailey is a project. He's one worth investing in, but it's going to take time as he continues to mature. Hopefully, he lands in a situation that gives him that chance. — Sam Vecenie This story will be updated.
New York Times
26-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Analysis, fits for every NBA Draft pick from John Hollinger and Sam Vecenie
The 2025 NBA Draft is underway — taking place over two days — and The Athletic's draft experts Sam Vecenie and John Hollinger are analyzing each pick as it happens. 1. Dallas Mavericks Cooper Flagg | 6-foot-8 wing | 18 years old | Duke Vecenie's ranking: 1 Flagg is about as complete a prospect as I've evaluated in the years I've been doing this. I have him as the second-best prospect during my time as an evaluator since 2015, behind only Victor Wembanyama. While I think Williamson's theoretical ceiling was higher than Flagg's, Flagg's overall game on both ends of the court and his blend of skill level and craft will likely translate better to high-leverage situations. Two other factors make me pick Flagg over Williamson. First, with Flagg, there is no roster-building limitation. Because he's so complete and such an elite competitor in terms of mentality, he's an amplifier of those around him. With Williamson, you always needed to build a specific type of roster around him, likely needing to find the all-important floor-spacing center, a difficult archetype to acquire. Second, Williamson had injury concerns going back to high school. Flagg has not. The level of safety you get with Flagg drastically exceeds that of Williamson, even on draft day in 2019. Advertisement I see Flagg as a future All-NBA player with his upside being that he could become a top-five player in the league. His overall impact on the game on both ends of the floor is remarkable. He's the exact kind of player you want to build your organization around in terms of temperament and mentality if you want to try to win championships. He's an immediate organizational centerpiece. Hollinger's analysis: A sigh of relief from Dallas fans, as Nico Harrison didn't trade down or select somebody else. In all seriousness, this is an absolute no-brainer of a pick. Flagg's mid-case scenario is that he's an All-Star by the end of his rookie contract, and he has MVP upside. The bigger question for the Mavs is whether they should nuke the rest of their veteran team and rebuild around Flagg.
New York Times
25-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
The 2025 NBA Draft's best remaining available players
The Athletic has live coverage of the 2025 NBA Draft. There will be 59 picks made in the 2025 draft (the New York Knicks have forfeited their 2025 second-round pick because of free-agency shenanigans). This list should cover most, if not all, of the names you'll hear called Wednesday and Thursday night. (Editor's note: Overall rankings reflect a prospect's latest rankings on Sam Vecenie's top 100. Read more about those prospects in our 2025 NBA Draft Guide.)
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
ESPN Cameraman Accused Of 'Inappropriate' Shot During Game 7
ESPN Cameraman Accused Of 'Inappropriate' Shot During Game 7 originally appeared on The Spun. Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals has been clouded by Tyrese Haliburton's devastating injury. Haliburton, the Indiana Pacers' All-NBA point guard, was playing through a calf injury. He went down with what could be a torn Achilles injury in the first quarter of Game 7. Haliburton was down on the ground, in serious pain, as play had to be stopped for a couple of minutes. Advertisement Video of Haliburton getting helped off of the floor and into the locker room is brutal to watch. The Indiana Pacers have since announced that Haliburton is out for the rest of the game. "Injury Update: Tyrese Haliburton (right lower leg injury) will not return to tonight's game," the team announced. Meanwhile, ESPN has been taking heat for repeatedly showing Haliburton's gruesome injury and reaction. Tyrese Haliburton "ESPN, I'm good without the repeated viewings of the Haliburton injury at this point. Got it up until the end of the 1Q. But I don't need him slamming the ground with his hand 45 times the rest of the game," NBA writer Sam Vecenie wrote. Advertisement "ESPN is the worst. Cannot wait for them to go belly up once and for all," one fan added. "They're gonna talk about it nonstop all game aren't they," one fan added. "Completely agree. Whats the over under on how many times they show that replay on the broadcast for the rest of the game? I'd say 9.5," one fan added. "Stop showing it again and again! Show the game!" former NBA star Detlef Schrempf added. Meanwhile, in Haliburton's absence, Pacers star Pascal Siakam has reportedly been stepping up inside of the Indiana team huddle. The injury to Haliburton is a massive one, so it's understandable that ESPN would want to cover it in extreme fashion. Advertisement But is ESPN going too far with its injury coverage? ESPN Cameraman Accused Of 'Inappropriate' Shot During Game 7 first appeared on The Spun on Jun 23, 2025 This story was originally reported by The Spun on Jun 23, 2025, where it first appeared.
