Post by jhb on Jun 1, 2021 10:10:47 GMT -5
Xavier McDaniel
SF
6'7"
205
22
Wichita State
McDaniel is a power forward in the body of an athletic small forward. The X-Man has all of the athleticism and explosiveness of a TMBSL small forward but he plays the game with the strength and physicality of a power forward. The question is will he be able to continue to make that work against the much larger and talented athletes of TMBSL and will his lack of perimeter skills hurt his ability to truly be a wing at the next level.
The big thing that will set X-Man apart from TMBSL small forwards and make him valuable is that he can rebound like an elite power forward. He averaged over 14 rebounds per game over his final 90 games of college ball and crashes the boards equally hard on both ends. He also plays pretty good defense, having the athleticism to defend out to the perimeter against smaller, quicker players while also being able to drop into the post and work the block against bigs. While by no means a thin or frail guy, he'll need to add strength to continue to do that at as high a level against TMBSL level players. He has shown that he can be disruptive and block some shots.
Offensively, he does almost all of his damage in the low post. He has the explosiveness to elevate and create space for himself to finish in traffic against larger players and he's strong enough to finish through contact. He's got a fairly advanced low post game for a perimeter player and a soft touch to finish at the rim. Which is good, because he's not very effective outside the paint and he's not a very good ball-handler so he can't really create his own shot away from the rim. His jump shot is ugly and he only barely makes more than 60% at the free throw line. He does not have any confidence from range and rarely makes attempts outside of 10-15 feet.
