By ADAM ZAGORIA
Dana Altman has coached against some pretty good one-and-done players during his tenure as the Oregon men’s basketball coach. In Pac-12 play alone, he’s faced Washington’s Markelle Fultz and UCLA’s Lonzo Ball, the top two picks in last year’s NBA Draft.
Yet he says Arizona freshman Deandre Ayton is the best player he’s ever faced in the conference.
He’s “the best player that we’ve seen in this league in the eight years I’ve been fortunate to coach out West,” Altman told The 4 Quarters Podcast.
“He’s special. He can rebound, he’s got great hands, his feet are great. He scores anything 17 [feet] in, can put the ball on the floor a little bit. Pretty good passer. Deandre’s special.”
Yet with the 7-foot-1 Ayton projected as a top-3 pick in this year’s NBA Draft, Altman — and the league’s other coaches — won’t have to coach against him for long.
But out with the old and in with the new.
Next year the Pac-12 will welcome at least two more high mobile and unique 7-footers in Moses Brown (UCLA) and Bol Bol (Oregon), two newly-minted McDonald’s All-Americans who will play in the March 28 game in Atlanta.
The 7-2 Brown committed to UCLA on Monday, while Bol, the son of former NBA player Manute Bol, pledged to the Ducks in November, giving the Ducks the No. 1 recruiting class in 2018.
Both guys appear to fit the new NBA mold of mobile 7-footers who can run and space the floor, a trend that Karl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis, Anthony Davis and Lauri Markkanen have taken to a new level.
Brown is not the perimeter shooter that Bol is, but he likes to run and get up and down the floor, even if his post game and interior defense remain works in progress.
“He’s very mobile,” Archbishop Molloy coach Mike McCleary said. of Brown. “In the Pac-12, they need big guys who can move and he moves fantastic. He catches everything you throw to him. Great hands, he’s becoming a very good finisher, not just around the rim, but in the lane itself. He’s really getting to the point where he’s going to be a very effective scorer anywhere in the lane.”
Meantime, the 7-2 Bol is unique player who likes to sit on the perimeter and shoot three-pointers as much as bang down low.
“The closest thing to someone I’ve coached is Chris Boucher…who signed a two-way contract with Golden State,” Altman said. “Chris was not quite 7-2, he was 6-9. But he’s long and thin, could run, scored some baskets inside but also hit threes for us.”
Altman said they showed Bol “a lot of film” of Boucher while recruiting him, and “will let him shoot” the three-pointer at Oregon.
“As long as his practice regimen shows that he can shoot it, we will let I’m shoot it,” Altman said.
“He doesn’t have the body type to just throw him in the low post, you’ve got to cut him in there, flash him in there,” Altman added. “He’s very mobile, got great feet, and so we want to move him around and make the other bigs chase him around a little bit because I love his mobility. I love the fact that he’s a pretty good passer and can shoot it and spread the floor. So we will let him be himself.”
Down the road, Altman sees Ayton and Bol potentially following in the footsteps of guys like Porzingis, Davis, Markkanan, and now Ayton.
“I think all NBA franchises are looking for guys have that potential to not only score some inside but to step away from the basket and keep the floor spread to open up opportunities for penetration, ” Altman said.
“I do think guys like Deandre and Bol will flourish because of their ability to step out and spread the floor a little bit.”
Photo: Hoophall Classic
