If You Think Victor Wembanyama Is Cool, Then Take A Look At What's Going On In North Dakota
Ed Zurga. Getty Images.I'll be honest, before today I had no idea who Grant Nelson was. Never heard that name before at any point in my life. Granted I'm not much of a college basketball guy outside of getting my hopes up after a few ASU wins only for them to rip my heart out come the Spring with another underachieving season, so my apologies if everyone already knows about this kid.
What I am though is an expert on Twitter/YouTube highlight reels. Every year I go through the same draft process that has been scientifically proven over the years to pretty much always deliver. Some people watch every game, study the film and look at the analytics. Me? All I need to know is what your highlight tape shows and I gotta say, this one made me stop in my tracks a little bit
I'm sorry, what?

Every day we collectively freak out over any type of Wembanyama highlight, but maybe we also should be paying attention to what's going down in North Dakota? I mean those posters were TOUGH and certainly not what I was expecting as I began to watch that video. That's a 6'11 dude with guard handles/movements that shouldn't really be possible for a guy that size. We're going to eventually get to the point where if you're under like 6'5 there's not going to be a place for you in the NBA because the new guards are all going to be 6'9 and above. I think that's partly why I love highlight tapes like this because it shows the evolution of the game. It wasn't too long ago that there was no chance a 6'11 guy was moving/playing like this.
A quick Google search tells me this kid isn't even mocked to get drafted. Is that because in reality he stinks or is it because nobody knows he exists? That's a legit question to anyone who watches college basketball and knows about him. I get that maybe his athleticism isn't the greatest and he's a little slow, but whatever. You can improve that shit once you get into an NBA program/G-League. His stats tell me that he's not much of an outside shooter (21% this year), but that's never stopped me from being in on a prospect before. You can teach someone to shoot. I know this because I watch Grant Williams every day.
In terms of my favorite team, the Celts currently have their 2nd round pick this summer. If by some grace of God, this kid is around in the 2nd round, I demand Brad draft him. Not sure if he knows this, but the 4 spot is a bit of a question long term. Something tells me a guy with that skillset can work next to Tatum/Brown/Rob/Smart etc.

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Just watch that video again and tell me there weren't a handful of moments that made you say "what the hell?". That's some KD shit and I know we throw that out a lot whenever a super tall prospect plays like a guard, but just like it's true for Wembanyama it's true here. The skill level is pretty scary. If you need some more tape, here ya go
I know it's early, but count me in. Now I just pray Brad already knows about him and has him on his list.