Pe'Shon Howard Impressions Open Thread

Master Pe' was on TV yesterday, as Oak Hill Academy took on Northland at the Hoophall Classic. Northland would unfortunately win at the buzzer, but it was a pretty good game, both for Pe'Shon - who had 11 points and 5 rebounds - and Oak Hill, who went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the country.

As for what I thought of Pe'Shon? Good, but not great. He hit most of his open threes and showed the strength and dribbling ability to get the rim - once he starts to finish those, he'll have a very difficult game to guard. He's a good, sometimes exceptional passer; he had a pass in the middle of a spin move in the lane to an open man at the top of the key once, and had a great no-look on the break to Doron Lamb that was bobbled. He still surprises some of the recipients with his passes.

He hustles a lot. He dove out of bounds into the stands to save a ball once, and that seemed pretty indicative of his entire game. He comes up with some unexpected rebounds, and his court vision lets him start the break with some great outlets. We already knew he enjoyed defense, and it showed. Howard seems the type of guy that Gary will like.

On the negative, he did miss some of the close shots and missed three huge free throws, any one of which would've sent the game to OT. He took some shots that weren't great decisions - a few forced deep threes that were Vasquez-esque. He never seemed to be the first offensive option, and kind of seemed like a role player on the team, albeit a really good one. And that's okay - there are 5 high-major DI players on this team - but I don't think he'll be The Man offensively. That's not to say he can't develop into it one day, but I don't think he has it right now.

I know this has already been said, but there's a lot of Greivis Vasquez in him. He's demonstrative, passionate, and has phenomenal swag, which is where a lot of people see the similarity. He's not necessarily a pure point guard (still seems a combo to me).  He's not an outstanding shooter but shows the ability to get to the hoop even though he's not particularly quick. His passes are occasionally jaw-dropping. That's all Vasquez. People may worry about replacing Vasquez's scoring and leadership next year, but his personality will still be here.

There's a bit of Sean Mosley peppered in, too, with the hustle, rebounding, and enjoyment of playing defense. Considering how much Gary likes Vasquez and Mosley, I'd be pretty confident that he'll like Howard.

Sum it up, having watched three of his games: he's probably an ACC level starter that has the ability to lead a team emotionally, play good defense, hustle, and dish out assists while scoring low-to-mid double-digits. He's not going to dominate too many games offensively, but he's not supposed to. His strength is driving and either kicking or going up with it, much like Vasquez, and he can hit the open three.

Then again, I'm not a professional scout or anything. These are just my incoherent ramblings. If you saw the game, what'd you think of him?

(BTW - I still love him).