There aren’t many 7-footers in high school. In fact, there aren’t many 7-footers anywhere. But there have been and there will continue to be 7-footers on the basketball court, so that’s not what makes Thon Maker special, though a 7-1 high school sophomore will make some NBA GM’s perk up and take notice. No, it’s Thon’s ball-handling and shooting that gave us pause as you’ll see in his mix tape.
Thon’s mix tape starts out like most mix tapes do: with huge dunks and monster blocks. He’s 7-1 guy in high school, so that’s to be expected. But then he does this…
and another jab-step, followed by a single dribble before pull-up like he’s been studying a lot of tape of Carmelo Anthony…
and finally the handle is pretty tight…
Now we’re a little giddy about what Thon’s gonna do in college in a couple years. Stay tuned for this guy.
But — and this is just us playing contrarian, since we’ve seen stuff like this before — when Tyson Chandler was coming out of Compton’s Dominguez High School in 2001, we saw a ton of footage (on actual television) where he was shooting the ball from beyond the three-point line and pulling up for jumpers.
After toiling in Chicago for a few years, Chandler’s become DPOY and a pick-and-roll lob partner, but he never became an offensive force like he resembled in high school. So while Thon looks like a taller KD, he’s got a long, long way to go before any comparison like that is fair.
(video via CityLeagueHoopsTV; h/t BroBible)
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