Willis Sybine

Strengths: Sybine is a truly unique player, hard to draw an immediate comparison to in the NBA. He can really play all five positions on the floor, possesses incredible versatility, a promising and developing basketball body, and the budding skill set to go along with all that. Sybine epitomizes the trend that the NBA is currently leaning towards: raw big men with guard skills. In the high school level Sybine is capable of running the court, going coast to coast and even making behind-the-back passes in the process.

He really possesses many guard skills, not only incredible for his height, but also incredible considering his current stage of development. He has magnificent court vision and continually looks to make the flashy pass, whether to cutters or whatnot. He looks extremely fluid running the court and will definitely beat most of his matchups in that way, potentially being a matchup nightmare.

And that's not even to mention his shooting ability: Although not truly tested or proficient in this area at this point in time, Sybine makes a concerted effort to score from everywhere. He has college three point range and seems to be able to hit from NBA three at times, displays jumpstop jumpshots, can hit from mid-range, off the dribble, or slashing to the basket. Sybine is not incredibly consistent or proficient in this area but his array of offensive moves often puts defenders on their heels because they never know what he is going to utilize. Sybine truly plays like a guard, and a good guard at that, having an array of offensive weapons and passing skills to go to.

What makes Sybine really the complete package is his athletic ability. He's not extremely athletic, but he can be quite explosive at times attacking the basket and utilizing his length and solid vertical for dunks. His first step, fluidity and good speed running the court seem more impressive than his athleticism, but his athleticism is not bad at all and he can match up with athletic players quite well.

Sybine has potential to become a good defender, especially from the perimeter, with his length. He displays good lateral quickness and has the length to block shots, already blocking quite a bit of shots at the high school level just by his sheer length and height already.

Sybine also possesses good ballhandling skills, especially great for the high school level, never dribbling too low and always maintaining the rate of his dribble, and switching hands and even utilizing crossovers under pressure. His ballhandling skills are key to many things he does: utilizing his magnificent passes, utilizing his triple threat skills to shoot or attack the basket, or whatnot.

Weaknesses: Sybine doesn't have any true weaknesses, but his game is largely untested, just like many high school players, although he has a plethora of skills and tools to go to that it's hard to see that he cannot make an impact in the NBA.

Sybine tends to go for the flashy play a bit too much, utilizing his natural abilities above the simple, effective or team-oriented play. He has solid basketball IQ but he can be a bit too ball-dominant at times, trying to call for the ball and make plays for himself and others. He can be an effective lanky and versatile player in the NBA but he definitely won't be a full-time guard, so he may have to settle for less ballhandling and whatnot.

Sybine can hit jumpshots from everywhere, but he can also miss open ones too, and he can be prone for streakiness. He can really abuse taking jumpshots and defer playing around the basket, being too trigger-happy from the perimeter. Sybine values himself as a guard a bit too much, and although he plays around the paint at times and is far from soft, he does it not often enough. Sybine's post game is rather undeveloped and he scores off his defender simply with his height and length from the post.

Sybine's defense is a work in progress, and a lot has to do with his body especially with regards to post defense. Sybine may get pushed at times because of his lack of weight, and he roughly needs 25-40 more lbs. to offset his lack of upper body strength. He has strong legs to hold his ground to some extent but gets pushed in the chest causing him to lose some of that ground. He is definitely not capable of center defensively unless that center is an offensive liability. In the perimeter he doesn't make a concerted effort to challenge shots, although this may be part of the high school mentality since defense is not particularly emphasized.

Sybine is extremely turnover prone and foul prone even in the high school level. The turnover prone aspect is primarily due to the fact that he forces the issue a bit too much with everything he does, especially his passes. He makes spectacular passes but is capable of throwing the ball away by forcing this kind of play repeatedly. He can do too much off the dribble and lose his handle as well. Despite all of his talent, Sybine really needs to control his game at times. He can get out of control with all of his natural skills and this sometimes even holds back his game at the HS level. Sybine is foul prone because he simply doesn't have much defensive discipline as of now, as a result he picks up many ticky-tack fouls trying to make a defensive play. He also picks up many fouls being backed down by his man at times, despite the opposition being many inches shorter than him (a testament to his lack of weight).