Anthony Pierson

Strengths: Pierson is an absolute rock in the paint who possesses extreme strength for his age, at already 230 lbs for a high school senior. He routinely abuses far weaker players at Lojolo High, but unlike many players of his build at high school, he possesses a constant motor, a killer instinct has many fundamentals of the game down pat necessary to translate to the NBA. He refuses to be boxed out, fights for every loose ball, goes out of his territory routinely and possesses solid mobility for the NBA as he every now and then plays solid off the ball defense on quicker players. He is really a top rebounder sheerly due to strength and desire. Offensively, Pierson has very solid touch around the basket, although overpowering players at the HS level he rarely resorts to it; he goes for the rim rattling dunk where he has very solid athleticism, a good wingspan (6'11"1/2) and the mentality to score and leave a lasting impression on fellow opponents. He seems to have an array of post moves and counter moves--an ambidextrous player, he can use his left or right hand for finger rolls or short shots. Pierson also shows signs of a developing jumpshot, and although streaky after 15 feet, can hit a 12 foot jumpshot with regularity. His combination of strength, hustle rebounding ability, killer instinct, and solid offensive progress is currently his biggest draw. As noted, he's nothing to cheer about defensively at this point, but has the mobility to occasionally handle smaller players and the strength to not be abused by bigger players.

Weaknesses: At 6'8", Pierson will clearly be considered undersized for the next level, but hustling smaller big men are en vogue in the NBA after seeing the success of players like Craig Smith and Carl Landry making their impact offensively while scrapping defensively. At this stage in time, Pierson has to watch his conditioning--he hustles a lot to the point where minor to major injuries can occur, and how well he takes care of his body will be crucial; weight problems may be a concern for the future as well. Talentwise, Pierson is there, but unlike other high school players, he doesn't have the athletic upside to really warrant being a lottery type talent unless he really develops great enough skills to make up for it. Pierson is essentially a black hole offensively at this point, although at the high school level where talent is inferior this may change when he plays against better competition. As noted, defensively in the NBA his problems may be compounded against faster guards and bigger big men, and while he has a solid foundation for inside/outside defensive maneuvering, physically he simply cannot match up to NBA level athletes. He won't have the shotblocking ability due to his merely solid athleticism and poor size for the big men positions, not to mention he isn't that vertically explosive at all. Pierson's jumper is streaky at this point, and although showing potential, he'll need to ratchet up the consistency in college. At times Pierson will display bad body language when he doesn't receive the ball, so developing a role player's mentality may be crucial for his NBA success.