A look into the future: Skal Labissiere

[Blueathletics]

AD part deuce? Wonder if Cal will let him use his offensive skills out on the floor when needed or keep him parked down low

This guy's the real deal......Again, sky's not falling when you see this type of talent

 

[Blueathletics]

Dang...nobody liking the looks of Skal??

 

[Supafuzz75]

 

[GreenRiverCat]

I can hardly wait until he gets to Lexington. He's going to be super fun to watch!

 

[The_Godfather]

one million bonus points for being able to spell his name correctly.

The frequent calling him of "Skal" will drive me nuts. UL fans refer to players by their first names.

You better come up with a nickname because these guys aren't going to ever successfully spell nor pronounce that last name.

 

[GreenRiverCat]

You better come up with a nickname because these guys aren't going to ever successfully spell nor pronounce that last name.

I've been working on it but have yet to hear it out loud, so yeah. He probably already has a nick name but we just don't know it yet.

 

[The_Godfather]

I like "The Biscuit"... because his last name when ya say it how he says it's pronounced "lay-biss-ee-air" combined with the fact that he speaks French makes me think "le biss" is French for "the biscuit".

I think we should run with it.

Sounds good so long as we give someone the nickname of "Gravy" to go along with him.

 

[Blue Decade]

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AD part deuce? Wonder if Cal will let him use his offensive skills out on the floor when needed or keep him parked down low

This guy's the real deal......Again, sky's not falling when you see this type of talent

It always bothers me a little bit when people compare high school players to NBA players. It is unfair to put that burden on Labissiere or any high school player. But I must admit, if you are looking for 1 former Kentucky player whose build and basic skills most resemble Labissiere at the same stage, that could be AD. They are similar. There is a caveat. Basketball is a team sport. AD was surrounded by a bunch of other players who got drafted. That helped him. Next year's team has yet to prove itself. If Jaylen Brown or Jamal Murray signs up, overall talent may be roughly comparable. That remains to be seen. I believe the burden on Labissiere to score points next year will be much heavier than the burden on AD, who was the #5 scorer on his Kentucky team.

 

[catfaninsc]

Sounds good so long as we give someone the nickname of "Gravy" to go along with him.

+1

Now i'm starting to get hungry.

 

[buckkiller]

THE BIG SL is going to be awesome!!

 

[Supafuzz75]

Lay-biss-e-air

 

[Brando Mac]

Dang...nobody liking the looks of Skal??

He will be quite the talented basketball player for us... most of us are just a little preoccupied waiting to see if he'll get a little more help

 

[loublue22]

one million bonus points for being able to spell his name correctly.

The frequent calling him of "Skal" will drive me nuts. UL fans refer to players by their first names.

The nickname/first name thing normally gets on my nerves as well, but I'm not typing out Labissiere a thousand times over the next year. Skal is fine.

 

[loublue22]

And I definitely think Cal lets him showcase his whole game, he'll be our #1 option without question unless Murray signs.

 

[Rhavicc]

I like "The Biscuit"... because his last name when ya say it how he says it's pronounced "lay-biss-ee-air" combined with the fact that he speaks French makes me think "le biss" is French for "the biscuit".

I think we should run with it.

No "Air Biscuit"? I prefer that name.
Offensively, Skal is the most well rounded big man that we'll have at UK. Davis being a close second, and Towns in third. Truth be told though, Towns was incredibly raw in the post, but he just knew how much he needed to put on the ball to make it go in. That's a special skill.
Demarcus Cousins is the most dominating physical presence of all. Basically he came into the game, said "I am Demarcus Cousins", and got a double-double while only averaging 23 mpg.
We don't need Labissiere to be a dominating physical presence though, we just need him to dominate.
Offensively, he has a smooth shooting stroke with a ridiculous vertical on it that I'll go as far as saying that AD would be very challenged to block it. (Potentially, the ultimate compliment to any 2PT jumper). The kid can do one-legged fadeaway jumpers and make them go in, turnaround jumpers, or he can make a play with his skill and athleticism and put it on the floor. Offensively, he's going to play like AD, but probably do better with it.
Despite having some poor rebounding form at the moment (i.e., doesn't rebound with 2 hands much), he snags up a ton of rebounds in every game I've watched of him. Once Cal starts making him go up strong and rebounding it with 2 hands, I expect that number to go up even more. Don't be surprised if he has a couple 15 rebound games after that, and we know it will happen, because Cal has always done it. In the cases of AD and Towns, it made the team much, much tougher to beat.
He's very good defensively, despite being young in that area of his game, and not receiving any elite defensive training from a coach like Cal. The kid has athleticism like WCS, and can defend and block shots out towards the perimeter very well. Has a very, very quick recovery time, and defensively, he's really a smart defender. Once he gets into better defensive form, and learns a few tricks of the trade, that can take us a long way yet again.
I have high expectations for the kid, and if we get Brown, I have 2012ish expectations.