Myron MedcalfMar 27, 2025, 02:47 PM ET
Shut
- Covers school basketball
- Joined ESPN.com in 2011
- Graduate of Minnesota State College, Mankato
As a freshman at UCLA just about two decades in the past, Kevin Love used to be seen as a singular ability as a result of his passing skill and offensive versatility, however the five-time NBA All-Superstar stated there’s a new crop of “unicorns” who’re extra complex than gamers of his era at this level.
“Now, you are getting those guys which can be 6-8 plus, 6-10, 7 toes tall, which can be simply actually doing the entirety available in the market at the flooring,” Love instructed ESPN on Wednesday. “And I feel it is simply extremely arduous to protect and it is taking the sport to a actually superb position as neatly, since you’re seeing those guys which can be unicorns available in the market, guys which can be actually doing the entirety and refining their talents, while previously they won’t have labored on this stuff.
“The expansion inside the sport, it is actually superb to look the place it has long past, particularly within the ability and participant construction at an excellent previous age.”
Love pointed to Duke’s Cooper Flagg, the projected No. 1 select within the 2025 NBA draft, and Cam Boozer, the five-star recruit who will practice Flagg because the staple of Jon Scheyer’s subsequent recruiting magnificence with the Blue Devils, as examples.
NBA famous person Kevin Love stated he believes that younger, tall gamers, equivalent to two-time Gatorade nationwide participant of the 12 months Cam Boozer (above), have skillsets that had been as soon as international to gamers at their positions. Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports activities
Love, who stunned Boozer together with his 2d Gatorade Nationwide Participant of the Yr award this week, stated the 2 younger stars — and different gamers like them — will input the following level in their careers with a ability set that used to be as soon as international to gamers at their positions.
“I imply, he will grasp the ball off the backboard, take it the entire means down and, if someone does not forestall him from hanging it within the rim, he will pull up, he will get to that subsequent scenario,” Love stated of Boozer. “He’s going to paintings from the midpost. He is dealing with the ball. He is passing the ball and getting his teammates concerned.
Editor’s Choices
2 Comparable
“It has actually develop into, like I stated, positionless basketball, and guys are in a position to actually do the entirety available in the market at the flooring. You simply did not see that after I first got here into the league.”
Flagg will pursue his shot at historical past as 1-seed Duke performs 4-seed Arizona within the Candy 16 on Thursday evening. Best 3 novices in school basketball historical past — Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson — have gained the Wood Award. Best 5 novices were named Maximum Exceptional Participant within the NCAA event.
Flagg’s eventual departure to the NBA will set the level for Scheyer’s top-ranked recruiting magnificence, which shall be anchored by way of Boozer and his dual, Cayden Boozer (No. 16 within the 2025 ESPN 100). Like Flagg, Boozer is a multidimensional 6-foot-9 standout who’s in a position to impacting the sport in numerous tactics.
“What Duke has carried out with gamers in my place over the past couple of years,” Boozer instructed ESPN ahead of damn off the names of Paolo Banchero, Zion Williamson, Jayson Tatum and Brandon Ingram. “The ones are 4 guys who’re all stars and a few would say superstars or long term superstars.
“I feel, simply the whole Duke tradition normally, what they do with profitable and making deep event runs — that is one thing that I am able to do right here [in high school]. So I feel going to the following stage, proceeding that and in addition creating into the participant I wish to be on the subsequent stage, the place [Love] is at at the moment — I feel that used to be an enormous a part of the verdict for me.”
