Hollinger: No ‘Wembanyama moment’ but Ignite opens eyes at NBA G League Fall Invitational

HENDERSON, Nev. — If the 2023 NBA Draft was about one player, 2024’s might be about one program.

Nearly a year ago in this same arena, the G League Fall Invitational showed America the talents of French big man Victor Wembanyama and immediately removed any doubt whatsoever about who would be the first pick in the 2023 draft, even with nearly nine months to go before the event.

This time around, there was no Wembanyama moment, although the player most often mentioned as a potential top pick (G League Ignite’s Ron Holland) was very good. Instead, a display of Ignite’s quantity of prospects and quality of team play got everyone’s attention in the opener of the two-game exhibition series against the Perth Wildcats of Australia’s NBL. Ignite won with a clinical, wire-to-wire 124-105 blitz of the visitors and did it with a professionalism that belied much of the roster’s youth.

As many as seven players on the Ignite roster could be selected in June’s draft; six of them played on Wednesday (French import Thierry Darlan is still recovering from an ankle injury). Five scored in double figures in front of a sea of NBA scouts, who were also in town to get eyes on Perth big man Alex Sarr and guard Ben Henshall. All told, four of the top eight players on our Sam Vecenie’s most recent 2024 board were in the building on Wednesday, as well as at least two other potential first-rounders and a couple of likely second-rounders.

Combined with Perth’s prospects, there could well be nine players who were on the court Wednesday selected in the next two NBA Drafts. No wonder the crowd at Dollar Loan Center leaned heavily toward familiar middle-aged faces in team logo quarter-zips. At times it felt like watching the NBA Scouting Combine.

The two teams will meet again Friday in this building. But the overwhelming takeaway from this night was what a giant win this was for the Ignite program as a whole. The biggest criticism of it over the past few years has been the whiff of unseriousness about the enterprise, with prospects seemingly whiling away their time until they get drafted, coasting through games that don’t really matter.

This felt like the complete opposite. In an early September game, after just two weeks of real practice with a bunch of teenagers, Ignite played real, legitimate team basketball and took apart a professional overseas team. Needless to say, this completely blew away the “over” on expectations; given past experience and the timing of this contest, respondents to my informal pregame poll anticipated a ragged mess.

Leading the way with his usual dose of fierce competitiveness was Holland, who after a slow start repeatedly blew past Perth defenders en route to 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting in his first professional game.

“He’s fast,” said Ignite coach Jason Hart, “and once he started reading the court, I knew he’d start (scoring). He’s learning how to make it easy for himself against more physical guys.”

At times Holland’s competitive fire threatened to blow over, getting a taunting tech after a driving basket in the first half and nearly crossing the line for a second one after he disagreed with a third-quarter foul call. Hart quickly pulled Holland aside to defuse the moment.

“Ron is very, very competitive” Hart said. “So now I’m wanting to channel it to where the opposition doesn’t know if you’re mad or you’re happy. I just told him to relax, calm down … I think he heard me. But that’s going to be a process because he’s so competitive, and I don’t want to take that from him. That’s his thing; he’s just has to learn how to use it.”

“I did tell him,” Hart added, “When you make a bucket — you’re gonna make a lot of them — so just run down the court.”

Ignite also wisely peppered its roster with several veterans, with Matas Buzelis noting after the game how guard John Jenkins had him under his wing and helped show him the ropes.

Holland would be the betting favorite to be the top pick in the 2024 draft if a straw poll were taken today, but again, this was not a Wembanyama moment that ended the draft discussion. We have nearly 10 more months to evaluate this crop of prospects, and nobody from this year’s class has stamped themselves as a generational prospect.

Holland had plenty of help Wednesday:

• Buzelis, the consensus second-ranked prospect, overcame a rough first half to finish with 16 points, five boards and two blocks. His second half was something of a greatest hits collection — included some off-the-dribble shooting, a catch-and-shoot 3, a driving dunk and an alley-oop on a dime from Holland.
• Izan Almansa, the third player on Vecenie’s board, showed his peculiar combination of size, smarts, touch and feel that has him in scout’s sights despite average athleticism. In one of the most mouth-watering skill displays of the night, he took an outlet in transition, dribbled into a Eurostep and, while coming under control and slowing his momentum to avoid a charge, lofted a floater in for a bucket. He finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, three steals and three assists while often going head-to-head against his former Overtime Elite teammate Sarr.
• And notably, there was the play of the relatively unheralded Tyler Smith. The southpaw, who also came in from Overtime Elite, flashed an impressive stretch shooting game for a big man, stroking it like a young Chris Bosh clone. Smith scored 15 points, added four steals, was a game-high plus-25 for Ignite and probably did as much to improve his stock as any other player on the court. Afterward, he was back in the arena working on his catch-and-shoot 3s.
• Even the “role players” among these prospects put in solid performances. London Johnson ran the point and showed some legitimate burst in transition sequences, finishing with eight points and six assists, while swole forward Babacar Sane added 15 points and six boards.

Perth, wearing uniforms that were apparently on loan from NASCAR given the carpet of sponsor patches, had some impressive moments, from Sarr in particular. The French 7-footer blocked six shots — including consecutive tries at the rim by Buzelis — made two 3-pointers among his 17 points and rebounded above the rim. His early rim protection kept the Wildcats in the game while they spent the first half bricking 3-pointers (they started the game 2-of-14 from 3, with 14 of their first 19 shots from beyond the arc).

Perth, it should be noted, hasn’t had much time together either. The team flew halfway around the world to compete in these games and was almost instantly down by double figures. Now the Wildcats have 48 more hours to shake off the jetlag; nobody should be surprised if they play much better Friday.

With the two sides playing again shortly, I’ll save a more complete analysis of each prospect for a later date. Ignite, it should be noted, also will play in a tournament in Singapore later this month as part of a programmatic focus on extending the team’s development calendar.

Nonetheless, the early takeaway is that Ignite may finally be a program worth watching — not just for a couple of elite prospects, but for the first kernels of proof that there may be real development happening here, up and down the roster. It’s one game in September, but stay tuned.