The Zion Williamson injury did little to stop Duke from bouncing back from a loss at the hands of rival North Carolina, putting together a strong second half to beat Syracuse by 10 over the weekend. Freshman forward Cam Reddish struggled again with only five points in the win, but a few college coaches can see upside in his game, going as far as comparing him to Tracy McGrady.
“I like his upside in the NBA more than (R.J.) Barrett,” an anonymous Division I coach told Sam Vecenie of The Athletic. “Because he doesn’t have the toughness of R.J. and Zion, he’s definitely getting overshadowed. And rightfully so. Those guys play harder, they’re more ready.
“But he doesn’t get to play with the ball in his hands, which is what he’s really good at. In the NBA, he has kind of a Tracy McGrady type talent base. He can handle the ball, he can shoot off the bounce. But he’s just cool. And that’s the scary thing. If he doesn’t get that fire or sense of urgency, he’ll end up being just a regular player. But if he gets it, he’ll be an NBA All-Star.”
Reddish is the victim of the coalition of such great talent in one team, as most of the looks will go to Zion Williamson or R.J. Barrett in isolation, while Tre Jones handles the ball plenty with point guard duties.
The 6-foot-8, 220-pound freshman has a lanky frame similar to McGrady (6-foot-8, 210 pounds), and he has a similar skill set. However, Reddish has been treated as a third scoring option and sometimes even a fourth, mostly relegated to a spot-up shooter role.
Reddish is shooting only 35.6 percent from the field and 33.2 percent from deep despite teeing up eight treys per game, but most coaches believe there is more than the 14.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game that make out his game, so long as he can find his aggression at some point and showcase the full regalia of his skills before his freshman season comes to a close.
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