2024 NBA Draft: A Quick Look at Silas Demary Jr. and Rakease Passmore
While Trentyn Flowers made headlines recently by announcing he'd be playing in the NBL next season for the Adelaide 36ers, he's not the only player from Combine Academy who should be in NBA Draft conversations this upcoming season and in 2025.
Both Silas Demary Jr. and Rakease Passmore have the potential to be NBA players, with Demary Jr. eligible for the 2024 NBA Draft while Passmore is eligible for the 2025 NBA Draft. Additionally, Collin Tanner showed potential this season at Combine Academy. While Tanner may not be the discussion of this article, he showed flashes of strong on-ball defense as well as the ability to knockdown catch-and-shoot threes. The 6-foot-6 guard may also be a player to look out for this upcoming season, as he's entering his freshman year at Richmond.
Demary Jr. is a 6-foot-4 guard committed to Georgia this upcoming season, and is ranked as the No. 103 player in the 2023 high school class. Passmore is 6-foot-5 wing and is ranked as the No. 46 overall recruit in the 2024 class.
Let's take a quick look at Demary Jr.'s game first:
Silas Demary Jr
Offensively, Demary Jr. creates rim pressure consistently with a combination of strength, speed, once he hits his second gear, and power. He's a controlled driver who has also shown potential as a primary playmaker. Statistically, he averaged 13.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game for Combine Academy this past season.
One area of improvement offensively for Demary Jr. is his verticality at the rim, which would help with finishing at times. While this is a great play from the rim protector in the clip below, adding verticality to his attempts at the rim could be beneficial.
Defensively, the 6-foot-4 guard has very active hands on-ball. He averaged a whopping 1.8 steals per game for Combine Academy this past season and his combination of strength and lateral quickness shows up on the defensive side of the ball.
Overall, Demary Jr. is undoubtedly a potential NBA prospect to watch that is not on many radars at the moment. His blend of second-gear speed and strength driving, potential playmaking ability and defensive disruption he offers as a 6-foot-4 guard is intriguing.
Rakease Passmore
Passmore is a 6-foot-5 wing who appears to be even taller on film. The No. 46 overall recruit in the 2024 high school class has the ability to hit catch-and-shoot threes and is a threat to create offense in transition at all times, even if it seems like the offense doesn't have a clear advantage.
Most intriguing, however, are his flashes of shooting off of movement and screens. Keep in mind, the film below is when Passmore is a junior in high school. The footwork for someone his age is impeccable, and there could be real potential for actions to be drawn up for him that will consistently open up his ability to shoot off of movement or screens this upcoming season at Combine Academy.
Before diving into movement shooting, it's important to start with his catch-and-shoot ability. In the first clip below, we see his sound left-right footwork to step into his catch-and-shoot. Additionally, in all three clips we see Passmore's relocation ability — an underrated microskill that helps off-ball shooters garner more open looks.
Additionally, Passmore's ability to sprint to his spot off a down screen, set his feet with the same left-right footwork, and elevate into a fluid jumper is very impressive — especially for a junior in high school.
One area to look for Passmore to improve upon this upcoming season is his inconsistent ball-handling on drives. While it's encouraging that he drives consistently and can lead a fastbreak, his upright stature when driving makes him more likely to lose the ball. Ensuring that he can reduce his turnovers on drives will be crucial to projecting his ability to both attack closeouts and slash from the wings at the next level.
Passmore has the tools to be impactful on the defensive side of the ball as well. He uses his length to garner on-ball blocks at times, but also attempts to rely on his length too often. Both his lateral quickness defensively and defensive technique will be two areas scouts may be watching to see him improve this upcoming season.
Passmore is absolutely someone to watch this upcoming season at Combine Academy as a potential 2025 NBA Draft prospect. While he's likely to offer catch-and-shoot ability immediately, it's his the ability to shoot off of screens that could provide immense value to an NBA team down the line. Passmore has offers from 26 different schools, and is considered most interested in Indiana, Oregon, and Wake Forest according to 247Sports.com.
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