Scouting Report: Ishmael Wainwright

If there was one youngster worth catching just once this weekend, it was Ishmael Wainwright of the KC 76ers. Despite a fairly relaxed performance, it was easy to see what all the hype was about.

Standing a full 6’5, Ishmael Wainwright’s physique is impressive for such a young kid. The 2013 wing uses his power and athleticism to affect the game, as he’s far more physically advanced that most kids his age.

While it’s still really early – he’s only going to be a sophomore in high school this year – it can’t hurt to go ahead and get an early feel for Wainwright’s game and its potential.

Even though he plays mainly in the post for Victor Williams’ team, Wainwright projects as a high-major wing. He has broad shoulders, long arms, and soft hands, and could be considered high-major just on his looks alone. But, the scouting report doesn’t stop at just the physical attributes of Wainwright.

Coming up the floor off a rebound, Wainwright showed good ballhandling skills with both his right and left hands. He’s certainly no danger to be running the point, but he looked comfortable enough on the break and moved with a fluid ease with the ball in his hands. When he had the chance, Wainwright displayed excellent passing skills and seemingly had excellent vision when going into the lane.

The progression of Wainwright’s jumpshot will be one of the ultimate factors in his recruitment as a high major prospect. He isn’t a consistent shooter yet, but the mechanics are very good and you can tell he’s been coached well since a young age. He releases the ball high, with good arc, and always has a excellent rotation on his shots. Even though he doesn’t get a huge amount of lift on his jumper, he can tend to drift and rotate slightly in his release, which led to him missing numerous times to the right or left. Still, Wainwright should have no trouble becoming a consistent shooter as he continues to mature as a wing.

The quality coaching becomes evident when you see Wainwright seeking out mismatches and looking to exploit them. In the Jayhawk Invitational 15s final against KC Pump N Run, Wainwright moved from wing to wing looking for a smaller player to post up, rather than settling for long jumpers like many young wing prospects do.

Aside from one monster one-handed dunk on the break, Wainwright had a relatively quiet outing in the blowout win over Pump N Run. It will be very exciting for the Kansas City area to watch this prospect continue to grow over the next few years, and there’s no question that a myriad of elite programs will be calling on him frequently in that time.