By Dane Carbaugh

Skal Labissiere is ranked as the No. 2 prospect on ESPN’s Top 100 and for good reason. The Kentucky Wildcats F/C stands 6-foot-11 and shows promise on both sides of the ball.

As an offensive player, Labissiere stands as an efficient midrange shooter, with a high release and aptitude for looking for his own shot. He also shows touch around the rim and can shoot a scooping hook from anywhere out to about 8 feet.

On defense, Labissiere has more to work on. As an athlete of size, the UK big man get his fair share of blocks by simple mathematics. However, he doesn’t appear to be an elite rim protector at this juncture. Labissiere does show a unique amount of patience when it comes to staying down on shot fakes or in 1-on-1 situations with guards, but there’s some fine-tuning to be done on his rotational help technique.

Things are still shaking out for Labissiere at Kentucky this season. Due to John Calipari’s dribble-drive motion offense, it might be difficult for some fans to understand exactly how Labissiere’s skill sets might matter to prospective NBA GMs come draft day.

Let’s take a look at a few of Labissiere’s skills to better understand him as a Top 5 prospect.

Offensive Awareness and Spacing

Labissiere shows an exceptional natural understanding of how spacing works on the floor. His movements are methodical, but quick, and he keeps distance between himself, his teammates, his own man, and the defenders of his teammates with relative ease.


In the example above, Labissiere earns himself a jumper simply by maximizing the effect of his pick-and-roll within the zone offense scheme.

Let’s take a look at this play as a great example of his feel for the game.




After he sets a pick up top, he rolls down the length of the key rather than ducking to the middle of the paint. This prevents the defender at the bottom of the zone from absorbing him as a helper.





When the ball is swung, Labissiere feels the negative space as his teammate drives baseline. Notice that he keeps his distance from the man helping off the nail. Where it might feel more natural to float to the elbow, Labissiere’s spacing keeps No. 12 from fully leaving Tyler Ulis.





The result is a jumper for Labissiere from 15 feet.

Labissiere’s natural tendencies work perfectly for John Calipari’s offensive scheme, which sees the young Hatian prospect moving within the middle of the paint as guards dribble and penetrate, as well as moving out to the elbow extended for jumpers.

This is a weird area for fans trying to understand how Labissiere’s offensive usage correlates to the NBA. You don’t see much zone, and you certainly won’t see Labissiere flashing horizontally at 6-8 feet in the NBA.

The important thing to take away is his ability to feel space. This is what will make him an attractive pick-and-roll candidate, flash cutter from the block to the free-throw line, and high-low man at the next level.

High Release Jumper and Hook Shot

Labissiere doesn’t have incredibly long arms for his height. In the NBA, the average wingspan is somewhere around four inches longer than players are tall. Labissiere stands at 6-foot-11 and has a 7-foot-2 wingspan.

However, his release is at the top of his shot, well above his forehead. He’s got great backspin and creates arc with his jumper.

This makes his shot incredibly difficult to block for smaller and less athletic players. Labissiere uses this to his advantage for Kentucky, often quickly collecting himself for a shot after receiving the ball from a teammate.

However, there is a downside to Labissiere’s shot mechanics, as well as his overall selection.

First, his load isn’t quick. Players have been able to contest and close on him if they have his cadence down.

That’s compounded by the fact that Labissiere often seems to have decided whether to shoot based on his position on the floor and his assessment of his defender, particularly in the post. While that sounds pretty straightforward, it often leads to shots that start while he’s not even facing the basket.

Labissiere loves to shoot a right handed scoop -- or hook, depending on how progressive you want to be about it -- with relative impunity.

It leads to shots like this:


In the example above, Labissiere has a defender draped all over him. He gets out of this pickle at the college level, mostly because he’s tall, has an incredibly soft touch, and will shoot it by leaning into rather than away from defenders.

However, that kind of decision making is going to get him blocked in the NBA more often than he’d like. Labissiere is going to need to have a less binary understanding of when to shoot, especially against opposing posts.

Defensive Strengths

While Labissiere isn’t known as a lockdown rim protector at this juncture, he does have a few key defensive tendencies that should help him in the NBA.

First, he stays grounded on shot fakes and initial moves by both posts and guards. It’s a little surprising given Labissiere’s experience level and the tendency for freshmen big men with shot blocking skills to try and swat everything they can out of the gym.

While defending his own man in back-to-the-basket situations, Labissiere keeps his athletic position and only commits when he knows an offender is actually going up. Despite his patience, Labissiere doesn’t often get caught flat-footed.

Perhaps where this eye for movement is most impressive is against opposing guards. Labissiere isn’t great on help rotation from the weak side, but he does show promise when it comes to defending the pick-and-roll.

Thanks to his patience, Labissiere appears to lull attackers to sleep. He stays low, takes strides quickly to the basket and waits before elevating. At the very least, it tricks smaller players into misjudging the necessary trajectory of their layups to clear his grasp.


Take a look at the example above. Albany is trying to run a handoff play out of Horns, with two posts at the elbows.

Despite Ulis going under the screen and nearly taking out Labissiere, the big man adjusts neatly. What’s most illustrative about Labissiere’s technique in this play are his feet. He takes a parallel angle to the Albany guard’s dribble until the moment he jumps for the layup.

This is the “lull’ that I’m talking about. A lot of bigs, especially with their guard defender nearly falling to his feet, would run down the vertical line of the key. Instead, Labissiere digs into the paint and lets his opponent think they will be able to get off a shot.

Obviously, Labissiere can close the distance from the protected area to the right side of the hoop in no time flat, and that’s what allows him the block.