by Paul Jordan
After months of handwringing and worrying about the 2010 recruiting class, John Calipari has gotten a verbal commitment from 6’10 international star Enes Kanter. Kanter is a 6’10, 250 pound Turkish native who played this season at Stonebridge Prep in California, and is already projected to be a first round pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. Kanter joins Stacey Poole as the sole members of UK’s recruiting class and this announcement brings a huge sigh of relief from Cat fans nervous about the prospects of losing big men Patrick Patterson, DeMarcus Cousins, and Daniel Orton to the upcoming NBA Draft.
The big question right now concerning Kanter would be his eligibility for next year’s Wildcats. Kanter grew up playing for a Turkish club team and he has played in at least two professional leagues in Europe, although it is important to note that he reportedly did not receive any financial compensation. One assumes that once he signs his letter of intent in April, the next step for Kentucky will be to go directly to the NCAA Clearinghouse to sort out how much eligibility Kanter actually will have. There is speculation that Kanter may miss a few games, but once again just pure speculation at this point. You would assume that he has truly not received payment, it should be a fairly uncomplicated process … but we know that uncomplicated is not a trait of the NCAA.
So, how big of a grab is this for John Calipari and Kentucky? In a word …. HUGE! As of right now, Kanter is not on a lot of the top 100 lists due to the fact he was a relative unknown when these lists were originally compiled. But it will not remain that way for long. Jerry Meyer from Rivals.com says that Kanter will be listed in the Spring ratings and that he should be a member of the Top 25 players in the country. Rivals has listed him as a 5 star recruit, as has Scout. Rivals has him listede as a center comparable to the top three centers in the 2010 class: Jared Sullinger (Ohio State), Fab de Melo (Syracuse) and Josh Smith (UCLA).
Although ESPN had Kanter rated a bit lower than the other services, they did have a pretty nice scouting report on him:
Kanter is a fundamentally sound basketball player with a high basketball IQ. Enes scores the basketball all over the floor and is an efficient player in the post. When in the post, Enes is patient and reads what the defense is giving him. He does a great job of establishing deep post position and loves to create contact with his opponent. Enes uses a drop step or step through move in the post, as well as, two dribble drop baseline moves from both sides of the floor. He is always on two feet when going to finish and keeps the ball chinned while completing his moves in the post. Enes finishes his lay-ups above the rim; occasionally, he will dunk. Enes is comfortable knocking down the three-point shot as the trail post or picking and popping in the half court offense. He will rebound the basketball at its highest point and goes outside of his body to grab a number of rebounds. His physical traits plus his feel for the game will allow him to be an excellent player at the high major level.
And for those that need a bit more visual stimulation, here is some video of Enes in action:
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