Game Scouting: Jean Montero vs. FUNDACION CB CANARIA | 2019.12.07

I’m Kuzey, 19. I’ve been writing about basketball since I was 9. I have been working in Eurosport Turkey for the last 1,5 years. I have written on various sites and magazines before. I’ve been working as a freelance scout for three years. I worked as a consultant. I have interviewed dozens of prospects such as Theo Maledon, Deni Avdija, Henri Drell, Aleksej Pokusevski, Arturs Kurucs, Yves Pons and dozens of notable basketball people such as Luis Scola, Xavi Pascual, Jonathan Givony, Dimitris Itoudis, Joan Plaza, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Derrick Williams. I write an article every day. I live in Turkey, I go to all the Euroleague and Youth League games. MY BIGGEST GOAL IS SCOUTING! Anyway, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and feel free to DM!

30 minutes

25 points

- 8/13 2PTS

- 2/7 3PTS

- 3/3 FT

Shot & Layup (From dribble point) cart

Left corner: 1/1

Left-wing: 2/4

Top: 2/3

Right-wing: 2/5

Right corner: 0/2

Around the basket: 3/5

Two assists

Three rebounds; One offensive and two defensive

Physical

Standing 6-foot-3 with a skinny 175-pound frame and decent length, Jean Montero has a lot of room to get stronger. Arms are not too long, average, also, not strong. I think shoulders and core muscles are best parts of his upper body. Flex and stiff core muscles allows him smooth athlectisim. Jean isn’t an explosive athlete, plays with fluidity around the basket and rim. For JM’s lower body, footwork, hip mobility and overall quickness look great. There’s a lack of power here too, especially with vertical pop but Jean can sometimes show good vertical pop thanks to his aggressive play style and BBIQ. Laterally, I think he is very good both offensively and defensively. There will be things I will cover in more detail in the overall report, now I want to talk on something that I completely noticed in this match. For my observations, Jean Montero’s shots and drives are based entirely on the power he gets from his left foot. Specifically, watch his positions with 01:31 to the end of the first quarter and 02:34 to the end of the third quarter. You can see how great the momentum Jean gets from his left foot. Six times in the match, Dominican guard had difficulty in shooting and finish in traffic due to his lack of power and elite vertical pop, but he used the momentum he got from his left foot in a balanced way in almost all of the 25 points. Final note, look at the ritual of the free throw.

My critical point on his physical tools after that match: Needs to be stronger.

Mentality

He did not show anything mentally perfect in this game, Gran Canaria played badly against Fundacion Canaria in general. There is only one positive and one negative point that I want to mention. Fundacion player Jonathan Jorge was injured in a position in the third quarter and the match was stopped at that time. Jean immediately gathered his teammates around him, explaining what they had to do on offense, and Gran Canaria got seven points in three possessions that followed. The downside is his leadership in defense. Yes, Jean is not a defensive playmaker but he was very ineffective. He was mainly focused on the match, his motor was moderately active.

Offense

In this game, his game was generally based on layup package, drive & dish, and dribble, so he played like the Montero we are used to. He touched the ball only once until seven minutes before the end of the first quarter. He didn’t shoot, didn’t dribble, and just made a pass. Then he took the lead role completely. Before moving on to his score, I want to talk about how he has developed as a drive & disher. Jean showed drive & dish position six times in this game. Three minutes before the end of the first quarter, he did drive & dish twice. He was able to combine crossover and eurostep while preparing the drive & dish he made at the last minute. Two minutes and 21 seconds before the end of the second quarter, one minute 28 seconds before the end of the third quarter, and eight minutes and 12 seconds before the end of the last quarter also showed those positions. I think he did the best drive & dish last 3:30 in the third quarter. Despite his physical shortcomings, he got into contact against two defenders, created a shooting effect and gave a perfect pass. Scoring package. He made unnecessary shots and dribbles in match; three times in transition and four times in half-court attack. Early and unbalanced. He showed go-stop technique seven times, which I think is important because he can compensate for his physical shortcomings with his BBIQ and movement. For example, two minutes before the end of the first quarter and three minutes before the end of the third quarter, he did some pretty impressive things about it (burst, fakes, creating shots and soft touches). Played aggressively in second and third quarters, Jean Montero was very quick in transitions. He created his shots around the perimeter, finished around the basket with soft touches when showing good examples of his BBIQ, first step and fluidity.

My critical point on his offense after this match: Shooting selection.

Defense

I think Jean Montero is a bad defensive player in general. He wasn’t too bad in that game, but he was below average. The energetic and talented guard made right moves in two transition bumps in the first three quarters. Has killer scoring instincts Montero, followed his opponent around the screens in off-ball motions 11 times with BBIQ and good lateral movement. On-ball defense is problematic. He knows what his opponent will do but practically cannot prevent him. I mean, Montero plays with aggressiveness on defense with BBIQ, but his physical shortcomings and not promising a mental consistency on defense creates a big question in my mind. He can’t put pressure on shooters. There is a lot of work on defense in general. I want to talk about two positive things he showed in this match. Montero showed good things about quick reactions both on offense and defense during the match. He did good at five positions, especially in the first and second quarters with read & react deflections. He gave fast reactions. The other good thing is vertical pop. As I said, Montero doesn’t have a perfect vertical pop, can leap towards the basket, yeah, but not elite. You shouldn’t expect him to has elite vertical pop anyway. He’s not a rim protector, but he helped defend the painted area in nine positions, and in five of those nine positions he perfectly uses vertical pop and helped his team.

My critical point on his defense after this match: All things…