Benjamin Nacey 6’6 215 2024 Cox High School (VA) / Wave Basketball Club
What makes Benjamin such an intriguing prospect aside from his size at 6’6 and 215 pounds is his agility, strength, and versatility he brings to the offensive end of the floor. Benjamin is a force in the paint due to his impressive size and strong frame. He has powerful legs and wins the battle for space as a result of his strength and technique. He makes himself a very good target for post-entry passes as he uses his strength and size to establish a position with a good, sturdy base. Holds the seal nicely, footwork is solid. He has great hands and keeps the basketball high. Benjamin can score off drop steps and showed a developing jump hook with his back to the basket, he has a soft touch around the rim and finishes at a good rate. At the high post and beyond he is comfortable facing the rim and is a reliable shooter on spot-ups in the mid-range. He can also step out beyond the arc and hit the occasional three-pointer. Benjamin is also a threat in pick and pop scenarios and demonstrates solid fundamentals as a shooter. He has a great feel and is a very good passer out of the post and a good decision maker with the ball on the perimeter. Benjamin is a very good rebounder on both ends of the floor, demonstrates very good technique when boxing out and securing the basketball. He does a good job recognizing and avoiding double teams and shows good vision. Benjamin runs the floor exceptionally well and during my observations routinely beat his man down the floor. His strides are long, powerful, and graceful and he has pretty good speedrunning the floor for a young man his size. He is durable and doesn’t shy away from the rigors of tough post play in fact embraces the need to be physical and to be the aggressor. Wave Basketball Club head coach Daniel Diaz worked more pick and pop situations with Benjamin as the season went on and he became more comfortable and consistent a shooter. “His presence inside forces a lot of double teams which opens up the floor for our shooters” adds Coach Diaz. Likewise, Benjamin has become good enough a shooter it opened up the floor for cutters and gave his team many more options offensively. Defensively he moves his feet well and looks mobile and capable of defending other bigs in space. Part of being the aggressor he makes early contact in an effort to win the battle for position. Shows good awareness as a weak side defender and works the blocks nicely defensively rotating with ball movement and staying engaged and active. Boxes out, rebounds with two hands, plays big, wide, and strong. Given his rapid development, IQ, size, and his toughness I expect Benjamin to quickly become one of the area’s most impactful big men. Definitely a player to monitor going forward!