Justin Cage

Of the five players evaluated here, Cage might be the most imposing of the bunch. He's got wide shoulders, a huge build, and an impressive 6-10 wingspan. That benefits him tremendously in the work he does as a free-lance pain-inflictor, constantly looking to mix things up around the basket by fighting extremely hard for his keep.

Cage showed some flashes of being able to do a bit more on occasion as well, though. He hit a spot-up NBA 3-pointer in the scrimmage on one occasion, and made some fantastic passes to open teammates virtually every time he put the ball on the floor. He doesn't quite stand out in all the things he does unless you really pay attention to him, as he's a smart, tough role-player who doesn't need any plays called for him, but still finds a way to make an impact on the game. He played fantastic defense on basically anyone he was asked to guard, using his strength and wingspan to their fullest combined with his excellent lateral quickness.

Cage was a last-second addition to the NBA pre-draft camp, after previously being named a late addition to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. We'll see how far he can continue to make his run. He might be Thorpe's favorite pupil here so far. He sees him being able to develop into a James Posey type player in the pros, as he already has one skill NBA teams can rely on off the bench in his defense, and is making strides shooting the ball from behind the arc as well.

Playing the game of his life in what turned out to be the last game of his collegiate career, Justin Cage could not have done a better job leaving everything out on the court. Defended by Greg Oden because of his supposed lack of perimeter skills, Cage made the coach that recruited him to play college basketball pay by punishing him all game long from outside. Only having hit 10 3-pointers all season long on a 32% clip, he forced us to throw all the statistics out the window as he drained one flat-footer jumper after another, finishing 3-3 from outside. Once Oden learned that he needs to respect Cage by going outside to get a hand in his face, Cage took advantage to put the ball on the floor crudely but aggressively to blow by Oden easily and either finish at the hoop or draw fouls. The fact that Oden fouled out at the end of regulation was in large part due to Cage, who was decked to the ground intentionally with 11 seconds by Oden himself to draw his last foul.

Going into this game, we had Cage pegged as a candidate to play in Portsmouth, mostly due to his prowess on the defensive end. This game should be what gets him in there, although it would be foolish to assume that he just turned into an amazing 3-point shooter and offensive juggernaut overnight (and thus, a great NBA prospect) due to one phenomenal game in March.