A Scout’s Eyes: Robert Hinton’s Opening Week and The Hidden Gem Award
In the debut of A Scout's Eyes, Jam evaluates the breakout opening week by Harvard's Robert Hinton including an in-person scout and gives out the first Hidden Gem Award of the season.
Welcome to the first edition of A Scout’s Eyes! This will act as a running journal consisting of some of my prospect thoughts, draft philosophy, and all things scouting and evaluation. I’ll mostly focus on the under-the-radar type prospects, but I will no doubt be discussing the top ones as well.
In this debut edition, I’ll assess Robert Hinton’s (Harvard) eye-opening week, give out the Hidden Gem Award, and get you out of here with some quick takes. Let’s get after it!
The Ivy League Has Another One
Yup, the Ivy League indeed has another intriguing NBA prospect in their ranks. Coming into the season, much of the attention rightfully was placed on Princeton’s dynamic duo of Xaivian Lee (the consensus top-ranked Ivy League prospect) and Caden Pierce (reigning conference Player of the Year) along with the conference’s returning scoring champion, Brown’s Kino Lily Jr. (18.8ppg). Harvard star freshman Robert Hinton, a Top 100 prospect out of Los Angeles, California, has quickly thrust himself into the mix as one of the Ivy League’s premier players and top NBA prospects with his superb opening week. Across three games, Hinton averaged 24ppg, 6rpg, 1.7 apg, and 0.7 stocks while shooting 50% from deep (4-8 3PA).
Harvard’s schedule consisted of matchups against Marist and a trip to the DMV to face Navy and American, where I had the pleasure of scouting the Harvard-American game in person at Bender Arena.
Early on, we’re seeing many of the same strengths as a scorer translating to the collegiate level from the high school and AAU levels with Harvard-Westlake (CA) and Team Why Not (CA), respectively. The 6’5” wing is thriving at the rim and in transition, and he’s getting to his go-to pull-up game.
Hinton is at his best when he’s attacking the rim where he’s a skilled finisher and has been a foul magnet through his first three games (7.7 free throw attempts per game). He routinely utilizes both hands to find different finishing angles in traffic and has an innate ability to hit tough shots. He’s shown a feel for navigating off-ball screens to curl and free himself for either rim attacks or the pull-up.
Hinton pairs his skill finishes with impressive displays of wiry strength and contact absorption, producing a number of and one finishes despite his 190-pound listing. Fouls and hard landings did not deter him from staying aggressive at the rim and seeking contact the next time. With Hinton still having plenty of room to develop physically, this is a very encouraging indication of what both his floor and ceiling as a rim fisher could be.
Against Marist and Navy, he was able to terrorize them in transition and semi-transition. American was able to limit Harvard from getting out in transition, which both took away a key scoring area from Hinton and allowed American to defend him with different primary matchups (I counted at least three different defenders matched up with him for stretches throughout the game) and as a team in the half court.
As a result, Hinton did take a couple of tough shots against American, and he appeared to resort to a good share of contested pull-ups across the three games as a whole. Outside of the defense, we can possibly attribute some of Hinton’s settling to a couple of factors: a supreme belief in the pull-up and a lack of ideal wiggle and explosion. We’ll see how this progresses throughout the season.
Even with some of the settling, I love the outstanding footwork that Hinton leverages to create space and get to his spots. From spins in the lane, stepback jumpers, and reverse pivot fades, his footwork is a staple of his game. That will be even more critical for him as a self-creator while he continues to evolve as a ball-handler.
Defensively, it’s definitely still way too early to make any real projective assessments. Like with most prospects, especially freshmen who are the offensive focal point, the defense is a mixed bag. He was mostly engaged both on and off the ball, flashing some good instincts and length utilization. There were times when he was too high in his stance and was beaten easily off the bounce. Finding that consistency is all a part of the development process. The hope is that Hinton’s length and effort will aid him in becoming a defensive playmaker and/or a serviceable defender.
Moving forward, there are several crucial areas that I’ll be closely monitoring from Hinton this season: the off-the-dribble versus catch-and-shoot numbers (20 of his 28 jump shot attempts are off the dribble), three-point percentage (historically a capable shooter, but shoots with some sidespin), growth as a pick-and-roll player, playmaking/ancillary skills development, at the rim percentages, and defensive playmaking.
All in all, Robert Hinton is a legit must-track NBA prospect and future Ivy League Player of the Year. He’s in a tremendous situation at Harvard where he can thrive on and off the floor. Although he projects to be more of a 3-and-D wing who operates on spot-ups on the NBA level, Hinton will be able to showcase and develop as a primary ball-handler at Harvard—something that will only add to his potential versatility and value. I’m looking forward to watching Hinton evolve and climb up draft boards. If he wasn’t on your boards or watch lists already, add him NOW!
Hidden Gem Player of the Week
Miles Byrd | San Diego State | 6’7” | 190 pounds | Redshirt Sophomore
Against UC San Diego: 20 points (4-8 3PA), eight rebounds, three steals and nine stocks
Byrd was fantastic in San Diego State’s opener and lone game of the week. Offensively, the jumper looked smooth and confident alongside some playmaking hints. I was most impressed with his defense. It seemed like he took his matchups personally and was very physical despite a fairly thin frame. The defensive tools from his length, anticipation skills, quick hands and motor are all compelling. Teams should be monitoring him as a 3-and-D prospect, especially if the shooting continues to improve (he shot 31% from three last season on 74 total attempts).
After San Diego State’s contest against Occidental on November 12th, there will be a stretch of upcoming potential resume games against Gonzaga (November 18th), Creighton (November 26th), and Oregon (November 27th)
Buzzer Beaters
Harvard’s Thomas Batties II and American’s Greg Jones are two long-term NBA prospects worth tracking. At 6’7”, Batties II is playing an undersized stretch 4 and 5 role with an understanding of how to utilize his length defensively. Listed at 6’6”, Jones is a capable and improving shooter with solid defensive tools.
Georgetown freshman big Thomas Sorber is a budding star for the Hoyas and appears to be their best NBA prospect. The blend of motor, rebounding, footwork, touch, and shooting upside should pique the interest of evaluators.
We got a taste of the John Mobley Jr. experience in his debut during Ohio State's win over Texas. 14 points (4-4 3PA) in just 13 minutes. Elite pairing of pure shooting and shotmaking versatility with a creative handle and playmaking ability. I’m a long-term believer, and we’re off to a hot start! If you missed it, our Rich Stayman AKA Mavs Draft, compiled some tremendous game notes, and observations on Mobley and the entire Ohio State-Texas game. Check it out here.
Adou Thiero is one of the shining examples of an “if he shoots guy.” You love all of the tools from the NBA size and length, elite athleticism, defensive versatility, and functional ball skills. It’s just the shooting that’s holding him back (31% from three last season on just 22 attempts). He shot with confidence in Arkansas’ close loss in a battle with Baylor, knocking down 2-of-4 attempts from deep. If Thiero’s shooting confidence persists and he shoots, let's call it around 34% from three on decent volume this season, that looks like a first rounder.