{"id":25656,"date":"2025-05-11T17:34:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T17:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/25656\/"},"modified":"2025-05-11T17:34:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T17:34:14","slug":"sam-vecenie-reveals-where-labaron-philons-nba-draft-stock-stands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/25656\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Vecenie reveals where Labaron Philon\u2019s NBA Draft stock stands"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBA Draft analyst Sam Vecenie said Labaron Philon<\/a> is a late first-round pick type of talent in this year\u2019s draft class. The former Alabama<\/a> guard has decent stock going through the process.<\/p>\n

\"Fan<\/a><\/p>\n

Right now, Philon is focused on the draft. But, you can\u2019t totally rule out a return to school as he mentioned throughout the process.<\/a><\/p>\n

As Vecenie broke it down, there\u2019s a lot to like about Philon going into the NBA, particularly on defense. But, there\u2019s still some room for improvement.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery skinny and, like, very developmental, but if you\u2019re at 30, like, that\u2019s probably where the reality is,\u201d Vecenie said on Game Theory.<\/a> \u201cI was hoping to end up, like, a little bit higher on Philon than I did. I had him\u00a0 25 to 30, like, somewhere in that ballpark \u2026 Quick Twitch athlete, like fuzzy speed, like his feel for the game. I think he really processes things quickly around him. I like him best on defense. I thought he made it really hard for opposing players, really quick, just like, beats guys to their spots.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cReally likes to crowd them and get into their space. I think it takes really good routes in ball screens to get around them and navigate them, even though, if he gets flipped, it\u2019s kind of over, just because he\u2019s so skinny right now, and like, needs to continue to grow.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Philon started 29 games as a true freshman in 2024-25 and averaged 10.6 points, 3.8 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game while shooting 45.2 percent from the field, 31.5 percent from 3-point range and 76.7 percent at the free-throw line. He scored in double figures 21 times.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe really fights and competes \u2026 I really like that,\u201d Vecenie said. \u201cConstantly trying to poke at the ball offensively, like he\u2019s more of a traditional point that just like, didn\u2019t get a chance to do that this year all that often. I like how decisive he is as an attacker. Like, if he was, you know, attacking a closeout. I really liked how aggressive he was. I love him in transition. Super attack oriented mindset. Best out of ball screens, really good pace \u2026 I think his best skill is probably the passing, though it\u2019s either the passing or the defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a sharp play maker, good touch on lobs \u2026 but like, 3.8 assists versus 1.7 turnovers, played the third most minutes this year on an Alabama team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NBA Draft analyst Sam Vecenie said Labaron Philon is a late first-round pick type of talent in this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,1477,6,12],"class_list":{"0":"post-25656","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-draft","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-labaron-philon-24-link-academy","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-nba-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114490406652211929","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}