Scouting and Highlights: Noah Pruitt (2020)
Noah Pruitt is a 5’10-6′ guard who plays his high school ball with Okemos and his AAU ball with Elite Nation. This summer, Pruitt had a great campaign playing up a grade with Elite Nation 16u, establishing himself as one of the top 2020s in the state. Pruitt will look to have a breakout year with Okemos this upcoming high school season.
Here’s my take on Pruitt’s game:
Strengths:
Composure – The biggest thing that stood out watching Pruitt all summer was that he possessed that uber-important ability to keep his composure in any situation. Despite the fact that he was a year younger than the competition, Pruitt never appeared rattled by his opponents or by questionable refereeing. This is a very valuable skill that coaches love, especially from a point guard.
“Pure Point Guard” Ability – When coaches talk about pure point guards, they usually are referring to the ability of a player to lead his team while making everybody around them better, both with physical play and with the mental/verbal part of the game. Pruitt does a great job creating plays for himself or his teammates while making sure not to force things. He has a high basketball IQ – he makes great passes, takes good shots, limits his turnovers, doesn’t gamble and avoids getting caught out of position defense. Pruitt has no true weakness maybe besides his height.
Handles – While this comes with the whole “pure point guard” ability, Pruitt does also have those shifty, mixtape-worthy handles in his arsenal. He’s sure not to over-dribble, however, given the opportunity he’s capable of making his defender look silly. His handles allow him to get wherever he wants to go on the court while maintaining control and care of the ball.
Shooting – Pruitt has a great ability to shoot the ball off the dribble. His mid-range pull-up is perhaps his best shot. He also can hit the three at an efficient rate, a skill that’s absolutely necessary in today’s game. While he might not be known as a sniper, he’s definitely a guy who will make the defense pay if they leave him open.
Areas For Development:
Verticality – While it’s not a big issue at this young of an age for Pruitt, his lack of height will hurt his ability to be a top player against the best competition as he grows older. If he doesn’t grow, he will need to develop an ability to elevate and play at the rim as he gets older. He will still be a really good player either way – this ability will simply take his game to the next level, making him a complete package.
Assertiveness – It’s tough to say how this will develop given the fact that he’s so young and that he plays up a grade. However, a common problem “pure point guards” have is lacking that assertiveness to simply takeover a game when they get hot. Also, another thing that goes with this assertiveness ability is being able to demand the ball and set up a play after a couple consecutive possessions coming up empty offensively. This is a tough one because every coach prefers their point guard to play a certain way – some coaches would rather have their star scorer doing this than their point guard.