Cliff Alexander: Inside Look

Cliff Alexander, a 6-8 junior big man from Chicago dominated his competition during the June summer camps and rose quickly up the national rankings. After winning the MVP at the Pangos All-American Camp and performing strongly during the NBPA Camp, Alexander went from a top 20 player to a top 5 player in the blink of an eye. An ankle injury in late June derailed all of Alexander’s July AAU season with Team Rose which also caused him to fall briefly out of the bright spotlight surrounding him. As his junior season gets underway, Alexander will look to boost his ranking while attempting to lead Curie to a Chicago Public league championship.

Despite starting the year with 0-3, Alexander began the season with 26 points and 10 rebounds against Oak Hill and a near triple double in a local match-up against Homewood-Flossmoor watched by Tom Izzo. In this 42-40 loss, Alexander missed a game tying lay-up with 2 seconds left that rolled in and out but despite the miss his final stat line came out to 9 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 blocked shots. 

Strengths

Alexander is well-known for his athletic ability and ferocity on the boards. These strengths were on full display in the night cap of the D Rose Classic. There might not be a high school player that passes “the look” test more than Cliff Alexander. Along with being an elite athlete at 6’8,” Alexander also owns a 7’2” wing span. These features alone will have NBA personnel such as Chad Ford projecting Alexander as a top lottery pick in the 2015 draft. 

In the first half against Homewood-Flossmoor, Alexander accumulated 5 rebounds and 3 blocked shots while in the second half he added to that with another 7 rebounds and 6 blocked shots. A 2-3 zone limited his offensive touches in the paint, but Alexander attacked the glass which resulted in several offensive rebounds. On the defensive end Alexander did not rely on his athletic ability to corral rebounds but instead used a picture perfect box-out technique to keep the opponent off the boards. Several of these rebounds elicited “ooohs” from the crowd with how high he got. Alexander also dominated the paint with nine blocked shots with several coming as he baited the offensive player into putting up a shot before slapping it off the glass. 

Running the floor along with offensive rebounds directly led to all of Alexander’s points throughout the game. The Curie guards struggled to look inside while Homewood-Flossmoor routinely kept two players surrounding Alexander all game. 

Improvement Areas:

Touches around the basket were sparse during the game and Alexander did not attempt a shot outside of four feet. As the competition gets stiffer, Alexander will need to show off an improved post game with one or two go to moves along with a reliable 5-12 foot jump shot. Unfortunately, this chance did not exist with defenders swarming Alexander before he got the ball and routinely double, triple, and even quadruple teaming him when he did receive the ball. While he established strong post position in the 4^th quarter, it will be necessary to establish this position throughout the game. A common refrain heard from the stands during Cliff’s AAU and high school games is “GIVE IT TO THE BIG MAN.” In order for this to happen, Alexander will need to fight for position all game and not just in spurts. Another area of improvement is free throw shooting. Alexander went 1-5 from the line including two crucial misses in the last minute. He did display solid form, but improvement will only come through repetition and confidence. 

Overall:

Athletically speaking, Cliff Alexander has no equals in the high school game amongst big men. Despite only being a junior, Alexander already resembles a young Deandre Jordan in both look and game. Alexander already established that he could compete with anyone in the country, but in order to tap into his immense potential he will need to continue developing his offensive game with a go-to post move and a short outside jump shot. While these things can be improved through hard work, Alexander already possesses the intangibles that NBA teams will covet in June 2015.