Wenyen Gabriel: Cashing In At Kentucky

Wenyen Gabriel’s stock soared during AAU play in the summer. As a result, he cashed in and committed to John Calipari and Kentucky just two days after his official visit to Lexington. The 6’9” Gabriel chose the Wildcats over Duke, Maryland, Providence, and UConn.

photo by NY Post

Background:

Hailing from Manchester (NH), Gabriel transferred from Trinity High to prep power Wilbraham & Monson for his junior season where he earned Honorable Mention honors in a talented New England prep league. It wasn’t until after his junior season that things started to fall into place for the rail thin Gabriel.

Playing for the Mass Rivals AAU program on the Adidas circuit, Gabriel’s performances started to draw the who’s who of the coaching world each time he took the court. In the final stage of the July live period, scholarship offers were coming in daily. During the Adidas uprising tournament in Las Vegas, Gabriel averaged 17.4 points and 8.6 rebounds per game as he led his team to the championship game. Two weeks later, playing in front of a handful of NBA scouts at the Adidas Nations tournament, Gabriel averaged 17.7 points per game and 14.7 rebounds.

Going Forward:

Right now, Gabriel is a long and thin stretch forward. His biggest strength comes from his motor. He takes every possession seriously and is accustomed to getting points off the break and off of offensive rebounds. With a quick second jump, Gabriel keeps going on the boards until he puts the ball in the basket. Gabriel also has a unique skill-set for his height and during play at Adidas Nations was often seen grabbing a defensive rebound and subsequently pushing the ball up the court himself. He has the ability to handle the ball and knock in jump shots from the outside.

“Right now I don’t have a set position,” said Gabriel while at Adidas Nations. “I would like to hopefully develop myself into more of a wing player for the long term. I’ve progressed each year, gotten a little better and added something new each year. Last year in high school I played mostly on the inside and worked on my inside game. Being able to play AAU with [Mass Rivals coach) Vin [Pastore] over the last two years, he let me develop in every part of my game by playing on the perimeter, face-up, all that. Now this is my last year and I was able to put it all together. Going forward I still have a lot to add to my game.”

Gabriel will need to work on tightening up his ball-handling while also fine-tuning his shot release given his right elbow tends to stray out to the right side. A big selling point for Kentucky most likely came from showing Gabriel how he could improve his wing abilities. Last year Trey Lyles played primarily on the wing despite being more of a natural power forward. With Isaac Humphries, Tai Wynard, and Sacha Killeya-Jones in the fold, Kentucky offers Gabriel a great opportunity to continue his upward trajectory and improve upon his NBA skills. Gabriel has his senior season at Wilbraham & Monson to continue his climb, but now the talented is Kentucky’s first five-star recruit in the 2016 class with more to follow throughout the year.