Things to watch for in December
Carlton Carrington's NBA draft timelineThe youngest player in the ACC opened up the season in eye-popping fashion, posting a triple-double (18 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists) against North Carolina A&T. Through four games, the 6-foot-6 point Pittsburgh guard was shooting a scorching 14-of-27 from 3 with 25 assists and 5 turnovers, raising plenty of NBA eyebrows. However, the Panthers had not faced a team ranked higher than 232, per KenPom, which has caused most teams to want to wait and see how he fared against real opponents.
Carrington was heavily scouted this past weekend at the NIT Season Tip-Off in New York, where he came down to earth to an extent (19 points on 7-of-20 shooting with 12 assists and 5 turnovers in two games) but still showed plenty of long-term intrigue. He has an outstanding combination of size, live-dribble passing and shot-making, especially for someone who never played point guard prior to enrolling in college. Carrington was just 5-foot-4 and 85 pounds upon entering high school, according to his father, Bub Carrington II, a well-regarded figure in Baltimore basketball who coached NBA players such as Carmelo Anthony, Rudy Gay and Will Barton as the founder of the grassroots program Baltimore Elite. He has grown two inches since arriving at Pitt and might still have another growth spurt ahead of him, as he won't turn 19 until July.
Carrington's thin frame, lack of experience, still-developing ballhandling skills versus switches, and struggles dealing with contact on both ends of the floor were all readily apparent against Florida and Oregon State during the NIT Season Tip-Off. Both teams made him a major focal point of the scouting report, but his talent still shined through in flashes, just not as vividly as it did against lower-level competition. While there's little doubt that Carrington will eventually play in the NBA, we'll get a much better idea of what his timetable might look like in the next 10 days, as Pitt plays Missouri, Clemson and West Virginia
