Tennessee basketball officially began its preseason practices Tuesday afternoon at Pratt Pavilion in Knoxville with the season just under six weeks away.
Practice was open to the media though it was only about an hour and a half instead of the usual full practice. My understanding is that the shortened viewing portion was just a one time thing and is not the new policy going forward.
After being banged up in the summer, Tennessee is pretty healthy to begin preseason practice. Amari Evans was working off to the side with a lower body injury while JP Estrella was nearly a full participant but did some work off to the side in the final portion of practice open to the media. There’s more details on the situation here.
Starting with Estrella, I thought he had a really nice day. The big man has always had good touch but he looks as comfortable playing in tight spaces as I’ve seen him. Granted, he was battling a foot injury during the preseason last year but I’m just very impressed with how much improvement he’s seemingly made over a year where he’s largely been rehabbing an injury.
Sticking in the front court, it was much of what we saw this summer. Okpara is an athletic freak who makes every opponents shot at the basket tough. He also got a couple easy buckets running the floor well. Didn’t show as much of the back to the basket skill that impressed me in the mid-July practice.
Jaylen Carey had a couple tough baskets around the rim but wasn’t super consistent on the offensive end. Also didn’t see him attempt many, if any, jump shots in team action. Doesn’t feel like he has the green light at all right now.
Freshman DeWayne Brown continues to be solid. I do not know if he’ll have a consistent role this season but I’m not ready to rule it out just yet.
The Cade Phillips versatility experiment continues on. During drill work, he was with the guards and wings facing off against Nate Ament. When Tennessee pivoted to five-on-five, Phillips worked both at the three and four-spot. He had a couple nice driving baskets including an and-one.
Speaking of Ament, he didn’t shoot the ball as well as he has in a few other open practices but still had a solid day and I thought had a couple nice moments rebounding the basketball.
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Ja’Kobi Gillespie was the best player on the court for much of Tuesday’s practice. I’ve written it before but his ability to get to the basket and finish has been really impressive. He had a couple nice finishes Tuesday as well as a beautiful three quarters court pass to Bishop Boswell for a layup.
It was a tough day for Boswell. Rick Barnes sent him to the versa climber three separate times in the portion of practice open to the media. Turnovers were the cause of most.
We’ve gone long enough without talking about the two newcomers. French guard Clarence Massamba and Israeli guard Ethan Burg have each arrived on campus since the last time we watched practice.
Burg is still clearly adjusting to the physicality and athleticism of the American game as well as Tennessee’s system as a whole. That is not much of a surprise though. He has only been on campus for a little over two weeks so it is still very new to him.
He has more turnovers than you’d like to see but that is, again, a part of the adjustment period. His shot is not the most aesthetically pleasing but he shot it pretty well Tuesday. Burg also had some nice moments driving to the basket including an impressive finish over Felix Okpara.
Perhaps the most impressive thing that stood out about Burg was his defense. It’s weird to say the athleticism and physicality of the American game gave him some issues offensively while he athletically more than held his own defensively but it is accurate. He looked like more than a capable on-ball defender.
Massamba was a little bit easier to lose in the mix Tuesday. He’s clearly a good athlete and has length but his game doesn’t seem as polished right now. That isn’t shocking though given how much younger he is than Burg. Athleticism didn’t seem to bother him as much which, again, isn’t shocking because he’s spent time playing in America unlike Burg.
I’m intrigued to see both of those guys again and the progress that they’ve made when Tennessee holds its last open practice.
Lastly, I thought Amaree Abram had a nice day. I don’t think he’s ever going to be the guy that takes over practice but he made some open three-pointers and drilled a contested midrange pull-up jumper late in the shot clock. The Louisiana Tech transfer has been the most consistent two-guard option when I’ve watched this offseason.
