THIS IS ALEX FUDGE THIS IS ALEX FUDGE THIS IS ALEX FUDGE THIS IS ALEX FUDGE THIS IS ALEX FUDGE THIS IS ALEX FUDGE THIS IS ALEX FUDGE
The Rundown:
No guys I promise LSU coach Will Wade isn’t paying me off, but he’s gotta be paying someone at the “Long Defensive Forward Factory” to get the pick of the litter every single time. One of the things I look for when looking for high level defensive players is a chaos factor. NBA players are capable enough on offense that when all goes relatively according to plan they can get a good shot, no matter what the defense does. Great defensive players make it so things do not go according to plan, be it with tipped passes, blocked cuts, or annihilated lay up attempts. The more chaos the defense causes, the more off the rails an offense becomes, and their attack inevitably devolves into something decidedly unrehearsed. That is where the defense can thrive, where the offense is just as unsure of what is about to happen as they are. I do not know if you’ve guessed but I have never played in the NBA so maybe everything I just said is hogwash but it is what I based my analysis of Alex Fudge off of.
Defensively is where Fudge is going to pay his bills. I am not being hyperbolic when I say that Fudge is on another sphere of existence compared to most defenders. His defensive vision and mapping of the court and the rotations is exceptional, in the top tier of this class, but his ability to do something based on that vision is generational type stuff. His ability to cover ground is unparalleled; the ball always travels faster than the perimeter but Fudge is putting up a good fight. He swallows smaller perimeter defenders with his anticipation, wingspan, and terrifyingly quick feet, and is dominant in a facet of defense that is bizarrely undervalued by most, screen navigation. Fudge is skinny, which can have a negative effect on his ability to guard bigger players, but it also means he can get skinny and get over screens like a pick was never even placed, negating the whole action. Fudge is exceptional at “mugging” steals, where a player is driving and he simply sticks his hand into the cookie jar and takes his lunch money before heading the other way. Offball is where he is somehow even better. He flies around the court, getting dangerously close to actually guarding two people at the same time. An unselfish rotator, Fudge is more than willing to make up for -and then some- his teammates mistakes. The amount of ways he can be of use on defense is astronomical, be it as a wing side rim protector, a small ball 5, or uber switchable wing stopper. He will need to get bigger, and he is prone to mistakes that simply scream “inexperienced” but I am confident those things will come in time, but it must be known that he isn’t the perfect defender… yet.
Offensively the picture is a bit less clear, but still fairly promising, or as promising as it can be for someone averaging around 5 per game. Let’s start with the shot. It isn’t broken by any means, he has a good form and seemingly pretty good touch. He has absolutely zero gravity on the perimeter at this moment, and that directly permeates into his lack of confidence in his shot. When he shoots, it looks fine, but you can tell he is not quite comfortable with that yet. He uses his athleticism fairly well on offense though, as a cutter and alley oop finisher, but if he is just a wing relegated to the dunkers spot then his value plummets. His fluidity is pretty unheralded though; he seems comfortable taking a few dribbles while using a bit of shift and wiggle, although this is decisively not an effective offensive attack at this point, just something to look out for. His passing isn’t anything to write home about either, not a great or bad decision maker on offense, but for what it's worth most exceptional defensive court mappers end up understanding the offensive game at a higher level than most of their defensively inferior counterparts. In transition he is a blur, where the mistakes in his handle seem to evaporate and he uses his blazing speed, freaky arms, and otherworldly quick bounce to dominate. But I will not sugarcoat it, it may take some time for Fudge to become an asset on the offensive end of the floor. But just because I talked about offense last, don’t forget about his presence on defense. He uses his physical gifts to impact the whole gameplan, and even if anything else fails, he will still be one of the quickest jumpers in the league, with some of the longest arms, on top of the most fluid and fast frames that there is. Guys like that don’t come along often, and also tend to have a higher floor than given credit for. The NBA is always in need of more defensive chaos orchestrators, so it only makes sense that they are hankering for some Fudge.
An otherworldly defender that sees the game on a different level than most everyone, he covers ground and just makes things on that end. A solidly projectable shot that lacks confidence and consistency, it seems fair to assume his athleticism will make something good happen on that end in the NBA
Giannis on defense, Robert Covington, Andrei Kirilenko, Jaden McDaniels