Maxwell Darling

New Zealander prospect possess truly unique physical profile. Standing at 6’6 with lengthy 7’1 wingspan which almost allows him to touch his knee while standing straight, huge hands and thick upper & lower frame. His kind of heaviness at the first sight is misleading as Max shows promising mobility and extremely effortless and big bounce for someone with his weight. His gifts allow him to play bigger than he is in fact as he is extremely hard to move and can challenge a lot vertically with his length. Defensively he is a rock, if you are very quick and shifty you may manage to go around but if you enter contact it’s hard to maintain full balance and mostly it ends up by kicking the ball out unless you are big with good size and touch to make a hook over him. Often he defends inside but offensively likes to spread the floor. He shows promise of a adequate 3pt shooting ability and is definitely nimble. While post game doesn’t seem to be in advanced stage at the moment he is a solid mismatch driver and even if doesn’t manage to finish over bigger guys his super strength often allows him to curve out space, collect the ball again and finally finish. Moreover has a good timing for playing off the ball whether it is chasing putbacks or cutting wisely towards the rim. His solid ball handling for PF position allows him to bring the ball up at times but most impressive perimeter skill can actually be passing as he definitely has a knack for making extra passess with accuracy and bullet speed. On the court he seems focused but may lack this hyper energy which often characterizes and helps to thrive undersized bigs. Not clear as a NBA prospect but definitely a candidate to find a niche for himself on high level in Europe in few seasons. Already had solid minutes with Osijek in Croatian league this season.