| C.J. Fair |
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| All Tweets | DraftExpress: Top NBA Prospects in the Big East (#11-15) - http://t.co/EQEFfOfw - Vander Blue, Gus Gilchrist, Fab Melo, C.J. Fair, Talib Zanna
2011-10-17 08:21:38 | DraftExpress: Saw him play a bunch in high school. We may have written about him even. RT @FearTheFan: Take a look at C.J. Fair
2010-11-27 07:54:47 |
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| Team:
Syracuse, Sophomore
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| Physicals | Positions | Rankings | Misc |
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H: 6' 8"
W: 203 lbs
Bday: 09/13/1991
(20 Years Old)
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Current: SF/PF
NBA: SF/PF
Possible: SF/PF
| Rank 35 in NCAA Sophomores
RSCI: 84
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High School: Brewster Academy
Hometown: Baltimore, Md.
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| Top NBA Draft Prospects in the Big East: Part Three (#11-15)
October 17, 2011
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Joseph Treutlein
A top-100 recruit out of high school, C.J. Fair had a modest debut season for Syracuse last year, averaging 6.4 points in 18.6 minutes per game.
Standing 6'8 with a solid frame and very good length, Fair is a good overall athlete for a combo forward, being fast in the open floor and showing nice vertical explosiveness when he builds momentum. He's still raw with most of his skills and has a certain awkwardness to some of his movements, but likely can improve on that with time.
On the offensive end, Fair does the vast majority of his work operating off the ball, with just 19 of his 218 possessions logged by Synergy being of the isolation variety. He sees most of his possessions on cuts, offensive rebounds, and spot-up opportunities, doing very little to create his own shot and not showing much in terms of a perimeter jumper yet.
Working off the ball, Fair shows a very active motor and solid awareness of spacing, constantly moving around in Syracuse's offense and doing a nice job finishing on cuts in the lane. He shows nice creativity and touch at the rim, finishing well on the move. His athletic abilities also show up much better in transition, where he does a better job harnessing his leaping ability when relatively unimpeded to the basket and not having to worry about putting the ball on the floor.
Fair also sees a lot of opportunities on spot-up, straight line drives, something he shows varying success with depending on the situation. Fair's ball-handling skills are still underdeveloped, not showing much in terms of change of direction ability or control in tight spaces, while he also struggles getting to top speed with the ball in his hands. In well spaced situations, he's able to utilize his long strides to overcome these shortcomings and excel, but when the lanes are crowded he struggles to consistently produce. He does occasionally flash an impressive spin move and shows solid instincts when he has space to operate, but is still very raw overall.
The biggest area Fair is lacking in right now is with his perimeter shooting ability, something he shows very little of on a consistent basis. He took just 32 jumpers on the season according to Synergy, while scoring a poor 0.72 points per shot on those attempts. His FT% was a similarly disappointing 61%. Fair's form is not particularly refined or consistent and his touch is problematic the farther he gets from the rim, something he will definitely need to work on given his lack of shot creation abilities.
Defensively, as is the case with most Syracuse players, Fair is mostly untested as a one-on-one perimeter or post defender, playing almost exclusively the forward spots in Syracuse's 3-2 zone. Like most Boeheim players, Fair shows a good level of focus and activity on defense, constantly keeping his eyes on the ball and moving well off the ball to stay with his man and contest shots, but he appears very raw in the few instances he's tested on isolations. Fair has a high center of gravity and doesn't look very comfortable moving laterally, something he'll definitely need to improve on despite the lack of opportunities to do so at his school.
Looking forward, Fair is still a very raw player who shows flashes in a lot of areas, and he will probably need more time and opportunities to fully developed. While he looks like he'd be ready to expand his game some this season, that may be tough to do given Syracuse's situation, as they're returning the vast majority of their rotation and have a strong recruiting class incoming with two ESPN Top-25 recruits. Continuing to improve his ball-handling, perimeter shooting, and defense should be among Fair's priorities, but he still has plenty of time left to add some polish to his game as he's still just 20 years old with three years left on campus.
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