Alessandro Gentile

Strengths

Right-handed… While not the fastest, or most explosively athletic prospect on the board, Gentile is smooth and utilizes a high basketball IQ to score the basketball. He has good size for a 2-guard at 6'6" and very good upper body strength and above-average quickness. Gentile runs the floor well in transition and can use his quickness off the bounce to get to the lane and finish with a soft touch at the rim… His strength allows him to post-up smaller guards, where he does not have a vast array of scoring moves, but has the ability to face-up and pull the trigger. Gentile's soft touch extends to his mid-range jumper where he shows off his ability to kiss the ball off the backboard and bank it in… In the lane, Gentile hoists a variety of runners and bank-shots, demonstrating good body control off his penetration… Gentile has a nice collection of ball-moves and handle to play some point and above-average court-vision to match. He can thread the ball via a hard, quick bounce pass or a lob to the rim… When playing off the ball, Gentile is a solid spot-up shooter with decent range and a quick release. He isn't always on balance, but should be considered a good perimeter option.

Weaknesses

His lack-of-explosiveness is evident in the half-court setting, where he doesn't have that first-step burst to get by his man on a consistent basis or even when he does, he most often finishes below-the-rim in a finesse manner. Or if he gets in the lane against a longer or more athletic opponent, Gentile tends to fade-away, leading to decreased accuracy and a worse shot-selection… He has some ability to handle the ball, keeping his head up and running the offense, but without a burst of quickness, he struggles when pressured. He cannot make one explosive cut and dribble by his man, so he resorts on two, three or four moves to remove himself from pressure. He even tends to use his forearm to push-off and create space and thus, the obvious offensive foul. While trying to create, he gets himself up in the air and commonly forces the pass… His most glaring weakness stems from his lack of quickness and it's a major question to see who he will defend at the next level… He fails to move much playing off the ball offensively. Gentile certainly needs to be more active. When he catches the ball on the perimeter under pressure, he immediately turns his back to his man and then rips through low with the ball. Again, he lacks that first-step to be a legitimate option slashing.