We’re in the home stretch of our player previews leading into the start of the OSU Basketball season. Next up on the list is Sullinger’s High School teammate and swing-forward JD Weatherspoon.
Hometown: Columbus, OH
High School: Northland HS
Position: Forward (3/4)
Year: Sophomore
Height: 6-6
Weight: 215
High School:
– Team’s Leading Scorer (18 points) in 2009 State Championship victory – Northland’s first ever.
– Undefeated in four years of Columbus City League play.
– Helped Northland to a 95-4 record over his four seasons of play.
Weatherspoon may not have had a super prestigious individual High School career, but he certainly teamed up with Sullinger to make one of the most dangerous backcourts at the high school level. With Weatherspoon and Sullinger on the court together Northland was nearly unstoppable. That’s as much due to Weatherspoon’s talents as it is to Sullinger.
Weatherspoon was a three star recruit as listed by scout, given a grade of 91, and listed as the 30th ranked player at his position. He’s got the skills to be an excellent player for the Buckeyes, but he has plenty of things to work on before he gets a chance to see the court in significant minutes for the Scarlet and Gray.
Career Stats:
As usual, courtesy of Buckeyesbeat.com
| Season | GP | MPG | PPG | FG% | 3FG% | FT% | APG | RPG | BPG | SPG |
| 2010-11 | 10 | 5.4 | 1.8 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 22.2 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
Strengths:
JD Weatherspoon is a freak-of-nature athlete who uses his raw attributes to his advantage on the basketball court. It’s almost enough to simply show this video of his play rather than actually listing all of his strengths.
He has a fantastic sense of timing and is a powerful rebounder with a good sense for the ball. His quickness allows him to defend smaller forwards, while he can use his strength to out-muscle bigger power forwards. He’s also an inside scorer and finds his way to the hoop without issue. Weatherspoon is ultimately difficult to defend on the inside, and finishes strong above the rim.
Things to Work on:
Weatherspoon has big issues with his ball handling, especially on the perimeter. His perimeter shot tends to be inconsistent as well, and could use significant attention from shooting guru Chris Jent. This also goes for his free-throws, where he shot an atrocious 22% last season. Surprisingly, free-throw shooting was listed as a strength coming out of high school, so it makes one wonder what happened between then and now.
Most importantly, his defensive skills are not yet to the level that Thad Matta requires in order to see significant minutes on the court. His man-to-man defense in particular could use some polishing.
Lastly, on offense he needs to learn proper spacing on the court. In basketball, spacing is a key ingredient to a functioning offense. If players fail to maintain spacing, the defense has the advantage of an easier defensive assignment. It can even mean that a single defender can watch two offenders, allowing a double team on a more dangerous opponent. This could ultimately mean, particularly given his position on the court, that Sullinger ends up getting the double team.
Role for This Team:
If Weatherspoon has cleared up his defense he should get a chance to to see significant playing time early in the season at the 3 spot. With the Buckeyes trying to work out the loss of scoring production from Lighty and Diebler, Weatherspoon should have a leg up on seeing the floor as a change of pace scorer. This also assumes that he has worked on his ball-handling and perimeter scoring, as Matta’s offense tends to use the 3 on the perimeter more frequently than inside.
There will be plenty of competition at the small forward position this season. With so many talented guards William Buford may often play at the 3. That also goes for Lenzelle Smith or even Jordan Sibert, who may be squeezed in for their scoring. You should expect to see Deshaun Thomas and Sam Thompson at that spot as they are more natural players for the position. Weatherspoon really has to put it all together to try to sneak some playing time away from these guys, but if he can do it you can be certain that he’ll be able to make things happen on the hardwood.
Ultimately, this is Weatherspoon’s chance to emerge from under Sullinger’s shadow. If he can get on the court consistently he can start to separate himself from being known as “Sullinger’s Teammate” and actually build a reputation all his own. He certainly has the talent and athleticism to get it done, and if he can match it with hard work and dedication he could be a special player this year.
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