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Thomas Sorber grabs a rebound against the Butler Bulldogs at Capital One Arena on January 31, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)
G Fiume via Getty Images
Summary: Sorber has a brick-house frame and the throwback skill-set to match with strong screens, soft-touch finishes, and gritty drop-coverage instincts. But to be more than a role player, he needs to tap into the flashes he shows as a shooter while also improving his perimeter defense.
Comparisons: Jonas Valanciunas, Jusuf Nurkic
Strengths
At-rim finishing: Sorber has throwback skills with soft hands, good touch, and power finishing when he needs it. He’s extremely strong and physical, so he does a good job of sealing defenders, catching the ball then keeping it high, and then finding the blue sky to score.
Post game: Jump hooks, floaters, and other touch passes come naturally for him even when he’s being matched physically by an opposing big. With such smooth footwork, he could continue to progress into more of a low and high post hub.
Passing: Bigs with high basketball IQs help lubricate offensive systems because of the way they can keep motion flowing on the perimeter with handoffs and interior feeds. Sorber brings these qualities, whether he’s on the perimeter, kicking it out from the post, or throwing an outlet on the break.
Shooting upside: He has good touch on tough layups. He hit over half his hook shots and floaters as a freshman. He made 72.4% of his free throws. These are all positive indicators that his 16.2% number from behind the line could someday improve. It may take years, but there’s something there that could turn him into a highly versatile big.
Interior defense: He’s a classic drop big man who uses his tree-trunk frame and long arms to alter shots around the rim. He does a good job of using the rule of verticality, and perhaps most importantly: He tries. It shows the way he makes second efforts with rotations and chases boards when crashing the glass. And perhaps most notably, how he gets his long arms in the passing lanes to intercept passes.
Concerns
Perimeter quickness: Sorber gets burned when he’s pulled out to the perimeter by stretch bigs or is forced to switch. Even though he hustles, he’s a bit lumbering when he needs to change directions. Unless he makes dramatic progress in this category, he might end up matchup-dependent.
Athleticism: He’s not a high-flying big who will dunk over the entire defense, and he’s only 6-foot-10 so he’s a bit undersized if he ends up a traditional center.
Pick-and-roll finishing: He made only 50% of his shots rolling to the basket out of ball screens, often being forced to finish below the rim after putting the ball on the floor. NBA spacing might help him, but in the Big East he wasn’t always facing pro-level size either. At the least it’s an area he needs to work on a lot.
Injury history: Underwent season-ending surgery on his foot at Georgetown, which will limit some of his pre-draft workouts.
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