One of the top young players in Germany, forward Richard Freudenberg has joined St. John’s 2016 recruiting class.
Considered a 4-star recruit by some scouting services, he had this to say about his choice:
“In the recruiting period I wanted to pick out one college and choose between staying here in Munich and sign a pro contract or go to college, so I decided for St. John’s,” Freudenberg told Scout. “Obviously the coaching staff is huge. Playing for Chris Mullin and Mitch Richmond is amazing.”
Here’s a bit of what DraftExpress had this to say about him following the FIBA Europe U18 Championships:
Strengths: -Excellent size for a wing at 6-8, or possibly even 6-9 -Has very smooth shooting mechanics. Elevates off ground with a high release point
-Intelligent player. Makes extra pass. Did not look out of place here despite only being 16 years old.
Weaknesses: -A little bit one dimensional at this stage. Shot more 3s than 2s. Only got to free throw line four times in 174 minutes -Doesn’t have advanced ball-handling skills in the half-court
-Needs to become more physical as he matures and his body fills out
Outlook: Young, tall wing with nice potential as a high IQ floor-spacer. Still at a very early stage of his development. On the college track right now. Will likely pick from Gonzaga, St. John’s and Vanderbilt according to what he told us.
We’ve spent time talking about how well Gonzaga has recruited internationally, but St. John’s deserves a mention as well. The school had landed highly-regarded international players like Federico Mussini and Yankuba Sima.
In fact, signing the pair mentioned above was one of the big factors that lead Freudenberg to St. John’s.
“They had a lot of European players committing the year before, which I know,” he said. “I played against Federico Mussini in Europe a few years ago and I saw Yankuba Sima playing in the U19 World Championships and that was a big factor too. When I visited St. John’s, I met all of those guys and I just felt comfortable in the group,” he added. “It felt like, well I don’t want to say like home, but it actually does.”
Freudenberg, joins top 100 guard Shamorie Ponds and JuCo star Bashir Ahmed as members of St. John’s 2016 recruiting class.
- TAGS
- 2016 recruiting
- Chris Mullin
- Richard Freudenberg
- St. John’s
