Rob Dillingham, Bryson Tiller among Overtime Elite players who impressed in front of scouts

Overtime Elite’s Pro Week — held inside the professional basketball league’s spacious and swanky facility in Atlanta’s Atlantic Station neighborhood — offered a chance for OTE players to impress both college and professional scouts in an array of activities.

The four-day Pro Week — which took place April 6, 7, 10 and 11 — featured combine testing, a specific day for college coach evaluation, a skills and drills day and a finale that included three-on-three and five-on-five scrimmages.

Some OTE players, like consensus 2023 NBA Draft lottery picks Amen and Ausar Thompson, opted to not take part in Pro Week activities, but the vast majority of league players did, which meant plenty of meaningful results can be gleaned.

This includes how Kentucky signee guard Robert Dillingham fared in what is likely to be one of his last public basketball playing opportunities before arriving in Lexington later this year.

The Herald-Leader was in attendance at Overtime Elite for the final day of the Pro Week, which featured Dillingham and other OTE players in both three-on-three and five-on-five game settings, with representatives from a majority of NBA teams also watching.

Here’s who caught the eye on the final day of, and throughout, Overtime Elite’s Pro Week.

The complete Rob Dillingham experience

Let’s start where most of the intrigue lies, with future Kentucky Wildcat Robert Dillingham.

Despite rumors, Dillingham appears set to go through with his pledge to join the Wildcats and is expected to arrive in Lexington for summer classes and workouts along with other members of John Calipari’s five-player, top-ranked recruiting class.

One of the most intriguing elements of this group will be how Dillingham and combo guard DJ Wagner — who are both projected as first-round selections in the 2024 NBA Draft — will play off each other in the backcourt.

Both players offer a strong scoring presence and have loads of experience playing in both on-ball and off-ball situations, with Dillingham a shifty creator with an insane dribble package and Wagner a three-level scorer who is more consistent as a shot maker.

Dillingham lived up to this projection in both three-on-three and five-on-five scrimmage settings last week: It’s hard for opposing defenders to stay in front of him due to his speed, and his handle can create separation and space leading to open shots, as well as the ability to put pressure on the rim with drives to the basket.

But, several existing concerns with Dillingham were also apparent.

There were moments when Dillingham lacked defensive awareness and failed to properly track a shot or box out. Offensively, he at times faded into the background when playing off the ball.

His three-point shot (Dillingham made just 30.1% of his three-pointers during the OTE season with the Cold Hearts) was streaky, but his passing showcased the variety of ways in which Dillingham can play-make with the ball in his grasp.

Dillingham had a reserved demeanor during most of the scrimmages, through both the good and bad moments.

He will arrive at Kentucky as the mystery man of the 2023 recruiting class, simply because of the winding and unconventional prep basketball journey that has led him to Lexington, but Dillingham’s ceiling is as high as any freshman ball handler’s in the country, even if the floor may be lower.

Standouts from three-on-three play include former UK recruit

In three-on-three action, a trio of players aside from Dillingham stood out, led by former Kentucky recruit Naasir Cunningham.

A class of 2024 small forward, Cunningham trimmed his list of college choices in February to five schools: Duke, Kansas, Memphis, Rutgers and UCLA.

Kentucky, which offered Cunningham a scholarship in January, was left on the cutting room floor, and Cunningham will be a prized recruit for whichever of his final five schools is able to land him.

The wing prospect has significant length thanks to his 6-7 frame, and already holds a special place in prep basketball history: Cunningham, the former top-ranked player in the class of 2024, was the first high school basketball player to sign with Overtime Elite as a scholarship player, which means he’s forgoing a salary in order to retain his college eligibility.

Bryce Griggs (a 6-2 guard from Houston who is eligible for this year’s NBA Draft) and Jayden Quaintance (a 6-9 forward in the class of 2025 who is maintaining his college eligibility) also stood out.

Quaintance is ranked as a four-star recruit and the No. 30 overall player in the class of 2025 by the 247Sports Composite. He was one of two players in the Overtime Elite league to average a double-double each game this season (17.3 points and 11.6 rebounds per game), and also averaged more than two blocks per game.

Quaintance still needs to progress in all the expected areas for a class of 2025 prospect: Defensive awareness, strength near the rim and gathering the ball with his hands.

But plenty of high-major schools have already taken note of Quaintance, who was named to the All-Overtime Elite Second Team this season.

He counts college scholarship offers from the likes of Baylor, Cincinnati, Mississippi State, Oregon and Washington.

Standouts from five-on-five play include elite 2025 power forward

In last week’s five-on-five scrimmage setting at Overtime Elite, the list of standout players was headlined by class of 2025 forward Bryson Tiller, who is on track to become the most coveted college basketball recruit in OTE’s young history.

The 247Sports Composite ranks Tiller as the No. 5 player overall in the class of 2025 and as a five-star recruit, thanks to his 6-8 size and positional versatility.

Tiller won the OTE championship this season with the City Reapers, which meant he shared the court and ample amounts of practice time with the aforementioned Thompson twins.

The first sophomore to ever sign with OTE, Tiller averaged more than 11 points and nearly seven rebounds per game, but it was his positioning at both ends of the court that stood out the most during the Pro Week.

Tiller, whose already lengthy list of scholarship offers includes Auburn, Florida, Houston, Indiana and Xavier, will play grassroots basketball this summer on the Under Armour circuit.

Another frontcourt standout during the five-on-five session was Tyler Smith, a 6-10 forward from Houston who won’t be eligible for the NBA Draft until next year.

Smith averaged more than 15 points and eight rebounds per game this season as a teammate of Dillingham on OTE’s Cold Hearts team.

An All-Overtime Elite Second Team selection this season, Smith displayed coast-to-coast scoring ability and solid rim protection in front of professional scouts who will have the chance to bring Smith onto their team next year.

Another player who fared well as OTE Pro Week came to a close was Kanaan Carlyle, an incoming freshman guard at Stanford who has known Dillingham since they were kids.

The 6-2 Carlyle played on the same team as Dillingham for five-on-five games, and the two players traded primary ball-handling responsibilities. Frankly, Carlyle looked the better of the two during the time they shared on the court, and his vocal presence resonated around the gym.

Carlyle is a four-star signee for Stanford, and he’s ranked as the No. 42 player overall in the class of 2023.