Prospect Spotlight: Marion Ratlieff (2021)
Marion has got that killer instinct when he’s on the floor. Just a rising freshman, there is little than this man could do wrong for his “Hooping 4 Jesus” AAU squad at the Raptors Elite ID4 Invitational earlier this month.
Most of that, is due to Marion’s confidence.
“When I get the ball I just like to push it,” the Palm Beach Gardens hooper said. “When I’m on the court, I feel like no one can guard me.”
Marion is what you’d call, “tenacious”. During a timeout, I overhead a coach yell to the team, “He’s the only one hustling!”, with his finger pointed at Marion.
He said he attained this type of mentality from his uncle who urges him to be more than an offensive player on the court.
“It’s not about shooting and scoring,” Ratlieff said. “Who can be the best rebounder, play defense? That’s the most important thing.”
His best attributes? One, defense. Marion is relentless on D, always challenging ball-handlers to make decisions after he gets in their space. Two, his vision in-transition is better than some upperclassmen I’ve seen, in the past. He likes to hit the trailing man, or dump it out to the wings for the open three. So often we see younger players infatuated with the idea of scoring. Marion aims to be more than that.
When asked about his mindset on trying out for the basketball team, he said he’s ready and excited. Marion already has an “I can’t lose’ attitude. It should definitely carry him to tryouts in mid-fall.