I firmly believe he is the real deal. The only caveat I have regards his ability to conform to a system and integrate his offensive skills within those parameters to help his team win games. I've seen nothing to suggest he won't be able to do just that, but I know from personal experience just how hard it is to accomplish. Most newcomers, freshman and transfers, struggle with it.
Here's what I posted back in may, in response to Sam's post about who the leading scorer of this year's team will be:
"If Newell is the starting PG for most of the year or gets most of the crunch-time minutes at the 1, he'll lead this team in scoring. Everything I've read leads me to believe his capacity for scoring is extremely high and is diverse in nature.
In a situation with no clear-cut, go-to guy offensively, a player controlling the ball is typically way more likely to be aggressive than those who play off the ball and typically only touch it within the structure of the offense.
That said, unless someone steps into that go-to role for us during the summer and the time leading up to first practice, I put my money on a guy like Newell. The guy has averaged 29.4 pts and 26.1 pts a game the last two seasons in high school and prep school, respectively.
Even if you're playing really weak competition, there is a mentality that goes into being a consistent volume scorer. He certainly seems to have that, as well as a fairly well-rounded skill set. If he gets major minutes, and until someone with a more big-time offensive game that better translates to long-term, high-level success (read: Cameron Clark) steps up; I say watch out for Newell as the leading scorer."
After seeing the posted videos and hearing many of the comments coming from coaches and teammates, I'd say there's nothing to make me feel differently some 5 months later.
