Ware's off-ball movement really borders between a like and an issue for me, but at the time I'm writing this, I feel that I like Ware's off-ball movement more than I don't. Ware moves off the ball every game, but at the quality and quantity he does isn't consistent. He mostly has a mediocre amount of off-ball movement, not too active but not inactive (although at times he can be). He repositions down low and it's very common he's at the right place at the right time to catch a lob. He rarely runs the PNR surprisingly, and when he does, it can be pretty lazy. Cutting is something which shouldn't be expected from him but isn't also extremely unordinary for him to do. I think Ware could be moving off the ball with more frequency and trying a bit harder with his off-ball movement, but he does enough right now for me to view this as a like of his game, although depending on the day this definitely could be an issue.
Still fairly young, turned 20 this year and will be 20 on draft night.
None of his physical attributes are very impressive for his position and mostly average, but even then, being 7'0 and 240 pounds isn't something to really complain about... so...
Finished his sophomore season 58.6% from the field. Although solid, it could be a little bit better for a center... still, far from bad though. Has a good shooting efficiency as well to accompany his decent FG%.
With heavier usage and more opportunities, Ware was able to perform at a higher level than his freshman year at Oregon. Although some of his stats got worse, such as his FT percentage and the number of fouls he averaged, almost every other stat got better, and by a noticeable amount.
Can score offensively, averaged a pretty good 15.9 points per game this year, almost a 10-point improvement from his freshman year. In general, he can fill up the stat sheet, as he's not a stranger to double-doubles. In half of his games, he got a double-double and he nearly finished the season averaging one.
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Issues:
Ware does not stand out to me defensively. He's so mediocre in my opinion and he's flawed in many aspects to where it outshines some of the pros he brings to the table. An example of this would be him as a shot blocker; he can get many good blocks, as he finished the season averaging 1.9 of them, but when watching his film, you can see he can get too block-hungry at times, jumping for a swat more than he should be and at times just playing defense like a kid, being out of control and just swinging his arms hoping he can block at least one shot attempt. I worry about his strength in the paint, he was getting big bodied and pushed around more often than I would've liked by other centers, but also, I thought he had the ability to hold his own at times even if he wasn't consistent at doing so (not a huge worry, he is 240lbs which is the average for a center so he should do fine in the NBA). I'm unsure if he can defend guards, it's rare he does so and he doesn't even play help defense enough to where he has the chance to do so... doesn't get many switches either, other than for his UConn game in which he actually did a good job of preventing Cam Spencer from doing much on the perimeter, but that's the only game sample I found of him playing well against a guard defensively, and really, the only good film of him defending a guard (though I think he might not be a liability against guards). His rotations both in the paint and near the perimeter were rather forgettable, and steals aren't something he gathers often, he did only average 0.6 of them. I feel like he could be playing help defense a lot more than he is right now (might make him look better defensively). I don't question his defensive efforts too much, but it's hard to act like he doesn't look unengaged at times (I'll expand on this overall game concern later), and some of his late game in-actives where he just ghosts on the defensive end are really worrying (although not frequent). I think Ware is still raw defensively. He has the tools to potentially be successful, his length alone gives him much better odds to become a better defensive player compared to others, as we can see at times with how his wingspan can affect shots through contests or tips (which is how I thought he got most of his blocks), and in the areas where he fails at he still shows potential, but right now he's just painfully mediocre and inconsistent, and I don't really see him being anything more than subpar to start off his career, but it should be expected that he'll gradually improved as time goes on. One last thing worth mentioning; Ware averaged 2.0 fouls per game, which isn't the best, but not awful... maybe a little concerning considering it's a noticeable leap from his previous year in which he averaged only one per game, but again, he's not excessively fouling, and all things considered it's just a worry more than anything.
I don't think Ware is a very good shooter, but he's not awful. He shoots the ball at a very low volume, and he's not always hitting his shots when he does put up an attempt. For a center, I thought he looked comfortable putting up something and his form honestly didn't look too bad or even bad at all, his shots just weren't going in at times. On film he looks 50/50, which isn't very good considering he's putting up at the max 4-5 shots a game... but in reality, he's actually pretty solid from the 3PT line. He finished the season 42.5% from deep, but again, with not the highest volume, he only attempted around 50 threes (an improvement from his previous year though, both in attempts and percentage made). It's hard for me to buy into his shot even with his percentage from three being good, because again, low volume, but more importantly, his FT percentage does not correlate with his 3PT percentage. Ware was actually nearing bad territory from the line, only being 63.4% from the charity stripe, a noticeable decrease from his previous year where he was around 71%. I doubt his shot will translate all that well and I believe that it'll be inconsistent at the next level. Moving on though, something that worries me a bit more about Ware's shot is his mid-range selection. He can chuck up poor shots from the mid-range and miss them or just get lucky with them, not sure how well that'll translate into the NBA but... at least he can get good looks from three (I assume they just leave him open because he's a center). Although his stats aren't too bad, I doubt Ware will be a reliable shooter in the future or someone who'll attempt many shots in the first place.
Ware isn't a bad rebounder, he just doesn't impress me, at least on film. On tape he looked inconsistent with the number of boards he got per game, one game he could get 5, the next 10, and then that cycle repeats. Surprisingly, at least for me, Ware did average 9.9 rebounds per game, nearly 10 (7.8 defensive, 2.1 offensive, as well as making a huge leap in the number of boards he got compared to his freshman year)!... but this doesn't mean I love him as a rebounder all of a sudden. His efforts are fairly lackluster most of the time and at some point, just bad, he boxes out but it's always so half-assed and often he relies on his length too much to get a rebound, which doesn't work against other bigger centers since he does nothing to prevent them from jumping up with him as well. The amount of contact he endures is questionable, I think he has a lot more free rebounds from open lanes than tough and contested boards, although he can still get those types of rebounds. I worry at times about how strong he can hold on to the ball once he gets it, he shows glimpses of not being strong enough when coming down and losing possession (he has fumbled fairly free rebounds before). I wish he made more of an effort to rebound and tried harder, currently he's just alright rebounder in my opinion who could be better if he put in more effort (I don't care if he averaged nearly 10 in college, he could be better)...
Ware is miles away from being unathletic but he's also kind of far from impressing me with his current athleticism. It's hard to deny Ware can really jump out of the gym, in most of his games his vert can pop out on lobs and dunks, and while some of his crazy looking jumps can be credited to his length, I think most of it actually comes from his vertical ability, something cooperated by his good combine performances on the vertical drills in which he always was above average (although not by a lot). On the other hand, in terms of speed, Ware is really unimpressive and at times worrying. He looks slow, often too. While I think in general he's not the fastest, something his combine performances agree in as he was below average in every speed test, his motor can be credited to him looking even slower, as a lack of effort just makes him look like he's doing certain actions in slow-mo. And as for Ware's agility, it's just whatever. For a guy as tall as himself, I do think he moves smoother and less clunky as other centers, even having a certain grace to him, but he still doesn't do anything that impressive and his movements aren't the most fluid either.
Has an alright/mediocre scoring efficiency, not the worst but not good.
Could definitely lower the number of turnovers he gets in the NBA as he averaged 1.6 in college, but it could've been worse, I guess.
Not much to praise about Ware's passing. I don't think he's a bad passer, he just doesn't pass the ball anywhere near the extent to where I could be sure if I think he's anything more than a mediocre passer. He's very subpar, and he doesn't have many outstanding looks, but he could sprinkle in a decent look every once in a while. He passes the ball at the most 4 times a game, and he mostly sticks with the basics (PNR dump-offs, kickouts, stuff like that). He can get turnovers from his passing, but it's not too often he does. I don't think he has much upside as a passer, but he could be someone who isn't a liability when passing the ball and might be a center who can do more than just setting up the PNR, even if it's not often. He can go games without passing the ball or doing anything eventful, as present through the 1.5 assists per game he got this year and his perfectly mediocre 1.0 assist/turnover ratio (which is actually an improvement from his freshman year!). Just kind of whatever, not bad though.
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Dislikes:
Ware's finishing at the rim is so inconsistent and often disappointing. For a center, I think he should be attempting a lot more shots near the rim, it's not acceptable that he has games where he only has 4 attempts at the basket and doesn't even make all the little attempts he puts up. He doesn't look to create for himself and because of this he gains a lot of his points from avoiding contact/not receiving much through lobs and assisted buckets (his teammates don't always set him up with the right situations for him to work with either, so not an ideal situation for his team or himself). This is not to say he can't create for himself at all, because he can, but only at times, and it's much more likely he's not doing so. This is like the third time I mention this, but Ware shows some warning signs on as to how much contact he can endure in the paint and his strength, but this isn't a big issue at all right now just something to note. I think Ware genuinely has more to dislike in terms of his finishing at the rim, and even though he can really show flashes of life, he's just so inconsistent. Out of multiple games I watched, he only impressed me ONCE... not sure how I couldn't put this as a dislike of his game.
Ware should not be expected to do really anything with the ball. Although his ball handling mechanics look fine and he's not scared to try something out with the ball (although his handles tend to just be a quick crossover, and some pounds under the basket), he's just not the type of player to be given many opportunities to do anything with the ball. Most games he doesn't do much ball handling since him being a center makes it possible for him to score without a single dribble, if need be, which is what happened in Indiana. He should be expected to do the bare minimum, but even then, I don't think he'll be that good at doing that, considering he has loose ball turnovers from not being strong enough with the ball and just losing it with minimal contact while doing the bare minimum. He's not awful as a ball handler, but far from good or even mediocre.
Ware's motor is a huge concern. In almost every game of his he can look unengaged, lost, or just not try when performing different tasks on the court. While I don't think his motor is as bad as some people may make it seem like it is, it's still noticeably not good at times. Not to say he's always performing lazily, as in some games he definitely is trying more than others, even if those efforts can still be fairly lackluster, I just don't think your center should have any doubts in the first place on whether they really care or not that they're on the court. I do think Ware is more raw and just takes more time to process things which is why he looks unengaged, or he just has that sort of facial expression that makes him look emotionless (idk what i'm saying anymore), and it's less of him not caring for the game... but just because this is an issue in the first place I'm putting this as a dislike.
