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Knockdown movement shooter who can also defend. He can pass and decision make well. He has good size for a shooting guard-slash-wing. He moves well without the ball. He is not super athletic, but that is really his only drawback.

NBA Comp: Luke Kennard

Knockdown movement shooter who can also defend. He can pass and decision make well. He has good size for a shooting guard-slash-wing. He moves well without the ball. He is not super athletic, but that is really his only drawback.

NBA Comp: Luke Kennard

Ceiling/Comp: Floor/Comp: Draft Range:

----Physicals---- Height: Weight: Wingspan: Injury Concerns:

----Eye Test---- Pro's:

• Cons:

----Stats---- PPG: RPG: APG: SPG: BPG: FG%: 3FG%: TOPG:

Tier 4 : Good bench player

Great shooter, great teammate and high IQ player that can fit the mold of every team. Senior, he will be a plug-and-play and potentially be impactful.

Strengths:

• Sandfort has great size for the role he'll be asked to play as a lights-out floor-spacer and shooter. He's 6 feet 6.25 without shoes and has a strong, stout frame. Has great hand-eye coordination. Not explosive, but is a very balanced, coordinated athlete like many great shooters. Also plays with a good motor. Good rebounder for his role. Averaged 6.6 rebounds, including a surprising 1.2 offensive rebounds per game for a floor-spacing wing.

• One of the best shooters of the class. The percentages don't jump off of the page, as he hit 37.9% of his 3s in his junior year before the injuries (34% as a senior), but he took 7.4 per game and made 90% of his free throws over the last two years. Has great touch. We'll look mostly at the junior year numbers given his injuries this year.

• So why was the percentage from distance that low? He probably took the hardest catch-and-shoot 3 point diet of any player in the class. Felt automatic as a junior from a standstill or out in transition when he had a bit more space to load up and fire. Drilled 46.6% of his spot-up 3s last year. Has an extremely quick release. Great rhythm and great shot prep. Takes them off the hop. Takes exceptionally little time from the point of catch until the release. Can be a no-dip shooter at times, allowing him to fire from distance. Even when he dips, he gets shot off quickly. Great balance. High release point. Simple mechanics. Makes them over tight contests because of that high release and repeatable mechanics. Unless the injury changes things, Sandfort can definitely shoot the ball.

• Also moves exceptionally well without the ball. Runs off different flares and pindowns and can stop and fire. Constantly moving and relocating across the 3-point line. Has an awesome feel or spacing. Even with the injury this year, he averaged more points off screens than any player other than Chaz Lanier in the draft class. Does a great job opening angles for his guards to get him passes but also rarely seems to bump up against his teammates despite that constant motion. Knows how to keep the court well-spaced even if he's not shooting by relocating. Did a great job running off screens when Iowa ran plays designed for him to make sure his defender got clipped. The Hawkeyes ran some fun screen-for-the-screener action to get him free, and he was willing to bump and make contact. Also ran some good dribble-handoff action to get him free behind a screener. If his defender stayed attached, I liked his ability to put the ball on the deck once or twice and fire off a relocation. Loved the mini fake into side-step left. Drilled his midrange pull-ups as a junior at a 55% clip, too, with many coming off of heavy closeouts. Had some moments as a cutter, too. Knows how to play off his gravity as a spacer, where defenders have to stay tightly attached. Had some awesome moments back-cutting his man.

• Sandfort's passing was good over the last two years. Not going to be a creative drive-and-kick player but has good vision and keeps the ball moving. Seems to process the game quickly. Hits quick reads when available. Took a lot of wild shots out of necessity for Iowa but wasn't selfish, either. Made solid passes on the move when he'd attack a closeout, force a help defender and then hit a teammate. Showed some pocket passes to screeners as a counter when defenders overplayed his shot. Hits guys on target with good touch. Good transition and hit-ahead passer. Good eye for hitting cutters. Averaged nearly three assists per game over the last two years, posting a two-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio.

Areas for Improvement:

• Sandfort would be among the slowest, least explosive athletes in the NBA. Good balance and coordination, but no explosiveness. Doesn't have a quick first step. Very little vertical pop. Had three dunks this year and missed four. Not laterally quick. These factors impact his game in myriad ways and have potential to cause him substantial issues in the NBA, where longer and more athletic players are everywhere. Only has a 6-foot-8.25 wingspan, as per his measurement from the 2024 NBA Draft Combine.

• Could be a significant negative on defense. Slow. Gets blown by a lot, and that was in college, where the driving lanes aren't as wide and the court is not as well-spaced. Anyone with a good first step and some space is going to get by him because he plays very upright. Allows wings to get lower than him and get leverage with that first step. And because Sandfort is playing so upright, it's hard for him to react to step-back shots. Seemed like he allowed guys to get too much separation on those attempts, which led to easier shots. Once players get separation, Sandfort struggles to recover. Doesn't have great stop/start ability. His hips aren't flexible on defense, and he struggles to drop to stay in front if someone changes direction. He is willing to play physically once he gets his chest on someone. He guards up better than he does guarding down the lineup. But needs to be able to keep his chest in front of his man.

• His off-ball defense is positionally better, insofar as he's regularly in position and knows where he needs to be. He doesn't lose track of what's happening. But he's not that disruptive. Averaged just 0.8 steals per game. Doesn't hunt passing lanes at all. Doesn't make aggressive, anticipatory rotations early to break up what the opposing team is doing. Did block the occasional shot and has some timing when contesting. He is competitive and seems to care, which really helps. Probably won't get hunted as a help defender the way smaller players do, but smaller guards and creative wings will likely hunt him on the ball.

• He's not creative with ball in hand. Can run some ball screens coming off screens himself, but he's making early reads there to pass or shoot most of the time, only driving if he has completely loses his man. Doesn't have any shake as a ballhandler. Won't be separating his man in isolation actions late in the shot clock. Only got to the rim twice per game in the half court, with most of those coming off cuts.

Summary:

The Sandfort evaluation is quite simple. Do you think he has potential to be one of the 25 best 3-point shooters in the world? If the answer to that question is yes, then you will have interest given his size. If the answer is no, you should have concerns on his NBA viability. He might be able to reach that level at some point. His mechanics are incredibly repeatable, and his ability to fire at volume with efficiency off his quick release could make him a weapon in the spacing-conscious NBA. Getting him into a situation where he's the fourth or fifth option on the court might help the percentages. He's almost automatic as a spot-up and transition shooter. He can fire off relocations. I also like that he has counters to relocation off the dribble for 3, and to make passing reads. Obviously, the big key here is his health, as he's recovering from multiple surgeries that impact shooters immensely. Every NBA team will have a different evaluation on that health factor, but I respect immensely that Sandfort played through injury this year, especially since his coach was on the hot seat. It's hard to say that a team should draft him given the injury factor, but I'd be comfortable with a two-way deal to see if he can become a shooting specialist in the NBA after his recovery.