DRAKE POWELL
just a warning, I believe he should NOT be entering the draft this year.
Position/Archetype: Defensive Minded Wing
College: UNC
Pros:
POA Defence: Guards 1-3, doesn't get beat a lot with his quick lateral movement, the highest quality part go his game and by far the easiest translation, its the main piece for his game. Had an 107.9 DRTG this season and definitely projects to be a strong on ball defender at the next level.
Athleticism: Bounces off both feet extremely well leading to some nice highlight blocks and dunks you may have seen, he's also very quick and has good lateral quickness as previously mentioned, athleticism is always great when looking at raw prospects like this guy.
Catch and Shoot and general scoring efficiencies: has been efficient from the field and from 3 this year, primarily used as an off ball mover who cuts and takes spot up threes, where he's been able to shoot 37.9% for the season.
Roleplaying Qualities: Connective passing is good, reads the game pretty well offensively on that side, knows where he's moving to get open shots, stats would represent a strong role-player if they fully translate. Effort player for sure.
Age: Lot of room to improve for a very young freshman who will gain a lot more experience over the next few years.
Cons:
Volume: Played 25MPG which isn't bad but took less than 6 shots a game, 2-3 threes a night, this makes it really tough to project how his shot will translate to the game and definitely needed to be more aggressive throughout the season, thats why I can't fully buy into the shooting efficiency.
Self-Creation: Pretty much non-existent other than driving to the basket, I don't think it's gonna be. totally necessary skill for him to be a good NBA player but definitely lowers the ceiling of his game.
Off Ball Defence and STOCKS: Low blocks and steals this year and isn't a smart off ball mover, has a lot of issues that will have to be worked on in the NBA most likely while in the G League.
Free Throw shooting: Im not always the biggest fan of using free throws as a value to determine Three point shooting consistency at the next level, I usually prefer it when determining how it will progress but he shot a low 65% the year at the line, thats a lot of missed points and tells me that maybe threes aren't gonna necessarily be there for his early years in the league.
Project Player: I've mentioned this prior, I think he should return and try get his NIL up and be used in an offence more and just clean up the little nags in his game that I struggle to see furthering his game, if he does that hes gonna jump really far on my boards and my projections next year. If he stays in the draft he will most likely be a G league player Long term and need a lot of development.
NBA Pro Comp: Isaac Okoro, Nassir Little
Projection: End of Bench impact player, who can swing games based on shooting
CHEESE FINAL BOARD RANKING: (coming soon)