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Sun Yue NBA Draft Scouting Report

Sun Yue NBA Draft Scouting Report
May 24, 2006, 02:37 pm
Strengths
Yue is a very unique player in this draft, being a very long 6-9 international who shows legitimate point guard skills. Watching him move with the ball in his hands, its hard not to be impressed by the talent he shows. Strongly favoring his left hand, Yue is a remarkable dribbler with his good hand, while improvable with his bad one.

Already an excellent passer, he takes advantage of his size to see the entire floor thanks to his impressive court vision. Displaying solid athleticism, he slashes well to the hoop with a good first step, primarily looking to dish the ball or sometimes finish with an elegant finger roll. He plays under control and appears to have an excellent feel for the game, being highly unselfish, almost to a fault at times. The game looks very easy for him, particularly playing in the minor leagues. Defensively, he is capable of getting in the passing lanes, pulling down rebounds and even blocking some shots on occasion, being a true stat-stuffer for his team.

Weaknesses
Yue looks far from becoming an adequate shooter. He doesn’t show any reliability, delivering awful jumpers from time to time, and his mechanics don’t look particularly consistent, and he has a fairly slow release. He needs to develop more of an in-between game, particularly a pull-up jumper. He has a tendency to go left almost exclusively when driving to the basket.

The biggest problem for Yue is his position on the court. He’s probably not quick enough for a point guard and he doesn’t have the shooting touch that you look for in a wing. He picks up his dribble at times and suffers from intense pressure he occasionaly sees from smaller and quicker guards. He also needs to add some bulk to his skinny frame. Defensively, there are concerns about him whether he’s playing the point or small forward. He has a tendency to be a little too passive at times, passing up scoring opportunities and not being quite as dominant offensively in a league where he is always the most talented player on the floor.

Competition
Yue plays for a Chinese team that migrated to the American ABA, a semi-pro minor league that is now a shadow of what it used to be 20-30 years ago. He puts up excellent numbers in this competition. He has some experience internationally with the Chinese national team, but has been inconsistent playing with them.

Outlook
Even without the flaws he shows, Yue played in the American ABA and therefore has not been scouted extensively against top-level competition, which makes him difficult to evaluate as an NBA prospect. He would probably be best served pulling his name out of the draft, improving on his highly correctable weaknesses, and playing in a setting next year that would allow him better competition both as a challenge as well as a comparison for NBA types to use.

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