Overview:An extremely young shooting guard who is still trying to solidify himself as an NBA player, but now has a contract that should afford him the opportunity to do so. Possesses nice size, but only decent physical strength for a shooting guard. Has very good overall athleticism. Pretty quick and explosive. Shows nice range on his jump shot. Capable of putting points on the board. Pretty pesky on the defensive end, but lacks experience. Was a highly touted recruit coming out of Skyline (TX), but failed to solidify his stock as a first round pick with his All-Star game performances. Earned a selection early in the second round based on his potential. Has spent time in the NBADL. Not very productive in his time in the NBA. Needed minutes to be able to work through his mistakes, and was never afforded that opportunity in Utah. Becoming more efficient, but still has a ton of room to grow. Showed enough sparks of potential to get Oklahoma City to offer him a 4-year, 15 million contract that was eventually matched by the Jazz. Could be a nice role-player down the road.
Offense: A surprisingly efficient offensive player for his relative experience level, but not very productive. Gets about one-third of his offense as a spot up shooter with another sizeable portion coming from fast breaks and shots coming in the flow of the offense. Has a nice looking left handed stroke that he gets great arc and good elevation on, but seems to shoot on the way down at times. Still refining his jump shot. Shoots the three with respectable consistency. Comes up short on a lot of his jumpers. Not a bad catch and shoot option. Doesnt get many chances to shoot of the dribble, but does so pretty effectively. Doesnt do a lot of driving and could definitely stand to improve his ball-handling skills. Likes to go right when he does put the ball on the floor. Has the quickness to get to the rim, but isnt going to turn the corner on everyone. Uses his athleticism very effectively at the rim. Gets up the floor in a hurry in transition, makes quick cuts to the basket, and loves attack the rim when he receives a pass with a head of steam. Not afraid to go right at the defense. Goes to the line at a decent rate and shoots a decent percentage. Will throw down some impressive dunks. Decent passer. Not as turnover prone as he once was. Still trying to find his identity in Utah. The fact that he is doing so efficiently is a nice bonus. Not really proven as a rotation player in critical moments yet, and has yet to really discover what his niche is as a player.
Defense: Not a bad defender for a player of his experience level. Has the lateral quickness to keep up with most wings and the size and wingspan to contest shots on the perimeter. Will get in a stance and work to keep the ball out of the lane. Relatively capable in one-on-one settings. Doesnt always close out under control. Sells out to try and block shots when he cant get to the ball in time. Displays very active hands, and knows how to force turnovers. Tends to get a little too aggressive when hes trying to come up with a steal. Commits a lot of fouls for a wing. Still very inexperienced. Improving as a rebounder. Needs more NBA experience to begin to utilize his defensive potential, and isnt really trusted enough by the coaching staff to get that yet.
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