Corey Stokes

One of the nation’s top pure shooters showed his streaky ability to put the ball through the hoop, all the way out to 25 feet. Stokes hit two thee pointers from beyond the NBA arc, while attempting several more that just missed. He showed off a little bit of an off the dribble game, which is considered to be one of the weaker areas of his game. The New Jersey native will be an outstanding fit with Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher, as he will be able to get countless open looks off of his two point men’s penetration abilities. As long as Corey is able to improve on his off the dribble game and defense, we should surely see him in the NBA by the time it is all said and done.

Stokes wasn’t as dominant or as diverse in his performance as teammate Samardo Samuels, but he still played a great game. Stokes has an amazing shot, the release is soft and the form consistent. Stokes has NBA three point range already and has the ability to maintain his accuracy even when in motion.

Stokes has a lower release point than ideal as his arm angle is more compact then other pure shooters, but he elevates well before releasing and the shot itself is all wrist and out of his hand quickly. Stokes really needs to work on his ball-handling because he has solid athleticism and has a great build for a shooting guard, which should make it easy for him to use shot fakes to take the ball to the basket. As it stands right now, Stokes is clever enough with his dribble and dangerous enough with the outside shot to create some midrange opportunities for himself by faking the primary defender and using a slide-dribble to free himself up for a closer shot.

He’s not super fast, but he doesn’t need to have great quickness to be a top-level scorer for Villanova next season as their offense is designed to take advantage of his skills. His game is similar to Rashad Anderson’s, though he is a better physical specimen than Anderson. Running Stokes off of screens and keeping him in motion would be a great way to increase his on-court productivity while he works on developing his ball-handling because Stokes can shoot in motion very effectively. Most players need to keep their body alignment to make shots consistently, Stokes only needs his arm free to get a soft shot up at the rim. This is not something you want to teach young players to do, but if the ability is there it enables a player to shoot falling forward, backward, left, and right.

Defensivley, Stokes is fundamental and could be a good defender in time. He doesn’t work his man relentlessly, but has active hands and feet when he senses that his man is going to try and take him. Stokes has a nice build and wide shoulders, which in time should make him one of the stronger wings in college basketball. He should be a good rebounder on the college level as well, not aggressive on the glass, but has a sense for caroms and won’t lose rebounds to others.