The 2023 NBA Draft, set to take place on 23 June, has been dubbed the ‘Victor Wembanyama Draft’. All eyes are on Victor Wembanyama, one of the top talents in NBA history.
However, there are a few prospects that get overshadowed by him. If you’re not a fan of the San Antonio Spurs, who have the No. 1 pick, it might be wise to focus on the prospects below them.
There are a lot of attractive prospects in this draft. It’s also a great draft for draft depth.
The first prospect in our Scouting Report is Cam Whitmore from Villanova University. He’s a specialist forward prospect who is expected to be selected in the third to seventh round of the draft.
Strengths스포츠토토
The second-best small forward prospect in the draft.
Very athletic and explosive offensively. He has good body balance and has shown on several occasions that he can finish through heavy contact. Athletic enough to break hard and finish with an explosive first step. He shot a respectable 58 per cent from inside the three-point line. That’s including mid-range jumpers, so you can see that his success rate was pretty good based solely on finishing under the basket.
While his dribbling isn’t top-notch, his signature hedgehog dribble will certainly translate at the NBA level. The hedgehog dribble followed by a three-point jumper is definitely a signature move. This is his primary route to scoring from the outside.
Has a high energy level despite being a wing player, averaging 5.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game.
Good off-the-ball movement. Expect him to be a slasher and floor spacer on offence, and an infinitely switchable wing on defence.
Cons
Definitely clunky. There are many times when he gets isolated on offence. Two reasons. Firstly, he doesn’t have a high BQ (basketball intelligence). He has a good penetration ability, but when he gets to the basket and is blocked, he seems to be paralysed under the basket several times. It’s hard to see him as a player who has a plan and makes clever attacks.
Also, his dribbling is weak. His hedging dribble is certainly impressive, but his basic dribbling ability is not good. His ball-handling becomes very unstable under pressure. For these two reasons, he was isolated in the offence many times.
He has no playmaking ability. In college, he committed 1.4 steals per game while dishing out 0.7 assists. This was while playing for Villanova University, which plays a system basketball. It’s likely that his assist-to-turnover ratio would have been even worse at another university.
Weak outside shooting. He shot 34% from three-point range. His shooting mechanics aren’t what you’d call dull, but they’re not soft either. He needs to improve his three-point shooting if he wants to play in the NBA.
Teams that would be a good fit
Whitmore is projected to go as high as #3 if he goes really high, or as low as #7 if he goes late.
In my opinion, a team with optimal developmental conditions for him should have the following.
-A team with weak competition at the same position where he can be guaranteed quality playing time.
A team with a top-notch playmaker: Whitmore will never be a playmaker with his current passing skills. He needs a playmaker to compensate for his weaknesses and maximise his strengths of off-the-ball movement and athleticism.
Based on these criteria, look no further than the Detroit Pistons, who hold the fifth overall pick. The playmaking ability of 2021 first-round pick Cade Cunningham. Very poor forward depth outside of Bojan Bogdanovic. Throw in quality prospects like Cunningham, Jaylen Duren, and Jayden Ivy, and an environment where they can develop together, and Detroit could be a great fit.
The Indiana Pacers, who hold the seventh overall pick, would be a great fit. The presence of assist-leading point guard Tyreese Halliburton and their somewhat lacklustre wing depth. The catch is that it’s unlikely that Whitmore will fall as low as No. 7; he’s more likely to be taken by Detroit at No. 5 or Orlando at No. 6 at the latest.
Finally.
He’s an offence-oriented wing who is very similar to Jaylen Brown (Boston), Miles Bridges (Independent), and OG Anunoby (Toronto). Like these players, he uses his explosive athleticism to play offence, but his ball handling is weak. He’s a huge raw talent with tremendous strength and athleticism. In the right environment, he could develop into a top wing player.