NBA Draft Combine notes: Round 2 combo guards, 1st-round sleepers
May 14, 2017, 1:36 PM
(AP Photos)
(AP Photos)
To continue with our notes from Thursday on the NBA Draft Combine, Friday had more scrimmage play and more definitive results and measurements from the drills taking place in Chicago.
Two types of combo guards: Oregon’s Tyler Dorsey and South Carolina’s P.J. Dozier were the scrimmages’ most fun duo, and comparing them shows one of the main differences in two second-draft philosophies.
Dorsey is the more skilled of the two as the shotmaker and shooter who has potential as an all-around scorer. That showed in both scrimmages, and he capped off Friday with 18 points, 11 rebounds and three assists to build off his 15-point performance on Thursday.
The difference between the two is their athletic profile, where Dozier measured very well at nearly 6-foot-7 in shoes and a 6-foot-11 wingspan with a 39-inch max vertical.
WATCH as @TDORSEY_1 lobs it up to @Dozier_Kid for the tomahawk SLAM! #NBACombine pic.twitter.com/SxXde8Auz4
— NBA Draft (@NBADraft) May 12, 2017
Dorsey, meanwhile, has a below average build as a combo guard more suited to become a pure scorer at 6-foot-4.5 with a 6-foot-5.25 wingspan. Dorsey scored well in the agility drills — second in lane agility, tied for eighth in
Dorsey scored well in the agility drills — second in lane agility, tied for eighth in three-quarter sprint and tied for 11th in the shuttle run — and displayed that in his handle. Still, he’s stuck as a tweener with his game being suited for playing shooting guard. Not having the size or explosive athleticism — an average 36-inch max vertical for him — to play as an undersized two-guard hurts his stock and the combine confirmed that despite his solid play in both games. Because of his skill, he may still get drafted, but he will need a strong performance during summer league to prove his scoring can translate.
Dozier is the opposite type of player. He’s more of a complementary guard that projects as someone who can do a little bit of everything but lacks Dorsey’s polish.
Dozier interestingly enough ran the offense in Friday’s game and while he didn’t do anything special, he showed he was capable of getting the job done while being defended by Wesley Iwundu, one of the best defenders in the draft, scoring 15 points.
While Dorsey might struggle to figure out where he plays, Dozier will be valuable because he has the size, speed and athleticism to play either guard position, posting similar agility tests to Dorsey. Unlike some guys in the first round such as Louisville’s Donovan Mitchell, however, he didn’t do enough in college to solidify him as a specialist who can shoot and defend but is still a worthy gamble at the beginning of the second round. Dorsey isn’t much of a fit in Phoenix being more focused on offense, but Dozier is a name to watch we covered in our positional preview.
Best of the backups: Every year, there’s a muddled group of great college point guards near the end of the second round that most likely won’t be drafted. Plenty of those names were at the NBA Combine, and unsurprisingly, Frank Mason out of Kansas was the best of the bunch.
He was the only player in all the scrimmages to establish a clear tempo and consistently succeeded at attacking the basket. He finished Friday’s game with 21 points, three assists and three rebounds.
If a team is looking for a Tyler Ulis type of selection to grab a potential backup point guard in the second round with a limited ceiling, Mason’s the guy. Since the Suns have Elis, however, Mason isn’t an option unless they have NAZ Suns aspirations for the Jayhawk.
First-round sleeper: Of players who aren’t in a ton of draft conversations as intriguing first-rounders but could end up being first-round picks, Colorado combo guard Derrick White is the favorite. He was the best player on the floor in both combine scrimmage appearances and that was the same case at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.
White’s a smart and smooth-shooting scorer who shot 39.6 percent from three-point range on nearly seven attempts a game or the Buffaloes. He has a lethal pull-up game and can score in a variety of ways on drives. He’s nearly 23 years old, but as JZ Mazlish wrote here, he’s very balanced and if teams are looking for the next Josh Richardson or Norman Powell, it’s White.
Surprising struggles: The biggest surprise of the scrimmages was the struggles for Kansas State wing Wesley Iwundu. As a point forward who can grab and go to create transition opportunities, a disorganized open style of a scrimmage favored him. Instead, he was the one player who stood out as someone trying too hard. He was forcing difficult passes to showcase his playmaking skills and looked lost attacking the basket.
This won’t hurt his stock much, as the tape shows the type of player he can be. Additionally, his measurements of 6-foot-7 in shoes and a 7-foot-1 wingspan were very encouraging for his profile as a defender. Iwundu is an intriguing two-way option at the wing for the Suns at both second-round selections that was briefly touched on in our positional preview.
