One of the more polarising prospects in the 2024 NBA Draft comes via Mega Basket in Serbia. Nikola Djurisic is a 20-year-old small forward who is seen by some as a lottery talent in the entire class, by others a late second rounder. Playing on a Mega Basket team that is essentially a professional Youth Academy, Djurisic averaged 14.4 Points. 3.4 Assists and 3 rebounds per game on 45/33/74 splits from the field.
An aspect of NBA Draft Scouting I feel often goes under the radar is the ‘macro’ side of the game. This is something I believe to be the case when pre-NBA Tape is being analysed, but also when people try and project a players’ role in the NBA. Building a basketball team is about building a team that fits together, the goal isn’t just to collect good players and hope for the best. Similarly, I believe when analysing a prospects’ game, the rest of the team needs to be analysed and understood. This allows you to come to a conclusion as to whether the weaknesses will be alleviated with different pieces around them at the next level.
On the pre-NBA point, Mega Basket for the most part are a team built to develop prospects and showcase them in order to be able to keep running. They are a Youth Academy in a league where most teams are acquiring NBA veterans. Mega Basket by contrast had only one player over 30 years old on their roster last season. From an actual on-court perspective, Mega Basket were a team that had shaky perimeter spacing. Andrija Jelavic who will get draft buzz next year was their starting power forward. He’s a willing shooter, but shot only 28 percent from beyond the arc on the season.
From a personnel perspective, Mega Basket underwent some form of turmoil during the season when Nikola Topic left the team at Christmas. With Topic, Djurisic largely was utilised as a wing-driver and off-ball scorer. His game involves Stampede Driving (Catch and Go) and running Pick-And-Rolls after coming off a pin-down.
What was rather surprising to me, was that Djurisic’s role didn’t drastically change after the departure of Topic. Sure, he touched the ball slightly more and there was more urgency to get him touches. But he was still doing the same stuff as before. He just had more responsibility. Nikola Topic’s minutes were divided up between Stefan Miljenovic and Omer Can Ilyasoglu, leaving Djurisic free to play in his comfort zone as opposed to being crowbarred into something he’s not because he’s the best player.
Generally speaking, I project Djurisic to be a wing scorer who compromises nail help with his driving gravity and makes creative passes from the second-side. I believe the Macro to be advantageous to Djurisic as he has a good deal of experience playing in his likely NBA role, and at such a young age at a good-level of basketball. However, I also believe that the poor spacing made it difficult on him as I project him to be a drive-first wing. Interior windows were smaller than they may end up being in the NBA.
His 4.4 3PA per 36 would rank around 150th in the NBA. Some names around there include Josh Giddey, Jaden McDaniels and Jonathan Isaac. I believe him to have larger driving gravity than those names to make up for it. It must also be noted there are some very good NBA wings who shoot fewer 3s than that, so it’s not the be-all-end-all. Mega Basket were in a position where they probably could have done with him shooting more, but Djurisic drives were also arguably their scariest proposition outside of set plays.
Driving
The biggest strength of Nikola Djurisic is his driving game. His handle is good and he’s able to get where he wants to a lot of the time. He’s utilised as a slasher in the Mega Basket system, and he generally looks to drive rather than shoot when he comes off a ball-screen, though I don’t see these splits as egregious or anything.
I normally divide drives into two types. Those that take advantages, and those that create advantages. Djurisic’ is excellent at punishing tilted floors with his driving game which projects well for him being a play finisher.
Double Stagger Screen- Drive Right- Cross Over Left and get the half-dunk. Djurisic’s ability to cover a lot of ground really pops both in transition and against titled floors. Creating advantages via scheme or capitalising on the gravity of another star is obviously the easiest way to get this to pop.
His ground coverage is impressive, but what I find even more impressive is that he’s seemingly in control a lot of the time when he drives to the basket. Take the play below as an example.
Mega Basket go to Pistol Action. The opposition are going no middle and funnelling Djurisic towards the help. He breezes past his man and shows a good second-level move on his off-hand to get a layup as opposed to a floater. Something I noted throughout my scouting was how much better Djurisic got as the season went on. This was partially because Mega got better as a team and things were sped up as they got familiar with the playbook. But he just seemingly got much more comfortable as a driver.
He’s nifty in transition, and seems to have a plan. This was admittedly a sketchy take early on in the season, but he got much more comfortable as the season progressed, as if he had a better understanding of where his team-mates were going to be and where help might come from. This fuels his very impressive 0.46 Free-Throw rate.
He ends up missing the shot, but I love the process here. This was from early in the season. He attacks quickly and covers a great deal of ground. He’s good at stepping around help in the paint, it just slightly lets him down on this occasion. The reason I mention this being early in the season is because it felt as if his head was often in the right place, but he just lacked control. This was not really the case as the season went on.
This was from the February game against Zadar. It may look like a simple transition play, but the speed to adapt to the baseline being taken away into a eurostep and layup high off the glass is extremely impressive stuff. Transition isn’t the same as half-court basketball but these skills are still very valuable.
I’ve mentioned Stampeding the Catch a few times already. This is a niche strategy that has started to rise in the NBA. It involves a player attacking straight off the catch while the ball is coming to them. There are really two usages. One is to get a primary downhill momentum 30-feet or more from the basket (such as in Flip Action). The other is more of a half-court punishment to rightfully loading up help on star players. From the perspective of the player attacking, it requires a good handle and the ability to read defenses quickly.
Aggressive Nail Help is becoming more and more common, with 1 v 1 defense across the board genuinely becoming more of a dying art at the NBA level. In terms of off-ball counters, NBA defenses are comfortable leaving above average shooters open if it keeps their defenders out of rotation. Stampeding is a way of getting right back into the teeth of a defense. Djurisic is excellent at doing this due to his handle, his passing and an emerging floater and pull-up game.
Mega Basket are in their motion offense, the ball handler draws the nail help and swings it to Djurisic who takes it straight off the catch and draws a foul. Note how the closeout was denying Djurisic the middle of the floor. This is a common NBA strategy. For the most part, Djurisic is very comfortable driving baseline which i think adds value to him as a supporting wing player. He may see slightly softer closeouts because of his driving prowess and needing to earn the respect for his jump shot. But I’m a believer in his pull-up game (more on that later).
His interior passing is also a good mesh with stampeding, as he’s able to read the floor before he takes the ball off the catch and work out where help is going to come from. Here he makes a nifty dump-off pass after attacking from the left corner.
He seemed to be pretty self-aware of the fact that his team needed his drives into the paint to create good shots at the rim on a consistent basis, especially if they were not running set plays. On the play below, Djurisic has an opportunity to shoot, but punishes the closeout and makes a nifty shovel pass. Uros Plavsic robs him of an assist on this play.
Something i want to be clear about, is Djurisic’s driving game is not limited to off-ball drives or niche tactics. It’s just an area I think worth noting when projecting his fit with other players. Djurisic improved drastically throughout the season and by the end of the season he was flashing some immense reps as a driver.
Here they deny him the baseline which is probably because he’s more comfortable as a passer when driving to the right hand-side. So he drives and explodes off the low angle when he meets resistance in the paint. It’s impressive how quickly Djurisic is able to react to paint defense, and his size opens up extra finishing angles for him. He became more adept at finishing off the glass as the season progressed.
I’ve mentioned Djurisic getting valuable reps in his potential NBA usage, the play below is another example of this.
Iverson Action. Djurisic reads his defender going under, so he rejects the action and takes it straight off the catch, using a double clutch and a eurostep to turn a floater into a layup. This was a playoff game and despite slightly reduced minutes he played very well in these games, showcasing the season-wide improvement he had.
Generally speaking, the Double Clutch seems to be becoming a favourite of his. This is testament to his handle in general. This play from the Playoffs might be his best finish of the year. Drive -> Hard Step to force the big to his right -> crossover -> double clutch to secure the ball -> finish off the glass. Absolute poetry in motion, showcasing the development all coming together.
Delay sets are a staple of modern NBA offense, here’s Djurisic showcasing his driving chops in ‘Miami’ action, which is a handoff into a ball screen.
He takes the handoff, then just makes one subtle step and eye movement inside, which changes his defenders trajectory. He then takes a wide east-west step. After this he puts his man in jail, fakes a jump pass to freeze the big man then explodes off his planted foot in the same motion and finishes off the glass. He’s one of those players who just does a lot of subtle things when he drives that turn decent shots into good shots.
These ‘Zoom’ sets such as Miami and Chicago are staples of NBA offenses, and Djurisic’s handle and passing definitely open them up to be more fruitful. They’re often a go-to action in the NBA as a way of keeping lower usage players involved, but many of the players being given the reps out of these aren’t as dynamic of drivers as Djurisic. On the play below he quickly splits the PNR in Miami Action and draws a foul.
The poise Djurisic played with as the season went on was very encouraging. Early in the year it just felt like he was always trying to drive as opposed to reading the defense. With Mega Basket’s spacing concerns, this just exacerbated his turnover issues. But by the playoffs he was consistently showing a high-level driving game.
He comes off the screen, and within a second he has the big in hell. Pushing left, then spinning him around, then exploding from a low position for a layup. Mega Basket used a lot of clearout and roll and replace concepts to make drives easier for Djurisic, but with him being this coordinated it honestly isn’t something that’s necessarily always needed.
On this occasion, Djurisic is able to get low and explode off the ground. I would however say this is the aspect of his handle most in need of improvement. He’s able to get low, but there are times when he can really overestimate how good a driving angle he has available to him.
Mega Basket reset after an offensive rebound. Djurisic has a ball screen available to him, but chooses to try and drive. He gets low, but not to much effect. It’s good defense, but rejecting the ball screen wasn’t the move here, the perimeter defender was in a better position to defend his left side as opposed to the ball-screen side.
Shooting, Runners and why Driving is still a factor
Slightly transitioning into the next section on his shooting, I believe part of these driving issues come because of his shot prep.
On this play, stampeding probably isn’t the best option. His defender is parallel to the sideline and he’s got enough space to shoot. He has to at least sell the fact he might take a jump shot. Instead he barrels into a drive, tries to get low and turns the ball over. These issues definitely decreased in frequency as the season progressed, but he does have a slight tendency to get himself into trouble by trying to get low to the ground. It’s good he’s able to get low, but overestimating driving angles is a downside of his approach.
I’ve said previously, but Djurisic took 4.4 3s per 36, which would rank around 150th in the NBA. Part of this is because Mega Basket needed him to do this as even outside of Djurisic they weren’t much of a volume or efficiency 3-point shooting team because of non-shooting centers and streaky stretch 4s. But there is no doubt he is a guy who looks to drive first.
How worried you are by these forced drives depends on how much you believe in Djurisic’s pull-up game. Even as a Djurisic believer, I have to admit that with Djurisic’ shooting, you are buying a lot into process because the results are obviously not fully there. You’re buying into his space creation and perhaps a slight change in approach when it comes to driving vs shooting.
Across the board, his shooting percentages became more respectable this year, jumping from 22 percent to 30 percent from three. His pull-up game got more prevalent as the year progressed. Per my hand-tracking via Synergy, In the first 18 games of the season, he took 2.1 dribble jumpers per game making 28 percent of them. Over the last 18 games, he was taking 3.7 per game, making 37 percent of them.
Synergy has odd definitions on these, but it matched the eye test. He seemed more comfortable taking these shots as the year progressed.
Mega Basket swing the ball to the top of the key, the ’45’ cut creates a one on one for Djurisic. He didn’t create an advantage on the drive, so moves into his step-back. It’s a bit slow at first but the east-west creation at the end to the sustain the advantage is good.
Part of the reason his pull up game may have improved as the season progressed is his driving gravity opened up opportunities for him.
Mega Basket run ‘Delay Chicago Leak’ for a popping big. Jelavic dives to the rim which leaves Djurisic open. His man is clearly worried about a paint attack so Djurisic drops him deeper and then steps into a pull-up jumper. He got good separation on this shot and it’s why the process might be worth buying into.
The playoffs were difficult for Mega Basket. They played well, but the nature of this team is that they are always going to have roster turnover. So to me, it’s encouraging that Djurisic started to flash more in these games.
Crvena Zvezda are in a no middle defense. Djurisic drives to the baseline, sees a roaming defender and steps nicely into a step-back jumper. Mega Basket’s spacing on this play isn’t exactly great. It’s effectively 3-out-2-in with a 31 percent three-point shooter in the weakside corner. The spacing in the NBA should be better for him, but this doesn’t always necessarily lead to better results. With Djurisic, I’m more buying the flashes of space creation with such tough spacing as a platform for more growth.
With the shooting, you’re heavily buying two things, one is the space creation process as I mentioned above.
The other, is banking on his decision making becoming more streamlined at the next level. It’s clear he prefers to drive to the basket. But the question mark is whether this is definitively who he is, or if this is who he needed to be for Mega Basket to be the best version of themselves. Though they’re a developmentally-based team, basketball players still want to win games. He would sometimes stampede out of decent looks for Mega Basket, and that’s something teams may be slightly put off by, especially for a lower usage guy.
One notable thing from the Combine game, was how Djurisic got a heavy dosage of his probable early-NBA usage.
Here, his team run ‘Wide Reject Exit’. The shot prep is good and allows him to turn a disrupted pass into a clean look from beyond the arc. The process here looks pretty smooth.
The final thing to note in his shooting profile, is that a runner and floater game started to emerge as the season progressed.
The sample size isn’t huge, but the ones Djurisic did make were pure. His general comfort dribbling around the mid-range areas is hopefully an indicator that this floater game is here to stay.
Passing
Djurisic’ passing game and your read on it probably guages whether you have him as a borderline lottery pick, or as a second-rounder. Djurisic’ passing tape is the ultimate goldmine for a ‘risk v reward’ discussion. His passing generally meshes alongside his driving game, and he makes some absolutely beautiful passes. He manipulates defenders with his eyes, makes one-handed passes, bounce passes, floated lob passes. Whatever type of pass you like, he’s probably pulled one off.
Mega Basket run ‘Knicks Ricky’ which is a step up ball screen for Djurisic, who has initially come off a different screen in a different direction. Djurisic goes to use the screen, draws the trap and makes a quick wraparound pass to the roller who draws the foul. He’s able to think quickly and do things quickly.
It felt on film as if Djurisic was more creative as a passer when driving right as opposed to left. The sample sizes aren’t large enough to make definitive sweeping statements, but he appears much more comfortable making advanced reads when he was moving to the right hand side. On the left, we were sometimes accustomed to results such as below.
Mega Basket run ‘Strong Spain’. Djurisic comes off the ball-screen and ends up picking up his dribble. He then tries a very difficult pass with his off-hand. He overestimated the window completely. Going quicker into a pull-up jumper here may have helped, but he also should make the pass to the strong-side corner. But at the same time, the player spaced in the corner isn’t a good shooter.
This play illustrates my point, from both sides. At first, Djurisic uses a ball screen to his left, but Partizan send a trap at him. He gets stuck and resets. Next time, he rejects the screen and makes a nice pass with his off-hand which should really end in a wide open corner three.
This assist is one of his best on the year. Mega Basket run ‘Double Zoom’ action to get him downhill. He gets pushed away from the basket but makes a great pass with his left hand while he is falling over. He is capable of passing with his left hand, it just shows up a lot more when he is driving on his strong hand- this isn’t exactly abnormal.
He’s shown great potential at working with a roller. Mega’s center play was sometimes inconsistent and he probably deserved more assists, but some of his passes were very creative and well-timed. I loved this floated lob pass.
Mega Basket run a Roll and Replace type action with a player leaking out of the paint while the PNR goes. Djurisic makes a nice floated pass for an alley-oop. The pass was one that should have been made, but I liked the adjustment when the nail help disrupted him, he floated it with his wrist while low to the ground.
I think a team should tap into his connective passing if they draft him.
He likely won’t see the paint this packed in the NBA, but he’s very capable of extending windows with his handle and making nifty passes. This one was a great behind the back pass, and he had a similar one in the second combine game he played in. In an NBA where a lot of stuff can become heliocentric, I think his ability to deliver multiple outcomes off the second side is extremely valuable.
I’ve made it clear he’s a creative passer. The disagreements some may have, is whether his game is inherently too risky. He turned it over 3.2 times per game which was among the highest in the BAL.
This play is a good example of Djurisic’s risk taking. He comes off a wide-ball screen on an empty-side. The roller is open, but Djurisic tries a bounce pass. In my view, the center should catch this ball. But the other view is that this type of pass probably wasn’t necessary to produce a good result.
Djurisic’ passing depends on the team and the fit. As a believer in the passing, I think the creativity is welcomed and stops the ‘Academy Brain’ type plays that can make half-court offense predictable and easier for the defense to stop. However, some teams and scouts simply are less forgiving to players that needlessly turn the ball over.
It does appear his approach to the game is to take risks and do high risk-high reward type plays. But there is a possible chance this scales down when he has better spacing and is asked to do less. Upon speaking to people who are less high on Djurisic than me, I think this is normally the point where we start to lose each other.
Defense
This section isn’t going to be as long as the others. This isn’t because I’m overlooking defense or because he is outrageously good or outrageously bad. There just doesn’t feel like a great deal to say.
This also isn’t my selling point. I project him to be a passable defender at my highest level of evaluation. His feel is enough for me to think he won’t be a liability off-ball which means he isn’t going to overly compromise your scheme.
One reason for my hesitance to talk in great depth about the defense is because of the role he was utilised in.
Mega Basket were an aggressive defense that overloaded the strong-side of the court and liked to mix in traps at the top of the key. Djurisic wasn’t consistently utilised on the ball, so he spent the majority of the time playing as the weakside low-man. This is quite a tough ask for a 20-year old wing with just 6’7 wingspan. NBA Teams will often use half-court offense to isolate and pick their preferred choice at low-man, but it’s also highly unlikely an NBA team would leave Djurisic in that role early in his NBA Career.
Within this role, his job was to split the difference between protecting the rim and playing to the corner. The results were inconsistent. Sometimes such as on the play below, he was able to execute every part of his job as a low-man.
Here, Djurisic contains the baseline drive and rotates all the way out to the corner, blocking the shot. But there were plenty of other occasions where his help inside was minimal or he left the corner wide open.
I’d say the part of the defense I’d bank on most is the feel.
This clip is from the second combine game. His team overload the strong side which is largely what Djurisic played with in Serbia. He shows good reading of the game to sink at the right time and take away the layup. It’s simple stuff but when he knows his role, I think he can make good plays. It just needs to be way more consistent.
I also like the play below, where he blows up Bilbao Action.
But again later in the play, the resistance isn’t exactly domineering. He’s in the right place, but Vojvodina still get the exact shot they want. Knowing where to be and disrupting the shot are separate things.
On the perimeter, he lacks discipline at times. He can surrender decent driving angles to his matchups. This was extra problematic at times because he was often isolated on a side, which meant there wasn’t always help to bail him out. But we also didn’t see a great deal of him on ball because of the nature of Mega Basket’s defensive scheme. Whether they were hiding him or preserving him is in the eye of the beholder. The likely answer is it’s a bit of both.
My Ideal Fits and Development Plan
A lot has to go right for a prospect to work out in the NBA. It isn’t always as simple someone being ‘destined’ to make it at the next level. It’s something I feel needs more discourse. In my eyes, building a winning team isn’t about just stashing as many theoretical primaries as you can, it’s about fitting things together and answering hypothetical questions about the pieces you do have.
Nikola Djurisic is a prospect I’d feel comfortable taking in the mid-teens in the right situation. But I’m unsure giving a player a ‘grade’ really matters in the grand scheme of things, because his fit on one team might not be as good as a fit on another.
The asterisk to the ‘fit’ debate is that of course, rosters can change. But generally speaking, front offices will always try and build around what they do have, even if popular opinion deems the core to not be worth it. Their job often depends on it.
Here are some things I’d like to see in the team that Djurisic gets drafted by
- Have at least average team three-point volume
- Have a player who draws nail help
- Have size in the frontcourt
The three-point volume is important because even if Djurisic becomes a more consistent shooter, he’s a guy whose best skill is the ability to drive and be creative as a passer. Ensuring he doesn’t just need to become a spot-up play finisher is important. If a team is in need of three-point volume, I have concerns that his game would become heavily geared towards shooting and the stuff I consider to be his swing skills will not be given room to flourish and grow.
I’ve mentioned part of my process is answering ‘hypothetical’ questions. The part of the game I spend a lot of time on is the ability to beat specific defensive coverages. For example, I want to know how my roster or primary ball handler would react to a trap or a hedge. Can the wings shoot, if not, can they drive to the rim and get the defense back into rotation. Does my big man have a good understanding of where to make himself available for a pass? Can my big play on the short roll? These are the types of questions I seek to answer when analysing rosters, because sometimes you cannot X’s and O’s your way out of a situation.
I bring this up, because of my desire to see Djurisic alongside a team that draws nail help. It’s very specific and niche, but the type of thing I care about. Djurisic is an excellent driver and finisher who can punish the defense and get them back into rotation. If a team just wants someone to spot-up, there are better options. But if a team has a primary who plays more in isolation, I feel the off-the-catch game is a nice supporting feature.
Though I’d say I’m not a doomer on Djurisic’ defense, I have to admit the lack of size is a potential issue. So I feel a team with a smaller front-court might not get the most out of him.
This section might feel a little niche to some, but I just think it’s important to outline what you are scared of with a prospect, and more often than not I end up scared of the developmental situation a player ends up in as opposed to flaws in their own talent.
The three teams I feel he fits with are Memphis, Portland and New York.
Memphis
Memphis have reportedly worked out Nikola Djurisic. I feel he’d be a great fit. Memphis overhauled their offensive scheme this year, moving from a more rigid and traditional system to one that inverted the floor more often and utilised creative sets to generate three-pointers. They likely did this because they felt their rigidity worked against them in playoff settings.
A lot of their sets are for Desmond Bane and other shooters to emerge at the top of the key for three-pointers, but they are also adding Ja Morant to the mix whose gravity as a driver is incredible. Djurisic would slot in well in this ecosystem, utilising his driving ability to finish plays later in the clock and punish early loading up on Ja Morant. Sure, schemes can change. But Morant and Bane are locked in, and regardless of how they run offense, space is going to be there for off-ball players to exploit off the catch
Portland
Portland’s young core is intriguing. Scoot Henderson’s rookie year was up and down but I still buy the driving talent and gravity this will create. In Shaedon Sharpe and Anfernee Simons they have two off-ball threats, and Duop Reath might be the most underrated player in the entire NBA as of now. Djurisic is a guy who needs some work, and I feel Portland is perhaps the best fit for him to iron out some of his kinks. Chauncey Billups is a creative tactician who can draw up some sets for him to work on the empty-side alongside the young core they have in place.
Of the three teams I’ve named, this is the only one where Djurisic would be entering a rebuild. The reason I love this fit is because he has a great opportunity for play time, and if Scoot Henderson pans out I feel he’s a player who can fit alongside him.
New York
I think of the three teams I’ve named, the Knicks might be my favourite. Firstly, they have arguably the premier primary player at drawing nail help in the NBA in Jalen Brunson. Tom Thibodeau is underrated as an offensive coach, but more often than not he does like players who can create something from nothing, or at least from the more traditional sense. Djurisic’s driving game could pop in the future alongside Jalen Brunson.
I also think Tom Thibodeau gives his players defensive structure. He can alter his at-the-level coverages but for the most part, his wings do the same thing each game. They hustle, tag the roll and fly out to corner shooters on the weakside. Djurisic has a decent feel for the game defensively, and I think giving him a very specific role will be beneficial to his overall development. Thibodeau can be willing to play defensive neutrals or even negatives if they give him something unique offensively, and Djurisic definitely fits the bill here.
If Djurisic does choose to stay overseas, I like this fit the most of the three. The Knicks are largely locked in with a lot of their core, and bringing him into the fold in say 2026 after two more seasons of developing as a lead guy could be hugely beneficial to the Knicks and Djurisic.
Conclusion and Developmental Thoughts
Overall, I’ve probably made it clear I’m a believer in Nikola Djurisic. I buy the driving game as being a difference maker at the next level, and the pull-up game is one I’d buy into. The biggest concern offensively is probably the spot-up shooting. Though I’ve said ideally I want him to drive to the rim at the next level, at some point he will have to shoot. Part of the work needs to come in his shot approach, at times he decides to drive from good shooting windows. This is partially what makes him valuable as a driver, but balancing it will be key. I also believe his athleticism is hugely undersold.
The passing is good, it’s whether the playmaking potential will be anchored down by the turnovers. He may turn the ball over at a lower rate in a lower usage role, but the creativity does seem to be part of who he is as a basketball player. Your read on this probably signifies how much you believe in him, because the driving game looks to be good. It will also be interesting early on to see the types of closeouts he receives. Guys low in the rotation normally aren’t featured on the scouting report, but I expect people to work out early on that he prefers to drive. Teams may want him to work more on his shot approach and be selective with drives.
Though a ‘grade’ can be different for each team, I’d say generally speaking I believe Djurisic should be a first-round pick. I think his experience in an off-ball role gives him an advantage over many others who will be adapting from being primaries into lower usage players. Defensively, I think you are banking on him not being a negative. The main work needs to come on the perimeter, where he does have a tendency to surrender good driving angles to his opponents. I’d also recommend streamlining his role, giving him a specific duty like Mega Basket did, albeit a different one as I question the viability of him as a low-man helper against NBA level athletes.
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