ThunderBolt wrote:Old Man Game wrote:Dadouv47 wrote:
what did I miss? Wallace got back injury?
He had back spasms during a game this season. Doesn't sound terrible.
There were some rumors about his medicals not being great. The more I try to read about it, the more it seems meaningless.
There are often injuries floated at this time of year to explain away a player's performance. Wallace hit 24% of his threes in conference play, so it's sort of to be expected that they would put something out there as an excuse.
I hadn't looked at him at all before the draft. I'd read a bit, but wasn't enthused by what I read.
I'll start by saying that I have a tough time believing that he was the target. It just seems really unlikely that Orlando had any interest in him, so unless we wanted Bertans, then I'd guess we moved up expecting someone else to be there that ultimately wasn't.
He looks fine as a prospect.
I've repeatedly heard him referred to as an elite point-of-attack defender since I started digging into him, but I don't see that. Firstly, you have to be great at getting over screens for that to be true, which he isn't. I also don't really like the angles he takes to cut off penetration. He doesn't really beat guys to the spot preternaturally as does a Davion Mitchell, but rather he plays wide and moves his feet to force them wide and make the angle of attack difficult until they run out of real estate. I think this will be exploited by savvy penetrators that will draw fouls or just pull up in front of him as he isn't in position to do much about that. He's really good at keeping his arms out while moving his feet, which isn't something you generally see. He has really good balance, active hands, good reach, and he doesn't switch off at all. All of these things allow him to pick up cheap steals when someone near him gets loose with the ball. I also really like his rotations. He plugs gaps and comes up with steals when the defense gets disorganized and starts scrambling. I like his defense a lot. I wish he was bigger. I'm not sure how switchable he is, but we will find out.
The shot is a concern. It looks good, but the numbers aren't there. His catch-and-shoot stuff is okay, but not great. The FT% is encouraging though. It was abysmal in non-conference, but he hit 29 of 32 in conference and I think you have to have some upside to rip off a streak like that. I think he'll be an adequate shooter.
His penetration is underwhelming. He just isn't very explosive. He is good at seeing a runway and driving into it, but he doesn't have the burst to create them and I think he often picks up his dribble too early. He needs to improve his ballhandling and keep his dribble active, because he makes good reads and he is capable in the pick-and-roll. I'd also really like to see him develop a pull-up from around 12 feet out so that he can snake out of screens. I think that would really open up his finishing and help him to evolve as a playmaker.
Overall, I like him as a prospect. I think he has some upside and I think he will be able to hold his own on the court right out of the gates, which will give him more opportunities to develop. This does seem to make Tre Mann's future with the organization rather precarious.
