RealGM

STRENGTHS: At 6-foot-7 with a 6-foot-10 wingspan, Nwora has good size to play on the wing or even occasionally down the lineup at the 4 at the NBA level. He’s also a bouncier athlete than he gets credit for.
Ultimately though, the reason you’re picking Jordan Nwora in the draft is to get a shooter. Nwora is an excellent 3-point shooter off the catch. Mechanics are simple with a pure release with good rotation on the ball. Shoots it a little bit out in front of his body with a low release point, but everything is so simple that it should be fine. The release is very quick to make up for the lower release point. Has clear range out beyond the NBA 3-point line. Perfect rhythm. Not the fleetest of foot guy so you’re not necessarily going to run him around a variety of long screening actions, but he’s good at setting his feet and firing off of movement. Great shot prep and good at getting into position to get a clean look. You can run him off flares or have him come around dribble hand offs to where he can fire. Also smart in relocation situations at finding the open space and getting a clean look. Not a great shooter off the bounce, but can take the one-dribble pull-up to get away from a heavy closeout. He made his catch-and-shoot opportunities this year at an absurd 66.5 effective field goal percentage, one of the best marks in the class despite having over two-thirds of them contested according to Synergy. I have zero doubt that Nwora will hit shots at an NBA level. And when you can shoot like he can, there is probably a role.
Beyond that, Nwora is good at leaking out in transition to either space to the wings and corners or to get to the rim. His athleticism plays up in transition because of the underrated bounce. A good defensive rebounder too because of that bounce off of two feet. You don’t want him grabbing and going all that often, but could occasionally do it. Also can attack a closeout off of a couple of dribbles. Hit floaters at a 46 percent clip, so has some second-level ability.

WEAKNESSES: A lot of it starts with his athleticism. I don’t think he has much lateral quickness, and his explosiveness really plays down in halfcourt settings. Doesn’t have much pop off of one foot which is why he struggles to finish around the rim overall. Only hit 48.2 percent of his shots at the basket in halfcourt settings, which isn’t a strong number. Also can’t really get by anyone off the bounce. Doesn’t have much of a first step. Not a creator. Basically will only be able to get into the paint on offense off of cuts or off of attacked closeouts when defenders fly by. Inability to separate led to a lot of tough pull-ups at Louisville, but I wouldn’t expect that to be his role in the NBA. Would think those shots go away when surrounded by better talent. The bigger question I have on offense has to do with his passing. Didn’t make good decisions as a passer and not an accurate passer. And more importantly, often didn’t see the passes that were available. Given how much defensive attention was paid to him, he had ample opportunities every game to make better reads and not force terrible shots. Ultimately, he just chose not to do so or didn’t see them. He needs to get better as a quick-decision passer to keep defenses in rotation when his teammates fling the ball to him. My biggest concerns come on defense, though. He can really get blown by on the defensive end because of that lack ofquickness and heavy-footedness. Doesn’t get through screens all that well on or off ball. I worry that he’ll be a pretty real magnet for opposing teams in on-ball settings to try to attack in today’s mismatch conscious NBA. Also wasn’t a particularly aware off-ball defender. Wasn’t a playmaker with disruptive hands, and wasn’t always rotationally in the right spot. How much of this had to do with the amount of offensive workload he had to take on, thus needing to actively rest a bit on defense? It’s a fair question, but he still has a lot to prove defensively to where I think it would be difficult for NBA teams to expect much of him on that end.

SUMMARY: Guys who can shoot like Nwora can tend to at least stick in some role in the NBA. I would assume that would be the case here. But I don’t think he’ll really be creating 3-point shots at a high level on his own like a Duncan Robinson has for Miami. He’ll be more of a flare screen/stationary shooter type in spot-up situations. The swing skills will come on defense. If he can prove that he can defend anyone, he has a shot to really stick in a rotation for a long time. Think something like a decade. If he doesn’t defend anyone, though, he’s probably more of a situational shooter who comes in to space the floor when a team needs to get a burst of offensive firepower. Basically, Nwora will knock down shots at a high level. I’m just not sure what else he’s going to do. Still, that’s worth a top-45 pick.