Jarrett Culver

[BlazersBroncos]

Well its not like he was drafted in a horrible spot though. I mean, I alway knew everything you said when he was draftable. But still, nothing hes done so far makes me thibk he couldn't be a sixth man type of player and typically once the dust settles and all the busts reveal themselves and late first rounders who turn into solid role players emerge.....if all you walk away with is a 6moy candidate at 11-14 then youve done ok. Even with the flaws you've mentioned he still has that level of potential.

If you walk away with a 6moy candidate at 11-14 you didn't do OK, you did tremendously well.

The issue is Malik Monk is more Juan Dixon than Lou Williams. He just isn't that good, he doesn't impact the game in any positive way when he isn't scoring and even the scoring he does is inefficient and requires ball dominance.

[tidho]

Who cares? He didn’t play like a high riser. So jumping in a gym alone is meaningless.

you only need to jump high enough to get the ball over 10'
any more and you're just risking injury

[LivingLegend]

well Turner is on his third contract for a fools gold player, and that's with him not really giving a **** about getting better. half the time the last 5 or so years he's been out of shape and fat. clearly he just puts minimum work in.

so yea, if Culver doesn't put in the work he's gonna be 'fools gold' too, but is there reason to believe he won't? none that I see. furthermore, Culver is more translateable athletically and is quite a bit lengthier/better defender. Also 1.5 years younger at time of the draft.

Culver is not as athletic as Turner was. I agree about the length and he is a better defender but laterally, both are average for their position. Neither are all that translatable. Let's not act like Turner was a slouch as a Soph, he could have came out then. He was clearly the best player nationally when he came out.

He is ripping Portland off, the same way Culver will in the near future. Guys like Culver, Jalen Rose, and Turner get paid and teams instantly regret it. I know people close to Turner, most say he works his ass off to improve. He just reached his limits. But hard worker, by all accounts, Evan is.

Im starting to think that the only reason people are making the Culver/Turner comp is because they are both light skinned guards lol

Also, Turner was WAY more polished and fluid in his offense at Ohio St. than Culver is at Tech. Turner was a stud who had 'All Star' written all over him but didnt pan out because like other posters have said--his work ethic in the pros was horrific. He was a incredibly good passer in college and I have no idea what happened to that once he got to the NBA. His playmaking just dissapeared.

He averaged 20/9/6/2 on 53/36/75 shooting regardless of his quirky release. But people comparing how Turners career in the pros to Culvers college career is a little strange. Either way, let me take you into the way back machine

Watch on YouTube

[tidho]

With Culver and Turner, I think folks are definitely using it as the pro comparable, not as the nba prospect comparable. Most people reading this aren't old enough to have seen Turner in college, lol.

[EMG518]

With Culver and Turner, I think folks are definitely using it as the pro comparable, not as the nba prospect comparable. Most people reading this aren't old enough to have seen Turner in college, lol.

I am not even old but that just hit me, it's been almost 10 years.

[Chicago-Bull-E]

I remember watching Turner at OSU, and while I liked him, I thought he was a step slow for the NBA.

He looks like a speed demon in those highlights compared to Culver. Watching Turner makes me feel worse about Culver.

[GimmeDat]

I'm too young to have watched Turner in HS. But judging from his college stats, it looks like he was going to be at least a decent shooter, could get to the line, and had solid stocks. Anyone know why these aspects didn't translate? Because it would figure that if Turner could shoot/play off ball, and play defense, he'd be a good NBA player. Had solid FTr in college as well but not in the league, and the scoring inside the arc has taken a decade to get to solid numbers.

I don't see any reason why Culver can't do what he's doing at the next level - he's a smart player, and is a smooth, shifty athlete for his size, if not an explosive one.

[Dave Yogurt]

I'm too young to have watched Turner in HS. But judging from his college stats, it looks like he was going to be at least a decent shooter, could get to the line, and had solid stocks. Anyone know why these aspects didn't translate? Because it would figure that if Turner could shoot/play off ball, and play defense, he'd be a good NBA player. Had solid FTr in college as well but not in the league, and the scoring inside the arc has taken a decade to get to solid numbers.

I don't see any reason why Culver can't do what he's doing at the next level - he's a smart player, and is a smooth, shifty athlete for his size, if not an explosive one.

The big negative for Turner was always his shooting form. The way he shoots over the top of the ball makes it nearly impossible to be accurate from NBA distance. I never thought Turner was going to be a star, but he would be a pretty valuable player if he could just shoot league average from three.

While Culver's form is a little janky, it shouldn't impact his ability to stretch his range out to the NBA line. And I would bet on him continuing to improve his mechanics since he's already made tweaks in the past year.

[8305]

Reminds me a little of Paul George. Better handle coming out not quite as tall.

[BostonCouchGM]

Well its not like he was drafted in a horrible spot though. I mean, I alway knew everything you said when he was draftable. But still, nothing hes done so far makes me thibk he couldn't be a sixth man type of player and typically once the dust settles and all the busts reveal themselves and late first rounders who turn into solid role players emerge.....if all you walk away with is a 6moy candidate at 11-14 then youve done ok. Even with the flaws you've mentioned he still has that level of potential.

If you walk away with a 6moy candidate at 11-14 you didn't do OK, you did tremendously well.

The issue is Malik Monk is more Juan Dixon than Lou Williams. He just isn't that good, he doesn't impact the game in any positive way when he isn't scoring and even the scoring he does is inefficient and requires ball dominance.

Monk got drafted by the worst run team and situation he could have though. They should have been tanking and building around Monk and Bridges to make up for years of terrible drafting and trades. They should have traded Kemba for picks and young players too. Instead, they tried to be a treadmill 7th or 8th seed which is the worst place to be as a franchise. Monk lost valuable development time. He's uber talented and physically gifted. He definitely was drafted too high but that's not his fault. I hesitate to write young talented kids off especially when they're drafted by teams like PHO or CHA. He's the type of guy Pop or Ainge acquires down the road and turns into a very good starter or role player. Maybe CHA will wake up should they lose Kemba and he'll do it there.

[Jamaaliver]

A nice write-up on Culver.

Read on Twitter

Jarrett Culver is the second member of Chris Beard’s first real recruiting class at Texas Tech to go from totally under-the-radar to a guaranteed first round pick. He didn’t just become a better scorer and a talented wing prospect, he became their point guard.

And that is where the intrigue lies for Culver when it comes to his potential at the next level.

He has the size you want out of an off-guard and, at 6-foot-7 with a 6-foot-10 wingspan, is big enough to be able to guard small forwards in the NBA, but he doesn’t have the game of a typical 3-and-D player. As a sophomore, he averaged a team-high 3.7 assists for Texas Tech, but he wasn’t exactly what you would call a point guard. In fact, he was often essentially playing the four, with a trio of smaller guards on the floor around him. What Beard did was build an offense that was heavy with motion principles early in a possession, but as the shot clock wound down, the ball would end up in Culver’s hands, where he would be put into an isolation or a ball-screen action and allowed to create.

That is what he does best.

Shot creation.

Spoiler:

Culver is excellent in triple-threat situations. His ability to shoot off the dribble consistently improved throughout his college career, and he’s generally at his best when he is allowed to get into a rhythm jumper off the bounce. He needs to quicken up his release in the NBA, but he has some wiggle room given the way that he gets his shot off. He’s not the most explosive athlete, but he can dunk on defenders when he gets a lane to the basket and his long strides and improving frame allowed him to be able to get to where he wanted to get to in the lane despite the fact that his first step is not all that quick.

But where Culver improved the most during the offseason was with his ability to operate ball-screens. He obsessively studied tape during the summer to learn the proper reads and proper passes to make when running a ball-screen, and the improvement showed. He forced teams to have to stop going under the screen against him because of his ability to step-back and make off-the-dribble threes. He can throw one-handed, live-dribble passes to shooters in either corner. He turned Tariq Owens into a serious threat on the offensive end of the floor with his ability to hit him on lobs while also knowing how to create the space and passing lane for a dump-off.

He’s grown into being a high-level, well-rounded offensive weapon, and there is quite a bit of value in a player that can be a secondary shot-creator without having to play as a point or off-guard.

Now, there are some limitations as well.

He’s better as an off-the-dribble shooter, which actually is not exactly ideal for a player that is going to be spending quite a few possessions playing off the ball. He’s added some muscle since last season — and a growth spurt in the last year makes it seem possible that his body is not done developing — but he is still pretty slender and is not great at dealing with physicality on either end of the floor.

[Stillwater]

with all of the attention on Garland of late, Culvers media hype has dropped. But he is still a high caliber athlete/prospect much better than most other options 3-6 range

[clyde21]

dude's pretty much out of the league at this point, what happened here? never thought he was gonna be a star but at least a functional player was possible but he's not even that.

[Duke4life831]

dude's pretty much out of the league at this point, what happened here? never thought he was gonna be a star but at least a functional player was possible but he's not even that.

Dont want to rub it in or anything, but I believe you and I went back and forth about him a few pages back in this...

Haha just kidding. Honestly I was never really all that high on him. Like I said a few pages back I thought I could see him being a solid guard off the bench. So ya didnt see him being this much of a bust haha.

One of my main takeaways with Culver is shooting form and FT% really is a much better indicator for how good of a shooter a prospect is. Also stay away from guards early in the draft that arent elite athletes and dont have an elite offensive skill. In the NBA he never had anything to fall back on which allowed him to get consistent minutes and without that he just got lost in the shuffle. He didnt have a high level handle, his shot was slow and funky, and he may have been a good leaper but he had no first step.

[clyde21]

dude's pretty much out of the league at this point, what happened here? never thought he was gonna be a star but at least a functional player was possible but he's not even that.

Dont want to rub it in or anything, but I believe you and I went back and forth about him a few pages back in this...

Haha just kidding. Honestly I was never really all that high on him. Like I said a few pages back I thought I could see him being a solid guard off the bench. So ya didnt see him being this much of a bust haha.

One of my main takeaways with Culver is shooting form and FT% really is a much better indicator for how good of a shooter a prospect is. Also stay away from guards early in the draft that arent elite athletes and dont have an elite offensive skill. In the NBA he never had anything to fall back on which allowed him to get consistent minutes and without that he just got lost in the shuffle. He didnt have a high level handle, his shot was slow and funky, and he may have been a good leaper but he had no first step.

yea, I didn't think he was gonna be a star or anything, but thought he had enough physical tools and skill to carve out a decent role for himself, 3 years in and the dude is virtually out of the league.

[EvanZ]

Chris Beard effect here too. Made a lot of guys look better than they are.

[Duke4life831]

dude's pretty much out of the league at this point, what happened here? never thought he was gonna be a star but at least a functional player was possible but he's not even that.

Dont want to rub it in or anything, but I believe you and I went back and forth about him a few pages back in this...

Haha just kidding. Honestly I was never really all that high on him. Like I said a few pages back I thought I could see him being a solid guard off the bench. So ya didnt see him being this much of a bust haha.

One of my main takeaways with Culver is shooting form and FT% really is a much better indicator for how good of a shooter a prospect is. Also stay away from guards early in the draft that arent elite athletes and dont have an elite offensive skill. In the NBA he never had anything to fall back on which allowed him to get consistent minutes and without that he just got lost in the shuffle. He didnt have a high level handle, his shot was slow and funky, and he may have been a good leaper but he had no first step.

yea, I didn't think he was gonna be a star or anything, but thought he had enough physical tools and skill to carve out a decent role for himself, 3 years in and the dude is virtually out of the league.

Ya I wasnt high on him and definitely had some big question marks with him, but ya no way did I think hed be essentially out of the league by his 4th year. For instance guys like Naji Marshall have found ways to not just stick on a roster but get legit playing time. I honestly think his offensive struggles probably just got to him. And from that, that ended up effecting him on the defensive end.

Take Justise Winslow for example. He is a guy who's offense never came around in the NBA, he has changed up his shooting form (jumper and FT) so many times already in his career that its at the point everyone knows that part of his game isnt ever coming around. But he hasnt let that effect his defense and him being a high caliber defender has kept him in the NBA and keeps him getting minutes wherever he goes (limited but still getting minutes).

And that is one thing I think especially from a fan perspective we can never really gauge. We dont talk to the coaches, we arent in there in the interviews and stuff. So its really impossible to get any kind of gauge on how a player will handle adversity. Will a player take the Winslow route and probably say to himself "if my offense isnt working, I better make sure Im an elite defensive player." Or do they go the Culver route and what seems like "my offense sucks, I just cant do anything right".

[clyde21]

i think part of also was 2019 was a pretty shallow draft after Zion/Ja, not a lot of guys distinguished themselves and people were looking for guys to plug in that space after the top 2-3 picks and Culver was a pretty straightforward bet given the archetype.

[76ciology]

I'm too young to have watched Turner in HS. But judging from his college stats, it looks like he was going to be at least a decent shooter, could get to the line, and had solid stocks. Anyone know why these aspects didn't translate? Because it would figure that if Turner could shoot/play off ball, and play defense, he'd be a good NBA player. Had solid FTr in college as well but not in the league, and the scoring inside the arc has taken a decade to get to solid numbers.

I don't see any reason why Culver can't do what he's doing at the next level - he's a smart player, and is a smooth, shifty athlete for his size, if not an explosive one.

He gets blocked a lot when he drives to the rim. He’s not that quick to get the extra separation. Much worse when he’s not a threat to shoot so his defender is sagging off him anticipating his drives.

He eventually improved his midrange but its not too respectable. His best season was his last year in Philly. I think brett did a good job using him and Hawes at the top of the key.

[CP War Hawks]

He was getting sum small ball 4 minutes with the Hawks and then boom they sign an unheard of G leauger to replace him. That 2019 class was a bitch of a draft. Sum gems here and there but the GM that traded out of that draft were on top of their game...