Thoughts on McDermott's Transition to NBA?

[sipclip]

The guy is a lot more athletic than some of you are making him out to be. He is obviously not high flyer but he can move his feet and his shooting ability will open up his driving game.

Not enough to play the 3 or 4 in the NBA. Teams will put him on an island and destroy him on the regular on D. Offensively, most NBA forwards have the athleticism to easily press up on his jumper and recover to snuff his drive. Then what? He's forced to take an awkward shot over a longer defender or to pass it out for a reset.

Not exactly the stuff of legit NBA scorers there.

You really love to exaggerate. He will get beat up on D but not to the extent that you claim and offensively he will not be easy to guard like you claim. He knows how to move without the ball and guys will have to close out hard on him because of his jmper which will open up other aspects of his game.

[Altered_Beast]

He plays like Paul Pierce, but like, today's Paul Pierce.

Me and you think alike. I thought he plays like a older Paul pierce as well. A little quicker than Paul pierce of now but maybe Paul from 3-4 seasons back. When you look at Paul play you think " how the hell did this guy end up with 25 points". Doug is the same way. Knows almost all the tricks in the book on offense and is deceptive

[Hairtrax]

All I know is that there is no doubt in my mind that the TWolves will draft him.

[E-Balla]

McDermott, otoh, won't be able to drive past practically any wing in the league, even if they are tight on his J. They can contest his shot while closing any drive lane. There are a lot of 4s that should be able to handle him off the bounce. He lacks the length to be able to post most NBA quality forwards.

Plus, its much easier to hide weak perimeter defenders than it is to hide frontcourt liabilities. The sheer plethora of 3&D specialists that do nothing but hide on the wings and corners on a lot of teams makes it MUCH easier to hide a Curry, or Nash or Harden, vs somebody like Love or Melo or Sullinger or Boozer.

That makes him into a stretch-4 who can come off screens, basically a Kyle Korver meets Rashard Lewis type, essentially a rich man's Steve Novak. That is not a starter on any team that does not have an absolute monster at the 5.

Ok so he's unathletic. It's not like he's scoring so well in college off the bounce. He has great shot making ability and he knows how to move without the ball.

And a Shard/Korver hybrid wouldn't be a top 5 player in this draft? And how in the hell is that like Novak at all? Novak's biggest issue is that he can't get open. He can't run off screens, cut, etc. like McDermott. Other than being great shooters they have nothing in common. I can think that Glen Rice comp is the best one.

[Shock Defeat]

I think he'll be a combination of Wang ZhiZhi/Yi Jianlian

Oh wait am I doing this right.

[tommer]

Lots of player comparisons being thrown around here, but to me in terms of style, efficiency & offensive toolbox, he looks a lot like Dirk...

[Antrim]

Lots of player comparisons being thrown around here, but to me in terms of style, efficiency & offensive toolbox, he looks a lot like Dirk...

He basically is a 6'8" Dirk.

[mrlancers]

Scrappier Jud Buechler

[SmoothLefty21]

Offensively, most NBA forwards have the athleticism to easily press up on his jumper and recover to snuff his drive. Then what? He's forced to take an awkward shot over a longer defender or to pass it out for a reset.

Not exactly the stuff of legit NBA scorers there.

Jay Wright disagrees with you.

"I was a part of the NBA developmental squad that Coach K put together last summer when they brought the young players out for the next Olympic team and I watched him play against the current NBA players. And he was on their level. Last year he was on their level. He was getting his shot off against those guys. If I hadn't seen that I wouldn't be as confident, but after that. I'm very sure he can play at the next level."

[greenandgold]

Steals+blocks per game per 40 minutes in college:
Redick - 1.4
Korver - 2.6
Parsons - 3.0
McDermott - 0.4
Babbit - 1.9
Novak - 0.9
Morrison - 1.3
Fredette - 1.4
Even if he won't get completely over-matched athletically, the team, that drafts him, will have to wait 2-3 years for him to adjust.

This says it all. There's NEVER been a successful NBA player with such a low steals/blocks rate in the NCAA. Never. Anybody with close to an 0.4 SB/40 has failed.

In the very unlikely event McDermott becomes the next Paul Pierce it would create a new statistical paradigm. The McDermott exception.

I'm sure there's an old school NBA GM out there willing to bet against the odds and take McDermott in the first round. But the outcome, McDermott failing miserably to translate his game to the NBA, seems inevitable.

[Demitri98]

Too slow for the 3, too small for the 4. He might be a good spot up shooter off the bench but I wouldn't waste a top 10 pick on him. His skillset just doesn't translate to the NBA, sadly. A great role-playing shooter and off-ball mover on a contending team is his ceiling IMO.

[MojoPharoah]

The guy is a lot more athletic than some of you are making him out to be. He is obviously not high flyer but he can move his feet and his shooting ability will open up his driving game.

Not enough to play the 3 or 4 in the NBA. Teams will put him on an island and destroy him on the regular on D. Offensively, most NBA forwards have the athleticism to easily press up on his jumper and recover to snuff his drive. Then what? He's forced to take an awkward shot over a longer defender or to pass it out for a reset.

Not exactly the stuff of legit NBA scorers there.

You really love to exaggerate. He will get beat up on D but not to the extent that you claim and offensively he will not be easy to guard like you claim. He knows how to move without the ball and guys will have to close out hard on him because of his jmper which will open up other aspects of his game.

Offensively, what you seem to not realize is that using a show & go against hard closeouts only have solid value if the defender cannot recover in time to really challenge the drive and contest any shot. Many NBA starters at forward have the length to press up and contest his shots with the quickness to challenge the drive if he tries to pump fake and go. He'd be better served as a reserve, where he could attack better matchups, but the idea that he's starter-quality is just off.

I'm hard-pressed to name 10 starting forwards at either spot he could defend adequately, w/o compromising the D.
Most wings can take him off the dribble or off a curl/handoff, while most 4s can post him and shoot over him with ease. And, by playing the 4, he offers a tempting target for teams to attack in PnR scenarios, because he lacks the foot speed or lateral quickness to hedge or trap and also lacks the length to drop and contest.

Again, he's 6'7", slow-footed with subpar wingspan and poor rebounding & stl/blk stats. His wingspan is the same length as such prime defenders like Ben Gordon and Luke Walton.

[Gilles]

Too slow for the 3, too small for the 4. He might be a good spot up shooter off the bench but I wouldn't waste a top 10 pick on him. His skillset just doesn't translate to the NBA, sadly. A great role-playing shooter and off-ball mover on a contending team is his ceiling IMO.

It's not his skillset. It's the body, skillset is strapped to. If he's able to hang around physically with forwards, Doug would be a very good pick. He's reportedly 6'8" with 6'8.5" wingspan, that should lead to around 8'8" standing reach. A lot of was made past summer, whether Bennett has even 8'10" reach - now basically a cut-off for NBA PF. So you kinda left hoping for him succeeding at SF. Does he have a prayer to hang with NBA SFs? Sure Doug will be able to score on guys like Terrence Ross inside, but when defense tightens, will he be able to execute quick enough and finish efficiently?

[MojoPharoah]

Offensively, most NBA forwards have the athleticism to easily press up on his jumper and recover to snuff his drive. Then what? He's forced to take an awkward shot over a longer defender or to pass it out for a reset.

Not exactly the stuff of legit NBA scorers there.

Jay Wright disagrees with you.

"I was a part of the NBA developmental squad that Coach K put together last summer when they brought the young players out for the next Olympic team and I watched him play against the current NBA players. And he was on their level. Last year he was on their level. He was getting his shot off against those guys. If I hadn't seen that I wouldn't be as confident, but after that. I'm very sure he can play at the next level."

Did I say he cannot play in the NBA at all? I said he's a rotation guy who can be a bench scorer. He's not starting, not starring. He'll be best served as a role player off the bench as a floor-spacer 4 in both half & full-court, a ball-mover type who can score in bunches in a team concept. That role maximizes his skills and minimizes his liabilities. Even then, a decent defensive wing who can lock and trail consistently will cause him fits. He creates space well in college, but there should be no reason any decent defensive forward shouldn't be able to just crowd him very tightly.

"He's a college four-man," former Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy told me on NBC Sports Radio. "Size-wise, you would think he would have to be an [NBA] three-man. I don't know who he is going to be able to guard in the NBA. I don't know if he can guard three's or fours. He'll certainly be an NBA player and a good one, but his ceiling could be a back-up type guy."

[GANGSTERDOG]

I agree on the Korver, Redick, Jimmer comparisons. He reminds me of Love n Ryan Anderson. Also reminds me of David Lee, Parsons, Bob Saget and Will Ferrell.

Xbox Live/PSN : Gangsterdog

[YouthMovement]

he'll be very good

[SmoothLefty21]

Offensively, most NBA forwards have the athleticism to easily press up on his jumper and recover to snuff his drive. Then what? He's forced to take an awkward shot over a longer defender or to pass it out for a reset.

Not exactly the stuff of legit NBA scorers there.

Jay Wright disagrees with you.

"I was a part of the NBA developmental squad that Coach K put together last summer when they brought the young players out for the next Olympic team and I watched him play against the current NBA players. And he was on their level. Last year he was on their level. He was getting his shot off against those guys. If I hadn't seen that I wouldn't be as confident, but after that. I'm very sure he can play at the next level."

Did I say he cannot play in the NBA at all?

Did I say that you said that? No.

You said he won't be able to get off good shots against NBA defenders. Jay Wright thinks otherwise.

[MojoPharoah]

Jay Wright disagrees with you.

Did I say he cannot play in the NBA at all?

Did I say that you said that? No.

You said he won't be able to get off good shots against NBA defenders. Jay Wright thinks otherwise.

Regarding that, Draftexpress has creating offense as a primary weakness of his, especially against long athletic defenders, which he hasn't seen much of in college. What they said, and I concur with, is that his limited handle combined with a lack of explosion would impact his ability to generate his own shots, especially off the bounce, which is the ability he would need if once he catches it off a screen with the defender locked on him. He scored only .44 ppp off drives from spot-ups in college. That matches what I see when I've watched him. If he lacks the size advantage, he can be contained fairly simply, which is what would happen in the league.

Regarding Wright's opinion, he also thought Randy Foye would be an absolute star in the NBA. His draft projections have a tendency to be more miss than hit.

"He's got no flash to his game," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "At his position, he's a lot like Tim Duncan. He'll be a valuable NBA guard because of his ability to run the point and also be a go-to guy and put up big numbers."

"Like Chauncey Billups, he can get the ball to people and be a mismatch guy," added Wright. "He played the point for us and the only thing that kept him from putting up big numbers was that he had a point guard mentality."

[SmoothLefty21]

He was making on observation on McDermott while playing against NBA guys, he was speculating on Foye's pro future. Completely different things and besides, obviously he's going to hype up his own player. C'mon now.

[fourtyounce48]

I enjoy his game but I think his peak will be a prime Wally Szczerbiak.