Recently, I’ve come across more questions about what my player ranking is for the #22 pick for the Lakers.
I’ve spent quite a few more hours watching each of these guys throughout the past week and have come to the following ranking:
Right now, it’s as follows:
Jaden Springer
Chris Duarte
Trey Murphy III
Kessler Edwards
Josh Christopher
Vrenz Bleijenburgh
What drew me to this conclusion?
I started by going more into the tape and watching isolated plays helps a lot when looking for specifics aspects. I attempted to focus on NBA-readiness defensively. Initially, I think of NBA physicality, the ability to read on both ends of the floor, how quickly those reads on are made, and the amount of defensive aggression sustained while trying to prevent foul trouble.
This was a very tough exercise while keeping all of those elements in mind.
Let’s take a look at a couple of players from the list.
These were the kind of notes I took for each player:
Jaden Springer - Physical on both ends of the floor, especially with point of attack defense. He has a knack of being able to deny dribble penetration at the point of attack, while still being able to contest a shot. As mentioned in the previous article about him, he uses his feet first, chest second, hands last. This allows him to absorb the contact initiated by offensive players and stay in front of them, close, instead of allowing offensive players to gain some space for a shot.
Here’s a quick sequence of that vs. BJ Boston. Notice, BJ doesn’t initiate the contact on the drive, but Springer is like a small fort in the paint. Once he’s at the edge of that painted area, he doesn’t give up ground easily.
Springer plays to that level of physicality, while averaging 3.1 fouls per 40 minutes at the NCAA level. What surprises me is his ability to be physical in the painted area, while keeping a good foul rate for his level of defense. I think the NCAA level allows more contact along the perimeter than the NBA level, so he will need to make an adjustment there, but I’d rather have a guy that plays physical first and try to tone that down next level, than a guy that doesn’t foul, gives up space, and plays for a contest.
Chris Duarte - Duarte isn’t usually found defending the point of attack like Springer, but he often takes on off-ball assignments and finds ways to protect the rim. While he avoids contact, he has the awareness and makes the reads to protect the paint from several areas of the floor. I’m unsure that this level of shot-blocking is immediately NBA-transferable, but his ability to read where the ball is going and tracking down to sink into the key to protect the rim, absolutely is. He does this with a foul rate of 2.5 fouls per 40 minutes as well.
He just makes a series of plays where he makes the read quickly and reacts to it well, beginning at the 1:17:24 mark.
He does a fine job with closeouts, but can get into some trouble when players attack him off the closeout. However, he doesn’t give up, shows some positional verticality when trying to protect the paint, and does a great job applying back pressure. His level of team defense will be appreciated next level.
He’s still a bit of a late bloomer, and there are habits to work out that come from junior college basketball that need to adapt to the NBA level. Man-defense is already tough, but not every role player gets the luxury of defending spot up perimeter players in the way that a lot of modern superstars do.
Despite Springer’s age, I think he’s a better man defender due his physicality. Duarte, on the other hand, played more within a team scheme, and has a specialty skill of defending with his arms first, one step away. What do I mean by that? He reads incoming passes for interceptions, one step away. He forces turnovers on drives and digs on the basketball, one step away. Both guys apply pressure around the rim, but Springer does a better job of staying in front, while Duarte keeps on going, within the halfcourt or in transition, to go for the blocked shot.
In Part II, I’m going to take a closer look at Trey Murphy III and Kessler Edwards, both of whom I think will surprise in terms of their levels of defensive discipline.
Follow Part II of this series here