Willie Warren? Here's my thumbnail:
Willie Warren had a terrible sophomore campaign and has slipped in the draft as such, but taking his skills as a whole he's definitely a viable NBA-role player. The pros is that he has a compact body at 6'4" 200, and his usage rate in college is such that he shouldn't have much trouble adapting as a role player (he's a middling scorer in the NBA). His overall offense is a mixed bag, however: what he does excel at, though, is in mutual exclusion, as he takes a lot of threes and gets to the line a lot offensively (only Scottie Reynolds and Elliott Williams had higher rates of both), and looking deeper he's a very good finisher as well, but appears to be only average as a long-range bomber. His skills are such that he'll be a SG at the next level, but he's a pretty good passer for the 2-guard and may act as a combo at spurts. But he's also highly turnover prone, and only four SGs in college had higher turnover rates with more possessions used. But those are offensive stats--his defensive stats ring highly, highly questionable--as he's a poor rebounder, even for a PG, and virtually negligible steal and block rates at college (he had 0 blocks in 21 games this year). His offense, with the mutual exclusion and some passing, overall is a plus, and combo guards of his ilk are getting more en vogue in the league, and should more than make up for his questionable defense. He'll find a role somewhere as a popcorn machine scoring guard with some passing, and may hit his stride as a sixth man type. PROJECTION: 25-35
How about another tweener guard?
Elliott Williams is someone I'm highly skeptical about on several fronts. It's hard to take away praise from a year where he showed himself to be a very good scorer who, like Warren, based his offensive game upon mutual exclusion (free throws and threes). He's a preferred slasher than shooter, a smart move because he can finish well and really get to the line (top 2 among SGs) while his long range game appears to be average at best overall. But while he can get to the basket, at 175 lbs and being a undersized SG (6'4") will this translate effectively to the next level? I have some doubts. Like Warren above, he'll have to rely on his scoring game--his rebounding and passing are average at best, and he's slightly below average in the passing lanes as well. He's relatively turnover prone as well. It's hard really getting up on his potential--his best asset of getting to the line/finishing might be eradicated with his slight frame, and as a long range shooter there's huge doubts, and the other parts of his game are average at best. His freshman year at Duke was also very nondescript. Unlike Warren, who has the body and better passing ability to perhaps make a bigger difference. PROJECTION: 38-50
Dominique Jones is on the small 6'5" side, as his standing reach isn't that impressive, but he's absolutely legitimate as a NBA scorer. He's a slasher extraordinaire, which combined with his sturdy frame and height bring about those Tyreke Evans comparisons. He's also the best at getting to the line extremely well while using tons of possessions, as no other SG in college does it as well as him, and he's a relatively good ballhandler. His jumper game lags behind the slashing--he has range and an okay jumper, but he doesn't show great potential in either, but at least he's not terrible either. He's my kind of player, one who imposes his athleticism, as he's also a highly impressive rebounder for a SG lacking in size, doing it on both ends. He's also legit defensively, getting a decent number of steals but being an above average shotblocker. But a major difference from Reke is that he's only an average passer even for SG standards, perhaps making him more Tony Allen than Evans. But he fits the bill of an athletic top shelf scorer and/or an energy/defensive guy, and he can fill a sizeable number of roles in the league. Really am high on the guy. PROJECTION: 15-30
I'm not sure of the intrigue behind Stanley Robinson. He'll be a low usage role player in the NBA and an average scorer, but moreover, what's really the source of his offense? He gets to the line rather poorly and hasn't fully invested himself as more of a shooter, but judging from his streaky percentages there and bad career free throw shooting it's not likely he'll really develop there anyway. His skill set to me is really lagging offensively. The problem with Robinson is that he's still very much more of a PF in style even though he has a SF body, as he's a decent shotblocker and rebounder for the SF position but only average on both for the PF position--and at 6'9" 225 he can't really play PF in the league unless in smallball matchups. So defensively he might encounter problems as well. Robinson just strikes me as undeveloped clay, but as a senior in college he can't really be called "clay" anymore, and just can't live off athleticism because most players in the league already fit that criteria. I don't think he'll make much of an impact in the league at all. PROJECTION: 40-55