The NBA Draft gurus of DraftExpress.com released a video scouting report on UConn’s Shabazz Napier on Thursday. Compiled by Mike Schmitz, the video explores Napier’s strengths and weaknesses and is accompanied by clips from recent games.
It’s certainly worth the 13+ minute run time, so watch it for yourself.
Having seen Napier up close the past four years, I think Schmitz’s review is fairly accurate. Napier’s shooting has consistently improved and is certainly NBA-caliber (especially with his range). Combined with his leadership skills, court vision and flair for the dramatic, Napier looks capable of contributing to an NBA team.
The critique I found most interesting regarded Napier’s decision making. A friend of mine (the infamous Parky Parkinson) used to remark of a young Napier, “he’s the best worst player I’ve ever seen.” It was a quip about Shabazz’s tendency to launch “No-No-No-No-YES” shots. What looked like a terrible decision was salvaged by the ball going through the hoop.
That tendency by Napier has faded slightly as he’s matured and learned how to pick his spots better, but he is certainly still prone to odd decisions. Ed Daigneault of the Waterbury Republican-American has dubbed them “Shabazz’s what-the-hell moment,” of the game. It’s interesting to see how national scouts are picking up on that as they look into Napier’s game.
The most troubling part of the video for me is something I’ve been seeing for a while, and that is Napier’s failure to stay in front of his man on defense — a flaw that extends to Ryan Boatright as well. With freshman Amida Brimah’s minutes dwindling, UConn’s defense is commonly devoid of capable inside defenders. Therefore, they are best served by staying in front of opposing guards and denying entry into the paint. Napier’s defensive lapses are exacerbating the Huskies’ most obvious defensive problems. What’s interesting is, I think this is a relatively new trend for Napier that arrived around the time he was asked to burden more of the scoring load on offense. Maybe he’s tired?
Regardless, it’s nice to see Napier getting some national attention. Last season, when he put the team on his back, he received little to no fanfare. Now, with UConn again eligible for the NCAA Tournament, Napier is being mentioned as a possible National Player of the Year candidate. If he can lead his team to a successful season, look for many more flattering accolades in Napier’s future.
I can tell you that against teams like Houston, it’s imperative that the guards stay in front. That Houston team looked like a high school JV team when we started forcing them to set up plays and denying them the transition game.
Also, there are clips from The Game That Shall Not Be Remembered in that video. Yeesh.