doug-mcdermott-hd.jpg

3 - Doug McDermott

6-7, 220 Small Forward
Creighton Senior
Birthday
01/03/92 (32.2 yrs)
Hometown
Ames, Iowa
High School
Ames
Team Site Profile
Statistics
Athleticism
7
Size
7
Defense
6
Strength
7
Quickness
7
Leadership
9
Jump Shot
9
NBA Ready
9
Ball Handling
7
Potential
7
Passing
8
Intangibles
9

NBA Comparison: Wally Szczerbiak/Tracy Murray

Strengths: Unbelievable scoring skills … Is aided by his outstanding shooting touch and “easy” shooting stroke … Deep range as a shooter … Has a textbook form to his shot, and squares his shoulders to the basket almost instantaneous when he attempts jumpers … Shows a very quick release and has the ability to quicken his release against closeouts … Has great footwork … Able to hit shots from deep with his feet set and off screens, and is also extremely effective with pull-ups … Polished mid-range player … Has a nice array of subtle moves he uses to give himself space from defenders closing out on him … Good fadeaway shot … Likes to shoot the Dirk-esque 1 foot fall away jumper, and is very effective at doing so … A coaches son who plays with a high IQ, and shows very good savvy and feel for the game … Very efficient player, was a career 50-40 player from the field and 3 respectively … Makes good decisions when moving without the ball, and did a good job getting easy baskets off cuts to the hoop … Rarely seems to press for his shots … Willing to make hustle plays … Plays a fairly tricky game that makes him a tough matchup to contain offensively … Good amount of floaters and runners in his arsenal … Slashes to the rim with a low center of gravity … Pretty strong … Though he is stuck between the forward positions, his post game could work to his advantage fairly often depending on matchups … Runs the floor better than most would think, and will run-out for easy baskets at the rim after missed shots … A good “trailerman” shooter in transition … Was one of 2 players (the other was Marcus Smart) invited to the Team USA mini-camp in 2013, and reportedly fared well enough to encourage scouts about his ability to translate to the NBA … Really good free throw shooter … Generally decent rebounder … Uses his body and the rim effectively to shield shot blockers when finishing around the rim … Improved his ability to create off the dribble substantially throughout his college career … Has some post game too, showing a good jump hook with his right … Tough to ignore his consistent dominance scoring the ball throughout his entire career at Creighton, despite his other limitations … More athletic than he appears as he showed with a 36.5 max vertical at the NBA combine …

Weaknesses: McDermott’s athletic and physical limitations place questions about how he will translate to the NBA … Is not a very explosive or quick player, with average leaping skills … Is a tweener due to his lack of height, and his 6’6 ¼ height measurement without shoes in the combine did little to help his cause about answering questions about his ability to spend time playing the PF position at the next level … Lacks athleticism for the SF position, and not tall or long enough to play consistently at PF … Will have to rely heavily on timing and positioning to be effective at the next level … Gets his shot blocked quite a bit around the rim, and becomes much less effective the longer he has the ball in the post … Hard to imagine him getting daylight like he did at Creighton on his some of his shot attempts considering his fairly pedestrian physical skills and athleticism … How effective he becomes will depend directly on the system he goes to and exactly how his coach plans to use him based on game-to-game matchups … Had his share of struggles vs teams with true NBA athleticism in his college career … Has some weaknesses against long and athletic defenders … Can be rebounded and shot over a bit too often … Makes no impact whatsoever on the defensive end of the ball … Has posted alarmingly low steal and block numbers throughout his career for a projected frontcourt player, and that does not figure to improve at all in the NBA … Will his coaches ever look past the fact that he is a fringe defender? … Doesn’t pass the ball often …

Overall: Answered the ciritcs who claimed his success was due in part to playing in a small conference after putting up the same numbers in the Big East as a senior … Comes off an unbelievable Senior season in which he cemented his legacy and became the 5th leading scorer in college basketball history … McDermott’s productivity and scoring/shooting ability cannot be ignored when projecting him to the next level … Extremely fierce competitor, and had one of the best individual careers in college basketball history … He is able to get his shots off in more than a few ways, and likely will be a good per-minute scorer at the next level sooner or later … He proved to be a student of the game in his 4 seasons at Creighton, and improved nicely every season he was in school which is extremely encouraging … His physical and athletic limitations make him a player who needs to be utilized in certain ways to be succesful … His draft range is anywhere from the late lottery to the mid-first round …

Jorrye Nixon 5/15/14

Strengths: Excellent shooter, particularly for his size.  Had percentages of 60-49-80 last season … Has a nice arsenal of post moves. Gets a lot of unorthodox buckets around the rim … His offensive versatility makes him a matchup problem, as he can post up on the average small forward, but he can drag a power forward outside with his shooting ability … Plays well off the ball.  Gets a lot of open looks for himself from beyond the arc … A true coach’s son, McDermott has a high basketball IQ … Good rebounder, especially for his size.  Averaged 8.2 RPG last season … Incredibly efficient overall player.  Averaged 22.9 PPG last year on only 14.6 shots, and averaged 1.6 points per shot attempt … Has a large frame which helps him gain position against smaller defenders … Usually was able to maintain his elite level of production against high-quality opponents … Extremely smooth shot release … Potential to be a speciality shooter gives him added intrigue …

Weaknesses:
He creates matchup problems on offense, but he is the matchup problem on defense, as he is a tweener who is too short and lacking in strength to guard the 4, but lacks the lateral quickness to guard 3’s … Has played a lot more 4 than 3 through his college career, will need to transition to playing much more on the perimeter … Struggles to create his own shot on the perimeter.  Ballhandling ability is subpar … His inside scoring ability is severely limited when he goes up against NBA-sized big men … Has a relatively big frame, but desperately needs to add muscle in order to utilize his post game … Slow on closeouts due to his lack of foot speed … Physical limitations are concerning …

Notes: High school teammate of North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes and member of the 2011 USA U-19 team … Measured 6’8 (in shoes) 223 lbs, with a 6’8.5 wingspan at the 2012 Amare Stoudemire Skills Academy …

Jacob Stallard 8/14/13

 

 

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