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15 - Shabazz Muhammad

6-6, 225 Small Forward
UCLA Freshman
Birthday
11/13/92 (31.3 yrs)
Hometown
Las Vegas, NV
High School
Bishop Gorman
Team Site Profile
Statistics
Athleticism
8
Size
8
Defense
7
Strength
8
Quickness
8
Leadership
7
Jump Shot
8
NBA Ready
8
Ball Handling
7
Potential
9
Passing
7
Intangibles
7

NBA Comparison: Nick Young

Strengths: Fierce competitor with a scorers mentality … Displays a killer instinct missing from many other prospect’s games … Uses screens to create catch-and-shoot opportunities well … Quick lefty release, solid mechanices with range out to three point territory … Can use his body to create space and get shots off near the basket … Length (6-11 + wingspan) helps him get his shot off and create post-up opportunities against smaller wings … Not afraid of contact and has the ability to get to the line at a high rate … Was very proficient as an offensive rebounder, has a nose for the ball … Developed a runner that looks very promising and was quite difficult to stop … Noted for a strong work ethic, plays with a chip on his shoulder … Wants the ball in the clutch and not shaken in end of game situations … Length gives him potential as a defender … Athleticism is quite solid and has an ability to play major minutes at optimum conditioning level … Makes his move very quickly, does not stop the ball or take a lot of time off of the clock … Shows a strong passion for the game and a will to improve …

Weaknesses: Has trouble creating his own shot off of the dribble, shooting percentage plummets when he puts the ball on the floor … Not a fluid athlete. Movements and overall skills appear rigid and herky jerky … Far too reliant on his left hand, opponents know to force him to the right, and it severely limits his effectiveness … His defensive awareness was severely tested during his lone year of college ball, must improve awareness on that side of the court … Must improve shot selection … Could stand to fine tune his jumpshot, become more efficient as a foul shooter … His lack of statistical defensive production made some question his focus and energy on that end of the court … Body language was a concern at certain points and made him appear at odds with teammates, even if that was not the case … Sometimes gets tunnel vision, when guarded by multiple defenders will still look to shoot as opposed for looking to pass to an open teammate … Defensive footwork can use a lot of fine tuning as far as guarding the perimeter … Ball handling needs improvement, which most likely relegates him to the SF spot … Despite having solid length, may be a tad undersized for the SF spot and could have a hard time at both ends of the floor against wings with greater length … Piled up a number of injuries during his time on the UCLA campus, so question marks could arise surrounding durability …

Notes: Shabazz is afflicted with Tourette’s Syndrome, though has seemingly dealt with it quite well. Still there are side effects sometimes associated with Tourettes that must be considered (depression, OCD, ADD)  … Some say there may be character issues, especially after finding out his father misled the media regarding his age … While the question marks surrounding his age are legitimate, he was always a proficient scorer at any level playing against his own age group and even against older competition … Wings with his ability to score the basketball, as well as possessing his athleticism, length and energy are still a relatively rare commodity in the NBA … Despite going through a long process in gaining eligibility in the NCAA, Shabazz only had one single digit scoring game and did not miss any games after his early season three game suspension … Despite a decline in his draft stock from his early season standing as a top 3 pick, Shabazz is still a desirable prospect and should be taken in the top 10 in a weak draft class. If he falls much further than 10, teams could ultimately regret it …

Michael Visenberg 5/14/13

Strengths: Left handed wing with elite level speed, athleticism and skills … Great scorer who can fill it up in a variety of ways … Very smart, intense individual who is highly motivated and driven to be great … Mature offensive game, already has a strong NBA body, incredible length (appears to have a wingspan in the neighborhood of 7-feet), is a man amongst boys, very athletic and explosive … Quick first step and handle make him difficult to contain one on one … Improving jumpshot and handle, wired to score the ball, can physically dominate his opponents, pull up jumper and ability to put the ball on the floor have improved considerably … Box game is very advanced for his age … Great on the offensive glass for a 2 guard … Knows how to work the baseline and score, terrific in transition, hard worker … Shows signs of having a killer instinct and will assertively get on his teammates when they’re not living up to his expectations … The most prolific scorer in the country …

Weaknesses: Has improved his jumpshot but still needs some work to become more automatic … Relies too much on his strength … Needs to look to impact the game in other areas besides scoring … Too left hand dominant, ball tends to stop when it gets in his hands … Not a great creator for teammates … Can lose focus sometimes if not involved enough offensively … Handle needs to tighten up. Not great at creating shots off the dribble … Prone to offensive fouls, needs to continue to round out his overall game …

Overall: Muhammad is a terrific long term prospect …  He can score the ball in his sleep and is just scratching the surface of his ability … Once he improves the consistency on his jumpshot he will almost be impossible to defend, great work ethic and drive to succeed will take him a long way …

Ian Powers 6/23/11

2012 Nike Hoop Summit Measurements: Hgt w/ shoes:  6’5.75, Ht w/o shoes:  6’4.5, Wt: 222.5, W-Span:  6’11.25, Standing Reach:   8’8

March 12, 2011

 

September 3, 2010

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