NBA Comparison: Henry Ellenson/Moritz Wagner

Strengths: Wolf is a jack of all trades offensively that has a guard skill set paired with a center’s build… Most outstanding parts of his game are his rare mix of mobility and size that allows him to create for himself and others from the perimeter to the low post… There aren’t many fives who have the speed to keep up with him when he has a full head of steam… Wolf has the passing accuracy and vision to survey the court from anywhere and find the open man, even through traffic… Height allows him to see over the entire court and dish out passes anywhere, leading to Wolf being one of the premier pick and roll players in the Big Ten… Has a solid touch around the rim and has the footwork to out maneuver defenders in the paint… Wolf also stands alone at the top of the conference as the clear best defensive rebounder (leads the Big Ten with eight a game), a trait that will definitely be welcomed with open arms at the pro level… Defensively, shows potential as a great help defender/secondary rim protector with the use of his frame to consistently block shots… Wolf’s lateral quickness as a seven footer is rare, he averages just under a steal a game and is able to hold his own even if he gets drawn out of the paint… Shooting 36.8% from three point range on three attempts per game shows that he has the potential to develop into an elite stretch big, can already hit both spot up shots and off the dribble pull ups… Wolf has a good shot selection and can be counted on to make the right play more often than not, making him one of the more reliable players in this year’s class…

Weaknesses: Despite his unique skill set at his size and position, Wolf more likely than not wouldn’t make a seamless transition to the league… While a great playmaker with great vision and game sense, Wolf has a turnover percentage of 25.2 this season and averages 3.2 a game, a mark that ranks as the 21st worst in college basketball and third worst in the Big Ten… He knows what the right play to make is, but his mind and overall ball handling skills can lag behind at times… Wolf is at his best with the ball in his hands and setting up the offense, but the chances of him being put in a position to do that in the league immediately are small… His ability to run the pick and roll is a plus for sure but, he’ll need to improve as the roll man to see consistent time on the court… Wolf has shown promise as a defender and has been able to impact the game well in that regard at the college level, but handling perimeter threats and bigger guys on the interior will cause problems for someone who has a mix of strength and speed but will never be the best in either category… Wolf struggles with high presses in the half court setting, leading to his ability to create being reduced drastically… Becomes glaringly less confident when matched up against people more physically inclined than him and his lack of ball security begins to show… Finally, Wolf has had stretches of struggling to find his outside shot as he takes more than just spot up threes now… In college, he has the green light to take these shots but offensively, Wolf will be asked to take a step back with his shot selection… It’ll be some time before we see Wolf able to showcase the extent of his ability with the ball in his hands at the next level…

Overall: Wolf is for sure one of the more polarizing players in this year’s draft class… In his first year with Michigan, he has looked like an entirely different player who plays a new brand of basketball… In his time with Yale, Wolf played within a system, where his role was to finish strong at the rim, knock down spot up threes and be a big body down low… Now with the Wolverines, he has transformed into a college Jokic-esque player who plays point-center and runs the floor… This makes his production in just his first year experience with this kind of freedom on the court, very easy to fall in love with as he has the potential to reach even higher heights… As the NBA continues to move toward a more positionless style where players are encouraged to become multifaceted, Wolf fits that role perfectly… The potential of having a center who can run up and down the court and push the pace like a point guard, knock down shots from anywhere and still be a threat on the glass is tantalizing… But despite all that upside, if not given the time to continue to develop his game and grow as a facilitator and overall player, Wolf’s career may never hit that possible peak… He is still extremely raw as a prospect, especially with him still coming into his own with a brand new role… The ability to react to high tension situations, ball security and working around the lack of opportunities he’ll get in the offense at the next level are things Wolf will have to understand and improve upon to become the best version of himself… But if he can accomplish these things, the team that gets their hands on him in the late first round to early second round may have a future facilitating center out of the high post in the making

Isaiah Maldonado 3/1/25