NBA Comparison: Derek Fisher

Strengths: Big, physical point guard with excellent court vision and playmaking skills … Knows how and where to get his teammates the ball … Sets up shooters beautifully, putting the ball right in their pocket … Good ball-handler that looks comfortable controlling the ball on the perimeter … Protects the basketball well with his big body, keeping himself between the defender and the ball … Is able to use his strength and ball-handling ability to keep his defender off-balance … Skilled at running pick and roll plays, which is vital for NBA point guards … Has really become a great shooter during his time at school … Made over 2.0 triples a game in his senior season at a 45.1% clip … Can shoot off the dribble or when spotting up … Nearly automatic in catch and shoot situations … Has NBA range and a quick trigger … Long arms help him come up with a good number of deflections and steals every game … High basketball IQ … Has a great understanding of the game … Very unselfish and an extremely willing passer …

Weaknesses: Poor lateral quickness will hurt his defensive potential at the next level … Struggles to stay in front of faster players … Not an explosive athlete … Despite strength, he struggles finishing plays at the basket … Not much of a threat to score in transition, though he makes up for it with his creative passing ability … Not a very aggressive scorer inside the arc … Doesn’t do a lot of damage at the free throw line (3.7 FTA per game in 2010-2011) … Questions about his conditioning and work ethic have surrounded him throughout his time at Illinois …

Overall: MaCamey has the size, passing ability and shooting ability to be a factor at the next level … Unfortunately red flags about his conditioning, consistency and athleticism have kept his stock down … It’s a good bet that a team will like his talent enough to give him a chance in the second round this year … His work ethic will determine what the future holds for him thereafter …

Tyler Ingle 6/20/11