NBA Comparison: Charles Smith

Strengths: A lefty post player with a tremendous wingspan … He has made improvements to his body, shedding the baby fat he carried throughout high-school, he has also added some mass and definition (his frame shows the potential to support even more weight without taking away from his explosiveness) … A good athlete, he is able to make plays on both ends of the floor thanks to his length, energy and blue collar approach… He establishes good early position and gets a high number of easy looks in transition thanks to his ability to run the floor … Battles for position and is able to get touches very close to the basket because he seals and counterseals extremely well … Has very good hands and makes difficult catches in traffic and on the move … Shows the ability to turn to both shoulders effectively and can finish with mini jump hooks with both hands  … He is becoming more comfortable using his body and quick feet to beat defenders to the spot …  He flashes the ability to faceup and attack off the bounce, but he will need to continue to polish his handles before he can fully utilize his quick and long first step … Finds the seams in the defence and gets to the openings for quick and easy finishes without having plays run for him … When his energy level is high he can be a very good rebounder, especially on the offensive end … He has an extremely quick second jump, and he is able to time his attack and get his hands on a high percentage of missed shots … His length also posses problems on the defensive end, as he is able to recover quickly or slide over from the weakside to block and contest shots around the basket …

Weaknesses: At 6-9 he is a bit on the short side as a power forward at the next level … Although he has terrific length, and good athleticism, they do not negate his size issues completely … Also, at this point in his career he plays more as a center as his game is strictly confined to the low block … The major inadequacy that limits his game to the paint is the fact that his jumper needs serious work … He showed very little confidence in it all year and the ones he did take looked hesitant and were off-balance (he shoots with a major fade on almost every shot) … He shoots the ball over his head and extends the release too high, making his stroke very erratic and the results extremely inconsistent… To compound the issue, he shot an abysmal 49% from the foul line, raising the concern level on his outside touch even more … He needs to improve his back to the basket repertoire, adding counter moves once his initial drive gets cut off would benefit his game … Struggles against stronger defenders, can be bodied out of position and into off-balance shots … He is an inconsistent performer, his energy fluctuates drastically from game to game, and he doesn’t play with the same drive every night … Has disappeared in some big games this season … There is a strong correlation between his scoring and rebounding numbers, if he doesn’t get touches early in the game he will not look to get to the glass with the same aggressiveness on either end …  Born in 1991, he is a full year older than his class …

Borko Popic 4/26/11