2014 NBA Draft: Thanasis Antetokounmpo Player Profile

Strengths:

Thanasis Antetokounmpo hangs his hat on his defensive ability and effort. His length and footwork give him the tools to be an excellent defender, while his willingness to outwork his opponent make him especially effective defending on the ball. Averaging over a block and steal a game shows his versatility on the defensive end and he has great potential on D if he can improve his awareness off the ball.

Antetokounmpo is a good scorer in transition, he has the ball handling ability to take the ball coast-to-coast and is effective running the floor with his guards to finish in the paint. His near 40-inch vertical allows him to finish above the rim and he showed off that athleticism in the D-League Dunk Contest. He has a good first step and solid handles for a small forward and while he struggled with his consistency he showed solid improvement in his outside shooting throughout the season going from sub-30 percent before the New Year to around 40 percent from January through April.

Weaknesses:

Thanasis is still a work in progress on the offensive end of the floor and will never be anything more than a role player with a few go-to moves. He has no real mid-range game and forces up long jump shots more often than he should. Nearly half of his field goal attempts were from 3-point range despite shooting just .309 from deep on the season. He showed improvement shooting the long ball and that will have to continue for him to be an effective role player in the NBA. He had a high turnover rate of 2.3 in 29 minutes per game and generally needs to improve his awareness on both ends of the floor. His shot selection and control offensively as well as his defensive IQ are a work in progress. He often lost his man defending off the ball and needs to focus on learning the strategy of the game as much as he does his individual skills.