Minnesota Timberwolves: 2018 NBA Draft grades
No. 48: Keita Bates-Diop, Ohio State
Did anyone expect to see Bates-Diop at this point in the draft? He was pegged to be a mid-to-late first round pick. Surprisingly, he fell down to the second round. A lot of fans would have been happy with him being there at No. 20.
A lot of his falling had to do with the fact that he wasn’t your typical one-and-done player. A lot of teams like youth and the possibility of huge upside. Bates-Diop played all four years at Ohio State and was a late bloomer.
| Season | School | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | FT | FTA | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-15 | Ohio State | 9.9 | 1.3 | 2.8 | .473 | 0.5 | 1.2 | .462 | 0.6 | 0.8 | .679 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 3.8 | |
| 2015-16 | Ohio State | 31.5 | 4.3 | 9.4 | .453 | 1.1 | 3.4 | .324 | 2.1 | 2.7 | .787 | 6.4 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 11.8 | |
| 2016-17 | Ohio State | 23.3 | 4.1 | 8.2 | .500 | 0.3 | 1.7 | .200 | 1.1 | 1.6 | .714 | 5.2 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 9.7 | |
| 2017-18 | Ohio State | 33.1 | 7.3 | 15.1 | .480 | 1.9 | 5.4 | .359 | 3.3 | 4.1 | .794 | 8.7 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 19.8 | Big Ten POY |
| Career | Ohio State | 24.8 | 4.3 | 9.1 | .472 | 1.1 | 3.2 | .352 | 1.9 | 2.5 | .776 | 5.7 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 11.7 |
Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 6/21/2018.
From the chart above, you can clearly see that the first three years were not going as he’d like. But he improved his game drastically and helped Ohio State get into the NCAA Tournament.
He was the best player for the Buckeyes and he even won the Big Ten Player of the Year. Bates-Diop went from averaging around 1-2 3-pointers a game, to a little over five a game. We all know the Wolves need a player that can shoot and adding him surely improves that.
He can also play the small forward or power forward position. He’s the perfect player to slot in at the 4-spot when you want to go for a small-ball lineup. He’s got good size at 6’7″ and 235 pounds.
With that length, he averaged 1.6 steals and 0.9 blocks per game. The depth, 3-point shooting and defense again improved for the Wolves at the 48th pick. They need size off the bench and that was noticeable when they were running out Tyus Jones, Derrick Rose and Crawford.
Grade: A+