NBA Draft: Grading every first-round pick after rookie year
142. . SF. Washington Wizards. Deni Avdija. 9. player
NBA Draft: Grading every first-round pick after rookie year: 9. Deni Avdija
Stats:
- 6.3 points
- 4.9 rebounds
- 1.2 assists
The Washington Wizards were bereft of talent heading into the 2020 NBA Draft.
Outside of Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook, the Wizards had no one who could create their own shot with regularity. Yet, after watching Deni Avdija show flashes of greatness overseas, they believed they had their third playmaker and scorer.
Avdija was the third youngest Israeli League MVP award winner and was also named the Player of the Year. In addition to those slew of awards, he was a no-brainer choice as a First Team selection for the Israeli League after he averaged with 12.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists.
The Wizards were licking their chops when they noticed he was still on the board with the ninth overall pick and wasted little to no time in drafting him. Although he seemed to be the perfect fit at the small forward position next to Beal and Westbrook, Avdija struggled all year long. While he stands at six foot nine, Avdija has seemingly never seen inside of a weight room as he weighs only 210 pounds.
With no muscle and no physicality to his game, he struggled to score on the inside. When he realized that driving to the basket wasn’t getting any results, he attempted to knock down shots from the outside. But, the results weren’t pretty as he connected on only 31.5 percent of his shots from three.
At the age of 20, there’s still plenty of time for Avdija to turn things around. For now, however, we can’t grade him on his potential, only on what we saw this past season.
Grade: D