Texas Tech Basketball: NBA Draft profile on wing initiator Jarrett Culver

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: Jarrett Culver #23 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders celebrates after making a basket and drawing a foul against the Michigan Wolverines during the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament West Regional at Honda Center on March 28, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 08: De’Andre Hunter #12 of the Virginia Cavaliers is defended by Jarrett Culver #23 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the second half during the 2019 NCAA men’s Final Four National Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

Texas Tech Basketball’s Jarrett Culver, the 6-foot-7 smooth operating wing imitator out of Lubbock, Texas, saw his sophomore season with the Red Raiders serve as a launching pad into consideration for a top selection at the 2019 NBA Draft.

Jarrett Culver is the manifestation of the word “smooth.”

Culver is smooth, both in spirit and in play style, gliding around the court and through defenders with beautiful ease and grace, splitting the defense with powerful strides and step-throughs where he finishes with craft and ambidexterity at a top-notch rate. Opposing ball-handlers who dealt with Texas Tech Basketball are hapless against him, as his feet mirrors theirs, sliding step for step in menacing fashion. His passes sail over the top of outstretched hands and through the smallest of windows, with Culver’s vision and touch as a passer undeniably strong and fine-tuned for a wing of his size. He takes bumps in stride whilst delivering his very own against weaker players, absorbing contact and redirecting it back to his opponents on both ends of the floor.

He is smooth.

And he is quite good at basketball, with the Texas Tech Red Raider flying up draft boards as his sophomore campaign wore on, with Thursday’s 2019 NBA Draft presenting him with a real possibility — if not a likelihood — of getting his name called within the first seven, six, five, perhaps even four picks.

A two-way force to be reckoned with, the versatile 6-foot-7 wing offers a refined skill set that befriends teammates and coaches while terrorizing his opponents, an offensive tactician and defensive warlord. Opposing defenses are picked apart with his surgical passing and strong self-creation abilities, with opposing offenses struggling to handle his physicality and technique as a well-rounded, multifaceted defender. He is no elite athlete nor long-range bomber, but he is quite good, perhaps even an elite prospect.

There is much to like about the 20-year-old prospect from Texas.

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