UNC Basketball: Jeremiah Francis scouting report for 2019-20 season

Shooting Potential: Touch & Shot Versatility

Projecting a player’s propensity to expand his range beyond the arc and to become a respectable three-point shooter is a practice that’s complicated and inexact. There are plenty of indicators to look at, with the intersection of film and stats being necessary guideposts to confidently proclaiming whether a teenager will learn how to shoot it one day.

Unfortunately with Jeremiah Francis, we lack quite a bit of film and have essentially zero stats to use. Without any accessible shooting splits, we can only look at the available film to surmise whether Francis is a real shooter or not, since we can’t see if he already had a solid three-point percentage as a high school underclassman or if he boasted excellent free throw numbers (which would significantly nudge us into believing in his shot).

It’s unfortunate, but there are two things from his film that suggest that Francis is already a decent shooter (at least in the mid-range) and that he has avenues to expanding his range: legitimate touch around the basket and sound, repeatable mechanics.

The brilliant Cole Zwicker over at The Stepien has done excellent work looking at how touch, runners/floaters, and at-the-rim finishing all pose as meaningful indicators to one’s development as a shooter. Anecdotally, Jeremiah Francis has flashed the finishing touch — seen in the variety of scoops and floaters shown in the previous section — that often hints at the capability to shoot from long distance. (This analysis would be further strengthened by the presence of shooting percentages, but alas.) Coupled with a high release, repeatable upper body mechanics, and good foot placement in his shot prep (i.e., a tendency to hop into shots), Francis has shown himself to be a promising shooter off the catch from both mid-range and from beyond the arc.

The shot is admittedly a bit slow at times and could use some smoothing out at the top of his release (he brings the ball back a bit far), but there’s enough there to suggest that he has a strong enough base to build onto over time. Plus, he’s hit some tough shots that show that he can speed it up when necessary, such as his game-winning three off movement here:

Francis isn’t just limited to shots off the catch, though. He also has a pull-up jumper in his bag, which he regularly unleashes in-game and can get to in a. Variety of ways. Post turnarounds, mid-range fadeaway, three-point heaves, and forward momentum jumpers (!) are all in his wheelhouse, speaking to his potential as an individual shot creator (and maker) due to his alluring shot versatility.

He has both the touch and height on his release that enables him to get shots off in a multitude of situations and angles, capable of adjusting his release height and shot angle if necessary, making him a tough player to defend, especially when he leverages his shiftiness as a handler to create extra space.

If Jeremiah Francis can continue polishing his mechanics and can continue receiving reps as a shooter, his offensive ceiling will rise higher and higher. A small guard who can shoot off-movement and off the dribble possesses immense value as an offensive piece, capable of bending defenses whether he has the ball or not. Francis can hurt defenses as a driver due to his speed, craft, and touch, and can also threaten opponents with the threat of a jumper that’s both versatile and effective.

There was enough shown in his freshman and sophomore seasons to believe that his scoring would be his greatest asset as a prospect and that his foundation as a finisher, handler, and shooter were sound enough that further development was to be expected. Often being the best player on the court as a sophomore and even on the Adidas circuit, his scoring prowess was what likely garnered so much attention and enough recognition to vault himself into the top 50 players in his high school class.

His scoring package is undeniably nice.

But let’s not forget his passing.