NBA Draft 2021: Evaluating overall strengths and weaknesses of draft class

Strength: Secondary/Scoring guards

Secondary playmakers have become super important in today’s game. When things slow down in the half-court, it’s key to have a player who can attack off of advantages and this class has a bunch of said players. Jalen Green is at the top of that list, but James Bouknight is another guard who can fill it up. Cam Thomas and Josh Christopher both fit the bill of a microwave scorer, and while they need to learn how to pass and play with others, both should be able to put points on the board.

Players like Tre Mann, Jaden Springer, Jared Butler, Davion Mitchell, Ayo Dosunmu, Miles McBride, and Nah’Shon Hyland have shown the ability to do things both on and off the ball, but project better in a secondary role. Joel Ayayi excelled in an off-ball rep at Gonzaga and is an awesome cutter.

Weakness: Point guards

While there’s a ton of useful secondary ball-handlers, this class does lack primaries. Cade Cunningham is the best one and teams that luck into a top 3-5 pick will have a chance to take Jalen Suggs. But after that, it starts to fall off. Josh Giddey is a 6’8 guard who will have value as a primary in the right context. Sharife Cooper is a genius passer who will need the ball in his hands to succeed.

There’s hope that one of the aforementioned secondary guys (particularly Mann, Butler and Springer) can become more of primary options, but that’s certainly a gamble. Daishen Nix stands out as the best primary in the 31-60 range and that may help him get drafted earlier, but overall this is a weak archetype in this class.

Strength: Shooting

As the more young players are taught the importance of shooting and it’s properly developed, I expect this to be a strength in most draft classes. This class has a ton of that in a wide variety. At the guard position, there are off-the-dribble snipers like Cunningham, Green, Hyland, Mann, Butler, and Max Asbmas.

There are the aforementioned wing shooters (see the “wings” section”). But, there’s also a group of plus shooters with size. On top of those wings, Marcus Bagley, Ziaire Williams, Trey Murphy, Julian Champagnie, Matthew Mayer, Joe Wieskamp, Sam Hauser, and Isaiah Livers all have plus shooting profiles to go with their size.

Some players didn’t have great shooting profiles, but at least project out to be shooters. JT Thor, Kai Jones, Isaiah Todd, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, and E.J. Liddell fit that description. As the league’s three-point rate continues to increase, teams will be capable of finding players that fit that need.