June 18, 2014

Having eaten one arm sleeve, Jarell Eddie fancies a shirt pudding.

To see Eddie's NBA potential involves imagining him in a role much different to that which he has been playing. On a very limited Hokies team, Eddie has had to assume a significant offensive role, which absolutely does not suit him. It is never a good sign when a player's field goal percentage is lower than their three point percentage, and it speaks to Eddie's severe limitations as a finisher - despite being bigger than pretty much every other wing at this level, Eddie does not like to shoot around the basket, and that timidity is manifest in extreme inefficiency.

What Eddie can do is shoot from outside. He runs off of screens and puts in a lot of effort without the ball, and while he has neither the agility around picks, quick release nor accuracy of, say, Kyle Korver, he nevertheless is good enough and fast enough of a shooter to be a threat with only a fraction of space. Off the dribble, Eddie is less of a threat to shoot, a decent but not elite athlete with notably little ball handling skills and ooking extremely uncomfortable when asked to handle or penetrate, but he can shoot a one-dribble pull-up, thus making himself able to capitalise on the close-outs born out of his constant motion. Eddie also has the good size, 6'7 with a 6'10 wingspan, that is ideal in an NBA wing.

The above combination of size and shot makes Eddie two thirds of the way to being an NBA three-and-D role player. The size is there, the shot is there, and his three point percentage and totals would be even better if he would stop standing on the line, something very learnable. Eddie's inconsistency and tendency to get into slumps is a slight worry, because there's no room for self-doubt in the NBA, but that is also learnable. So now, he needs to prove himself defensively.

This might be possible. Without much in the way of basic statistics to back it up, Eddie moves well enough laterally to compete at the NBA level, and has discipline and effort on D. He does not stand out defensively, but he would not need to - he would just need to be capable. For all his senior season slumping, then, Eddie is a conceivable NBA role player. It matters not that he was only a role player at the college level when he would only be asked to be one at the next level as well. To do so will be a big step up, especially in confidence.

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