June 29, 2018

Dwayne Bacon
SF - 6’7, 221lbs - 22 years old - 1 year of experience

A decent enough athlete, and certainly ahead of the usual strength-and-development curve for a rookie, Bacon looks the part of an NBA player. The question now is whether he can get his skill level up to match.

Considering he is a low-usage wing, the most obvious skills deficiency is in the jump shot. Bacon’s catch-and-shoot three-point percentage (he only caught and shot three-pointers, he was not creating those things with the bounce) was poor, yet his mid-range percentages, the ones he sought to took and would normally dribble into, were just as bad. Bacon also struggled to finish at the rim consistently, and so while he sometimes looked the part of a good off-ball scorer, there was no one area of the court in which he shone.

Defensively, Bacon was a bit better, rebounding well and showing promise as a wing defender. It was not stand-out, but it was solid, and the physical profile provides growth potential. That, then, looks to be Bacon’s future; as a defence-first, weakside-shooting athlete and occasional spot-up threat, a bit like Tony Snell. It is a way off right now, though, and Bacon needs quite a lot of development in his skills in order to achieve that.

Right now, while he kind of looks the part out there, he just doesn’t really do very much.

Player Plan: Two seasons at the minimum salary remaining, the next of which is guaranteed. Keep and establish, but if he does this again next year, year three is in jeopardy.

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