Usman Garuba scouting report: What to expect from Rockets pick at No. 23 -

Here’s a quick look at Usman Garuba, the forward/center selected at No. 23 by the Houston Rockets in the NBA Draft on Thursday:

Strengths

Has a 7-foot-2 wingspan as well as terrific strength. Isn’t too athletic but does have a ton of lateral quickness, body control for his size, plays exceptionally hard and never gives up. Second and third efforts constantly. Quick leaper more than a high jumper. Gets to a certain point more quickly than others even if he’s not maximizing his leap in an elite way. He battles and is physical without being overly foul-prone.

The strengths are all about the defensive side of the floor for Garuba, one of the most versatile defenders I’ve evaluated as a teenager. Has good feel for the game defensively and defends ball screens well. One of the best prospects, regardless of age, I’ve evaluated at playing the gap between the roller and the ballhandler in such actions. Constantly plays with his hands up and turns into a deflection machine because of it. Has great reaction time and uses it to make it seem like he’s playing aggressively on ballhandlers while staying home on rollers while his guard recovers. Very active feet and an impressive perimeter defender due to that lateral quickness. Good player on an island against driving ballhandlers as a big. Extremely fluid hips that he has no issue dropping and turning defensively. And because his hands are constantly high, he’s great at contesting. Good closeouts. His defensive stance is so solid and balanced with his butt low and no forward lean. Fundamentals are just strong. Can even fight through screens and still close out and contest despite being a big. His perimeter defense is good for his age.

Also, pairs that lateral quickness with a lot of strength. He’s a legitimate rim protector and drivers just bounce off him if they try to attack him in ball screens. He’s absolutely terrific at walling up and using the principle of verticality to contest. Very active as a weakside rotational rim protector. Has excellent timing, matching the scoring player’s jump and timing the shot with his length. Patient at reading dump-off passes as a weakside rim protector. Good post defender. Because of his strength, don’t think guys outside of the Joel Embiid class of post options will be able to post him despite his lack of height. Holds his position for as long as he can until he has to make a choice. He’s also excellent in scramble situations where he has to guard multiple players in the gap or battle to recover onto open players. Flies around the court to bail out teammates.

Also does a good job on the defensive glass, which leads to his best offensive skills. Good on the grab-and-go to play out in transition. Can live dribble outlet pass, something bigs can struggle with. Overall, passing is his best offensive skill. Good short-roll passer. Can take a power dribble to draw the defender before hitting the corner kickout. Seems to understand advantage four-on-three situations. Will be a great release valve for teams when defenses put two on the ball out of ball screens. Having said that, he’s also a good passer out of the dunker spot, which gives teams a bit more versatility in terms of who they can play him with on the court. May be able to play him at the four with a legit spacing five and put together a near-elite defense.

Weaknesses

Physically, he’s just not overly big or explosive for the center position. He’s an undersized center but brings enough to the table to where his size isn’t a detriment defensively. But offensively, his lack of pop is a bit concerning, and it’s started to showcase itself as a concern even in Europe. He physically looks closer to maxed out than most his age.

Also, may not profile extremely well on the ball because he doesn’t have a ton of straight-line quickness or ballhandling acumen in terms of change of pace or direction. He gets a bit turnover-prone too, trying to do too much at times. Better when he keeps it simple as opposed to getting adventurous right now. Don’t see him as a Draymond Green-type of secondary ballhandler by any stretch but rather a solid passer out of advantageous situations and standstill areas where teams must collapse on him due to the threat of him scoring.

The scoring is a concern, though. His current inability to shoot consistently does raise questions about what his offensive role is. Nobody respected him as a spacer this season. Took 117 shots off the catch this past season and made just 29 percent of them. Typically shoots off the hop to get into a rhythm. Very robotic release. Doesn’t get any arc on his shot. One of the flatter trajectories I’ve seen. The ball is way out in front of his face. Don’t think his release point is all that consistent right now. Having said that, still made 36 percent of his corner 3s this past season on over 60 attempts, per Synergy. Has some shot-making potential but will need a couple of years to work through some mechanical improvements. And even then, his touch may not be quite good enough. Still, this is not a hopeless endeavor for him. He has a shot to shoot it off the catch without movement, which might be enough given his other skills.

There is potential for his offensive game to fall apart substantially if he can’t score. If he’s not a good enough finisher at the rim against length and not a good enough shooter, will NBA teams respect him as a passer for him to take advantage of those skills? They might not. He needs to develop a consistent way to score. Otherwise, teams might not be able to take advantage of his defensive skill because he might not be able to stay on the floor enough offensively.

How he fits

Wow.

Garuba falling to 23 is nothing short of a godsend for Houston. The Rockets were one of the worst defensive teams in the league last season and Garuba has quality defender written all over him. His 7-2 wingspan will come in handy on a routine basis playing in Silas’ rotation, whether he’s asked to play small ball, assist on the glass or be a pest for guards and wings on the perimeter.

He has all the tools in his bag to be an impactful defender and more importantly, an excellent team defender. I’d be surprised if he’s not a Silas favorite halfway through the season and judging by last season’s minutes distribution, good defenders that show hustle and grit will be on the floor more and more. You can absolutely play him next to Christian Wood at times where you need a stop. Garuba can make a case for himself to be on the floor in crunch-time situations off his defensive impact alone. There’s just so much to love there.

Where he needs work at the next level is his offensive consistency. John Lucas and the coaching staff might need to adjust his shooting mechanics, although he shot a respectable 36 percent on corner threes last season. He’ll need to convince NBA defenders to guard him on the perimeter, something Jae’Sean Tate struggled with for the larger part of last season. He’s a solid passer, can make all the basic reads you’d expect a big man to convert, but he’s not the greatest athlete or most explosive downward player. His lack of offensive punch might cost him some dollars at the next level, but he should make a defensive stamp right away. Good pick at the end of the first round.

Summary

Garuba is one of the most complete defensive prospects to enter the NBA Draft in a while. He may not have the most upside of any player on defense in this class (that falls to Evan Mobley if things break right for his development), but he’s the best defender in the class right now. He can make a genuine impact in the NBA from Day 1 on that end, in my view. He can make an NBA All-Defense team in the future. Ultimately, he needs to get better offensively to take advantage of those skills, though. If he’s not good enough offensively, he won’t be able to get on the court enough to make an NBA All-Defense team and be anything more than a good role player. But if he can get that corner 3-pointer down, with the way he processes the game quickly on both ends of the floor, he’s the kind of guy who can be a closer on a contending team. That’s probably worth betting on at a top-15 level in this class.

(Photo of Garuba: Sonia Canada / Getty Images)

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