Post by George Gervin on Jul 2, 2019 14:49:44 GMT
Another year in the books for the Spurs, and the 2019 draft yielded just two prospects this time around, as opposed to the 2018 draft class of five prospects. Similar to last year’s draft, where three of five draft picks were international players, this year the Spurs dipped again into the international pool for their first round pick, and went with a proven Conference Player of the Year in the second round. Without further ado, here are the new draft picks:
- Rui Hachimura, Gonzaga University (13th overall): With their lone lottery selection, the Spurs made D5 history in drafting Rui Hachimura. While he had spent three years at Gonzaga, as a native of Japan, he became the first player from Japan drafted in the first round. Hachimura is an interesting prospect; he is physically well built for a combo forward at 6’8”, 235 lbs with a 7’2” wingspan, yet he has only been playing organized basketball since he was 14. Now 21, he has advanced rapidly and overcome a language barrier to become a valuable contributor for Gonzaga in his Sophomore and Junior seasons. His best strengths at the moment include his scoring (averaged almost 20 ppg), offensive efficiency, and advanced stats portending a solid two way PF, at minimum, is in his future. However, given how raw he is relative to his years of play (only 7 years of organized basketball, with three in college), he still has room to improve in several areas, with the most critical being rebounding and his overall awareness on both ends of the floor. Hachimura exhibits a developing basketball IQ, but he will need time to adjust to the speed of the game. Ultimately, though, as an organization we feel being surrounded by smart players such as Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Mason Plumlee, Hachimura can grow at his own pace and learn the nuance of the game while bringing his much needed scoring prowess to the front court. Hachimura’s addition also provides our organization with another international player to go with players from Slovenia, Canada, and Germany. Much like our real life counterparts, we are drawing from the international arena as much as the American arena for basketball prospects. Time will tell if prospects with higher perceived ceilings, such as Kevin Porter Jr. or Nasir Little, will make the Spurs regret passing on them. Hachimura, though, has proven more than most prospects available at 13 in this draft and the Spurs valued that production combined with solid upside.
- Jaylen Nowell, University of Washington (40th overall): In the early second round, the Spurs dipped into the college pool for Jaylen Nowell, a 6’4” shooting guard from the PAC 12. Playing alongside a more famous and stat busting teammate in Matisse Thybulle, it was Nowell, not Thybulle, who was the PAC 12 Player of the Year in 2018. He was the engine of the Huskies offense, with averages in his two seasons of 16 ppg, 4.5 rpg, and 3 apg with 48/40/78 shooting percentages. Only 20 years old, he still has plenty of opportunities to improve on what is a solid base of skills from college, specifically man to man defense (Washington played exclusively a zone defense) and cutting down turnovers (averaged 3 per game in his time in college). For the Spurs, he should bring immediate scoring punch off the bench and pair with Yogi Ferrell as a solid backup to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Doncic in the backcourt. He has the potential, though, that makes us as an organization very excited he could be a potential starter down the road given his existing scoring prowess and consistency in college.