Name: Cam Reddish
Height (w/ shoes): 6’8″
Weight: 218 pounds
Wingspan: 7’1.25″
Position: Shooting Guard
School: Duke
Class: Freshman
STATISTICS (36 GAMES)
13.5 points (35.6/33.3/77.2), 3.7 rebounds, and 1.6 steals.
STRENGTHS
Reddish’s weaknesses far outnumber his strengths, but there is something to be said about a 6’8″ combo guard who has versatility on both ends of the floor. Reddish has phenomenal size for his position and with a wingspan longer than seven feet, he could pose a serious issue as a slasher and as an isolation jump shooter if he could hit his shots with consistency.
On the offensive end, think of him as an underdeveloped Joe Johnson. He has all the same tendencies with the ball in his hands as Johnson once did and has a creative enough ball handling package to beat his defender off the first step.
On defense, Reddish is also underdeveloped, but can feasibly guard the point guard, shooting guard, and small forward spots with ease. His quick feet allow him to stay in front of quicker but smaller guards. However, it’s his height and length that allows him to guard the bigger forwards. If he can improve his feel and timing, his steal and block numbers could skyrocket.
Reddish has a ton of work to do to be an effective NBA player, but his size — as well as the fact that he’ll have just turned 20 when the 2019-20 NBA season begins — give him the starting tools that many others lack.
WEAKNESSES
As previously stated, Reddish’s weaknesses far outnumber his strengths. As with every bit of potential he shows, he also gives 2-3 reasons to not trust him as a prospect.
For starters, his only job at Duke was to create his own shots by moving off the ball and being an aggressive catch-and-shoot third option. This would be the dream for most players of his caliber (i.e. Klay Thompson), but he failed to find any consistency in his jump shot — shooting an abysmal 35.6% from the field.
He wasn’t any better from three, connecting on 33% of those. Fans of Reddish will say that he was stifled by his two teammates but if he couldn’t be efficient on 12 shots a game, he can’t be trusted to be efficient shooting 17.
Defensively, his flaws are minor and can very easily be attributed to a lack of care and attention to detail. If he can play with a bit more passion, he could be a borderline elite defender as a best-case scenario.
And in a recent development that isn’t a huge deal but worth mentioning, Reddish has surgery on a core muscle injury that is expected to take six weeks to heal from. It’s likely this won’t affect Reddish’s draft stock but it likely will keep him out of the Las Vegas Summer League.
FIT WITH LAKERS
Should the Los Angeles Lakers keep the No. 4 pick, their needs go beyond things that Reddish can provide next season and possibly several seasons beyond that.
At one point before playing a single college basketball game, Reddish was considered the No. 3 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Throughout the season, his stock began to slip and he can now be seen being picked anywhere in the 6-12 range. The Lakers have no business drafting Reddish and if they do, it would be a major shock as drafting has been their saving grace.
Reddish has a high ceiling, but for him to reach it, it would take a level of passion and will for improvement that it just doesn’t seem like he has. Reddish is likely to play the exact same role in the NBA that he did at Duke and if that’s any indication of his abilities, avoiding Reddish at No. 4 might be the best move.