RealGM: From The Rafters - Draft Report: Nathan Jawai Of Cairns Taipans

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Draft Report: Nathan Jawai Of Cairns Taipans

Authored by Christopher Reina - 12th June, 2008 - 8:39 pm

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Nathan Jawai is an intriguing big out of Australia who is very big and very strong but is also very raw.

He has nice hands and is quick to the rim for dunks, which is how he scores the majority of his points. He keeps the ball high on the catch is able to get his hands on almost any kind of pass.

When he has an openin,g he is an excellent power finisher.

Jawai lets himself get pushed away from the basket when he starts dribbling into the paint in the post, which should be an impossibility given his size.

But when he gets going, he is can muscle his way into the lane nicely and is nimble with the ball. He has a nice spin move in the post and has really good body control even against contact.

Jawai can make an occasional 15-footer in midpost, but he has a long way to go as a shooter.

He uses the repost option when necessary and avoids forcing things when they’re not there.

Jawai works extremely hard without the ball, trying to find seams in the defense and posting up strong for position.

He doesn’t always make solid contact on screens, which seems to be because he isn’t quite sure how to set a hard screen without getting called for a foul.

His size and agility moving down the lane should make him a unique option on the pick and roll.

He isn’t the most gifted passing big man, especially in this draft, but he tries hard. He seems to have good court vision, but his technique needs work and is too one-handed.

Jawai runs the floor surprisingly well, running to the basket with impressive speed to get position and will call for the ball.

Defensively, he actually has better athleticism than technique at this stage in his development.

He often has bad vision of the ball in help defense which is why his block totals aren’t higher.

Jawai has a good defensive stance guarding the perimeter and good lateral quickness, but he runs at his man instead of getting himself vertical to truly affect the shooter.

He also sometimes anticipates a shot release too early and begins boxing out even though the believed shooter has passed the ball. This seems like a simple experience issue and should take care of itself in time and shows how he is thinking and anticipating on the floor.

Jawai is a hard worker on the offensive glass and slips to the ball well. He also a quick second jump, which combined with how he doesn’t bring the ball down, will give him second chance opportunity points.

For a player of his build, he is athletic and will surely get a little leaner when he comes over to a stateside club.

The level of competition in the Australian leagues makes judging his performance difficult, but he and Joe Ingles look like they will get every chance to make it in the NBA although GM's would surely have more confidence in both had they gone the Andrew Bogut, American university route.

- Click here to see our full list of 2008 Draft Prospect Reports

Christopher Reina is the executive editor of RealGM. He can be reached at Chris.Reina@RealGM.com where he may use your draft questions in a future mailbag edition