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Authored by Christopher Reina - 21st June, 2008 - 12:29 pm
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Courtney Lee is a four-year, small-school shooting guard who was able to showcase himself during a three-game run in the NCAA tournament.
Lee only shot 39.7% from beyond the arc, and it wasn’t as if he was attempting 25-footers off his right foot and had to run off staggered screens because WKU had no other scoring options and had to do that to get him open shots.
He has really good elevation with his jumper, and his lower body is almost like a pogo stick with his feet close together. He could bring his shot more to the right, but his follow through is good. He has awesome body control with the jumper.
Lee always seems to be more comfortable shooting off the dribble than in the catch-and-shoot.
This is where he is dangerous and so valuable.
His pull up jumper is impeccable, and he loves to use it from the wing into the area of the free throw line. He jumps straight up with it instead of floating along with the movement of his dribble, which could throw off the shot. His lift allows him to shoot over bigger wings although he has good length for the position.
Lee also utilizes tremendous spin moves off the dribble, which help him lose his defender and carve into space.
He clearly is capable enough to consistently create off the dribble for a perimeter shot, but he occasionally struggles to beat his man into the lane; even when he does get in there, he isn’t explosive enough to finish close to the bucket. He will live or die in the mid-range.
Although he doesn’t get all the way to the bucket, he does a good job of drawing contact and is an excellent finisher when he gets fouled, seeming to thrive in that instant when he knows he has a shot for the old fashioned three-point play.
Lee doesn’t have the best handle in the halfcourt, and it occasionally gets picked. His left hand is below average. creating a tough time scoring if a defender overplays his right hand.
He also has a difficult time dribbling over the top on the pick and roll when a help defender pops out against him.
Lee’s off ball movement coming off screens is really good, but they rarely result in wide-open shots.
He has great floor speed and thrives in transition and on the fastbreak.
Lee has a decent defensive stance, but his effort and effectiveness is average.
He isn't tenacious fighting through screens, and he tends to overcommit himself with his on-ball pressure, which leaves him vulnerable to the dribble drive.
Lee gets into a good defensive stance and has good enough lateral quickness to stay in front of most offensive players, but his approach makes him a liability.
He also needs to get stronger because he could be a target for bigger wings to post up.
He improved as a defensive rebounder during his senior season, but most of those were long rebounds that he could chase down, and he was rarely in the middle of the paint to tough out the ball.
Lee should be a small school success story in the NBA, but it is unlikely he becomes a starter for a playoff caliber team.
- Click here to see our full list of 2008 Draft Reports which has new additions daily
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 |
