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Salim Stoudamire NBA Draft Scouting Report

Salim Stoudamire NBA Draft Scouting Report
Jun 04, 2005, 07:48 pm
Strengths
Salim is the best shooter in college basketball and without a doubt is the best shooter in this upcoming draft. The statistics do not lie, he shot a ridiculous percentage of 50.4% from the three-point line his senior year, which leads the nation. He shoots a very soft jump shot, getting great arch and rotation on the ball, with an extraordinarily quick release. He has a high release on his shot and that makes it very hard to block. Salim does not have trouble getting his shot off either, and he is surprisingly accurate even when his feet are not set, or if he is shooting off the dribble, moving left or right, fading away, with a hand in his face, from forty feet outit just doesn't matter how he shoots it, the odds are the ball is going to end up in the bottom of the net. Salim is extraordinary at getting the proper footwork on his jump shots and setting himself before the ball comes to him. He can step on a dime and pull up for a lightning quick jumper, often more his defender even realizes what happened. He moves well without the ball and is very calm and under control on the basketball court. He does not need much room to get his shot off from the outside.

He is not only a three-point shooter, but that is what he does best and is where he is most dangerous. He will not have a difficult time making the move back to the NBA three-point line because he already shoots shots from that distance, and even beyond.

He has improved his ball handling skills since he first entered college, being able to create going to the hoop now at times. He has a sneaky quickness about him and controls the basketball well, not being afraid to take the ball with purpose to the basket if he can. He dribbles close to his body and he protects the basketball as well in terms of shielding off the defender.

Salim has also matured over these four seasons at Arizona. He used to have a little bit of an attitude and did not get along well with his teammates. That has begun to change this past season, as he has shown to be a vocal leader at times that isn't afraid of taking his team on his back or taking big shots. He has learned how to channel his angry and aggression to help himself on the basketball court. Now he looks like a very calm costumer for the most part and an extremely tough competitor.

Stoudamire is left-handed, which makes him just that much more difficult to react to as most players are used to guarding right handed players, unless the scouting report tells them otherwise and they internalize that.

Weaknesses
He does not have a true position, he is too short to play SG and he doesn't have the skills to play PG. He is not a very effective passer and just does not really know how to create shots for anyone else but himself. Driving to the basket, he seems to have tunnel vision, driving to the hoop with his head down and not being much of a threat for the drive and dish. Stoudamire is really lacking playmaking skills or even the basic instincts needed to play the point, and that hurts him tremendously as he is basically a 6 foot shooting guard. Whether or not he is going to be able to get his shot off in the NBA against long and athletic 6-7 shooting guards is what will ultimately decide if he can stick or not.

He is decent ball handler/slashing threat at the NCAA level, but he does not handle the basketball well under pressure and turns the ball over a lot for a guard when he tries to make things happen, because of the fact that his dribble is very high. His ball handling ability at this point is a major weakness if he is to play PG in the NBA, throwing out the fact that he doesn't have the skills or instincts for the position anyway. He is not very trustworthy with the basketball in his hands, but he has room to improve.

Salim is also a poor defender for the NBA level if he is to play the SG position at his height and limited athletic ability. He would have to be put in the situation where he defends the opposing teams PG (like Damon Jones in Miami) because he would be an major liability if he were to guard SG's. Salim lacks quickness and does not move his feet laterally like he should. He gambles for steals and too often gets caught biting on pump fakes. The fact that he has relatively short arms doesn't seem to help in this aspect either.

He is not built well physically in terms of conditioning, having a somewhat pudgy look to him that hurts his athleticism even more. He is also a poor athlete for either guard position and that could cause him problems in the NBA. Since Salim is not a very gifted physical athlete and is a bit one dimensional as far as the NBA is concerned, if his shot is not falling (although this VERY rarely happened in his senior year) he really can not do much else on the court.

Attitude wise, there are some major red flags coming from his checkered past stemming from his first three seasons at Arizona, despite the fact that he improved on this in his contract year. Up until this past season, the rap on Salim was that is extremely aloof character who is a bad teammate and is unable to handle criticism from his coaching staff. and an extremely immature player who pouts and sulks when things don't go his way. He was suspended numerous times over his college career and was basically told to either change his attitude last summer or transfer to a different school. After being suspended early on (for failing to meet expectations as the captain of the team) in this past season for a game versus Marquette, he was on his best behavior for the rest of the year. Still, there are concerns regarding how well Stoudamire's supposed superstar attitude will go over as a guy who is at best an NBA role player. Most teams just don't want that headache on their roster, unless we are talking about a guy who really has the goods to back it up.

Competition
He has put up some good games against teams with solid defensive guards like Washington, USC, UCLA and Texas. He has improved his game every single year and has been at or near the top of the three point percentage rankings every year. In one game this season, against Oregon State he made nine three-point shots when there were still eight minuets left in the game.

Outlook
Salim's lack of height, ball handling ability and defensive skills will hurt him at the next level. However if he can make three-point shots consistently, he will be in the league. In addition, with the increasing ability of SF's, SG's and even PF's to handle the basketball, Salim will not necessarily have to be a true PG. He is an outstanding shooter and his lack of defensive skills would be the only reason he might not be able to see much time on the court. If he improves that, he will be an NBA player for a while.

Comments
Dee Brown: "That dude's like a video game. He shoots from anywhere, anyplace."

Facts
His father and two uncles played at Portland State, his brother Antoine played at Georgetown and Oregon, and his cousin Damon is now playing for the Portland Trail Blazers after also going to school at Arizona.

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