Patrick McCaw

PERSONALITY FACTORS

Player Type: Collaborative
Grounded: 34% Above NBA Norms
Empathetic: 30% Above NBA Norms
Attentive: 25% Above NBA Norms

SITUATION FACTORS

Experiential Status: RSCI Over 100 Recruit
Projected Environment: Over .600 Team WL%
Projected Opportunity: Under 20 MPG
Projected Workload: Under 18 USG%

When Jerry West confidently stated, “people are going to be sorry they didn't draft [McCaw]” it's easy to speculate that he was referencing more than just McCaw's physical skills. McCaw is an exceptionally perceptive person, let alone for an NBA neophyte just shy of his twenty-first birthday. By the numbers, McCaw puts a tremendous amount of value in building relationships - something that comes across strongly when he speaks. But this down-stated humility hides his competitive qualities - all of which are significantly above NBA norms.

His humble high school beginnings, (RSCI rank of 222) was followed by two years of lawless ball with the Runnin' Rebels. The lack of early acclaim book-ended by the lack of continuity in his collegiate environment undoubtedly hindered, not only his on-court ability, but his emotional tenure as well. The combination of these factors may have skewed the perception of scouts, but should serve him well with the Warriors. McCaw's sensitivity to “chemistry” is a pendulum that should be on the upswing in a culture that preaches “Joy, Mindfulness, Compassion, and Competition” - concepts that fit McCaw's core qualities.

McCaw's rate of growth should be far more rapid than most. The Warriors are uber-loaded to the point where they are likely to be resting players with even more frequency than last year. The support he should garner from enthusiastic teammates looking to develop depth - and more regular season rest - will be a boon cleaning up McCaw's rough edges quickly. McCaw needs low leverage, real game reps and quality critiques to tighten up his reads in the team defense, as well as continue to refine his shot set-up from the perimeter. But, the foundation is there with a near-perfect personality/situation mix for a surprise Year One season.

Patrick McCaw works out in front of 100+ NBA executives at the BDA Sports Pro Day in Los Angeles.

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Scouting Report by Jonathan Givony. Video Analysis by Mike Schmitz

After a promising freshman season, Patrick McCaw took the next step in his development as a sophomore, earning Second Team All-Mountain West Conference honors, as well as being named to the All-Defensive Team.

His UNLV team was mired in dysfunction, though, highlighted by the head coach that recruited him, Dave Rice, being fired mid-season. Considering his team didn't settle on a coach for the upcoming season until mid-April, it wasn't much of a surprise to see McCaw elect to leave the program, along with virtually everyone else on the roster after a disappointing 18-15 season (8-10 in the MWC).

McCaw has good physical attributes for a NBA shooting guard, standing over 6'5 without shoes with a long 6'10 wingspan. He's a very smooth athlete who covers ground well and will surprise you at times with both his quickness and explosiveness, even if he's still figuring out how to utilize it consistently in half-court settings. Part of that is due to his rail-thin frame, which is still in a very early stage of development and will likely take at least a few years to fully mature.


McCaw shows glimpses of potential in almost every facet of the game, be it as a shooter, passer, distributor, or transition threat, even if he's very raw still and far from putting it all together into a consistent product at this point in time.

McCaw showed the ability to play both on and off the ball at UNLV, averaging a solid 4.2 assists per-40 minutes, demonstrating nice court vision and unselfishness in the process. He is tall enough to see over the top of the defense and use both sides of the court, be it in drive and dish situations, pushing the ball ahead in transition and showing nice timing delivering lobs.

McCaw is better in the open floor right now than he is against a set defense, as his quick first step and ability to operate in different gears gives the ability to create offense nicely taking the ball off the defensive glass. He needs to tighten his handle to unlock his full potential as a shot-creator in the half-court, though, as he lacks much in the way of advanced ball-handling skills and doesn't have the strength needed to take hits in the paint and finish around the basket.

As McCaw's body fills out and his athleticism continues to progress, he should be able to develop into a combo guard role as he'll occasionally demonstrate making plays off the bounce. His fundamentals and overall understanding of the game need a lot of work, though, as his shot-selection can be very poor at times and he can get very wild with his decision making skills. He rarely gets all the way to the basket in the half-court and tends to shy away from contact at times when he does, which makes it difficult for him to be a consistent threat in isolation and pick and roll situations.


A major key will be McCaw's progression as an outside shooter. He showed real potential in this area, making 118/324 (36%) of his 3-point attempts in his two years in college, as well as 75% of his free throws, with over half of his field goal attempts coming from beyond the arc. He's particularly effective right now with his feet set, especially when he can hop into his shot off an extra pass.

McCaw still has a lot of room to improve in this area, though, as he's still very much on the streaky side at this point of his development. His mechanics are very inconsistent, as he doesn't shoot the ball the same way every time, tending to get off-balance with his footwork, elevating variably, and releasing it from different points of his jump. He shows a long and deliberate stroke when he doesn't catch the ball on the hop, dipping the ball well into his knees, which really slows down his release. This is particularly noticeable when shooting off the dribble, as it simply takes him too long to transition into a pull-up jumper, which really hampers his ability to create his own shot.

One place where McCaw could develop into quite a weapon is on the defensive end of the floor, where he already shows significant potential. His size, length, quick feet and excellent anticipation skills allowed him to defend either guard position at the college level, and as his frame progresses, he should be able to check small forwards as well. When fully locked in, McCaw gets in a deep stance, slithers around screens and can put outstanding pressure on the ball. At 2.6 steals per-40, he was an absolute menace getting in the passing lanes for UNLV, and can also contest shots impressively on the perimeter using his quickness and length.

Unfortunately McCaw was far from consistent in this area as well. His effort level tends to waver here at times, as he is prone to falling asleep in his stance and lose his focus off the ball. He has a bad habit of gambling in passing lanes and swiping at the ball unnecessarily instead of being solid and simply keeping his man in front. He hasn't developed a mentality of being the lockdown defender his potential suggests at this stage of his career, looking somewhat wild on this end of the floor as well.

Part of this has to do with the development of his frame, which as mentioned is still in a very early stage. He has very thin legs and not much of a chest, which allowed older players to overpower him constantly and made it difficult for him to be as physical as he needed to be on both ends of the floor.

NBA teams will also be looking at the situation he was in at UNLV, which was far from ideal from a development standpoint. The Runnin' Rebels didn't have any shortage of talent on their roster the past few years, but also lacked much in the way of structure (particularly offensively) and underachieved badly in turn.

McCaw was very inconsistent from game to game, and certainly doesn't look ready to step into a major role anytime soon at the NBA level. But at the same time, the growth he's shown in the last two years has been very impressive considering where he started (completely off the map as a high school recruit), and he shows many of the characteristics teams look for in a shooting guard position, with his size, length, athleticism, shooting ability, passing and defensive potential. Depending on how his workouts go, it wouldn't be surprising to see a team take a gamble on McCaw in the first round, as he has significantly more potential than you typically expect to find at that slot in the draft. The team who picks him will need to be very patient with his development, though, as it will likely be a few years until he's ready to contribute on a team looking to win games.

Patrick McCaw, Sophomore, PG/SG, UNLV
14 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 turnovers, 2 steals, 4-5 2P, 1-4 3P, 3-3 FT, 22.1 minutes

After a fairly pedestrian performance during Thursday's five on five session, Patrick McCaw bounced back with a strong game on Friday, as he shined defensively, slashed and facilitated as a primary ball handler, and knocked down a pair of jumpers to boot.

At 6' 7”, 181 pounds with a 6' 10” wingspan, McCaw is one of the more raw prospects in attendance, and it showed both Thursday and Friday as his compete level was a bit inconsistent and his jump shot was far from polished.

With that said, on Friday the St. Louis native showed why he's one of the more intriguing long-term prospects to participate in the five on five games. McCaw's immediate impact comes on the defensive end where he sits down in a stance, has elite lateral quickness, fast-twitch instincts and the length to contest jumpers or bother shots around the rim if he gets beat. He defended point guards both Thursday and Friday and showed the ability to force turnovers as an on ball defender in the passing lanes.

Offensively, McCaw has a ways to go, but he looked fairly comfortable operating as a secondary playmaker out of pick and roll situations as he found the roll man with a nifty left handed feed on one possession, and used his quickness to get into the paint and finish at the rim shortly after. McCaw's jumper is a bit slow and unreliable, but he did knock down a three off of a dribble hand-off and a long two from the corner, and could be a tweak or two away from turning his jump shot into a weapon.

The 20-year-old sophomore showed a little bit of bounce in transition (particularly off of his right leg) and has all of the tools to continue to develop as his game matures, especially considering he wasn't exactly in the best developmental situation at UNLV. McCaw is a ways away from producing at the NBA level and has a very wide draft range, but he has the upside of a first-round pick and could turn into a versatile, two-way guard down the road.

Jonathan Givony

Despite playing for a major AAU program in Mac Irvin Fire, and a national powerhouse high school in Montrose Christian, St. Louis native Patrick McCaw was considered a borderline high-major prospect and not someone anyone was particularly excited about going into his freshman season at UNLV.

That makes sense considering the fact that he reportedly grew around seven inches between the 8th grade and his final year of high school, and has thus always been extremely underdeveloped physically. The son of a high school coach, McCaw played a much bigger role than expected last season, averaging 30 minutes per game, and delivering some extremely impressive performances in the months of January and February.



Now standing 6-7, McCaw still has a lanky frame, which looks to be several years away from physical maturation, but has impressive length and is an impressive athlete. The extent of which he's able to gain strength, particularly in the lower body, will likely play a major role in how he's perceived as a draft prospect and whether he's able to reach his full potential in the long term.

McCaw's offensive game is a work in progress, as he was not particularly prolific (13.2) or efficient (54% TS%) as a freshman, but shows flashes of potential in a few different areas that are intriguing from a player his size.

60% of McCaw's field goal attempts came from beyond the arc last season, and he made a solid 38% of his 3-point attempts. He gets great elevation on his jumper, springing up high off the floor and creating nice separation in turn, but still has excellent footwork, balance and follow-through, flailing his elbow somewhat, but showing a compact and consistent release point that bodes well for his development in this area. He was relatively effective shooting with his feet last season, but only converted on 20% of his off the dribble attempts, many of which were contested pull-ups in the mid-range area.

He has excellent speed in the open floor, making him a dynamic threat in transition, and can beat his man off the dribble explosively in the half-court in a straight line. Unfortunately McCaw's ball-handling skills have yet to catch up with his athleticism, as he does not yet possess the ability to change speeds, hands or directions with the ball, and really struggled to create shots for himself and others efficiently in the half-court last season in pick and roll or isolation situations.

McCaw shows flashes of being able to use a low and quick crossover to create space coupled with his, but he has a difficult time handling contact in the lane and often looks reluctant to drive all the way to the basket, usually preferring to pull up for long 2-pointers instead. He converted just 20 of his 55 attempts inside the paint last season in the half-court, and drew a very limited amount of free throws (just 52 attempts in 898 minutes), often appearing to shy away from physicality with his narrow frame.

Unselfish, and fairly instinctive, McCaw does do a nice job of facilitating for teammates, averaging 3.4 assists per-40 and posting a positive PPR, giving him some potential to play a multi-positional role as his skill-level and frame continue to develop. His excellent size allows him to see over the top of the defense and make some impressive passes at times, something that really stood out on a UNLV team that struggled badly with ball-movement at times last year.

Defensively, McCaw shows nice potential with his excellent combination of size, length, athleticism and anticipation skills, helping him get in the passing lanes nearly two times per-40 minutes last season. He can get low and move his feet effectively with nice lateral quickness, and has some impressive moments at times closing out on shooters on the perimeter.

With that said, he has a lot of room to improve here, as he has a tendency to fall asleep in his stance, get lost off the ball, and gamble excessively for steals. His narrow frame, and lack of physicality makes him a target for post ups, and he has a difficult time getting through screens or staying in front of stronger opponents who can seemingly drive right through him. McCaw will not only need to add bulk, but also improve his fundamentals, focus-level, intensity and discipline to hold his own against better competition.

With all three backcourt starters (Rashad Vaughn, Jelan Kendrick, and Cody Doolin—who started 78 of a potential 84 games they were available for between them) out of the program, quite a bit of room has opened up on the perimeter, and UNLV will need McCaw to take a major step forward as a sophomore. The coaching staff is clearly expecting big things from him, as he was named team captain. NBA teams will always be intrigued by 6'7 athletic guards who can pass and shoot, and while McCaw has a ways to go, there is a lot to like about his long term potential.