Salim Stoudamire

Overview: A pure left-handed shooter who makes a living behind the arc. Lacks ideal size, strength, and athleticism by NBA standards, and has struggled with conditioning problems in the past. Has everything you look for and them some in a shooter. May not see his role expand much during his career unless he develops better point guard skills. Isn’t a great locker room presence and has had his share of problems in the past. Considered somewhat moody and aloof. Had some problems at Arizona, but put up some ridiculous shooting numbers as a senior. Shooting consistency will determine the interest he receives when he enters free agency this offseason. Cousin of Memphis point guard Damon Stoudamire.

Offense: The most distinguished feature of Stoudamire’s game is the elevation, consistency, and quickness with which he shoots his jumper from the perimeter. Gets more than one-third of his offensive from spot up opportunities on the perimeter, which is indicative of how he has embraced his role as the team’s shooting specialist. Nearly 60% of that one-third are no-dribble jumpers. Drives right the vast majority of the time when he decides to put the ball on the floor. Pulls up significantly more often then he attacks the rim, as he doesn’t have the athleticism to finish in traffic. Isn’t a point guard by any stretch, but shows some nice court vision on occasion. Possesses only average decision-making skills. Won’t handle the ball in clutch situations. A tremendous free-throw shooter and an asset to have in crunch time.

Defense: Largely undistinguished defender. Limited by his size, quickness, poor wingspan, and lack of effort. Shows decent anticipation when attacking passing lanes. Seizes opportunities to take the ball the other way, but doesn’t look to make plays himself. Becomes a liability on the defensive end when matched up with physically superior players, as he often does at the 2-guard position. Isn’t quick enough to cover some point guards and isn’t tall or strong enough to defend the shooting guard position. Usually gets the easiest defensive assignment on the floor, which hides some of his weaknesses.

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.

An up and down performance from Arizona's star senior ended up with a game winning basket, a place in Arizona's history books and a trip to the Elite Eight, where the Wildcats will be matching up with Illinois in what should be one of the best games we've seen all year long. Salim came out firing tonight, scoring 8 points in the first six minutes, but also picking up two fouls that sent him to the bench early on. He ended up not scoring for the next 28 minutes, but still managed to leave his mark on the game by showing off some good passing skills to set up his teammates and relieve the mostly anemic Mustafa Shakur, maybe giving the scouts in the building some hope that he may be able to play the point one day in the league. That's the type of thing that will help Salim's stock out more than anything really, everyone knows that he is one of the best shooters in the world, but at 6-1 he'd have to show at least some kind of PG potential to work his way into the 1st round. In the last 5 minutes of the game Stoudamire started to realize the urgency of the situation and began to take over the game offensively. He scored 5 points in a 15 second span to bring his team back from a four point deficit, and then overcame some shaky ball-handling to set up a couple of nice plays with fellow senior Channing Frye. With Arizona down by one point with 13 seconds to go, there was no doubt in who's hands the ball would end up, and Salim elevated for the game winning shot, squaring his shoulders beautifully in the air for a pull-up jump shot and knocking it down, despite having two players in his face. He's worked himself right into the mix for the late first round with his play this season so far, but still has his work cut out for himself this summer to really solidify himself there. Tonight, especially in the last five minutes where he scored 10 points, it was all about Salim, and he probably summed it up best himself: I thrive on those situations. That's what I live for, Stoudamire said. That's why I play basketball. Big time players step up in big time situations, and I see myself as one of those players.