[2021 NBA Draft; 23rd overall] Rockets select Usman Garuba

Usman Garuba

Eastern Conference Executive 4: Still trying to figure out his perimeter shot. He can make a corner 3 on occasion. The form isn’t great. It isn’t funky, but it isn’t something you can project it where, oh, yeah, this guy’s going to be able to shoot it down the line. He needs to tweak some things with that. If he can do that, and be a serviceable corner-3 guy … Unbelievable motor. He’s one of these guys where a coach is going to put him on the floor because he’s going to make something happen. He’s going to get a steal, he’s going to get a block, he’s going to get a rebound. That’s just who he’s been his entire career. He’ll be able to guard NBA players, for sure. For sure. And especially when he gets over here and starts to understand who the best 350 players in the world are.

Right now, he’s guarding guys, and it’s like it’s the first time he’s ever seen these guys. Once he starts to understand what each guy’s skill set is, what their strengths and weaknesses are, he’s a really intelligent kid. Very, very mature for his age. Practiced with the seniors (at Real) for two or three years before he started actually playing with them. He’s been around senior-level basketball for a long time.

For him, it’s just not a lot of upside in terms of offensive upside. But, in terms of high-level role player, and if that 3-ball comes along, he could be a good rotation player in the NBA. Some people project him really high. For me, it would be much better for him to go in the 20s. I think that would be a better landing spot for him. He’d be a pleasant surprise, versus someone trying to reach for him at 15, 16, and him sort of not living up to that draft slot. He should be like 18, 19 through 27, somewhere in there. The later he goes, the better value he’s going to be. He will play NBA minutes. Because he’s just that type of motor, toughness, aggressiveness. He’ll play on that rookie deal. He will. I just don’t know how good he’ll end up being.