Questioning the Ceiling of Oregon's Kel’el Ware
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Kel'el Ware, the 7-foot Oregon big man out of North Little Rock High School, has plenty of questions around his game when evaluating him as one of the best bigs in the 2023 NBA Draft class.
We all want every prospect to have success and hit their ultimate ceiling but that's simply not always the case. Every prospect has concerns that arise during the evaluation process and some have more than others.
Victor Wembanyama is the overall No. 1 prospect in this class, which also makes him the top big. Of course there could be a discussion on classifying him as a big with his innate offensive perimeter skillset.
As opposed to the discussion about the overall No. 2 prospect, which is Scoot Henderson, the debate for the second best big in this class is a little more contested. Dereck Lively II? Jarace Walker? Ware?
To highlight the positives on the offensive end, Ware is going to have play finishing ability and gravity. He can catch lobs in the pick-and-roll as well as out of the dunker spot and provides value as an offensive rebounder.
This is where the questions start to come into play with Ware. How good of a shooter is he? We sometimes give these prospects the stretch big label before they have proven an ability to do so. Tracking his 3-point shooting ability at Oregon may be one of the bigger developments to follow for NBA Draft fans.
There are also questions about what else he brings offensively. Prospects like Lively II and Walker both pass the ball extremely well. Ware has not shown the same just yet.
He does a decent job turning other playtypes, like a pick-and-roll or cut, into post-ups, but his package with his back to the basket is pretty well limited to a right handed hook over his left shoulder.
Defensively, the shot blocking numbers from high school are going to jump off the page. He averaged 5.7 blocks per game in his senior year, according to the Oregon Ducks' website.
The question is how well this will translate into high level college basketball and ultimately, into the NBA. The film shows Ware playing every drive and weak side rotation for the block. This may yield good numbers but to be a true rim protector he will have to work on body positioning and playing with verticality.
Something that was promising to see was his high school team using him in a variety of ball screen coverages. Compare this to Lively II who mostly camped out in the lane and Ware at least has the experience to hard hedge or blitz if asked by head coach Dana Altman. The question is, can he do it successfully?
It should be reinforced that this discussion is around Ware being the second best big in the class and a lottery pick.
These questions are not intended to knock his potential as a first round pick in next summer's draft and with 30 plus games to be played there is a real possibility he answers them. The important thing to keep tabs of will be how many he answers, and how well.
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