Here's Raptorshq.com's breakdown of Wednesday's 2 prospects:
KENNEDY WINSTON
Who is he? 6-6 Junior Guard/Small Forward from Alabama.
Last year: Averaged 17.9 points and 5.4 rebounds in 32 games for the Crimson Tide.
What can he do? Deadly outside shooter with a quick first step, Winston is one of the best shooters and scorers in the draft. He has been compared to Rip Hamilton in that while he is rail thin, he is extremely quick and often abuses defences with a variety of offensive moves. His 3 point shooting improved to 48% last year making him tough to guard both from mid and long range. Where he does not mirror Rip is everywhere else. Every scouting report on Winston says basically the same thing...he's a one dimensional player. His defence is right now light years behind his offence and at times it seems that Winston is simply floating through games, waiting for a chance to shoot the ball.
Bottom Line: Most scouts feel that Winston at this point is best suited as a role player in the league; someone who can come off the bench ala Ben Gordon and put the ball in the basket. Unlike Gordon though Winston will have to work on his defence and all around effort as he tends not to fight through screens and can get careless with the ball trying to be too flashy. In terms of his value to the Raptors, I'm not sure he has much. While the Raptors could use a good shooter and scorer, the other parts of Winston's game leave little to be desired. It appears right now that Winston will be selected early in the second round and unless he falls to the Raptors with the 41st pick, it's highly unlikely we'll see him in a Raptors uniform next season.
ANTOINE WRIGHT
Who Is He? 6-6 Junior Shooting Guard/Small Forward from Texas A+M.
Last year: Averaged 17.8 points, 6 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 31 games for the Aggies.
What Can He Do? At close to 6-7, Wright is an athletic 2 guard who had seen Tracy MacGrady comparisons throughout his early basketball career. In all fairness, he's closer to a Joe Johnson in terms of being an athletic scorer who can shoot from long range and who has the length and skills to be a disruptive force on defense. After a stellar freshman season, his sophomore season was a big disappointment and scouts wondered how this would affect his junior season and his own mentality. Wright rebounded however this past season and posted great numbers across the board. While he is a good shooter from the field, his free throw shooting, at 69% last year, is going to need work for a player who should be consistently attacking the basket.
Bottom Line: A lot of similarities can be drawn between Wright and Winston. Both are superb offensive players and while Winston is seen as a better defender, both shy away from contact around the rim and can appear to be floating at times. For a good part of the period leading up to next week's draft, Wright was the player most mock drafts predicted the Raptors would take at 7 but since Chicago's Draft Camp measurements and tests were performed, this has changed. Wright was one of the most disappointing players there. His vertical leap at 29 inches, agility in cross court drills and speed in sprints were quite below expectations. It now looks like Wright appears more athletic then he actually is and this should be a concern for a Raptors team looking to draft more athletic backcourt players. If Wright is still available at the 16 spot where the Raptors have their second pick he may be worth a look. But if the Raptors use their seventh pick on a swingman or 2 guard, Wright will most likely find himself on another squad come next season.
Raptorshq Note - High school player Martell Webster, who is currently slated as being the #2 high school prospect after Gerald Green, did not work out for the Raptors today due to a sprained ankle. Like Diogu yesterday, this has to beckon whispers of a"promise" existing from a team and must be extremely disappointing for the Raptors. Webster, while not an athlete on the level of past high school draft picks like Lebron James and Tracy McGrady, is perhaps after Salim Stoudamire, the best pure shooter in the draft with an NBA ready body to boot. Drafting Webster with the number 7 pick may have been a reach but either way, it would have been nice to see him workout. His shooting skills and size alone make him an interesting shooting guard prospect and it would have been interesting to see how he fared against 2 other similar players in Winston and Wright.
Tomorrow's Workout: Joey Graham and Rawle Marshall. (Gerald Green rescheduled for Friday.)
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