Scouting Report: Keenan Evans
As usually, Israeli league is loaded again with interesting players. I already made a few reports from players that play (or in case of Isaiah Taylor, played) in the league and Keenan Evans is the next one on the list. With 18.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 6.7 assists he is filling all the stats collumns and is one of the frontrunners for the MVP award at the end of the season.
BACKGROUND INFO
Position: G
Height: 191 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Date of Birth: 23/8/1996
Nationality: American
Previous clubs:
2018–19 Grand Rapids Drive
2019 Delaware Blue Coats
2019–20 Igokea
Played all four college years at Texas Tech. In his Freshman and Sophmore years his role in the team was smaller but got bigger responsibilities in Junior and Senior years when he averaged 15 and 17 points per game. In his Junior year he was named in the third-team All-Big 12 Conference while he was named in the All-Big 12 Conference first team in his Senior year. In his Senior year. He went undrafted in the 2018 NBA Draft, played a season in the G League and last season was his first in Europe when he played for Igokea in Adriatic League.
VIDEO REPORT:
OFFENSE
Pick & Roll: Keenan showed this season that he can play as a pick & roll operator. He makes good decisions when to take a shot, go to the rim or dish an assist and with his size he can scan the floor well. Most of his passes in pick & rolls are to open shooters on the weak side but also capable of delivering sharp and precise passes to the roller.
If the defense goes under the screen he takes the open three point shots with confidence and sinks them in high percentages. There were some possessions where the defense pressured him and hedged him aggressively but Keenan solved that calmly with a good pass.
Isolation: Isolation plays are one of his main strengths at the moment in my opinion. He controls the ball well and with his shiftiness and explosiveness he can blow by defenders and get to the rim. If the defense switches and he has a slower defender on him, he recognizes the situation, spreads the floor and attacks. Can attack in both directions and finish with both hands at the rim.
Also capable to pull the brakes and stop to take an off the dribble shot. Has the confidence to take the ball in his hands when the game is on the line and score under pressure.
Transition: He likes to push after a rebound or steal and is hard to stop when he goes downhill. Occasionally wants too much and makes a sloppy play that can result in a turnover and his decision making in high speed situations should improve since he makes much more turnovers in transition than in half court sets. Otherwise his transition is on high level just the pretty high amount of turnovers bothers me a little.
Shooting: This season he is shooting 44.8% behind the three point line even though he is attempting more than four three point shots per game. He was also shootin above 35% in Igokea last season and hit with similar percentages in his college days at Texas Tech. Has a pretty quick and smooth transition in his off the dribble shot and also can create a good amount of separation with his handles.
Hasn’t played a lot of the ball and taken many spot up shots but can make them with solid percentages. Not a player that will run around the screens but has the spatial awareness to hold the distance and space the floor.
Playmaking: As I already mentioned, with his size he can scan the floor well and se above the defender. His court vision is good, can deliver passes with both hands on all levels. Usually sticks to basic, sharp, passes and doesn’t make many bad passes. Averages 6.8 assists in Israeli league and has a 2.8 Assist/Turnover ratio.
DEFENSE
Pick & Roll Defense: In pick & roll defense he usually doesn’t initiate the contact and leaves too much space to the ball handler to do what ever he wants. But when he is locked in and focused, he can play pretty good in defense but needs to show that more consistently.
Perimeter defense: Looking at his body and his physical tools he could be a good defender. Has the length, lateral movement and quickness in his feet to make an impact in defense but lacks effort.
His reads on closeouts could be better and can sometimes completely miss read the offense and fall out of the defensive scheme. His court awareness and rotations are not that bad though and usually rotates pretty good.
Steals: Has good instincts for steals. Most of his steals are coming from intercepting the passes and has pretty active hands in this regard. As said before, miss more aggressiveness in on ball defense situations and I think he could steal some balls in those situations too. But after all, he is averaging 1.6 steals per game and is amongst the best in the league in this category.
SUMMARY
Keenan’s all around offensive game could be useful in most teams on almost any level. In my opinion, he needs to put more work on his defensive game and as said, I think he has all the physical tools to be a decent defender too.
Definitely an interesting player to follow especially for Eurocup teams that are looking for a versatile combo guard that can run the offense.
