While it’s unknown whether the Los Angeles Lakers will consider selecting former Duke Blue Devils forward Cam Reddish in the 2019 NBA Draft, it appears not everyone is high on him. The Lakers hold the No. 4 pick, and it’s likely Reddish will come off the board a bit after that, but one mock draft was incredibly critical of the 6-foot-8 freshman.
During Reddish’s lone season with the Blue Devils, he was the third (and often times fourth) option after Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Tre Jones. While he was never able to hit a major stride and post strong numbers consistently, a new mock draft from Dylan Burd of Sports Burd offered a brutal take on Reddish’s Duke tenure.
After sending him to the Atlanta Hawks with the No. 8 overall selection, Burd pointed to multiple issues with Reddish’s numbers. But one interesting reference compared his play to a bad television show.
“Cam Reddish is like when you expect a season of your favorite TV show to be amazing and it’s just not good, but you keep watching anyway. Then there’s one amazing episode and you’re going to keep watching because you still have hope that every episode will be that amazing. There is going to be a team in the top-10, in this case the Hawks, that will want to keep watching with that hope that every episode will be that good.”
He makes a few good points while citing Reddish’s strong high school numbers, which fell off during the 36 games he played with the Blue Devils. On a positive note, Burd did say he was “encouraged by some of the flashes” Reddish showed and stated that if he turns out to be as good as the upside he flashed, the Hawks would have a strong group of outside shooters.
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Cam Reddish’s Duke Stats & Fit With Lakers in NBA Draft
While Reddish showed flashes of major upside in high school, he shot just 35.6 percent from the field on 12.0 attempts per game during the 2018-19 college basketball season. He also knocked down 33.3 percent from beyond the arc, a number which most are obviously hopeful will be quite a bit higher moving forward. Over the 29.7 minutes per game he played, Reddish averaged 13.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game.
As far as how the 19-year-old forward would fit with the Lakers, much of that depends on how his game looks when he lands in the NBA. If Reddish is able to consistently knock down shots, he’d be a great addition as an option on the offensive end next to LeBron James and company.
Whether or not that will play out is a big question, and it appears to be a safer bet that the Lakers select either Jarrett Culver out of Texas Tech or Vanderbilt’s Darius Garland at No. 4. Realistically, the safest bet could be on the team’s front office opting to trade the pick in an effort to land a current NBA star such as Anthony Davis or Bradley Beal.
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