Donte DiVincenzo
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Weaknesses & Concerns:
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Report By: Mark Wahlen
Profile:
Strengths:
Strength & Athleticism
DiVincenzo isn’t amazingly tall or have an incredible wingspan, but his height of 6’4.5” (in shoes) with a 6’6” wingspan is comparable to many current successful NBA guards such as Gary Harris (6’4.5” tall with a 6’6.75” wingspan), Joe Harris (6’6.25” with a 6’6” wingspan), Cory Joseph (6’3.25” tall with a 6’5.5” wingspan), Wayne Ellington (6’5.25” tall with a 6’6.5” wingspan) and Jrue Holiday (6’4.25” tall with a 6’7” wingspan). He also has a strong frame, weighing in at 200 pounds with 5% body fat. Additionally, he’s an elite athlete for his size, posting a max-vertical leap of 42” (best in this years draft class) and standing vertical leap of 34.5” (also best in this years draft class). Both of which are comparable to current NBA players such as Victor Oladipo (44” max-vertical & 34.5” standing vertical), Zach LaVine (41.5” max-vertical & 33.5” standing vertical) and Glen Robinson III (41.5” max-vertical & 36.5” standing vertical). DiVincenzo also posted the 10th best 3-quarter court sprint time (3.11 seconds), 18th best shuttle run time (3.11 seconds) and 6th best lane agility time (10.72 seconds) at this years combine. All of which compare closely the Victor Oladipo’s athletic testing numbers back in the 2013-14 draft combine (3-quarter court sprint: 3.25 seconds; Shuttle run: 3.14 seconds; and lane agility time: 10.69 seconds). And he’s not just a “test athlete”; his athleticism is fully functional on the court during full-speed games. If you need convincing, watch this clip. Some other notes on his athletic ability: he’s remarkably balanced, very rarely getting out of control or over exaggerated with his movements, and showcases great footwork on both defense and offense (albeit not overly advanced footwork on offense). He also plays above his weight, meaning that he plays bigger and stronger than his size suggests. This shows up most when he’s defending opposing players that are much bigger, taller and stronger than he is, but yet they (the opposing players) struggle to take advantage of him. This is in large part due to his aggressive play & toughness (more on this later), but it’s also in large part due to his solidly built frame, overall strength, athleticism and balance. In summary, DiVincenzo has about average size for an NBA guard but elite athleticism and a high motor that will help make up the differences.
Shooting
From a skills perspective, DiVincenzo’s most obvious and NBA ready skill is his shooting, both spot-up and off the dribble. This past season, he scored 1.024 points per possession (PPP) on all spot-up shot attempts (71st percentile), 1.089 PPP on all jump shots in the half-court (81st percentile), 1.091 PPP on all catch & shoot shots (63rd percentile), 1.06 PPP on all jump shots off the dribble (90th percentile) and 1.141 PPP on all 3-point shots (73rd percentile, 5.3 3PA’s per game at 40% 3P%). His jump shot mechanics are fairly impeccable, with great balance, good elevation, consistent footwork, with smooth, simple and fluid motions and a quick release. And his mechanics stay consistent regardless of shooting of shooting spot-ups, off the dribble or on the move, making him a lethal shooter from every spot of the floor. With his strong shooting mechanics and proven shot making in college, there should be little worry about whether or not his shooting will translate to the NBA and the extended 3 point line. However, his average stature and length will likely make it more difficult for him to get his shot off when shooting off the dribble or under defensive pressure than it was in college.
Passing
Another strong aspect of DiVincenzo’s game is his passing ability. First off, he’s a high IQ basketball player (more on this in a minute), which enables him to make correct reads more often times than not. And after making the correct reads, he’s proficient at getting the ball to the right spot, at the right time and with the right pace (or speed of the pass, which is an underrated skill of high level passers). This past season, he averaged 3.5 assists per game (APG) and a respectable assist percentage of 20% (89th out of the 229 NCAA players this past season that played at least 1,100 minutes). He’s a very high level passer out of the pick and roll, scoring 1.667 PPP when passing to the roll man (99th percentile), 0.947 PPP when passing to spot-up shooters out of the P&R (56th percentile) and 1.176 PPP from all passes out of the P&R as the ball handler (85th percentile). His strength allows him to throw cross-court and mid-air passes accurately and through small passing windows. And while there will be some adjustment for him in the NBA where the passing lanes are more narrow and shut down even more quickly than they do in college, his passing should be a safe bet to translate to the NBA. Especially within an established and well-executed offensive scheme.
Pick & Roll Scoring
In addition to his high level passing out of the pick and roll, DiVincenzo is a lethal scorer as the P&R ball-handler. This past season, DiVincenzo scored 1.106 PPP as the P&R ball handler (97th percentile, 51 FGA’s) while scoring 1.217 PPP as the P&R ball handler when dribbling off the pick (94th percentile, 41 FGA’s). This is almost entirely due to his shooting prowess, where he scored 1.382 PPP in the P&R when taking dribble jumpers (96th percentile, 34 FGA’s) while only taking it to the basket (5 FGA’s) or taking a runner (2 FGA’s) very few times all season. He’s also comfortable operating the P&R from either side of the floor, scoring 1.091 PPP on the left side (74th percentile) and 1.222 PPP on the right (86th percentile). This ability to score effectively on either side of the floor speaks to his comfort in handling the ball with either hand, and his sound shooting mechanics that don’t change with the direction he’s stepping into the shot from (many players, even very good shooters, highly favor going to one side more than the other). He’s especially good at the high P&R, where he scored 1.233 PPP (94th percentile, 27 FGA’s) as it allows him to go either direction off the screen depending on the defense. DiVincenzo’s ability to score out of the pick & roll is an important aspect of his game as the NBA is a heavy pick & roll league; and with DiVincenzo projecting more as a 1-2 combo guard than a true shooting guard in the NBA due to his size, he’ll most likely be asked by teams to have the ball in his hands as a primary or secondary ball handler and offense initiator that’s expected to run the P&R at a high level. And this will be true whether he comes off the bench or develops into a starter.
Positional Rebounding
Although he doesn’t put up crazy rebounding numbers for a guard, his 4.8 rebounds per game (4.0 rebounds per game career average) is impressive for his size. His explosive leaping ability combined with his high motor and toughness allows him to get rebounds that most other guards of his size wouldn’t even bother going for, especially against bigger opponents. And while rebounding will be much more difficult for him when going up against NBA caliber athletes, he’s a guard that teams should be able to count on giving good team rebounding effort, whether it be in the form of boxing out bigs on the weak side or chasing down long rebounds.
Defensive Upside
Although some of his defensive numbers aren’t great (more on this later), DiVincenzo has solid defensive upside. His elite athletic tools, and particularly his quick feet, strength and balance, enable him to stick with opposing guards on the perimeter and contest shots at a fairly high level. He’s particularly impressive in his ability to contest shots at the rim with his explosive leaping ability, only allowing 0.784 PPP when defending shots around the rim that weren’t post-up’s this past season (81st percentile, 51 FGA’s). But he also does a good job hustling out to contest shots on the perimeter in the half court, allowing only 0.862 PPP on all jump shots that he defended this past season (71st percentile). And although his lack of elite length hurts him defensively, and will be even more pronounced at the NBA level, his defensive fundamentals and strong effort level helps make up the difference in most cases. This showed up often in college when he played against larger opponents, and was on display during the NBA combine scrimmages where he more than held his own defensively against NBA caliber athletes. He’s not afraid to fight through screens, making him a solid P&R ball handler defender (allowed 0.708 PPP when defending the P&R ball handler this past season, 63rd percentile) and when defending off screens (0.304 PPP allowed, 97th percentile). He’s also a high basketball IQ player that understands how to play within a team’s defensive scheme. He’s good at making correct switches, communicating on defense and making the right off ball rotations. He’s not always consistent on all of those things, but he does the little things right on D more often times than not. This shows up (in part) on his foul rate, which is pretty low at 2.1 personal fouls per game (per 29 minutes). He’s also fairly active in passing lanes and is an aggressive double team defender; averaging 1.1 steals per game this past season. In summary, teams won’t be able to utilize him against bigger opponents just be nature of his size and length, but there’s a lot there to like about his defensive effort, fundamentals and IQ that should be more than passable in the NBA. Defensively, he reminds me a lot of JJ Reddick, who isn’t the world’s best defender and is a bit undersized, but is more than passable defensively as a rotational guard with his effort level, physicality and defensive IQ.
Basketball IQ
As mentioned a few times previously in this report, DiVincenzo is a high basketball IQ player. He makes correct reads on offense, doesn’t force the issue when looking to score, makes good passes (for the most part), doesn’t get lost on defense, communicates well and rarely tries to make plays outside of himself. He lets the game to come to him at a high level that’s usually only seen in much older and more experienced players. His scoring efficiency is one suggestive indicator of this (58% FG% and 40% 3P% this past season).
Intangibles
DiVincenzo has a strong intangibles profile, with a history of hard work, toughness and communication skills. His improvements year to year during his collegiate career are a strong indicator of his work ethic, as his strong frame (5% body fat). And while some of his past tweets have been dug up in an attempt to sully his good name (as Hamilton would say in the hit Broadway musical), NBA teams shouldn’t worry about it too much. Walt Perrin, the VP of player personnel for the Utah Jazz was recently asked about DiVincenzo’s past tweets, and had this to say: “We understand that it was many years ago, and again, doing background on Donte, his roommate is Jalen Brunson, so does that answer your question?”
Weaknesses & Concerns:
Average Length
He doesn’t have terrible length for his height with a 6’6” wingspan, but it’s not great either. Even just a couple more inches of length would help DiVincenzo immensely as he look to translate his game to the NBA where players are taller, longer and more athletic, but with his physical maturation already over at the age of 21 years old, it’s something that he’ll need to figure out how to work with. It’s likely that his lack of length will limit his effectiveness on both ends of the floor to one extent or another.
Defense?
It’s been mentioned several times before so this is a bit repetitive, but DiVincenzo’s lack of length leaves something to be desired on the defensive end. Additionally, there is some concerning advanced statistical metrics about his ability to guard in space, allowing 1.107 PPP when defending in isolation (11th percentile) this past season. That number doesn’t coincide well with the “eye-test” of his isolation defensive abilities, but it’s something that NBA teams will want to investigate further, especially when keeping in mind his lack of length. It’s often very difficult for players, even elite athletic ones, with average wingspans to be high-level defenders in isolation in the NBA, and that may be the case with DiVincenzo. Due to his limitations as a defender, it’s likely that DiVincenzo will be limited to a bench role in the NBA team, but it’s not totally out of the question that he could develop into a JJ Reddick, Cory Joseph, etc. type starting guard one day.
Advanced Ball Handling & Self-Shot Creation?
DiVincenzo is a capable ball handler, but he lacks advanced ball handling skills, which limits his ability to create his own shot. He often has to rely on screens or pump-fakes to get open, even with his above average first step, especially after he puts the ball on the floor. His lacking shot creation skills off the dribble show up in his isolation scoring attempts this past season, where he only scored 0.731 PPP (39th percentile). He has a decent in and out dribble that he likes to go-to, but it’s a bit slow and high and will be much less effective in the NBA. But even in college, he struggled to get to the rim, only attempting 15 shots on drives in isolation and 5 shots when taking the ball to the basket as the pick & roll ball handler all season long. He’ll need to develop a quicker and more advanced array of ball handling moves if he’s going to become even an average shot creator off the dribble in the NBA.
Finishing Around the Rim?
One major question mark about DiVincenzo’s game as he heads into the NBA is his ability to finish around the rim. This past season, he scored 1.169 PPP on shots around the basket that weren’t post-ups, putting him in the fairly average 60th percentile (65 FGA’s) of that category. And it only gets worse if you look at his scoring attempts on drives as the P&R ball handler, where he only scored 0.714 PPP, with the same being true on his driving scoring attempts in isolation, where he only scored 0.619 PPP (15th percentile). His lack of length limits his ability to score over the top of defenders at the rim quite a bit, even with his explosive leaping ability. His vertical leaping numbers are comparative to Victor Oladipo, but he’s never going to be one to put opposing rim protectors on posters like Oladipo can. Oladipo has an extra 3.25” wingspan advantage on DiVincenzo, which may not sound like much, but it makes a pretty big difference in regards to each player’s functional ability to finish explosively over the top of defenders at the rim. DiVincenzo mostly relies on his craftiness and soft touch to finish plays around the rim, both of which won’t be as effective against NBA caliber defenders with his lack of length. If DiVincenzo can’t find a way to finish at the rim more effectively in the NBA, he’ll be much more limited offensively, so teams will want to consider this aspect of his game carefully.
Floater Game?
Additionally, DiVincenzo doesn’t have much (if any) of a mid-range floater game, only taking 4 runners (or floaters) this past season. This is particularly concerning when considering his projected struggles finishing at the rim in the NBA. He’ll need to develop a stronger floater game to help make up some of the difference of his inability to finish at the rim. He’s a decent mid-range shooter, scoring 0.8 PPP this past season on mid-range jump shots in the half-court (65th percentile, 25 FGA’s), but that’s not good enough to rely on for a guard like DiVincenzo (especially as a guard who struggles to create separation off the dribble). This is an aspect of his game that he’ll need to work hard on improving to further his scoring ability in the NBA.
NBA Fit: coming soon!
Draft Range:
Some NBA teams will think twice about drafting DiVincenzo in the first round due to his smaller height, lack of wingspan, projected struggles of finishing at the rim and limited defensive versatility. But he’s also an elite athlete with a high basketball IQ, high-level motor, strong intangibles profile and elite shooting that projects well as rotational combo guard in the NBA. And if you can find that type of player in the mid to late first round? That’s a great pick.
Projected Draft Range: 18-30
- 21 year old combo guard from Villanova University
- 2 time NCAA national champion
- Attended Salesianum High School in Delaware
- Son of John & Kathie DiVincenzo
- Ranking out of high school: 124th (4 star recruit)
Strengths:
Strength & Athleticism
DiVincenzo isn’t amazingly tall or have an incredible wingspan, but his height of 6’4.5” (in shoes) with a 6’6” wingspan is comparable to many current successful NBA guards such as Gary Harris (6’4.5” tall with a 6’6.75” wingspan), Joe Harris (6’6.25” with a 6’6” wingspan), Cory Joseph (6’3.25” tall with a 6’5.5” wingspan), Wayne Ellington (6’5.25” tall with a 6’6.5” wingspan) and Jrue Holiday (6’4.25” tall with a 6’7” wingspan). He also has a strong frame, weighing in at 200 pounds with 5% body fat. Additionally, he’s an elite athlete for his size, posting a max-vertical leap of 42” (best in this years draft class) and standing vertical leap of 34.5” (also best in this years draft class). Both of which are comparable to current NBA players such as Victor Oladipo (44” max-vertical & 34.5” standing vertical), Zach LaVine (41.5” max-vertical & 33.5” standing vertical) and Glen Robinson III (41.5” max-vertical & 36.5” standing vertical). DiVincenzo also posted the 10th best 3-quarter court sprint time (3.11 seconds), 18th best shuttle run time (3.11 seconds) and 6th best lane agility time (10.72 seconds) at this years combine. All of which compare closely the Victor Oladipo’s athletic testing numbers back in the 2013-14 draft combine (3-quarter court sprint: 3.25 seconds; Shuttle run: 3.14 seconds; and lane agility time: 10.69 seconds). And he’s not just a “test athlete”; his athleticism is fully functional on the court during full-speed games. If you need convincing, watch this clip. Some other notes on his athletic ability: he’s remarkably balanced, very rarely getting out of control or over exaggerated with his movements, and showcases great footwork on both defense and offense (albeit not overly advanced footwork on offense). He also plays above his weight, meaning that he plays bigger and stronger than his size suggests. This shows up most when he’s defending opposing players that are much bigger, taller and stronger than he is, but yet they (the opposing players) struggle to take advantage of him. This is in large part due to his aggressive play & toughness (more on this later), but it’s also in large part due to his solidly built frame, overall strength, athleticism and balance. In summary, DiVincenzo has about average size for an NBA guard but elite athleticism and a high motor that will help make up the differences.
Shooting
From a skills perspective, DiVincenzo’s most obvious and NBA ready skill is his shooting, both spot-up and off the dribble. This past season, he scored 1.024 points per possession (PPP) on all spot-up shot attempts (71st percentile), 1.089 PPP on all jump shots in the half-court (81st percentile), 1.091 PPP on all catch & shoot shots (63rd percentile), 1.06 PPP on all jump shots off the dribble (90th percentile) and 1.141 PPP on all 3-point shots (73rd percentile, 5.3 3PA’s per game at 40% 3P%). His jump shot mechanics are fairly impeccable, with great balance, good elevation, consistent footwork, with smooth, simple and fluid motions and a quick release. And his mechanics stay consistent regardless of shooting of shooting spot-ups, off the dribble or on the move, making him a lethal shooter from every spot of the floor. With his strong shooting mechanics and proven shot making in college, there should be little worry about whether or not his shooting will translate to the NBA and the extended 3 point line. However, his average stature and length will likely make it more difficult for him to get his shot off when shooting off the dribble or under defensive pressure than it was in college.
Passing
Another strong aspect of DiVincenzo’s game is his passing ability. First off, he’s a high IQ basketball player (more on this in a minute), which enables him to make correct reads more often times than not. And after making the correct reads, he’s proficient at getting the ball to the right spot, at the right time and with the right pace (or speed of the pass, which is an underrated skill of high level passers). This past season, he averaged 3.5 assists per game (APG) and a respectable assist percentage of 20% (89th out of the 229 NCAA players this past season that played at least 1,100 minutes). He’s a very high level passer out of the pick and roll, scoring 1.667 PPP when passing to the roll man (99th percentile), 0.947 PPP when passing to spot-up shooters out of the P&R (56th percentile) and 1.176 PPP from all passes out of the P&R as the ball handler (85th percentile). His strength allows him to throw cross-court and mid-air passes accurately and through small passing windows. And while there will be some adjustment for him in the NBA where the passing lanes are more narrow and shut down even more quickly than they do in college, his passing should be a safe bet to translate to the NBA. Especially within an established and well-executed offensive scheme.
Pick & Roll Scoring
In addition to his high level passing out of the pick and roll, DiVincenzo is a lethal scorer as the P&R ball-handler. This past season, DiVincenzo scored 1.106 PPP as the P&R ball handler (97th percentile, 51 FGA’s) while scoring 1.217 PPP as the P&R ball handler when dribbling off the pick (94th percentile, 41 FGA’s). This is almost entirely due to his shooting prowess, where he scored 1.382 PPP in the P&R when taking dribble jumpers (96th percentile, 34 FGA’s) while only taking it to the basket (5 FGA’s) or taking a runner (2 FGA’s) very few times all season. He’s also comfortable operating the P&R from either side of the floor, scoring 1.091 PPP on the left side (74th percentile) and 1.222 PPP on the right (86th percentile). This ability to score effectively on either side of the floor speaks to his comfort in handling the ball with either hand, and his sound shooting mechanics that don’t change with the direction he’s stepping into the shot from (many players, even very good shooters, highly favor going to one side more than the other). He’s especially good at the high P&R, where he scored 1.233 PPP (94th percentile, 27 FGA’s) as it allows him to go either direction off the screen depending on the defense. DiVincenzo’s ability to score out of the pick & roll is an important aspect of his game as the NBA is a heavy pick & roll league; and with DiVincenzo projecting more as a 1-2 combo guard than a true shooting guard in the NBA due to his size, he’ll most likely be asked by teams to have the ball in his hands as a primary or secondary ball handler and offense initiator that’s expected to run the P&R at a high level. And this will be true whether he comes off the bench or develops into a starter.
Positional Rebounding
Although he doesn’t put up crazy rebounding numbers for a guard, his 4.8 rebounds per game (4.0 rebounds per game career average) is impressive for his size. His explosive leaping ability combined with his high motor and toughness allows him to get rebounds that most other guards of his size wouldn’t even bother going for, especially against bigger opponents. And while rebounding will be much more difficult for him when going up against NBA caliber athletes, he’s a guard that teams should be able to count on giving good team rebounding effort, whether it be in the form of boxing out bigs on the weak side or chasing down long rebounds.
Defensive Upside
Although some of his defensive numbers aren’t great (more on this later), DiVincenzo has solid defensive upside. His elite athletic tools, and particularly his quick feet, strength and balance, enable him to stick with opposing guards on the perimeter and contest shots at a fairly high level. He’s particularly impressive in his ability to contest shots at the rim with his explosive leaping ability, only allowing 0.784 PPP when defending shots around the rim that weren’t post-up’s this past season (81st percentile, 51 FGA’s). But he also does a good job hustling out to contest shots on the perimeter in the half court, allowing only 0.862 PPP on all jump shots that he defended this past season (71st percentile). And although his lack of elite length hurts him defensively, and will be even more pronounced at the NBA level, his defensive fundamentals and strong effort level helps make up the difference in most cases. This showed up often in college when he played against larger opponents, and was on display during the NBA combine scrimmages where he more than held his own defensively against NBA caliber athletes. He’s not afraid to fight through screens, making him a solid P&R ball handler defender (allowed 0.708 PPP when defending the P&R ball handler this past season, 63rd percentile) and when defending off screens (0.304 PPP allowed, 97th percentile). He’s also a high basketball IQ player that understands how to play within a team’s defensive scheme. He’s good at making correct switches, communicating on defense and making the right off ball rotations. He’s not always consistent on all of those things, but he does the little things right on D more often times than not. This shows up (in part) on his foul rate, which is pretty low at 2.1 personal fouls per game (per 29 minutes). He’s also fairly active in passing lanes and is an aggressive double team defender; averaging 1.1 steals per game this past season. In summary, teams won’t be able to utilize him against bigger opponents just be nature of his size and length, but there’s a lot there to like about his defensive effort, fundamentals and IQ that should be more than passable in the NBA. Defensively, he reminds me a lot of JJ Reddick, who isn’t the world’s best defender and is a bit undersized, but is more than passable defensively as a rotational guard with his effort level, physicality and defensive IQ.
Basketball IQ
As mentioned a few times previously in this report, DiVincenzo is a high basketball IQ player. He makes correct reads on offense, doesn’t force the issue when looking to score, makes good passes (for the most part), doesn’t get lost on defense, communicates well and rarely tries to make plays outside of himself. He lets the game to come to him at a high level that’s usually only seen in much older and more experienced players. His scoring efficiency is one suggestive indicator of this (58% FG% and 40% 3P% this past season).
Intangibles
DiVincenzo has a strong intangibles profile, with a history of hard work, toughness and communication skills. His improvements year to year during his collegiate career are a strong indicator of his work ethic, as his strong frame (5% body fat). And while some of his past tweets have been dug up in an attempt to sully his good name (as Hamilton would say in the hit Broadway musical), NBA teams shouldn’t worry about it too much. Walt Perrin, the VP of player personnel for the Utah Jazz was recently asked about DiVincenzo’s past tweets, and had this to say: “We understand that it was many years ago, and again, doing background on Donte, his roommate is Jalen Brunson, so does that answer your question?”
Weaknesses & Concerns:
Average Length
He doesn’t have terrible length for his height with a 6’6” wingspan, but it’s not great either. Even just a couple more inches of length would help DiVincenzo immensely as he look to translate his game to the NBA where players are taller, longer and more athletic, but with his physical maturation already over at the age of 21 years old, it’s something that he’ll need to figure out how to work with. It’s likely that his lack of length will limit his effectiveness on both ends of the floor to one extent or another.
Defense?
It’s been mentioned several times before so this is a bit repetitive, but DiVincenzo’s lack of length leaves something to be desired on the defensive end. Additionally, there is some concerning advanced statistical metrics about his ability to guard in space, allowing 1.107 PPP when defending in isolation (11th percentile) this past season. That number doesn’t coincide well with the “eye-test” of his isolation defensive abilities, but it’s something that NBA teams will want to investigate further, especially when keeping in mind his lack of length. It’s often very difficult for players, even elite athletic ones, with average wingspans to be high-level defenders in isolation in the NBA, and that may be the case with DiVincenzo. Due to his limitations as a defender, it’s likely that DiVincenzo will be limited to a bench role in the NBA team, but it’s not totally out of the question that he could develop into a JJ Reddick, Cory Joseph, etc. type starting guard one day.
Advanced Ball Handling & Self-Shot Creation?
DiVincenzo is a capable ball handler, but he lacks advanced ball handling skills, which limits his ability to create his own shot. He often has to rely on screens or pump-fakes to get open, even with his above average first step, especially after he puts the ball on the floor. His lacking shot creation skills off the dribble show up in his isolation scoring attempts this past season, where he only scored 0.731 PPP (39th percentile). He has a decent in and out dribble that he likes to go-to, but it’s a bit slow and high and will be much less effective in the NBA. But even in college, he struggled to get to the rim, only attempting 15 shots on drives in isolation and 5 shots when taking the ball to the basket as the pick & roll ball handler all season long. He’ll need to develop a quicker and more advanced array of ball handling moves if he’s going to become even an average shot creator off the dribble in the NBA.
Finishing Around the Rim?
One major question mark about DiVincenzo’s game as he heads into the NBA is his ability to finish around the rim. This past season, he scored 1.169 PPP on shots around the basket that weren’t post-ups, putting him in the fairly average 60th percentile (65 FGA’s) of that category. And it only gets worse if you look at his scoring attempts on drives as the P&R ball handler, where he only scored 0.714 PPP, with the same being true on his driving scoring attempts in isolation, where he only scored 0.619 PPP (15th percentile). His lack of length limits his ability to score over the top of defenders at the rim quite a bit, even with his explosive leaping ability. His vertical leaping numbers are comparative to Victor Oladipo, but he’s never going to be one to put opposing rim protectors on posters like Oladipo can. Oladipo has an extra 3.25” wingspan advantage on DiVincenzo, which may not sound like much, but it makes a pretty big difference in regards to each player’s functional ability to finish explosively over the top of defenders at the rim. DiVincenzo mostly relies on his craftiness and soft touch to finish plays around the rim, both of which won’t be as effective against NBA caliber defenders with his lack of length. If DiVincenzo can’t find a way to finish at the rim more effectively in the NBA, he’ll be much more limited offensively, so teams will want to consider this aspect of his game carefully.
Floater Game?
Additionally, DiVincenzo doesn’t have much (if any) of a mid-range floater game, only taking 4 runners (or floaters) this past season. This is particularly concerning when considering his projected struggles finishing at the rim in the NBA. He’ll need to develop a stronger floater game to help make up some of the difference of his inability to finish at the rim. He’s a decent mid-range shooter, scoring 0.8 PPP this past season on mid-range jump shots in the half-court (65th percentile, 25 FGA’s), but that’s not good enough to rely on for a guard like DiVincenzo (especially as a guard who struggles to create separation off the dribble). This is an aspect of his game that he’ll need to work hard on improving to further his scoring ability in the NBA.
NBA Fit: coming soon!
Draft Range:
Some NBA teams will think twice about drafting DiVincenzo in the first round due to his smaller height, lack of wingspan, projected struggles of finishing at the rim and limited defensive versatility. But he’s also an elite athlete with a high basketball IQ, high-level motor, strong intangibles profile and elite shooting that projects well as rotational combo guard in the NBA. And if you can find that type of player in the mid to late first round? That’s a great pick.
Projected Draft Range: 18-30
