DaRon Holmes Scouting Report

BIO

Age: 21

Height: 6’8.75”

Weight: 236.2

Wingspan: 7’0.75”

Standing Reach: 9’0.5”

Strengths

• BBIQ/Game Feel – by far his greatest strength great court awareness, decision making and positioning
• Finishing – there are some red flags (shot 55% on lay ups, had some Zeke Nnaji moments) but overall I think he showed enough to make this a strength (7th most dunks in all of college, shot 71% at the rim)
• Length for a small ball 5 
• Speed – Really quick player in a straight line whether that be in the open court or half court
• Passing/playmaking – Great passer out of the post, can hit skip passes, cutters and is even good in drive and kick situations (2.6 assists per game great number for a big)
• Ball handling – capable of dribbling the ball up the court and attacking closeouts he even ran P&Rs as the ball handler
• Perimeter defense – Gets blown by every once in a while but overall he does a great job at keeping players in front of him and forcing tough jumpshots
• Elite shot blocker both on ball and in help has incredible timing (Averaged 2 blocks per game in his 3 years at Dayton)

Swing Skills

• 3pt Shooting – He could definitely shoot but i’m not sure whether he’s going to be an ok shooter or a good shooter at the next level.

Weaknesses

• Rim Protection – Has good positioning but lacks the length of a true rim protector. Opposing teams shot 56.8% at the rim with Holmes on the court similar numbers to Sandro Mamukelashvili, Dayron Sharpe, and Luka Garza all non rim protectors in the NBA.
• Close Outs – although he’s quick in a straight line he becomes really slow when changing directions and moves way too slow when defending closeouts whether it be in help and recover situations or in rotations
• Post Defense – Terrible in the post he’s simply too weak
• Strength – by far his biggest and most noticeable weakness. It’s the reason why his post defense, rebounding, and finishing through contact are all bad. Weighed somewhere around 225lbs during the season which simply isn’t Center weight.
• Rebounding – Simply too weak he really struggles boxing out and gets moved far too easy

Role Capabilities

• Pick and Roll – Top scorer as a roll man in all of college, 70th percentile 1.16ppp, 67.7% on 2 pt shoots as a roll man
• Pick and Pop – Shot the 5th most pick and pop 3s in college basketball where he shot 36% on said shots
• DHO Hub (think Jokic, Draymond, Sabonis)
• Short Roll
• Spot Up – Pretty simple when you combine a good shooter with a good shot fake that has a great first step you get a great spot up player (89th Percentile 1.21ppp)
• Post Up – It looks more like an AG post up than a Jokic one but it works (72nd percentile 0.98ppp) He’s probably only going to post up mismatches in the NBA though

NBA Ready 7/10

There will be an adjustment period simply from the jump he’ll make going from a mid major to the NBA but overall his combination of athleticism, defense, and IQ should make him an able contributor. He also put on a significant amount of weight by the time the season ended to the combine so his strength might not be as bad of a factor entering the NBA. 

Projection

Holmes is simply too versatile, athletic, and skilled to not be a good player. I can’t see him playing with Jokic much unless he greatly improves his mobility on defense but he should be the perfect Jokic backup.

Player Comp

Al Horford when he was at his athletic peak