Asa Newell selected No. 23 by Hawks (via Pelicans) | 2025 NBA Draft Grades & Instant Reaction

Asa Newell selected No. 23 by Hawks (via Pelicans) | 2025 NBA Draft Grades & Instant Reaction

Back here on CBS sports HQ. On the clock. Presented by Jeep. The hometown kid is staying in his hometown. A son from Atlanta went to Georgia. Now going to be playing professionally for the Atlanta Hawks with the 23rd overall selection. Take a look at his ranks among Division one freshmen last season. Offensive rebounds. That’s an underrated statistic. Mike White, his head coach at Georgia, said, quote, he’s the same guy every day. He could start a game, missing his first four shots and might make his next four. His facial expression not going to change. He’s still going to be compliant in terms of making winning plays, passing to the guy that’s open, chasing offensive rebounds, closing out correctly. It’s a good player here. This is part of the Montverde Academy that obviously Liam McNeeley was a part of. Cooper Flagg headlining. This is a quality pick at 23. I like this pick. Do you like this pick Adam Finkelstein yeah, B-plus. First of all, here’s what you need to know about ASA. Six foot nine without shoes on. Measured a little bit less than people were hoping. He’s someone who has historically played the four and the five at that size. A little undersized to play small ball. Five in the NBA, but good athlete. High motor so good finisher. Can guard, pick and roll in a couple different ways. In high school, we had some optimism about his long term shooting potential. We didn’t see a ton of growth in that area last year at Georgia, but they didn’t really utilize him that way either. They allowed him to take some, but by their own admission, really didn’t work to develop that part of his game. If that starts to hit in the NBA, this will be looked back upon as a steal. And the fact that they picked up a couple of additional assets to move back and get their guy is just signs of a good process. Yeah, he averaged 15 and seven in his one year in the SEC, and it happened to be the one year that the SEC was the best conference in the history of college basketball. So to do that against much older players, consistently super impressive. But he mostly got by on what Adam is talking about, the athleticism and the motor. He just played hard and he’s physically more gifted than most of the people he was playing against in the NBA. That’s not going to be enough. That shot’s going to have to come around. And he only shot 29.2% from three in this one season of college basketball. Obviously there’s room

Adam Finkelstein and Gary Parrish join CBS Sports HQ to grade Asa Newel being selected by the Hawks via the Pelicans.

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