Prospecticon Says: Jeff Teague

A confession: I only watched Jeff Teague play in highlights and such. Somehow, I failed to see Wake play even once this year. However, everything I've read and seen about him seems to boil down to the issue that Draft Express describes thusly:

Teague more than compensates for his limitations with his excellent shot creating ability.

Yes, it's one sentence, but it's the essence of what makes Redick and Morrison bench-to-fringe-starters and Brandon Roy a superstar. It's the essence of being an offensive force in the NBA. If a player cannot create his own shot, he is at the mercy of everyone else on the floor. If he's like that in college, then how can he be expected to even get away from a defender off the ball in order to take a shot in the NBA?

Teague is, apparently, an elite shot-creator, even if he's not quite skilled enough to get the results one might expect from so many good opportunities. There's a glass-half-full, half-empty, aspect to this. The pessimist says that means he's got a steeper hill to climb when he gets to the pros because hardly anyone is able to take his man off the dribble every time and remain successful; the better scorers do both with certain degrees of proficiency. The optimist, though, sees that Teague is already extremely talented off the dribble, and that will buy him time to develop his skills off the ball, his spot up jumpers.

For the Bobcats, that could be an issue, because the Larry Brown offense is built around a wing player rolling around screens and hitting the open 17 foot jumper. But, again there's the optimistic slant, which is that Brown's stated preference is to have a penetrating playmaker, and Teague can certainly get in the lane. Assuming he plays alongside Augustin, a superior three point shooter, the primary method of attack might involve putting the ball in Teague's hands.

Defensively, I have no idea how that back court might play out. I know, for certain, that they'll be short and liable to be pushed around by the bigger guards (just like an Augustin-Curry back court), but I'd be ecstatic to get our version of Louis Williams.

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