Draft Profile: Doron Lamb
2012-05-27After failing to pump out five player profiles last week, Doron Lamb of Kentucky receives his own spot-light today. Lamb currently falls towards the late-first round or early second round in mock drafts and may intrigue the Cavs at 24; especially if they nab a non-shooter in the top three (I’m talking about you: Anthony Davis or Michael Kidd-GIlchrist. The Draft Lottery is Wednesday – Come on, ping pong balls!).
Lamb goes hard in the paint at Kansas in the NCAA Championship game (photo by Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
Lamb finished his sophomore year a National Champ and turns 21 in November. Standing around 6’ – 4” or 6’ – 5”, with 6’ – 7” wingspan, he has reasonable length for an NBA shooting guard. Despite entering college as a McDonald’s all-American, Lamb gladly accepted his duties as a role player for the Wildcats, functioning as their ace-marksman, secondary ball-handler, and a solid cog in a top-tier defense. His offensive rating of 127.5 ranked eleventh in the NCAA; largely aided by blistering 47% three-point shooting and a minuscule 1.1 turnovers per game. With his satisfactory athleticism and rapid release, UK frequently runs Lamb around screeners, relying on his accurate shooting for points on a number of set plays. Non-existent as a rebounder; his 13 points every night were second highest on the most loaded NCAA team in recent memory. Although not suitable as a point guard in the NBA, he spelled Marquis Teague this year and performed respectably, thanks to ambidextrous dribbling and above average speed. These skills prove useful towards generating mid-range looks, although a lack of explosiveness and strength impedes his finishing; his two-point field goal percentage ranked him 13th of 18 shooting guards in the draftexpress 2012 database. Needing to bulk up also proves as a limitation on defense, where he struggles through screens & picks, despite engaging whole-heartedly and displaying solid fundamentals.
Game recaps: In UK’s Final Four victory over Louisville; Lamb posted 10 points on 51% true shooting with only one rebound and one assist. This game is a poor snapshot of Lamb’s typical performance; his 4 turnovers were a season high and his zero makes-from-deep represent one of only five such outings this year. Six of his points came in transition, where he utilized speed and body control to beat the field and convert. U of L uses full-court presses often, and Lamb exhibited good ability to break the press using both hands, showing controlled ball-handling at full speed. Definitely not a point guard though, his turnover total accumulated due to picking up his dribble, getting trapped, and tossing passes to Cardinals defenders. Active on defense with his feet and hands, he works hard to stay in front of his man, although his slim frame causes difficulties following his man through an opponent’s gauntlet of big men.
Against Baylor in the Elite Eight, Lamb tallied 14 points on 57% true shooting, largely buoyed by twelve trips to the charity stripe. Four of the free throws came during close-out time, but Lamb drew several fouls running off screens or putting the ball on the floor. Functioning as the Wildcats starting shooting-guard and back-up point guard, he again flashed high-pace controlled dribbling with both hands as the opponent pressed regularly. He is definitely a shoot-first player, with only 1.5 assists per game, but on this night, he finished a slithery baseline drive with a wrap-around pass to Terrence Jones for a dunk. Also, he forfeited a transition gimme to throw an alley-oop to trailing Anthony Davis…wait, that ended in a turnover – he should have taken the free two points. Anyways…on defense, the tale is similar to the Louisville game. He maintains routine focus and solid fundamentals, but Baylor’s Center rocked Lamb on a few picks. If he packs on 20 pound of muscle by age 23 or 24, that would be a large benefit defensively.
Summary: Despite the relatively lackluster efforts described above; Lamb finished the season strong, averaging 15.3 points on 65% true shooting through the SEC and NCAA tournaments. An exciting draft day scenario involves pairing Kyrie with Doron Lamb and both players’ former teammate: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Two elite shooters, one athletic beast, three high-character guys all committed to winning; that’s a backcourt a team can build around (please go well, lottery. pretty, pretty please).
I’m not sure who to compare Lamb to…he’s not a three-and-D wing, due to no lock-down defense. Not a limited three point spot-up guy, because there’s some athleticism and ball-handling. He’s not Ray Allen or Steph Curry. Anyways, I’m sure in two or three years, he will be useful in the NBA for 25 minutes every night.
Amen, HoopsDogg.
HoopsDogg and JAG, Regarding Lamb, I’ve been thinking really similar thoughts. Later this week, I have a draft profile coming that includes Orlando Johnson of UC Santa Barbara. He’s a similar height as Lamb, a really good shooter, a prolific NCAA scorer…but he’s significantly older and played the NCAA’s 200th toughest schedule. If Doron Lamb, as the 25th ranked player in his draft class chose to go to UCSB, could he have averaged 20, 6 and 3 if he shot 15 times a game? Maybe not the rebounds, but yes to the point and assists, and…he’s 2.5 years younger. Due… Read more »
Barring injury, Lamb will end up sticking for 8 seasons+ cause he has a set in stone NBA position, a bonafide NBA ability, and is not a head case. I actually think he might be very underrated for the same reasons that Harrison Barnes now seems overrated. He’s not Steph Curry, but on a different team Lamb could’ve scored 5 more points a game. He’s O.J. Mayo without the over-hype. He kind of reminds me of Lawson the year he came out: not in his game but in how much he’s being underrated. If we got him with 21st pick,… Read more »
Great article, though an odd selection of games to profile. What about his performance in the championship game where he scored 22 points on 7-12 shooting with 2 boards and 3 assists? I’m always a little wary of 3rd or 4th options on good teams, since it’s hard to evaluate how good they’d be without their teammates. But I do agree that if the Cavs luck out and get MKG then Lamb or John Jenkins might be a nice pick at 24.
Cavalier Perspective, Generally, I try to pick games that are indicative of a players season-wide performance, so I wouldn’t have picked the national championship, because it was a higher level of performance than “normal”. In the case of this Lamb profile, the game selection wasn’t extremely well thought out, as it was primarily because I had the games DVR’d. Regardless, I think watching a player very closely in any game is helpful, regardless of whether their shots were falling. In my Brad Beal profile, I was impressed even though he shot 1 of 11 against UK. Watching these two Doron… Read more »
IMO Doron Lamb is most similar to JJ Redick or a taller Boobie Gibson. Both guys are among the best 3 point shooters in the league, are great role players who know their limitations, and have improved their once terrible defensive skills. I would really like to take him as one of our 2nd round picks because I know he will be able to contribute due to an NBA ready skill (shooting range), but he doesn’t posess anywhere near as much upside as some of the other players available at the #24 pick, which is about where some contender will… Read more »