Everything You Need To Know About Top NBA Draft Prospect Jarrett Culver

With the NBA Draft less than 24 hours away, basketball fans are anxiously awaiting their respective teams' decisions, as they could be drafting future franchise players. One of the players to look out for is Texas Tech sophomore guard Jarrett Culver, who had a breakout season en route to the final game of the NCAA season. Let's take a closer look at what makes Culver such an enticing prospect.

Jarrett Culver Stats

In Culver's freshman season, he averaged 11.2 points per game, with 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists, and shot 46% from the field and 38% from 3-point range. His 3-point percentage took a dip to 30% in his sophomore year, but that was because he was given a bigger role in the offense (22.1 usage rate in 2017-2018 vs. 32.2 in 2018-2019). He still shot a great 53% from the field, and averaged 18.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.7 assists, to go with 1.5 steals.

Culver has a very smooth play style, as he runs around the court and gets by his defenders with ease, and finishes strong at the rim at a high rate. He's also a pesky defender, as he uses his strong frame to dish out contact as he looks to force the ball out of his opponent's hands at any cost. The 6-7, 195 pound wing is not exactly an elite athlete, but is an elite talent.

Jarrett has everything that a team in the lottery is looking for: good character, strong work ethic, incredible basketball IQ, strength, and quickness, all wrapped into a guard.

His large frame and strong lower-body strength will allow him to power through larger wings and bigs as he cuts to the lane to score. He's a great finisher at the basket, hitting 56.1% of his close attempts, and getting to the rim 40.2% of his possessions in the halfcourt, which are both phenomenal numbers for a guard.

Culver has also developed into a nice facilitator, who is able to hit most passes with ease. He's shown that he's unafraid to make some very ambitious passes in some tight spaces, and if he can increase his consistency from range, Culver will be a very unique NBA player.

Culver's main weakness? Efficiency. In the championship game, under the spotlight, Culver shot just 5-for-22 (27.7%) and missed all six of his 3-point attempts when going up against fellow 2019 draft class member De'Andre Hunter. If he struggles against Hunter now, then he'll most certainly struggle against elite defenders at the guard spot like Marcus Smart or Klay Thompson.

NBA teams that are unable to get their hands on RJ Barrett will likely look at Culver, as they look to add a wing that can do it all on both ends of the floor. There's a good chance that he winds up with a team like the Cleveland Cavaliers or Atlanta Hawks, as both teams will look to pair Culver with their respective up and coming point guards in Collin Sexton and Trae Young.

Getting a legitimate two-way guard that has high upside is very valuable. One may even say that Culver could be the safest pick in this year's draft. Whoever gets him is going to be very excited that they landed such a great talent.

Jarrett Culver Highlights

This kid can ball.