NBA Draft Scouting Report: Keita Bates-Diop
As we transition from the college basketball season to NBA Draft season I’ll be breaking down the scouting reports for various players across the country who are expected to be in the NBA Draft. We’ll focus on seniors and those with agents to start, with the hope of hitting all of the college guys in my top-60. If there is someone specific you want on here, please let me know @barstoolreags. All videos are courtesy of Synergy and the stats will come from Synergy and KenPom.
Keita Bates-Diop – Ohio State
6’7”, 235 lbs, 22 years old
Projected: No. 19 (DraftExpress) No. 37 (NBADraft.net)
Background: Keita Bates-Diop was one of the biggest breakout stars this past college basketball season. After battling injuries and being somewhat buried on the depth chart, Bates-Diop had a chance to be the guy on a good Ohio State team. He ended up averaging just under 20 points per game while also grabbing about 9 rebounds per game. He was named Big 10 Player of the Year and second team All-American by pretty much everyone. While he was a junior this past season, he was a fourth year junior, so he has plenty of experience and is one of the older guys in the draft at 22 years old. One very encouraging thing is the fact KBD played over 33 minutes per game just a year after being sidelined to injury after 210 total minutes played. He wasn’t necessarily slowed down and was able to be on the court for the majority of minutes.
Strengths: No matter where he goes, the one thing that Bates-Diop will be able to do right away is step in and get his own shot. He spent the year just being a bucket-getter and was successful at both catch and shoot and off the bounce situations. He has good size at 6’7″ with long arms to step in and play a variety of positions as he can play almost anywhere on the wing. He’s a big wing that can step in and immediately hit shots as he ranked in the 88th percentile nationally this past season scoring 1.049 points per possession. Part of what makes Bates-Diop such a good shooter and a potential top-20 pick is the fact that he has a high release point. He’s not going to beat you with his handles (more on that later) but he uses his length to his advantage. Here’s a good still shot of what I’m talking about. Against Michigan he gets a switch where Wagner is coming up off the screen. Notice where Bates-Diop has the ball despite not having great lift on his shot. He easily gets this over a bigger defender in Wagner:
Another part of his game that I really like is getting to the midrange and post area. Again, this goes hand in hand with KBD using his size to his advantage. This play against Wisconsin was somewhat of a broken play before Bates-Diop took control late in the possession. Ideally he’d get more separation on the spin, but what he does is keep his balance and uses that high release point on a fade to get the shot off. This is something that should translate to the next level though.
He was put in a post up set over 13% of all possessions this year and was graded as ‘very good’ per Synergy in those sets. One of the consistent motions for Bates-Diop was getting into the post up on a shuffle cut or back cut. From there he has a really nice face up game as he’ll turn and catch use a jab step and then shoot from about 8-10 feet. He also has the ability to play with his back to the basket. We saw this against Gonzaga a couple of times as he likes to catch, take a dribble and use a little hook or an up and under on a step through to finish in the paint. While it’s not going to be something he does a lot in the NBA, if teams are going to play him as a small ball four or as a three there are chances he can use this a few times a game to get a couple of quick points.
Weaknesses: The biggest weakness for Bates-Diop is he’s not overly athletic. He’s not going to blow by you with speed nor will he really jump over you. He beats you simply by using his jumper and length to his advantage and then is a smart player to go with it. So my question will be will he be able to create his own shot against better athletes and defenders than what he saw in the Big 10 and college basketball? Part of me is a bit concerned due to his ORtg being about 10 points lower against Tier A competition than overall. Another weakness of the offensive side is his ball handling. He doesn’t necessarily have great moves where he’ll beat you down off the bounce. He does a good job of using his shoulders and body to create space but not the dribble. Again, in the NBA where he’ll be in some ISO spots can he break someone down off the dribble. The final concern comes on the defensive side of the ball where he’s really just an average defender. Part of that ties to the athleticism question, but will he be able to stick with a quicker wing? He tends to be fine in the post due to his length, but can he stay in front of others on the wing.
Draft Stock/Projection: I think he ends up being a pick in the early 20s because he is someone that can step in and provide bench scoring right off the bat. He makes sense to go to a team like Minnesota, Atlanta, Chicago because they love experienced college players or even Portland. He does need to get a bit more consistent with his outside shot as he shot 36% this year but shot just 32% during his second year. If he can step in and be a consistent shooter he’ll play a decent amount of minutes right away. Again, he’s not someone who you’ll build around, but can step in and help a team that’s ready to compete. He could possibly draw some comparisons to Kyle Kuzma due to the late 1st round selection, older guy with good size that can score.
Other scouting reports:
Jalen Brunson
Zhaire Smith
Jevon Carter
Aaron Holiday
Devonte’ Graham