Myles Powell is easily one of the best college basketball players in the country. As one of the favorites for the Wooden Award, Powell helped continue the Seton Hall basketball resurgence. He showed plenty of skills and is now ready to prove he is an NBA player.
Myles Powell 2020 NBA Draft Profile
College Career
Powell is a 6’2 guard from Trenton, New Jersey. He started his career as an instant scoring threat off the bench. In the next three years, Powell turned into a monster scorer and is most known for his buzzer-beating heroics. He averaged 17.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game for his career.
This season, Powell was named an All-American and the Big East Player of the Year. He also was named two-time All-Big East. Truthfully, Powell deserves more awards than he received. He should be more than a one-time All-American. Realistically, Powell and Markus Howard competed with each other for these awards.
Strengths
Powell is able to get shots off at will. He averaged somewhere around 15 shots per game almost every season. He is really crafty with his dribble and has a decent mid-range game. Powell is a nightmare to guard, especially in isolation situations. If he can have more space, it will be so difficult to contain him.
Powell shot decently well from deep averaging about 35 percent for his career. He often took deep and contested threes, so 35 percent is probably better than it looks. About half of Powell’s shots this season were threes. That was mostly due to Powell settling, so realistically, Powell will lower the number of threes he shoots and his percentage will increase slightly.
The biggest attribute Powell has is being super clutch. He has drilled numerous big shots, including a buzzer-beater against Kentucky which proved Seton Hall was for real in 2018. He has a knack for the dramatic and elevates his game when most necessary. Powell always shows up in the second half of the biggest games.
Weaknesses
Powell really struggled to shoot this year. His shooting percentage dropped significantly from 45 percent to 40 percent. Over his career, Powell is only a 42 percent shooter. This season, specifically, Powell was tasked with being the primary ball-handler and point guard. He tried to get his teammates more involved so both his usage and assist percentage increased. These struggles can be chalked up to Powell not being comfortable in this role, but it is still concerning.
Additionally, Powell was somewhat of a poor defender on a good defensive team. His defensive box plus-minus was below one in every season which is slightly below average. Again, there is no perfect statistic, so it needs to be taken with a grain of salt. However, it is clear Powell saved some energy on the defensive end this season. In the NBA, either his defense or his shooting percentage needs to improve quickly.
NBA Player Comparison
Dion Waiters. Waiters is a big-bodied guard that always is looking to score. He has solid scoring abilities from all levels and can get red hot. Powell should look to fill the same role and stake his claim as a perennial sixth man of the year candidate.
NBA Draft Projection
Late second round.
Main Photo
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