{"id":79980,"date":"2024-06-03T07:00:14","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T11:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=79980"},"modified":"2024-06-02T15:39:23","modified_gmt":"2024-06-02T19:39:23","slug":"antonio-reeves-2024-nba-draft-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/03\/antonio-reeves-2024-nba-draft-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Antonio Reeves 2024 NBA Draft Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fifth-year players\u2014often referred to as \u201csuper seniors\u201d\u2014became a common sight in the NCAA this season with their extra year of eligibility due to the Covid pandemic. And, as Kentucky\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/antonio-reeves-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Antonio Reeves<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> proves, they\u2019re also going to be visible during the 2024 NBA Draft, joining the undergrads in the same pool of league hopefuls.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Antonio Reeves 2024 NBA Draft Profile<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3><b>College Career<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reeves, a 6\u20194\u201d guard, spent his first three years at Illinois State, where he developed into a standout player in the Missouri Valley Conference. His junior year was his most productive season for the Redbirds, and it came after he declared for the 2021 Draft. In 33 games (all starts), Reeves averaged 20.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.1 steals on .469\/.390\/.818 splits, and was named the MVC\u2019s Most Improved Player. He also earned a spot on the All-MVC Second Team and was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mens-college-basketball\/stats\/player\/_\/season\/2022\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a top-20 scorer in Div. I men\u2019s basketball<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following his junior year, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ukathletics.com\/news\/2022\/04\/28\/mens-basketball-illinois-state-transfer-antonio-reeves-signs-with-kentucky\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reeves transferred to Kentucky<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Despite adjusting from a starter to a backup role, Reeves kept his scoring up, averaging 14.4 points on .416\/.398\/.783 splits and earning SEC Sixth Man of the Year for his efforts. Prior to this season, he was listed as one of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncaa.com\/news\/basketball-men\/article\/2023-10-23\/top-10-super-seniors-2023-24-mens-college-basketball-season-according-andy-katz\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">top-ten super-seniors to watch by Andy Katz<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who declared: \u201cReeves is going to have an SEC player-of-the-year type season for John Calipari.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reeves may not have won SEC Player of the Year, but he still exceeded expectations. He started all 33 games played for Coach Cal and the Wildcats, averaging 20.2 points on blistering .512\/.447\/863 splits. His college career ended with a 27-point performance against Oakland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Reeves took home <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.secsports.com\/news\/2024\/03\/2024-sec-mens-basketball-awards-announced\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All-SEC First Team honors<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and will be <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.courier-journal.com\/story\/sports\/college\/kentucky\/2024\/05\/12\/kentucky-basketball-2024-nba-draft-mock-lottery-reed-sheppard-rob-dillingham-justin-edwards\/73665283007\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">one of four Wildcats in this year\u2019s draft class<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Strengths<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reeves is a solid three-level scorer who can thrive in whatever role he\u2019s placed in. He went off for several scoring outbursts during his time at Kentucky, including a 37-point explosion against the Arkansas.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Antonio Reeves goes off for 37 points in Kentucky&#039;s win\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8otHmOT8d-k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He does a good job of finishing creatively at the rim, taking any contact that comes with it despite his <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/draft\/combine-anthro\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">186-pound frame<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Reeves didn\u2019t get to the line often\u2014only averaging four attempts from the stripe per game\u2014but he was still efficient from the line. He improved his free-throw percentage from 65% as a freshman to 86% in his fifth year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of his go-to moves is the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/qEkILF-YzaU?si=Lkzl2Ss_RvIdL10v\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">floater, which he takes and makes with ease<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. He fires it early and often when he can\u2019t get to the rim. His overall midrange game is also sound, being able to make jumpers off the dribble and off the catch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reeves\u2019s perimeter shooting is also excellent, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.noceilingsnba.com\/p\/dont-overthink-antonio-reeves\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">as No Ceilings NBA\u2019s numbers show<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This will be his third straight season in which he\u2019s shot at least 39% from three on more than 5.5 attempts. Additionally, Reeves ranks in the 97th percentile with 1.18 PPP.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He buries a majority of his threes off the catch and creates separation with great handles. Reeves showcased his scoring ability at the 2024 NBA Draft Combine, where he scored 17 points in the first scrimmage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/TorresOnUK\/status\/1790558401988366353<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/xCka_7GxV8Q?si=pgUURMqqeK7PIyFS<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reeves has put scouts on notice with his offensive talents. His three-point shooting will be the most translatable part of his game, especially with the upward trends of perimeter marksmen in the league.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Weaknesses<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For all of Reeves&#8217; work as a scorer, there are several flaws in his game that prevent him from being mocked higher on draft boards. For starters, there\u2019s his age. Not a lot of teams will be looking for fifth-year players in the 2024 Draft, and Reeves, for all of his talents, is 23 years old. Additionally, he is not the best playmaker, only averaging 1.3 assists per game throughout his career and contributing 54 assists to Kentucky\u2019s offense this season (1.6\/game).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reeves is also a glaring negative on defense. He only tallied 22 steals and eight blocks this season\u2014with respective marks of 101 and 37 for his career. According to No Ceilings NBA:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c&#8230;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">he ranks in the 43rd percentile in overall defensive points per possession (PPP), per Synergy. If he gets drafted, Reeves will be just the eighth senior to do so since 2014 with a block rate under 1% and a steal rate under 1.5%. His company isn\u2019t exactly littered with sterling NBA careers either.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both of those skills can certainly be developed as the draft gets closer and in the beginning of Reeves\u2019 professional career. However, they are two main reasons why Reeves may be ranked lower on draft boards than most of his peers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>NBA Comparison<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As one of the older sharpshooters in the 2024 class, Reeves\u2019 game has shades of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/ryanma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Matt Ryan<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a 27-year-old wing whose two-year career has included stops with the Celtics, Lakers, Timberwolves, and Pelicans. Both are high-volume shooters who make their jumpers at a relatively high clip. However, they are also below-average defenders. Ryan\u2019s offensive focus has still earned him solid rotational minutes, and the same could hold true for Reeves.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>2024 NBA Draft Projection<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/news\/bleacher-report-bronny-james-makes-cut-full-2-round-mock-draft\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Potential second-round pick.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fifth-year players\u2014often referred to as \u201csuper seniors\u201d\u2014became a common sight in the NCAA this season with their extra year of eligibility due to the Covid pandemic. And, as Kentucky\u2019s Antonio Reeves proves, they\u2019re also going to be visible during the 2024 NBA Draft, joining the undergrads in the same pool of league hopefuls. Antonio Reeves [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":79987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,556],"tags":[49040,776,1566],"class_list":["post-79980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-nba-draft","tag-2024-nba-draft","tag-kentucky-wildcats","tag-draft-profile"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}