Blake Wesley: 2022 NBA Draft Scouting Report
With raw athletic talent, Wesley has an incredibly high ceiling. A lot of work is needed to get him there, though.
Drafting is kind of like buying a house. You can look for the perfect, move-in-ready home with a modern interior, all the bells and whistles, is in the right neighborhood and needs very little work done. Those properties are costly, aren’t around often, and those who have them don’t want to let go.
On the other end of the spectrum, you can also buy into an up-and-coming neighborhood, snag a fixer-upper and get to work. When evaluating a house like that, you’re not paying a ton of attention to the paint on the walls, the shape of the floors, the quality of the appliances in the kitchen. What you look for are the bones of the house, the structure and the pieces that can’t be replaced. Then, after examining your budget and the areas that need to be fixed, you make a projection for what the house is worth and if you’re the right person to undertake the renovation.
Many freshmen one-and-dones are fixer-uppers; some more than others. The elite guys like Paolo Banchero, Jabari Smith and Chet Holmgren are million-dollar homes: only a select few can buy into that section of town. Then there are others, guys like Blake Wesley from Notre Dame, who have all the structural tools to turn into a million-dollar home someday if they’re given the right overhauls and finishing touches.
Like any renovation project, Wesley is going to take time before he’s going to return value, but it should be clear from the outset that Wesley has a ton of value to deliver.
At 6’5” with absurdly long arms and a great feel as a ball handler, Wesley is a unique talent on both ends. His offensive game is built around his pull-up jumper and cagey rim attacks. He’s smart with how he attacks off the catch, knives through traffic and gets to his spots for pull-ups.
What we see in Wesley is a player with three-level scoring potential… once he makes a few tweaks to his game. His finishing isn’t at the level it needs to be at, both due to strength and a few flaws with his takeoff point. Wesley is a smooth but not explosive athlete; with a 6’11” wingspan, what he has will suffice. He just needs to learn how to play on a court where he’s below-average athletically; he’s been one of the best athletes on every court almost his entire life.
Still, the pull-up jumper is the most appealing part of his package. It has range to 3-point land, offsets some of those finishing worries and easily translates to a lead role in isolations or out of the pick-and-roll. Combine that with underrated ball screen passing (and an unselfish overall demeanor) and Wesley can be a primary option as a perimeter creator.
We’re also quite high on Wesley’s defensive ceiling. The length makes him a menace in passing lanes, where his overall basketball instincts shine through, and in ball hawking smaller guards. Again, there are areas to clean up, but he was the best defender on a wretched Notre Dame team. He’s brimming with two-way upside, enough that he gets a mid-first-round grade from us:
The upside is apparent, but none of it matters without a plan for how to improve the areas necessary to get him on an NBA floor. Think of this as our remodeling plan for if we were to purchase a fixer-upper. What would we touch first? What needs a complete overhaul? And what can stay the same and will be elevated by everything else improving, or just needs cosmetic tweaks?