Judah Mintz: 2023 NBA Draft Scouting Report

A true point guard with an unproven 3-point stroke, Mintz is looking to be the exception to the rule and make it as an undersized primary threat

Box score numbers are a good starting place to see or feel the impact of an individual. Advanced metrics, per-minute or per-possession numbers do a lot more to illustrate the productivity of a player. But my favorite stats to find are the ones where a certain statistical category tends to translate to team success.

With Judah Mintz, there was such a correlation between his ability to create for others/ take care of the ball and how the team fared.

Syracuse went 1-7 when he had 2 or fewer assists.

Syracuse went 10-1 when he had 2 or fewer turnovers.

The freshman guard from Oak Hill and the DMV area was the engine for the Syracuse Orange last season. As he went, so went the fightin’ Boeheims. Frankly, I don’t know if I’ve seen a worst-spaced offense in a high-major conference than the one I saw this year with the Orange. They played two non-shooting bigs, kept one of them in or near the lane at all times, and had little-to-no predictability with the placement of the other two players.

For a freshman guard like Mintz to make it through that spacing, as a guard who wasn’t a major threat to stroke it from beyond the 3-point line, with a nearly two-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio is pretty damn impressive. That context frames the rest of the evaluation for me. Mintz hasn’t put up the gaudiest numbers or the most impressive tape. But he’s a tremendously skilled passer whose game could pop a hell of a lot more when surrounded by good players in a well-spaced scheme.

I’ve admittedly fallen in love with Mintz. There’s something about his shiftiness, the tight handle he possesses, and how elusive he is on the interior that I’m drawn to in an undersized guard. Mintz is listed at 6’3” but that feels generous. Yet he has a sensational floater, a reliable mid-range pull-up, and is unafraid of charging into contact.

He just plays at a pace that is difficult to predict and stay in front of. He’s a really smart basketball player.

Mintz is testing the draft waters without a firm commitment to stay in the 2023 class. It remains to be seen what type of feedback he’ll receive and if it is best for him to remain in the draft or go back to college and devleop there. It’s a key decision for Mintz to get right, as undersized point guards without a ton of defensive versatility are really rare in the modern NBA.

Essentially, Judah has the next three months to convince teams that he can be the exception. He hopes that, with shooting improvement from deep, he can be a well-rounded pick-and-roll threat who combines great passing with scoring from anywhere.

Coming from Syracuse, where he played exclusively in a 2-3 zone, he’s a tough defensive prospect to predict. Mintz has long arms and uses them well, but he certainly isn’t big enough to be switchable. Workout settings, combine games, and the measurables will likely be scrutinized to determine if Mintz has what it takes to be a solid point guard defender. Without those skills, he’s a really hard guy to take in the first round due to the shooting question marks.