Caris LeVert Scouting Report: October 2014

Mandatory Credit: Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports

With the season just around the corner, I will be looking at some of the NCAA’s returning players who are projected to be first-round picks in the upcoming draft. The first player on the docket was Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein. Now it’s time to evaluate Michigan’s Caris LeVert.

Statistics

NBA Comparison

Jeremy Lamb

Scouting Report

Michigan has churned out a number of promising young NBA prospects over the last few years, and Caris LeVert is expected to be the next player in line.

After a quiet freshman season with the Wolverines, in which he averaged just 2.3 points in 10.8 minutes per game, LeVert broke out in a big way in 2013-2014. He bumped his scoring average to 12.9 points per game, good for the third highest on the team, and was a big reason why Michigan had the most efficient offense in the nation.

Now, though, the days of LeVert flying under the radar are gone. With the departure of Nik Stauskas and Glen Robinson III this summer, the gangly guard will be looked up to carry the torch for Michigan this season, and he’s hoping to use that opportunity as a spring board for the upcoming NBA Draft.

As of now, it’s almost a crapshoot where LeVert will wind up in the draft. Some have him in the middle of the first round, while others have him going in the lottery. His sophomore season was his coming out party, yet he’s far from a finished product. His physical strength is still a big hindrance to his game, which is why another year’s worth of development could do wonders for him in the long-run.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at how he performed last season to get an idea of where he could wind up in the draft.

Shooting

LeVert had a great season shooting from behind the arc. After making just 13 threes as a freshman, he knocked down 60 in 37 games in 2013-2014 and made them at a 40.8 percent clip. It helped him push his True Shooting Percentage up by 16 percent and his Effective Field Goal Percentage by 13 percent in only a year.

As of now, LeVert operates best as a spot-up shooter with his feet set. According to Draft Express, he was good for 1.37 points per possession in catch and shoot situations last season. He had four spots on the floor that he was particularly stout from (both corners and both free throw line extended wings) and was effective in a variety of ways — spotting up in transition or camping out on the wings for a kick-out from the guard.

LeVert has sound shooting mechanics, too, and he doesn’t need a lot of space to get his shot off thanks to his quick release. That forces defenders to play up on him, which opens up lanes to the basket.

However, LeVert wasn’t nearly as efficient once he put the ball on the floor, to the point where his mid-range game was almost non-existent. According to UM Hoops, he shot 29.7 percent on shots between the paint and 3-point line last season. The result: he was 0.7 points per possession worse off the dribble in comparison to catch and shoot situations.

A lot of that has to do with LeVert’s shot selection, as he would settle for tough looks with multiple players closing out on him or pull-ups from just inside the 3-point line after a quick crossover. There’s also a reoccurring theme with a lot of his misses (especially the bad ones): he doesn’t follow through, which prevents him from developing a consistent form.

There’s certainly reason to believe that it’s only a matter of time until LeVert adds that to his arsenal. If he is able to improve his mid-range game, it would do wonders for his overall development. He’s already a great 3-point shooter and he gets to the basket almost at will. Being able to get into the teeth of the defense and pull-up would be the final tick in the box.

Attacking The Basket

LeVert is very comfortable with the ball in his hands and he does a great job of getting to the rim in both pick-and-rolls and isolations. What makes him special is his ability to change speeds in the half court and the fact that he has a lighting quick first step that forces defenders to back off and give him space. He’s also very patient with the ball. LeVert is rarely out of control and he doesn’t try to force the issue by only looking for straight line drives to the basket. He’s capable of getting into the middle of the paint, crossing the ball over on a dime, and exploding to the rim heading in the opposite direction.

According to Shot Analytics, 10 percent of LeVert’s total offense came from isolations in 2013-2014. In those situations, Michigan scored 1.14 points per possession, ranking them in the 94th percentile in the country. LeVert, himself, ranked in the top 10 for both isolation and pick-and-roll scoring in the Big Ten.

While LeVert has the skills to excel when it comes to attacking the basket, his physical strength is a big factor holding him back from being more efficient around the rim. Stronger players knocked him off of his spot too easily last season, forcing him to settle for tough shots and floaters instead of going up strong. It also prevents him from catching the ball near the 3-point line in half-court sets when defenders are denying him the ball. Instead of pushing off and creating even a slither of space to catch the ball, he tends to float out between the half-court and 3-point line where nobody is guarding him. Because he’s not a threat out there (very few players are), defenders can afford to back off of him even more.

LeVert isn’t particularly explosive, either. Combine that with the fact that he shies away from contact and it makes it easy for opposing centers to block his shot. To add to that, he doesn’t have a great touch with his left hand. Because he doesn’t get a lot of lift on drives to the basket, it’s almost as though he rushes his shot, which coincidentally throws everything out of whack.

Assists

With a large chunk of LeVert’s offense coming from pick-and-rolls, it’s important that he can do a variety of things out of it. His shot off the dribble is a work in progress, but it’s promising that he can create his own looks in the scenario. Likewise, he could do with being more efficient around the rim, but he’s capable of routinely getting into the paint.

The final factor to that is LeVert’s ability to pass out of the pick-and-roll. While his 2.9 assists per game weren’t anything to gloat about, it ranked him second on the team, only slightly behind Nik Stauskas. With an increased role this season, that number should go up.

For now, though, it’s important that LeVert has shown the ability to create easy shot opportunities for others. He doesn’t just look to score on drives. If someone is open, he’ll look to give them the ball in their sweet spots, whether that is a kick out to a shooter on the wing or a dump down to a big in the paint. He’s also great in transition. Nearly a third of his total assists on the season came on the fastbreak, and he posted a 5.3:1 assist-to-turnover ratio in those situations, per UM Hoops.

Defense

LeVert isn’t a lockdown defender as this stage of his career but he has the potential to be a difference maker on that end of the court. He averaged 1.2 steals per game last season, due in large part to his ability to read passing lanes and use his 7-foot wingspan to disrupt plays.

More importantly, LeVert is constantly moving on defense. He still has ways to go as a one-on-one defender, but he does a good job of staying active and helping his teammates out by packing down the paint or making hustle plays.

In saying that, his strength (or lack there of) hurts him a big way on defense. He just can’t stop bigger and stronger players on post-ups and on drives to the basket. There were several occasions against Duke early on in the season where LeVert was forced to switch on to Jabari Parker. Even though there’s only a two-inch difference between the two, LeVert had absolutely no chance of slowing him down in the post.

There were also a few occasions when LeVert fell asleep ball watching and got caught either getting to close to the player he is guarding or not being in a low, defensive stance. It didn’t happen often but that’s because he wasn’t forced to guard players isolated at the top of the key or on the wings that often. That will change at the next level.

Overall

It’s impressive how much LeVert improved between his freshman and sophomore season. But now that Nik Stauskas and Glen Robinson III is gone, he’ll be thrusted into a commanding role this season — a new experience for him — and it will be on him to lead the Wolverines to victory.

If LeVert continues to build on last season’s success, he should be fit for the tall task at hand. Although he still has some glaring weaknesses, he showed flashes of brilliance in nearly every aspect of his game in 2013-2014, leaving room to believe that he can carry a bigger load on both ends of the court. Becoming more consistent is the next step, and bulking up would solve that problem in a big way. He added 20 pounds to his frame before his sophomore campaign and he has supposedly added another 15 to that this summer. He’s no longer the scrawny, 165 pound freshman who arrived on Michigan’s campus in 2012, and that should make a tremendous difference overall.

LeVert has a lot to prove in 2014-2015. If it all goes to plan, he’ll likely join former teammates Nik Stauskas and Trey Burke as recent Wolverines turned lottery picks. He certainly has the potential. Now it’s on him to convince us all why he’s deserving of the honor.

All statistics courtesy of KenPom, Draft Express and ESPN.