Detroit Pistons 2021 NBA Draft: 5 Isolation scorers the Pistons could target

Detroit Pistons draft picks: NBA Draft prospect James Bouknight

Bouknight posted the follow numbers per game for this past season:

18.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.1 steals, 0.3 blocks

52.8 percent from two, 29.3 percent from three, 77.8 percent from the free throw line

Athletic, dynamic, explosive. Those are the three adjectives that come to mind for me when presenting Bouknight as a basketball player. He loves to get out and run, be aggressive, and drop the hammer on you at any moment.

Bouknight might be the most fun of these isolation guys to watch as he can handle and his instincts are to dunk on dudes. Whether operating in transition, in the pick-and-roll, as a cutter, or working his way to be an alley-oop threat Bouknight wants to get up and slam it. He shot 65.8 percent at the rim which very good for a guard who took a lot of shots

While his three-point shooting numbers from this past season are objectively bad, he is very comfortable getting into his jumper off the dribble. If you look at the amount of offense he created on his own, it is considerably higher than only a select few in this draft class.

Bouknight shouldered massive offensive responsibility at 31.6 usage and it did help the team get to the NCAA tournament with a 15-8 record. Bouknight missed time due to injury during the season and the team went 4-4 in his absence so there is some indication that although inefficient, Bouknight did elevate a mediocre team with his play.

There are also positive indicators for his shooting as he posted a career 80.2 percent clip from the free throw line across two years of college and he shot at least an average 34.7 percent from three last season on 2.6 attempts. Many evaluators have said he took a ton of tough and contested shots and as a result his percentage from three suffered this year. These numbers suggest this may be correct and Bouknight will shoot it better when his looks are cleaner.

As has been the theme of the deficiencies of these iso scorers so far, however, Bouknight posted just 27 assists to 42 turnovers. His lack of passing coupled with his need to dominate the ball are major red flags. He only had two games last season where he managed to dish out more than two assists. And on the flipside he had ten games where he posted three or more turnovers.

This more than anything is what may sink his NBA future. Yes he can score, but if he can’t use that to get his teammates easy shots and if he continues to turn the ball over at a high rate, then he will not have an NBA future.

I suggest you all watch Mike Schmitz of ESPN’s film session of Bouknight, though, as he does tackle these criticisms to his game and acknowledges all of them and addresses what he plans to do about them in the future. Not lacking whatsoever in self-awareness and the ability to handle criticism Bouknight at least understand what he has to work on.

If you want the Detroit Pistons to draft the most exciting scorer in this class then Bouknight definitely is in contention for that spot.