Detroit Pistons NBA Draft: Vrenz Bleijenbergh is similar to Lonzo Ball

Detroit Pistons draft picks: NBA Draft prospect Vrenz Bleijenbergh

I make the Pokusevski comparison both for the good and the bad as Bleijenbergh is also very raw and may require time to maximize his mismatch potential as a six foot ten guard. I will say the difference between he and Pokusevski is that Bleijenbergh’s shooting and pick-and-roll abilities have actually been shown to work under live fire.

Yet, Bleijenbergh’s overall field goal percentage is incredibly low at 37.9 percent. While we see he put up a lot of threes and hit them at a passable rate, he only took 131 shots inside the arc and hit 59 of them. While that translates to 45.0 percent—which should seem okay—film study shows a player who struggles finishing and at times is outmuscled.

And really his overall shooting profile shows a younger player still working on being consistent. In 31 games in the Pro Basketball League he posted splits of 42.7 percent from two, 32.3 percent from three, and 72.1 percent from the line. In the 10 games of Eurocup competition however, he shot 53.6 percent from two, 37.5 percent from three, and 52.6 percent from the free throw line.

He is a shooter first, but has yet to figure out how to translate his guard skills into being more of a threat inside the arc. Yes, part of this is team role as he was asked to be a floor spacer, but still when given the opportunities to take the ball and make something happen in the half-court he is still a work in progress.

His slight frame also rears its head on the defensive side of the ball as well. He was posted up pretty easily at times last season, although he never backed down from the fight and gave great effort even though he lacked base strength. He won’t have to worry about this as much in the NBA, but there are quite a few wings here that can just run him over if he can’t add core and lower body strength.