Despite highlight-reel plays, the Brooklyn rookie’s regression from deep and inconsistent defensive rotations currently mask his high-upside potential. Refining these fundamental skills remains vital for his rotation security.
Drake Powell showed some positive flashes throughout his rookie campaign, but glaring flaws in his game hindered his growth into a consistent contributor for the Brooklyn Nets.
Powell, a former North Carolina Tar Heel, was seen as a high-upside wing who can shoot the ball and defend the opposition's best perimeter scorer coming into last year's draft. Standing at 6-foot-5 with a 7-foot wingspan, he fits the typical wing archetype that every NBA team values.
Brooklyn jumped at the opportunity to add Powell to its roster by trading for his draft rights from the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team trade involving the Boston Celtics in last year's draft.
The 22nd pick posted a low usage rate at UNC (13.3%), and his role remains unchanged with the Nets, as he had a 15.5% usage rate. Most of Powell's opportunities came in the fast break or catch-and-shoot situations.
Powell excelled in the fast break, as he ran the lane and showcased his combine-best 43-inch vertical with highlight reel dunks. However, his three-point shooting lagged.
He shot 28% from three-point range on 2.9 attempts in his rookie year, which is a shocking regression from his Tar Heel days. Powell shot 37.9% from beyond the arc on 0.3 fewer attempts during his freshman campaign.
In the pick-and-roll, defenders could go under screens and purposefully give Powell the space to shoot. In catch-and-shoot scenarios, defenders wouldn't close out, as such a low-percentage shot from the 20-year-old rookie was a preferred outcome.
Erik Slater, host of the "Locked On Nets" podcast and the Nets' beat reporter for Clutch Points, highlighted that shooting improvement is helpful for Powell to create more advantages, especially as a low usage player.
"Shooting is obviously going to be important just for spacing purposes, as not just an on-ball player, but also for advantage creation for him, because he isn't a natural ball-handler advantage creator," Slater said.
A specific advantage Powell can create with an improved shot is attacking closeouts. Attacking a closeout provides the young wing a runway to rise over defenders and finish at the rim.
While shooting is a much-needed improvement for Powell, his off-ball awareness on defense must also get better.
Powell's height and wingspan can make him a pesky point-of-attack defender capable of defending the opposing team's primary scorer. He can close gaps and pressure the ball-handler enough to get the ball out of their hands.
However, he is often a step late in rotating or making the right plays off-ball. A lack of off-ball awareness can lead to easy backdoor cuts when Brooklyn's defense is rotating, and one helper fails to make the right rotation.
Lucas Kaplan, a writer for Nets Daily, noted in his appearance on the "Locked On Nets" podcast with Slater that Powell's defensive profile is mostly limited to his on-ball defensive capabilities.
"When you have a defensive profile based around like event creation, getting in the passing lanes, disrupting stuff, he was really only limited to being able to do that on the ball," Kaplan said.
Powell's length could allow him to become just as disruptive in the passing lanes as he is pesky on-ball. Further familiarizing himself with NBA defensive principles and processing quickly when to make rotations to help the helper can help improve his off-ball awareness.
The former Tar Heel's shooting and slow awareness on off-ball defense are hindering his growth as a player, but he has time to improve. He is 20 years old on a young Brooklyn roster, and improving those areas of his game could make him an underrated trade acquisition for the Nets.
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