Frank Ntilikina Scouting Report

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Frank Ntilikina

Date of Birth: July 28th, 1998

Position: Point Guard

College: International

Measurements: 6’5, 170 lbs

 

Strengths:

Frank Ntilikina has great length for the point guard position. He has a solid shot and can extend it to the three-point line. This year, Ntilikina shot an impressive 39% from deep. He also can put the ball down and take it to the hole. With his long strides and quick first step, he is able to get by defenders with ease.

You can see some of what I’m talking about in the video below of Frank Ntilikina’s workout in Carmelo Anthony’s gym:

Now, obviously that is just workout tape and not actual game action, but you can still see his capabilities from the way he attacks the basket. Frank Ntilikina has a high offensive potential and should have no problem fitting in as long as the shot carries over.

Frank is also a very solid defender. He accumulated 0.74 STL/G when averaging only 18.6 MIN/G in all leagues this season. He had some pretty impressive steals and showed that he could guard the 1 and 2 positions.

Weaknesses:

Frank Ntilikina is a point guard without exceptional handles. He loses the ball too often because of that fact. When you watch Ntilikina play, you’ll notice how upright his posture is. It is extremely important to play low to the ground, especially if you are supposed to be a 6’5 point guard. Opposing point guards with quick hands will have a field day with stealing the ball from him if he doesn’t fix that.

Ntilikina is a solid play-maker at this point as well as he is a solid slasher. He is not extremely good in either facet though. He’ll need to change that. Frank will be able to make an impact when he comes to the NBA if he is awarded starter’s minutes, but it is very likely that he could make an impact as MCW did in Philly where it isn’t necessarily a good impact for the team. Frank is definitely a much better shooter than MCW, but we just don’t have a big enough sample size from Ntilikina to be sure that he is the real thing.

Risks:

Frank Ntilikina is the top international prospect in this draft. Given the fact that we weren’t able to see him in college, it has to be considered a risk to take him. Not enough of eyes were on him consistently like they were on players that went to college. He rarely saw the floor and when he did, he didn’t get the kind of opportunities that would’ve been available in the U.S. to showcase his skills.

Interesting Stat:

Frank Ntilikina did not record more than 6 assists in any game this year.

Comparison:

Jordan Crawford

If you don’t remember how Jordan Crawford really played, then you have to remind yourself before critiquing this comparison. Crawford was a talented scorer who was able to create his own and play the shooting guard or point guard position. He was never considered a true point guard, but could run an offense at times. Ntilikina is a smarter and more talented play-maker, but has the same type of abilities on the offensive end. If Ntilikina’s defense translates well, then he should have no problem having a longer and better career than Crawford.

Draft Prediction:

Between Picks 8 and 12

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