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Player Dariq Whitehead

best4heisman said:
Apparently off the dribble creation was the main reason he was so highly rated. I heard one scout say that they were surprised he excelled as a catch and shoot guy.
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He looked amazing in every way in every HS game I watched. I'm still baffled by who he was this year. I do think his halfcourt creating was considered "an area to grow", but it was more not having a ton of juicy moves rather than dribbling off of his foot.

The weirdest thing to me was how his freak athleticism just seemed to be gone. This clip isn't anything special, but you can at least see the extra gear of easy acceleration that he never had at Duke. Almost seemed like he gained too much weight or something.

 
I wasn't at all surprised by the great shooting and was baffled that scouts questioned his shooting ability. I do think he may struggle with the farther NBA line though. He jumps way too high on his shot, which I think will limit the distance he can shoot from due to poor energy transfer. .
 
As for the athleticism, I remember watching him in high school and thinking he might be one of our best athletes ever. He could be a blur in the open court and was a great leaper. He had that effortless "seeming to glide like he was made entirely of liquid" thing on his jumps that I've only really ever seen from Michael Jordan and Gerald Henderson.

AJ had the same issue at Duke. At times he looked like a 50-year-old man out there, and then he'd suddenly grab a rebound two feet above the cylinder.
 


Sophomore bouncy Riq was different than the one we saw at Duke. The injury definitely seemed to be playing a part mentally/physically. We’ll see if he can gain his explosiveness back overtime. Always knew he was a good catch and shoot guy. But he’s always played with really good players to get good (open) shots off. He’s got a solid build for the NBA and should be able to hold his own on defense. He is TO prone and can take questionable shots at time but the talent is there no question. I wish him well in the league, hope he can stick! Will be curious to see how his early career pans out.
 
I'd probably draft him mid/late teens based solely on his 3 and D floor plus the hope that he can recover his HS athleticism and overall game. There was legit speculation that he could be a #1 overall type of talent year ago (in a non Wemby year), and it didn't seem crazy. We were non-ironically comparing him to MJ.
 
Grit said:
His shot is textbook and aesthetic. The highlight videos in conjunction with reports about him make me feel like he's going to be the ultimate role-player. It just doesn't look like he can create much other than dribbling into a pullup. That's not bad, but he doesn't seem like the guy you create offense through.
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I never really got the top of his class hype with him, although I thought his college floor was a valuable starter as a 3 and D guy and a good team player.

If you include far 2s with his 3s, his distance shooting was around 39% on about 150 total shots. I'm not sure what I expect out of him going forward. His injuries didn't seem impactful enough for him to lumber around like a 15 year NBA vet throughout his first year in college. Maybe he was just pushing himself to get back on the court before his body was ready.

I wouldn't be excited about my team drafting him before pick 20, but I wish him the best.
 
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