JUSTIN EDWARDS SCOUTING REPORT | 2024 NBA Draft | Kentucky Wildcats

#Kentucky wing Justin Edwards had an up-and-down season after joining the Wildcats as a five-star recruit, but history tells us he might still be a first round pick in the 2024 #NBADraft. How can he stick in the #NBA?

Make sure to leave a COMMENT… and, if you enjoyed the video, LEAVE A LIKE and SUBSCRIBE! FOLLOW ME on Twitter @wilkomcv and TikTok @floornceiling for more content!

Contact: wilkomartinez@gmail.com
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@floornceiling

///

Credit:
– “Benz” – Yung Kartz
– “Warzone” – Anno Domini Beats
– ESPN
– CBS
– FOX Sports
– NCAA

///

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:15 Background and pre-season expectations
1:35 Midrange scoring
3:00 Three-point shooting
6:05 Finishing
7:55 Off-ball value
9:15 Playmaking
10:30 Defense
13:05 NBA Draft projection and Takeaway

after a lackluster freshman year how
does Justin edwards’s NBA draft stock
look like this is Florence ceiling let’s
break him
down coming into the season Justin
Edwards was heralded as one of the best
prospects in his draft class the Philly
born Wing was a former five-star recruit
who was wanted by the g-league ignite
amongst others before choosing Kentucky
Edwards was a top three player in his
high school class and he was in the top
five of my preseason mock draft the cell
on him was an athletic wing with NBA
positional size and athleticism who
could score and handle both in the half
court and in transition but instead
during his freshman season edwards’s
concerns Rose to the forfront his handle
was extremely shaky he struggled to beat
Defenders and for most of the Season he
was pretty
disappointing the Kentucky Wing only
played about half of his team’s total
minutes and he averaged nine points and
three rebounds per game on low
usage in a vacuum edwards’s freshman
year was not terrible he stayed
efficient he finished the season strong
and he had flashes across levels and on
both ends of the floor however I think
it’s safe to say that a lot more was
expected
still come this summer I would not be
shocked at all if Edwards was still a
first round pick after all we have
plenty of recent examples of top high
school prospects who were underwhelming
in college and still went in the top
30 before the start of the season I
thought that one of edwards’ strengths
was his mid-range
scoring at 6’7 with a 610 wingspan
Edwards has good size at the wing and
previously he’d shown real skill pulling
up coming from high school into college
I’m not sure that he did exactly what
was
advertised a big part of that for sure
is definitely that he played relatively
few minutes with all of them coming
outside of a focal role so at least the
Saving Grace to be pointed out here is
that it’s undeniable that Edwards was
efficient he made more than 45% of his
two-point jumpers as a freshman but of
course this is where we should point out
that he went 25 for 55 which is an
unreliable low
sample overall though I like how Edwards
can keep it simple he’s not a ball
stopper and he can shoot a little bit on
the move with some solid footwork the
Kentucky Prospect should also be able to
attack off the catch and then pull up
seeing as how the Lefty shooter has some
solid touch
going forward I will want to see more
from 3 Because as we’re about to dive
into this is an area where Edwards did
not show that much growth while in
college in my preseason notes I had
written down that the former five-star
recruit was much better spotting up from
Deep rather than off the
dribble this really held true because
all of edwards’s 3es this season were
assisted he closed the here shooting 37%
from Deep which is pretty solid but
again on lower volume than I would like
to
see however I think there was an effort
to at least add more threes to edwards’s
shot diet which I can
appreciate for the most part despite not
taking that many threes he lived up to
his end of the bargain and he continued
to prove that he can make these easy
relatively simple spot up
looks from there we also saw how he can
attack
Closeouts there are some translatable
pieces here to how he can drive in a
straight line but it is also true that
Edwards is looking to go left every
single time and his handle continues to
need plenty of
work now I understand that this would
not be a flashy outcome but just being a
Dependable floor spacer at his size and
with his background should give Edwards
NBA looks for a very long time
however I also see a couple of pretty
evident
limitations the first one which is not
as worrying but I think exists is that
Edwards cannot space the floor that deep
what I mean by that is that his range
looks kind of limited sometimes he
doesn’t space all the way out to three
and then his looks from Beyond The Arc
are almost always very
straightforward another Prospect at the
Someone Like jacobe Walter maybe ended
his season on more of a slump from three
but I could see the versatility of his
shots and how they were simply not
falling Edwards on the other hand is
very reliant on easier catch and shoot
looks for the most part maybe he will
lift to the wing and the threes that he
misses are makeable but he’s not running
out of screens rising out of movement or
making the defense pay far beyond the
three-point line
on top of that there’s also the matter
of Edwards being unable to create his
own shot from three now this is not a
requirement to be an NBA Wing but I did
find it somewhat surprising that a top
three wing in his class scored no
unassisted threes all freshman
year more than anything though I think
this might speak to how edwards’s
decision making was very limited All
Season he was kept in a narrow role
where basically he did not have to worry
about creating for himself or his
teammates all that
much getting closer to the rim I thought
that Edwards was a mixed
bag statistically he was pretty solid
converting 64% of his close twos and
adding up 20 dunks for the season
Edwards is a good not great athlete and
even though he is one-dimensional as a
ball handler going left he will still
have his moments driving and
finishing like I just said Edwards will
always want to go in One Direction but I
do think they could be something there
with his size handle and willingness to
get physical if not against a set
defense then this should at least have
some uses in transition or against a
scrambling
defense but despite the efficiency and
the projection I’m not feeling all that
good just yet about edwards’s finishing
he always has one option in mind because
he’s left-handed to an almost ridiculous
extent so NBA defenses should pick up on
this very quickly which will then be
problematic for
Edwards beyond that the Kentucky
Prospect has a loadup to his jump and I
thought he looked way more athletic in
high school at Kentucky in short spaces
he often struggled to finish overlength
he never really played Above the Rim in
traffic and I never really loved his
touch either as he missed some really
easy
shots you could definitely say that
Edwards lacks Shake everything comes
left and he straight line and otherwise
he doesn’t have
counters and finally Edwards does not
get to the line enough he took only 49
free throws All Season which is
definitely uninspiring for a 6’7 Score
first
Wing So how else can Edwards contribute
well it goes back to playing off the
ball like we saw with his spot up
shooting Edwards is a smart cutter who
pays attention to when his Defender
turns his back or starts ball
watching I commented earlier that
Edwards can struggle to finish Above the
Rim in traffic but he’s much better when
he’s moving downhill into
space the Kentucky Wing had 20 dunks for
his freshman year being able to cut out
of the corner to finish lobs but Edwards
could also play around the dunker spot
taking advantage of good guard
play looking down the road I think the
Hope should be for Edwards to play the
four in some smaller lineups and ideally
he would then be able to leverage his
positional size to use his hands Above
the Rim and either finish or
rebound Edwards averaged a little more
than one offensive board per game this
season so I think his goal should be to
maintain that figure over over the next
few years if Edwards keeps adding value
off the ball then I think he should fit
in nicely as a rookie who can contribute
on a low volume of touches despite not
necessarily being the best
shooter one area where I’m not sure that
the former McDonald’s All-American ever
truly adds value is with his
playmaking here the numbers are pretty
indicative of the story Edwards averaged
less than one assist and less than one
turnover per game he had a total of 30
assists in 32 games which is really low
but to his credit he also kept his
turnovers to a bare minimum putting up
just 27 for his entire freshman
campaign a lot of those turnovers had
more to do with his handle rather than
with his passing as well so all of this
goes back to something that I mentioned
earlier with edwards’ spot-up shooting
at Kentucky the five-star Wing barely
had to make decisions Edwards pretty
much only needed to score and that was
reflected with his facilitating or lack
thereof I didn’t see anything leading me
to believe that edwards’s passing has
not been tapped into but I do worry that
one he is not a good enough scorer to be
singularly focused on that especially in
the NBA and two once he makes step up to
the next level he will need to make more
decisions on the floor
Justin Edwards will likely be a passable
Defender even though his season was
mixed at Best in 32 total games he had
35 Steals and blocks combined which
averages out to about 0.2 blocks and 0.9
steals per game at his best we see a
picture of Edwards as a long active
Defender both on and off the
ball Edwards is a a decent solid enough
athlete who measures well and whenever
he’s engaged he can definitely make some
plays I’m not sure that he was
challenged enough on defense during his
sole season at Kentucky but he
definitely will be someone that NBA
teams put on wings so I’m curious to see
how much Edwards will truly hold up even
though it might be a struggle at first
it’s worth keeping in mind that in many
ways he’s still moldable on this end of
the floor
away from the ball Edwards can use his
wingspan to dig into loose handles or
snatch up undisciplined
passes we saw him get some steals in the
passing Lanes but make no mistake he was
not a plus Defender by any
stretch throughout the season there were
plenty of moments where I was left
disappointed by edwards’s production and
engagement level he got lost off the
ball way too much in turn that meant
late reactions and an effective
defense Edwards has okay defensive tools
but they’re actually yet to play out in
reality for instance he should honestly
be much more fruitful as the low man or
whenever he’s rotating in from the weak
side instead the Kentucky Wing was sort
of a sleepy Defender who generally let
the action bypass him on this side of
the
[Music]
ball another issue that popped up this
time on the ball is that Edwards fouls
too
much since he only played 21 minutes per
game this was not an issue but he did
pick up more than five fouls per 100
possessions more than anything I think
Edwards struggles to navigate screens
and he’s also not that great of an
athlete from a strength or speed or
balance-based
standpoint overall I’m confident that he
should not be a liability NBA teams
should like what he has to offer
position
and even though he’s no longer the most
enticing prospect there are guys like
Justin Edwards who stick around in the
league after every
draft Justin Edwards did not live up to
his preseason hype but he did end his
season on a strong note I think recent
draft history proves that Edwards should
still go towards the end of the first
round he has a safe-ish floor playing
off the ball but you are hoping for a
higher ceiling with a blend of
three-level shot making athleticism and
two-way positional tools as always if
you enjoyed this video make sure to
leave a like make sure to leave a
comment telling me what you think of
Justin Edwards and as always if you
enjoy the channel make sure to subscribe
take care and I’ll catch you guys next
time