With Summer League wrapped up, I wanted to discuss Nate Ament and how he moves forward from here. Ament is certainly one of the more difficult prospect evaluations I’ve ever done (not that I’m some expert in this space) because he is a truly unique archetype insofar as he has me thinking “OK, this is certainly a unique skillset, but it doesn’t currently translate to winning basketball player; how does he get there?” To start, I think the most prudent thing to do is to lay out what I believe are his strengths
and weaknesses right now.
Player breakdown
Strengths
- Spot-up shooting/attacking hard closeouts
- Bodying smaller defenders and shooting over them
- Handling the ball in the full-court (context dependant)
- Catching lobs
Weaknesses
- Consistently beating guys off the dribble in the half court
- Finishing around the rim
- Being a plus defender (on or off-ball)
- Reading the floor well in traffic/limiting turnovers
Which of these weaknesses can be improved upon?
Beating guys off the dribble
I’d bet against Ament ever being able to consistently beat guys off the dribble; he’s just too stiff, and he doesn’t have “shake.” Because of his size and skillset, Ament has drawn comparisons to Kevin Durant, but that thing that makes Durant so lethal is his ability to shake defenders out of their shoes with violent crossovers—Ament has never really had that at any level.
Now, what I will say is that Ament does have surprisingly solid dribbling ability and overall coordination at his size—that, at least, is somewhat Durant-like. He really does have the ability to handle the ball and not look out of place. Now, against legit NBA full-court pressure? No. But he flashed some advanced coordination, and that is one of the main attributes I hope is utilised in practice along with when he inevitably goes down to the G League next season. This is a player who, while he can play off-ball, also needs reps with the ball in hand to maximise his development. Maybe it never becomes a plus NBA skill of his, but the Bucks should absolutely experiment with that.
Rim finishing
This is an area where I think Ament can certainly improve, but it might just take some time. I mean, he just looked so skinny at Summer League that this one might be a slow burn, but I don’t see why he couldn’t become a much better rim finisher as his body develops. Ament’s poor rim finishing numbers at college are also contextualised by him having two teammates crowding the paint at all times; the spacing on that Tennessee team was truly horrid. The one thing that does give me pause was the number of layups that seemed to just roll off the rim in Vegas with pretty minimal pressure; it made no sense how he could have missed some of those shots at point-blank range while being so tall (and thus close to the hoop when he shot them). One to monitor.
Being a plus defender
Yes, Ament can certainly become a plus defender; he just has to learn technique. He’s got excellent dimensions for it, but has no clue how to use any of his attributes right now. His off-ball defence was really poor in Vegas—losing sight of his man, failing to switch onto ball-handlers—and his shot-blocking/altering ability was strangely underwhelming for a player that size as well.
His on-ball defence was somewhat better, but still not where it needs to be to step on an NBA court. There were lots of what I like to call “fake hustle” possessions, where he got too close to the ball-handler because he was trying to show effort and intent—which I love, don’t get me wrong—but then the defender sped right past him because he reached for the ball and/or allowed his momentum to go too far forward. Giannis, ironically, was a serial offender in this category (and it actually got worse as he got older, funnily enough).
The best defenders can apply pressure to the ball-handler without letting them get past either; there are a bunch of tricks regarding how to do that, but the biggest one is keeping your hands out of the cookie jar and focusing on moving your feet. It’s a skill that needs to be developed over a few years, but Ament has a body type that should allow him to become good on D, whereas there are other body types where it’s near impossible.
Reading the floor in traffic/limiting turnovers
I think there is certainly some room to cut the fat here regarding some of the outright horrendous turnovers, such as when he just threw it to nobody; improved strength will help him avoid being stripped. With all that said, part of the reason I doubt Ament will ever be a primary initiator is that I don’t see him developing advanced passing skills. For example, I don’t see him ever being able to read the low man in a pick-and-roll and distinguish between passing to the roller and the opposite corner shooter; I’m optimistic he can make basic short roll reads, but that’s probably the extent of it. Does that limit his ceiling? Yeah, it does.
The path to NBA minutes as a rookie
To reuse a term, I think the first order of business for Ament in his rookie year will be cutting the fat out of his game. If (and it’s a big “if”) he can demonstrate that he can be passable on defence, there might be a role for him for 8-12 minutes per night just playing as a complementary piece because of his ability to stretch the floor. If I were him, I’d be on the coaches non-stop about the defensive part.
From there, he needs to build his ability to attack closeouts and make simple plays. Also, perfect ancillary skills, like learning to screen and read the on-ball defender. Are they switching? If so, can I slip to the rim and catch them off guard? Are they going over the screen? If so, what’s the best screening angle to get the guard going downhill? Put simply, Ament’s ticket to early NBA minutes will be nailing the basics and playing off others. Once he’s done that, he can build.
Player projections
Given everything I just laid out, the player I think Ament should be modeling his game after is Jabari Smith Jr. Despite having limited on-ball shake, Smith can play 40 minutes in a playoff game because he takes nothing away from his team. He provides spacing on offence, making the stars’ lives easier, but can also body his opponents and get to his (admittedly limited) bag of pull-up jumpers as a Plan B. Crucially, he’s also an excellent defender with elite toughness, size, and instincts. To me, this sounds like a player-type Ament could realistically become one day, though I’m unsure about him ever becoming as strong as Smith.
If you’re looking for someone more in Ament’s weight division—and this is a high-end outcome, to be clear—I see similarities between him and Jaden McDaniels, a secondary creator who works a lot in the mid-range; now, McDaniels is an elite point-of-attack defender, which Ament most definitely is not right now, but it’s not inconceivable that he gets there. McDaniels was definitely not seen that way coming out of Washington.
Of course—and I hate to mention it—there are also outcomes where Ament becomes Perry Jones. Yes, he is something of a lottery ticket, but one I would take again given 1) the upside of this pick “if it hits,” and 2) me not loving many of the other names on the board for various reasons (small guards, non-shooting wings, undersized and/or injury-prone centres, etc.)
Brew Hoop fam, let me know what you think of my Nate Ament breakdown.
