James Bouknight Film Breakdown | The Boneyard

James Bouknight Film Breakdown

Am I the only one that can vision Bouk excelling as a point guard in the NBA?

He has the size, speed, vision, can pass, provide spacing and would be able to rebound well as a point guard. Of course he has to improve his ball handling (e.g. splitting double teams), but he has a strong foundation.

The 2 guard in the NBA is very crowded, with a lot of good players, but the point guard position seems to be a good path for Bouk.
 
Kitaman said:
Am I the only one that can vision Bouk excelling as a point guard in the NBA?

He has the size, speed, vision, can pass, provide spacing and would be able to rebound well as a point guard. Of course he has to improve his ball handling (e.g. splitting double teams), but he has a strong foundation.

The 2 guard in the NBA is very crowded, with a lot of good players, but the point guard position seems to be a good path for Bouk.
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It’s hard to picture now, but I definitely think he could if improves his passing/ball handling a little, but that just wasn’t his role at UConn. He talks about that in this breakdown a little bit. Curious to see the role he fills on an NBA team because at UConn it was mainly go get us a bucket.

One of my favorite parts of this breakdown which is honestly something i’ve never thought of was when they were talking about how he could fit well into any offense, which a lot of players can’t do. Some guys need to have the ball in their hands at all times and some guys need to always be off the ball, so I would imagine we see a combo of both from him. He definitely is one of the more versatile players at his position I would say.

It’s hard for me to picture him becoming a true point guard because that’s just not how he played here, but I think he will definitely be more of a combo guard where he can play on and off the ball if he continues to develop PG skills.
 
Kitaman said:
Am I the only one that can vision Bouk excelling as a point guard in the NBA?

He has the size, speed, vision, can pass, provide spacing and would be able to rebound well as a point guard. Of course he has to improve his ball handling (e.g. splitting double teams), but he has a strong foundation.

The 2 guard in the NBA is very crowded, with a lot of good players, but the point guard position seems to be a good path for Bouk.
Expand ...
Not sure that is the right position for him. Whenever he got double teamed he turned the ball over pretty quickly.
 
It's going to be interesting to see how NBA GMs weigh the pros and cons.

Pros:
  • terrific athleticism/quickness/efficiency of movement
  • crafty handle and shotmaking/finishing
  • good rebounder for his position

So-so:
  • Pure outside shooting
  • Passing/court vision

Cons:
  • slender/fragile/questionable physical toughness
  • hasn't shown much as a leader
  • defense not yet up to par for the NBA
 
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I could see him as a point similar to how Denver uses Jamal Murray. Needs to work on his shot a bit but he’s stupid athletic so he could pull it off.
 
Kitaman said:
Am I the only one that can vision Bouk excelling as a point guard in the NBA?

He has the size, speed, vision, can pass, provide spacing and would be able to rebound well as a point guard. Of course he has to improve his ball handling (e.g. splitting double teams), but he has a strong foundation.

The 2 guard in the NBA is very crowded, with a lot of good players, but the point guard position seems to be a good path for Bouk.
Expand ...

There's no reason he can't be a secondary playmaker (nearly every good team has two) but I don't ever see him being a point guard. That doesn't mean he can't run 20 PnRs a game. I've said since last year that Jamal Murray is my comp and I think that'd be the ideal way for an NBA team to use him, though not every team has Jokic as their #1 option.

As a rookie--and this all depends on his situation and which team he goes to--I think he'll play mostly offball as a catch-and-shoot/attack closeouts kind of player with a little PnR here and there. I think they'll continue to work on it and it's something he's more likely to excel at in a couple of years, but the potential is certainly there.
 
Kitaman said:
Am I the only one that can vision Bouk excelling as a point guard in the NBA?

He has the size, speed, vision, can pass, provide spacing and would be able to rebound well as a point guard. Of course he has to improve his ball handling (e.g. splitting double teams), but he has a strong foundation.

The 2 guard in the NBA is very crowded, with a lot of good players, but the point guard position seems to be a good path for Bouk.
Expand ...
He struggled with ball handling this past year. But he can always work on it and improve.
 
Yeah I definitely see him as a Devin Booker type. Played almost exclusively the 2 in college. When he gets in the NBA, will initiate the offense a bunch once he has a few years into the league. And then if the team gets a primary playmaker, he can slot back into more of a 2 role with secondary initiation.
 
Even as a middle of the road outlook he could be Jeremy Lamb. Solid 6th man/borderline starter who makes a nice long career for himself...not a bad scenario
 
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huskiesNhoos said:
Even as a middle of the road outlook he could be Jeremy Lamb. Solid 6th man/borderline starter who makes a nice long career for himself...not a bad scenario
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I think JLamb is a great comparison.
 
Without the double and triple teams he saw much of this season, he is going to score bunches of points in the NBA. He has a good work ethic and abundant innate skills.
 
LIuconn said:
JLamb has made around $51M in his career
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Lamb's a good nba player. Star? No. A good bench scorer on a good team. Starter on a bad team. I think Bouknight can be a bit better though due to his motor. Lamb has a very relaxed game. Bouknight seems more active. I'd take him in Boston over Langford and Nesmith, that's for sure.
 
I feel like most of us on here are downplaying how good Bouk is. We are all forgetting he just started playing basketball like 6 years ago, and look at how good he is already. The kid is still learning, he's a baby fawn out there on the court. He has TONS of untapped potential, and he will have the right guidance in the NBA to untap that all. He will be a star.
 
Kitaman said:
Am I the only one that can vision Bouk excelling as a point guard in the NBA?

He has the size, speed, vision, can pass, provide spacing and would be able to rebound well as a point guard. Of course he has to improve his ball handling (e.g. splitting double teams), but he has a strong foundation.

The 2 guard in the NBA is very crowded, with a lot of good players, but the point guard position seems to be a good path for Bouk.
Expand ...

You’re not the only one but you aren’t really right. He doesn’t have the vision or passing with both hands to be able to play the point very well right now. His decision-making is his worst quality—and that is the most important trait in a PG. I mean, he averaged more TOs than assists both years in college.
 
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husky429 said:
You’re not the only one but you aren’t really right. He doesn’t have the vision or passing with both hands to be able to play the point very well right now. His decision-making is his worst quality—and that is the most important trait in a PG. I mean, he averaged more TOs than assists both years in college.
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Nailed it. Too many folks think athletic skills = position and that the NBA is somehow easier than college. Most guys who successfully played PG in college struggle adapting to the NBA (PG hardest position to learn), so trying to convert a SG to PG isn't realistic until much further down the line. Anyone suggesting drafting Bouknight as a PG would be shown the door.

There are a lot of really great PGs in the NBA right now; Curry, Dame, Irving, TYoung, Fox, LameloB, 2 x Murray, Simmons, Conley, Holiday, Sexton, Morant, Lowry, Wall. It is actually way deeper than the SG position and more crowded at the top. For example in PER, Jeremy Lamb is the 17th best SG at 17.23PER, whereas Kemba is the 27th ranked PG at 17.20PER. Bouknight is a SG in the NBA for the foreseeable future.
 
He’s a wing.....basketball is positionless. Only a handful of traditional PGs left. He’s a combo guard
 
This video is interesting because Bouknight is the most “mysterious” of all the star players we’ve had. He never gives extended interviews like this. I thought it was interesting that he said coach thought he was more of a catch and shoot 3 point guy when we brought him on.
 
CTBballfan243 said:
He struggled with ball handling this past year. But he can always work on it and improve.
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He was the most advanced ball handler we’ve had in quite some time; totally ambidextrous with his hands, dribbles low to the ground, finishes with either hand, etc. The problem is his decision making with the ball. He would dribble into lanes that weren’t there sometimes looking like a magician, other times turning it over.
 
This was a great find. I didn't look at the offensive sets in depth too much during the season but I'm seeing Bouk really had little help when he had the ball during the video analysis. He could have done better but the options were very limited. Without Sonogo on the floor, we had a lineup of Martin, IW, Cole and Polley/AJ. He was essentially playing 2 on 5 when AJ was in there.

Case in point. Yo IW, what are you doing out there at the 3pt line?

Bouk1.JPG
 
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His game in the tourney left a bad taste in my mouth personally, but after watching this I remember why he's easily a lottery pick in this year's draft and can be a potential All Star down the road. He has a lot of layers to his game that can only get better in the NBA. Scores on all three levels, athletic, can score with or without the ball, solid playmaker, good defender etc. Getting him with a playmaking point guard that can make the game easier for him will be essential.
 
There’s a lot he’s capable of doing with additional work, maturity and experience. Let’s hope he gets to benefit from all of that.
 
UcannUconn said:
This video is interesting because Bouknight is the most “mysterious” of all the star players we’ve had. He never gives extended interviews like this. I thought it was interesting that he said coach thought he was more of a catch and shoot 3 point guy when we brought him on.
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Mostly was Covid. No interviews at all. Vital and AG were the goto guys on that team for media. Bouknight kinda snuck up on people. I do admit, I know nothing about him the more i think about it. He wanted to be a baseball player in Brooklyn? Great tidbit.

Few fans saw him play. Just an overall weird career at UConn.
 
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