June 17, 2014

Must improve: undershirts.

Creek's good senior season redeemed what was a worryingly stagnated collegiate career. After serious injury as a freshman, Creek took a long, long time to rediscover the promise he had held before it, mostly because he kept getting injured. 12 very intriguing games as a freshman were followed by 18 hobbled ones as a sophomore, then a redshirt year, and 24 extremely ineffectual games as a 28.8% shooting junior. But as a senior, and after a transfer to George Washington, Creek finally got his health and his game back, playing more minutes in his final season than in the previous four combined.

The only shooter on the team besides 6'8 backup forward Nemanja Mikic, which means not much spacing and a lot of defensive attention, Creek is nonetheless a very good three point shooter and always has been. Nothing else about his game stands out - inefficient from two point range, rarely getting to the line, thin, not one to drive much or easily, not a good finisher at the rim, and beset with slightly high turnovers - and so Creek is all about the jumper and whatever else comes from it. He moves well and often off the ball, and despite being a tad undersized (and having lost some explosiveness due to the injuries), his quick release makes him always a threat to get a shot away. Creek will occasionally get into the lane and either kick out or shoot a running righty, but not often, and with limited defensive impact, he is fairly one dimensional as a shooter. It is thus very much of note that Creek can hit off the catch and the dribble (not that he dribbles much), can hit when both contested and open, can hit when set and when falling away, and can just rise up and shoot over defenders unabashedly. The injuries robbed him of none of this.

However, when an extremely young player suffers two season ending injuries in a row, then misses an entire third due to yet another injury, it is inevitable that his hardiness is the primary concern. Having fractured one kneecap, stress fractured the other, and torn an Achilles, Creek has a lot to prove. He's off to a good start in this respect, and needs to put at least one more healthy and productive year together in a decent European league before moving up any levels. There was clearly some rust still (dribbling off his leg, throwing the ball away, etc) that needs to be worked out. Undersized for the position and probably smaller than his measurements, Creek will find it tough to make the very highest levels of the game, but shooters always garner attention, so he needs to keep at it and stay lucky.

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