June 17, 2014

Roberto Nelson, shortly after being told he was an "excellent eBayer, A++++, would use again."

Roberto Nelson has flourished into a very good scorer, and his offensive output is punctuated by an extremely high free throw rate. Taking 7.8 free throws per game as a senior, combined with the efficiency of his three point stroke, saw Nelson score 20.7 points per game on only 13.9 shots, a 59.5% true shooting percentage in a major conference. That makes people take notice. Nelson also led his team in assists, albeit alongside extremely high turnover numbers.

Nelson does all this without elite athleticism. He is not hugely quick, and not an explosive finisher. Rather, he is relentless and sneaky. Utilising a very strong mid-range pull-up, Nelson cuts, drives, and, although he doesn't utilise the three pointer all that often, has NBA range on his shot. Eternally confident, Nelson is a gifted scorer who runs at every opportunity, can spot up off the ball, and who doesn't seem to have much difficulty being contested by a bigger defender (of which there are many). He battles in amongst the trees, uses step-throughs and spins to get there, is unflinchingly confident, and has a swagger to his scoring game.

In addition to this, Nelson also spends some time on the ball, and demonstrates a willingness to pass on the move to cutters or big men around the basket. It should be said that Nelson tries to thread the needle in this way far too often and makes many a bad passing decision, but his willingness to pass is nonetheless admirable. Nelson is not a primary ball handler and can be pressured into mistakes and turnovers when charged with the task, but he is a capable enough secondary one.

What he must continue to work on is his defense. Quite strong but not laterally fast, Nelson isn't big either, and at times has let himself get out of shape. Because of all this, and because of seemingly conserving energy for the offensive end, he is little defensive presence at all. Given that he will never be big or fast, he needs to counteract this with a great defensive motor, footwork, charge taking and good hands, but there's little sign of this so far. He also needs to take a few less heat checks, especially as his competition level improves.

Nevertheless, Nelson has developed quietly (always missing the tourney will do that to you) but effectively into being a consistent nightly threat, and should pour in plenty of good professional years.

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