Cam Carter Scouting Report
A sleeper guard that broke out as a senior at LSU.
Cam Carter
Birth date: March 17, 2003
Height/Weight: 6’3, 185 (per Basketball Reference)
Wingspan and standing reach: Unknown
Hand size: Unknown
Position: PG
Pre-Draft Team: LSU
Tools: Ball-handling/playmaking, shot creation, defensive intensity, three-level scoring
Background: Was a top 150 prospect out of high school at Oak Hill. Transferred from Mississippi State to Kansas State to LSU. Led LSU in BPM this year with four. One of ten high major players to shoot 38% or better from three on 10 three-point attempts per 100 possessions and record an 80% mark from the line on over 100 free throw attempts this season.
Season Stats: 16.4 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.4 BPG, 2.5 TOPG, 2.2 FPG on 42.5/39.2/83.6, 4.0 BPM
Strengths
Has a killer crossover with a wide variety of counters and moves in his bag
Good motor; not afraid to fight for contested rebounds with bigs
Gets physical and fundamental box-outs often
Quick top-to-bottom release on his jumper + deep range will help him scale up to the NBA easily
Moves well and often away from the ball
Outstanding recovery ability when defending drives
Attacks the paint with power, both off of straight line drives and off of multiple dribble moves + changes of direction
Active hands help him force turnovers by swiping at the ball and timing blocks well
Areas for Improvement
Needs to prove the efficiency jump is real and not just a product of age
Rim finishing is underwhelming; turns his body to difficult angles at the rim too often
Can be too excited to go for a home run play defensively, and goes for big blocks sometimes more than just a good contest
Swing Skills
Can he reduce bad habits at the rim to become a better finisher, which ultimately means a more efficient scorer?
How will he rate defensively?
Offense
Cam Carter is an effortless three-level scorer who has improved every year in college, and he’s fit well with the LSU system this season. He can shoot over length off the dribble, he can spot up, and he can get to the rim and draw fouls well both off the catch and off of his own creation with or without a screen. When creating his own shot, his step-back has the chance to make a defender look silly without sacrificing the flow of the offense. On top of that, his quick feet when planting for a jumper helps him win as a shooter over length (36.5% on contested catch-and-shoot threes). He will shine brighter with a more fluid roster construction in the NBA plus more established surrounding roles, allowing him to play combo guard at a high level.
As a playmaker, Carter’s even assist-to-turnover ratio undersells his ability to make others around him better, and it will surely get better with the surrounding talent’s improvement at the next level. Several of his turnovers are him either losing the ball at the last second in a crowded paint or his teammates bobbling a bullet pass. That’ll happen at a significantly lower rate in the NBA, and mistakes like those are easier to drown out in an environment like the G League, where he’ll play early in his career. With how well he plays out of P&R sets, his assist numbers will pop much more than in his college career. Additionally, he sees the floor well off the catch, which makes his overall offensive impact as an off-ball guard that much more dangerous for defenses.
Defense
Carter fights hard through screens and takes every possession personally; he uses his athleticism and motor to quickly switch and recover against drives, which makes him hard to beat on-ball. Carter forces turnovers easily against weak handles, and he can block predictable shots easily. His ability to blitz weak ball-handlers and force turnovers—something he did against Alabama early into conference play—is strong. These types of plays usually result in transition scoring opportunities, making him good at turning defense to offense. Carter also does damage in the halfcourt and wins against the P&R by rotating properly, knowing when to switch, and being aggressive by establishing physicality out of the first step after the screen.
Off the ball, Carter doesn’t let easy plays get past him without a fight due to him consistently playing tight defense against the next pass. He rarely has lapses with regards to being late to contests or to the ball in general, and he is quick to close the driving angle off the catch. Carter also rotates well and smoothly adapts to switches and multiple screens. With both the volume and variety of complex screen sets in the NBA freeing up off-ball players and exploiting mismatches, Carter will be hard to manipulate. Most guards can easily be picked on by offenses since screens impact them more than any other position, but Carter is an exception to that rule. That’ll make him a stronger candidate to be at least neutral defensively. Lastly, Carter closes out possessions even better than his four rebounds per game number suggests. Carter reads the ball well off the rim and uses his athleticism to leap into areas opposing players don’t anticipate him wandering into. With the tempo of the NBA, his rebounds per game number could easily jump from four to over five in equal minutes.
Tendencies
Carter runs a ton without the ball, which exhausts the defense; he finds ways to split defenders and get out of traps easily; and he loves to double clutch at the rim, which likely limits his finishing numbers.
Similar to: Jerryd Bayless, Miles McBride, Reggie Jackson, Norman Powell
Projected draft range: 45-undrafted
Expected role: Microwave guard off the bench that can add two-way value.
Unplayable if: Finishing at the rim doesn’t improve with spacing, and habits don’t smoothen out.
Exceeds expectations if: Defense hits at a high level, scoring efficiency jumps, and playmaking pops with better talent surrounding him.
Videos:
Scoring vs. Oklahoma
Aggressive and relentless defense:
Shot Chart
