New Man on Campus: Asa Newell

Not many prospects in the 2025 NBA Draft have the combination of tools, versatility, and production as Georgia freshman Asa Newell does.

Getting excited about forward prospects with a myriad of tools is one of the easiest things to do with draft evaluation. There is a lot of fool’s gold out there, but when those tools have a track record of consistently leading to production, the excitement gets justified. One of the potential 2025 NBA Draft prospects who fits this billing the most is the new man on campus for the Georgia Bulldogs: Asa Newell.

Newell has been one of the more intriguing names among high school prospects for a while, and it’s not hard to understand why. Newell is listed at 6’11 and 220 pounds with extremely fluid movement. The physical tools alone are enough to warrant recognition. On top of that, though, Newell also has a lengthy resume of playing top competition as he played two years at Montverde, in the Jordan Brand Classic, the 2022 U17 FIBA World Cup, the 2023 U19 FIBA World Cup, and the 2024 Nike Hoop Summit. The tools on their own are fun, but Newell now has numerous years of proving that he can consistently parlay those tools into legitimate production that contributes to winning basketball.

The elevator pitch with Newell is that he’s an athletic forward with tremendous defensive versatility and upside as a versatile play finisher on offense. It’s easier to come up with a list of NBA teams that don’t need that archetype than those that do. While Newell has an encouraging track record of production, a lot of his game is still theoretical, or at least in wait and see mode.

We’ll get to a lot of the exciting and real aspects of Newell’s game in a bit, but let’s first address some of the questions that have popped up with Newell’s game. One of the biggest questions is the viability of his outside shot. While Newell still has some work to do, it certainly seems to be trending in the right direction. This last season with Montverde, Newell shot 41.5% from three on 41 attempts compared to 29% on 31 attempts the year before, per Synergy. The volume is lower than ideal, but that’s a really solid improvement. It gets even better when we combine it with the fact that Newell ranked in the 82^nd percentile in spot-up scoring with 1.115 points per possession (PPP) (only 12.7% of his possessions), the 80^th percentile in shooting off the catch with 1.21 PPP, and shot 41.5% from three shooting off the catch (all of his three-point attempts were off the catch).

While those numbers are encouraging, and Newell’s mechanics are sound and consistent, there are still causes for hesitation. The first one is the low volume. While it would be great if Newell had doubled those attempts, this feels more like a symptom of how Newell plays within the flow of the offense and rarely forces it on offense. The fact that he improved his percentage significantly on a higher volume than the previous year is enough for me.

The other red flag that people frequently throw out is Newell’s concerning free throw numbers. This season, Newell shot 51.6% from the line and 60.6% the year prior. Those are brutal numbers that have to improve. Before you totally freak out, though, let’s again revisit the idea of volume. In the last two seasons with Montverde, Newell attempted just 33 free throws as a junior and 31 as a senior. I’d be more concerned about Newell’s potential lack of touch if we didn’t see him significantly improve his outside shooting percentage on higher volume while also seeing his layup percentage in the halfcourt jump from 63.2% to 68%. To further illuminate the unreliability of Newell’s free throw numbers due to volume, when we combine his Nike Hoop Summit and FIBA performances, he shot 90.9% on 22 attempts from the line.

Newell’s shooting this year with Georgia is going to be a fascinating, and likely exhausting, evaluation point. The lack of volume and inconsistent indicators suggest that the raw data isn’t sufficient yet to construct a concrete opinion on his long-term outlook. Instead, we have to watch the film and take the improvements as they come. So far, it’s hard not to be encouraged about his long-term shooting potential.

The other question I frequently see raised with Newell is: what position is he? Typically, a player’s “position” is determined based on who they defend. In this aspect, there are very few, if any, concerns with Newell. Don’t worry, we’ll get to that end of the floor soon. Where Newell’s translation to the NBA could get tricky, though, is on the offensive end.

I promise none of this is to denigrate Newell’s game, but to instead properly frame his evaluation so we aren’t grading him against an archetype that he doesn’t fit into. Newell is a pure power forward at this point. We’ll surely see some small-ball center minutes from him, especially in college, but at the NBA level, he’s likely just a four. He isn’t big enough to play center full time and the ball skills aren’t there for him to play small forward. This is why his shooting is going to be so important this season. If Newell proves that his outside shot is a legitimate weapon, he becomes an easy fit in any rotation. If he really struggles, though, then it gets a little trickier.

Thankfully, I think his fit with Georgia is going to put him in tremendous position to play to his strengths. He’ll be able to play some minutes at the five, but he’ll also play plenty alongside more physical and bruising bigs like fellow incoming freshman Somto Cyril. Additionally, he won’t be asked to play some sort of creation role that he isn’t adept at, as they have versatile on-ball creators and perimeter scorers like Silas Demary Jr, Blue Cain, and Savo Drezgic. In this setting, Newell should not only be able to highlight his strengths but also showcase his malleability to any rotation.

The beautiful thing about Newell’s offensive game is his combination of high feel and low maintenance. Regardless of the competition, the ball almost never stuck with him or resulted in him forcing the issue. Newell is a quick decision-maker and versatile play finisher.

With Montverde, Newell’s four most common play types were offensive rebounds (25.4%), cuts (22.9%), transition (18.5%), and spot-ups (12.7%). Overall, Newell was extremely efficient as a play finisher in these categories as his percentile ranks and shooting percentages were 55^th percentile and 55.8% on put backs, 48^th percentile and 63.9% on cuts, 97^th percentile and 78.1% in transition, and 82^nd percentile and 38.5% spotting up. It’d be great if those percentile rankings on putbacks and cuts were higher, but Newell drew free throws 15.4% and 14.9% of the time, respectively. When Newell got a shot off in these situations, he was incredibly efficient, and if his free throw numbers were better, his percentile rankings would be as well.

As an offensive piece, Newell’s outlook is almost entirely as a play finisher. While there’s been almost no evidence of on-ball creation in his game, one of the most slept-on aspects of his offense is his passing. Newell sees the floor well, is a quick decision-maker, and an accurate passer. He won’t be an initiator, but the ball will rarely stick with him.

Newell’s assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.18 is fine. While on the surface that may not suggest awesome passing, it’s also a bit misleading as only 4 of his 22 turnovers on Synergy came on passes. What this tells us is that Newell’s ball security issues come from on-ball creation possessions, as 82% of them occurred when he lost his handle, got stripped, or committed an offensive foul. If we just look at the passing, though, that assist-to-turnover ratio changes to 6.5. Not bad for a 6’11” connective passer.

As we can see, Newell’s processing speed, floor mapping, and quick decision-making are an asset to any offense. He isn’t a dynamic playmaker, but he doesn’t hesitate and takes what the defense gives him. His ability to quickly analyze a situation and find an open cutter or shooter helps diversify and elevate his offense. Instead of just being a play finisher, Newell can bolster the flow of the offense by passing out of offensive rebounds, cuts, against the zone, and out of the short roll. Every season, NBA bigs continue to show us the importance of their ability to pass, and Newell is already ahead of most of his peers in this realm.

While Newell’s offensive game is more low maintenance and theoretical, his defense is flat out outstanding. Newell is easily one of the most versatile defenders in this freshman class as he is nearly a four to five position defender. While his physical tools make his offensive projection intriguing, they make his defense flat-out fun.

Newell’s ability to slide his feet and defend in space is impressive for any high schooler, let alone one his size. His versatility affords his team the luxury of playing any defensive coverage they want. He can hedge and recover, play drop, or switch nearly everything.

On top of that, Newell has a great sense of situational awareness. Against quicker guards, he uses his footwork and strength to disrupt their driving lanes. He doesn’t overcommit and make himself vulnerable, but instead stays as attached as needed to still affect the shot without fouling. Against bigger, stronger opponents, Newell uses his length and quickness to disrupt them. He knows he’s not going to outmuscle them, so he doesn’t bother trying. Instead, he holds his ground and uses tremendous verticality to affect the shot without fouling. As far as power forwards go, there aren’t many more ideal defensive fits for today’s NBA than Newell.

The only semi-legitimate concern I’ve seen with Newell’s defense is his rebounding. With his physical tools and size, 6.3 rebounds per game with Montverde feels low, especially since 3.1 of those came on the offensive end. Being 6’11 and getting only 3.3 defensive rebounds per game isn’t ideal. What that fails to factor in, though, is context. Newell also played with Cooper Flagg and Derik Queen who dominated the defensive glass, as well as Liam McNeeley and Robert Wright who are terrific positional rebounders who both averaged over 3.8 rebounds per game. Additionally, Newell’s defensive versatility tended to draw him to the perimeter as he switched a ton. Doing so naturally took him away from the rim thus depleting his rebounding opportunities.

My only concern is really how he’d hold up as the lone big on the floor given his more slender frame. Even still, in the Nike Hoop Summit game, he singlehandedly outrebounded the trio of Khaman Maluach, Flory Bidunga, and Ulrich Chomche combined. Mostly, any concerns with his rebounding feel overblown.

So much of draft evaluation is projection based. While tools and flashes are fun to play the “what if?” game with, there still needs to be some sort of production to go along with it. In the 2025 NBA Draft, Asa Newell has one of the more impressive resumes of pairing tools with production. Newell has shown us for years that he is an incredibly versatile defender and efficient offensive play finisher. With Georgia, Newell has the opportunity to yet again thrive in a very defined, translatable, and sought-after role.