AJ Storr Scouting Report
High-end scoring gravity is what NBA teams look for when improving the margins of how a team is structured. That's the sell for Storr in a nutshell. But what else is there to like? Find out below.
Introduction
Before enrolling at St. John’s, Storr put up close to 23 points in his senior year in high school, while playing for IMG Academy. Hereafter, scoring has been his M.O. in the first two years, putting up almost 9 points in the Big Apple, whereafter he almost doubled the production at Wisconsin, earning him Second-team All-Big Ten honors.
While playing within the flow of the offense, the plus value Storr brings is that he can take over games when needed. Scaling down the ball touches while maintaining offensive impact is the main feedback that he received after testing the waters. That makes Kansas a good context for him to be in, as he will play for a win-now team that has to make up for two consecutive years of second-round exits.
His stellar play also earned him playing time with the senior national team of the Bahamas, who were battling to earn a spot at the Olympic Games. Such experience at the highest level gives a better sample size, as playing in FIBA-organized games gives him reps to solidify his good understanding of the game.
Physical Profile
At 6-foot-7, Storr is a strongly built high-end athlete, weighing 215 pounds. He has a combination of craft and a good first step that helps him to create advantages as a slasher. He’s best at pressuring the rim, with his ability to decelerate and accelerate being his primary weapon. His footwork is the base of his success on that end.
Storr is an average athlete at best in terms of verticality. But his foot speed and the well-use of his upper body bring maturity to his game that will help him to improve as a defender in the upcoming years. The ability to stay composed and oversee the floor is what will continue to be put on display in his junior year. Defensively, he has decent hips but relies more on his first step and physicality to generate stops.
His broad shoulders helped Storr to fill his frame quickly in the last few years. He has consistently shown to be able to play against older defenders in his underclassman years in the Big East and Big Ten conferences. That gives more feasibility to NBA decision-makers that his physical tools can lead to adapting early at the next level.
Offense
Catch-and-drive
Storr’s best role at the next level is to serve as a slasher. While improving to impact a team’s offense with fewer ball touches, his ability to attack closeouts will keep him a productive player at any level. The basis for his success is his footwork. What immediately stood out was that he pivoted his feet well, positioning himself to elevate his burst and immediately bump into a defender to create separation.
Getting downhill looks seamless more often than not. In the first play, he’s keen on attacking his defender after it placed its last step. Despite the good closeout, Storr keeps his composure and decides to attack the weak side to make use of the baseline to space the floor out. Help defenders had to react, opening the opportunity to make the extra pass. His forcing of the finish was a bad look, with the spot-up shooter in the corner being wide-open while Storr himself tried to finish against multiple defenders.
The shot selection remains the area of development, as in the second play, Storr cuts through the middle and immediately gets aggressive while getting two feet in the paint. He was out of balance before the shot, so a kick-out pass to the corner was the better decision here. It’s common for born scorers to have tunnel vision at times, but on an NBA floor, the level of advantage-creation has to lead to him passing the ball more. As a result, Storr finished 57% of his rim attempts, making it a below-average number.
An advantage that NBA decision-makers must continue to develop in the early years of his career is his two-handed finishing. He’s much more comfortable with his right hand, but when defenders cover his right, he’s struggling more with his left due to a lack of consistency in switching hands before finishes. The extra value here comes with the footwork. In the third play, Storr attacks the strong side after the earlier miss. While strongly pivoting with his right foot when entering the paint, Storr brought it to his left after catching the defender in the air. The creativity is what separates him from most of his peers when playing as a slasher.
In the third and fourth plays below, Storr was facing seasoned veterans, showcasing his ability to get downhill and create separation off the dribble followed up by the quick execution of his midrange jumper in the fourth play, and the three off the dribble in the last possession below.
Passing
To contextualize the aforementioned lack of passing after creating advantages, it's vital to differentiate Storr’s passes after advantage creation off the dribble, and when serving as a ball-mover. His 59 assists to 93 turnovers in the first two years of his career are a result of his tunnel vision as a scorer and a lack of passing chops making him vulnerable to commit turnovers because of a lack of consistent playmaking on his end. In the long run, the numbers have less value, especially when the below-mentioned areas will improve gradually.
In the first play, Storr stays composed as he sees the screening action at the elbow, making it easy for him to wait for the cutter, while leveraging his rim pressure and burst to keep his defender attached. The play was rewarded with an assist, but the pass wasn’t good as the recipient had to correct his catch immediately with an earlier dribble before the runner finished. Storr is on the raw side as a passer. However, that does take away the potential to serve as a supporting playmaker alongside a primary option in the future.
In the second possession, Storr did well to accelerate after using the drag screen when his team was in semi-transition. He didn’t hesitate to hit the rolling big man after one dribble, giving him entry to the interior with both feet. The well-executed bounce pass makes it promising for his season at Kansas, where they need him to consistently be able to make these plays to lessen the playmaking pressure for his new teammates.
The third play is a vital one. In FIBA-organized games, there’s much less spacing compared to college basketball and the NBA. His ability to leverage his rim pressure and quickness led him to attack the weak side, forcing help defense in the middle to rotate to the driving lane that opened up near the elbow. Storr immediately executes his read with an excellent side pass to the shooter above the break. We see a similar execution in the fourth play, where Storr shows that he doesn’t need a screen to create space for others or to get downhill. Excellent use of his hips to turn around so quickly and hit the shooter again above the break while creating a level of spacing that will intrigue NBA decision-makers.
Catch-and-shoot
To consistently play on an NBA floor, Storr has to show that he can serve as the recipient of rim pressure from others. As a slasher, his three-point shooting will impact the amount of gravity his rim pressure and closeout attacking has. Therefore, being a consistent shooter is needed. It’s essential to acknowledge that Storr doesn’t have to be a lights-out shooter by any means, as the shooting is needed to put more gravity to his unique selling points: rim pressure and slashing.
After shooting 35.2% on 244 attempts in two seasons, the numbers give a good outcome. When looking at the shot itself, it immediately stood out that Storr actively asks for the ball, while using relocation tools to get to his shot. In the first play, we see a sidestep and immediately pull up for the make. He doesn’t need to bring the ball down and power back up. That’s because he’s already catching the ball at the level of his chest. His ability to side-step and immediately pull the trigger is a good way to approach the game. That keeps the threat of attacking the closeout alive, as he can always adjust to pressure the rim instead when going for a side-step first, rather than immediately shoot.
It works the other way around as well, in the second play, there’s a slight level of hesitation used to keep the defender guessing, before the shot off the catch. Storr does well to maintain a high release point on his shot, which is a must to shoot over taller defenders at the next level. However, being too willing to attack the glass can hurt him, with the air ball in the third possession below, where the fakes were not necessary and Storr had to respect the good closeout by making the extra pass with 19 seconds left on the shot clock.
The area of development is shown in the last play below. When purely shooting off the catch, Storr was too late to set his feet, while being a tad too slow to bend his knees before powering back up. His goal at Kansas is to ensure he’s a much quicker shooter off the catch. The main time-winner here is to not bring the ball down after catching it at the level of his chest.
Pick-and-roll
In the long run, Storr will gradually earn more on-ball reps. His natural self-creating scoring ability is not needed from day one in the NBA, especially when Storr has run pick-and-rolls himself. That’s for the future. On that end, we see a similar outcome to his slashing ability. As per CBBAnalytics, Storr has about 70% of his field goal attempts coming from inside the arc, with about 55% of the total attempts being in the paint. NBA teams run four and five-out offenses to open up more room inside the lane, where prolific scorers such as Storr can go to work.
So the context here is in Storr’s favor. When looking at his self-created looks in the pick-and-roll, his ability to force defenders to play drop coverage because of his paint touch gravity is what NBA teams look for. In the first play below, Storr ended up missing his layup, but the level of separation he has after using the screen is all on his paint touch gravity. The pick-and-roll defender drops far into the paint, opening up the ability to punish drop-coverage big men with his floater game. That’s why he has to do more. In the NBA it’s simple for Storr, if he doesn’t get downhill, he has to make the extra pass. The pull-up shot after the opponent denied him access to the interior was not necessary. Especially because Storr is an average three-point shooter at best.
The third play is a good example of what Storr needs to do in the NBA. He shows excellent deceleration after utilizing the ball screen, banking on the pick-and-roll defender having to drop inside the paint which opened up the shooting angle to pull up for the midrange jumper. But he always has to pressure the rim and not settle for pull-up shots and bail defenses out. That’s what happened in the fourth play.
When evaluating Storr’s three-point attempts, he consistently showed the need to make tough pull-up jumpers, while it’s only benefitting the defense. Concerning an NBA team’s offensive rating, those types of bad shots are difference-makers. Winning in the NBA is determined by the margins, so the shot selection has to be good at all times. That’s what an NBA team needs to help Storr develop in the upcoming years.
Defense
Pick-and-roll
Positionless basketball causes the average size of NBA players will continue to increase. In Storr’s case, the aforementioned burst and good footwork will lead to NBA coaches wanting to use him as a primary pick-and-roll defender or in the second line of defense. Teams target smaller guards in bunches when they have the chance so that puts more pressure on wings, who now must be able to defend against pick-and-roll actions.
What immediately stood out is that Storr is too focused on dodging screens, which gives the ball handler the advantage to create separation. He’s strong enough to fight through contact, or at least initiate contact with the screener when trying to slide between the screener and ball handler. The first play is an example, where Storr avoids contact, leading to the ball handler in a—for the opponent—favorable one-on-one play against the drop coverage defender.
The second play is an interesting one. Storr does well to get past the double stagger but is too reactive to the ball handler decelerating before the drive, using the wide-open driving lane. Storr should trust his instincts more and try and force his will on the defender, as he does when he’s on offense, rather than react to how the scorer has the play in mind. Despite the decent contest at the end, that’s an easy two points given away. Storr plays with aggressiveness and toughness, that’s what makes him successful on offense. Furthermore, on the defense end, we see flashes of his toughness, especially when he’s seeing opportunities to gamble for steals, as shown in the third play below.
Storr has good length. With decent elevation on his jumps, he can contest shooters consistently. In the fourth play, Storr does well to fight through the moving screen to get a hand in the face of the shooter. That’s what his pick-and-roll defense looks like when he’s showing more aggressiveness, while he’s not consistently doing that yet. We see another example in the fifth play below, where he doesn’t shy away from contact against Giannis Antetokounmpo, before impacting the scorer’s finish and collecting the defensive board.
Catch-and-drive
Against closeout attackers, Storr doesn’t make the best decisions when closing out. He’s too much gambling on the shooter taking the open three, rather than preparing his closeout to eliminate the chances of getting burned off the dribble. Storr has a decent last step but often doesn’t close out while staying 180 degrees of his opponent thus limiting giving away a beneficial driving lane.
In the first play, that leads to him biting on the pump-fake, and derailing the team’s defense that now has to rotate while defending with one less. Analyzing lowlights helps to understand why a player makes a certain decision. Storr followed that play up by not properly boxing out for the rebound, who fell his way. Plays like these will cause NBA coaches not willing to grant a player some extra minutes. The aggressive tone he sets with his offense has to be the standard in his defense against closeouts, where Storr has no choice but to box out hard after every miss, especially if his assignment gets past him by attacking his closeout.
In the second possession, Storr does well not to close out after he’s switched and found his assignment in the elbow. The closeout there would lead to replacing the position of the decision-maker with himself, rather than the opponent, who now has to either shoot, pass, or attack the rim. At times, teams are willing to give away threes to take away a favorable look inside, especially if the shooter is below average. Storr did well to follow his instincts stay where he was and simply focus on defending the interior, which he did well despite the personal foul.
When looking at Storr’s rotations, he did well to cover the area of the weak side in the third play below. However, it was a result of ball movement from the opponents that led to Storr having to act on the fly, rather than defending that area earlier on in the play. His closeouts often lead to him getting burned by not focusing on getting at 180 degrees of his opponent, which is vital to effectively get back to the perimeter once he’s in the NBA. When he’s closing out in halfcourt sets, such as in the last play below, the flashes of properly setting his feet and sliding them well are visible in the last play below, as he kept his man in front of him effectively with a hard shot contest near the rim. That’s the level of toughness he has to show on each play. And with only 1.1 personal fouls per 28 minutes in his sophomore year, the margin to play tough is a favorable one.
Catch-and-shoot
Closing out is the new norm to succeed as a defender in the NBA. Advantage creation and floor spacing will lead to even more three-point attempts in the future compared to the last few years. Therefore, the combination of footwork and timely closeouts is vital in deciding if Storr can stay on the floor and help a team maintain its defensive rating. What immediately stood out, is that Storr is much more comfortable to close out hard against shooters, rather than when he sees that the scorer might drive downhill instead.
In the first play, Storr shows a decent last step but pivots strongly whereafter he moves his body very well while contesting the shot hard. The fluidity of his using his strength and decent elevation is what will potentially keep Storr on the floor in the next few years. The most essential part of stopping spot-up shooters is to maintain good positioning and stay ready to help your team in transition. In this particular play, Storr positioned himself outside of the court, rendering him useless in the defensive box-out. That’s the main area of development to improve the totality of his defense against spot-up shooters and with his closeouts in general.
In the second possession, we again see Storr pivot his left foot very well after rotating to the elbow shooter. More importantly, he’s following the play well, switching back timely to take over his original assignment in the corner. After his good last step, we again see him elevate well to contest the shot. However, at times he’s caught ball-watching like in the third play below. That led to a late rotation on his side, and despite compensating for it with good use of his length at the end, it should have been a much more comfortable shot contest than it was.
The fourth and fifth plays are from his games for the Bahamas. In a win-now setting against seasoned pros, Storr has shown he can keep up with the pace while keeping track of the play. Both possessions ended with good shot contests, with the base being his footwork and ability to dive into shooters without fouling them. That’s what he has to continue to show during his junior year while competing for the national title.
Cuts
Defending away from the ball is mostly determined by good habits, following the offense without ball-watching, and having a good feel for the game in terms of projecting the outcome of a play and anticipating it. Storr is good at reading off-ball players and often makes the correct read while executing them consistently. He’s good at locating cutters, which gives him a good base to be a good team defender in a faster-paced NBA game with more ball movement.
Therefore, his experience playing for the Bahamas is a good sample size for NBA decision-makers to use. He’s among the least experienced players on the floor, making the outcome of his defense against cuts more telling of what to expect in the NBA, where the same will apply. In the first play, he’s quick to react to the cutter in the middle, making a good decision to foul rather than allowing a wide-open lay-up. The anticipation was a tad too late, but the instinct to immediately foul is what is needed.
The second possession is an interesting one. He’s gambling on his teammate winning the ball back after diving for it. However, instead, the opponent recovers the ball and feeds the wide-open cutter in the corner. Regardless of the make, Storr not giving up on the play and heavily contesting the shot at the near end is the type of effort and toughness he needs to consistently show to keep him on an NBA floor. The early flashes are value-risers for his draft stock.
The third play is another example of how instincts and positioning help Storr establish a good base to respond to cutters. With the trap underneath the basket, Storr relocates to the center of the paint, anticipating a potential drop-off pass to a cutter. That’s the type of play that correlates when speaking of having a good feel for the game, making it one of the areas where Storr has proven to be ready to play NBA basketball.
NBA Draft Projection
Based on the strengths and areas of development mentioned in this scouting report, I project AJ Storr to be selected between 25 and 40. Depending on how well Kansas does in the NCAA Tournament, he might even exceed those rankings and slide into the top 20.
When picking upperclassmen, NBA decision-makers look for outlier skills that fit into a specific role. So the likeliness of Storr as a slashing pick-and-roll defender is wanted by almost every franchise in the league.
Purely based on his draft profile and projected role, the above-mentioned range is the most realistic, eliminating a potential best-case scenario. The readiness of his game while having shown flashes at the international circuit will be value-risers on top of him playing a serious role on a contending Kansas team.
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