Brooks Barnhizer Scouting Report
The NBA prioritizes wings with a scalable game on both ends. Barnhizer's experience fits the bill. But there's much more to like for NBA scouts. Here are 3K+ words why he'll get drafted this summer.
Introduction
The Indiana-born Barnhizer had a tremendous high school career, earning him a call-up for the 2020 Indiana Junior All-Star Game. He improved from 20+ points per game as a junior to over 30 in his senior year. Hereafter, he committed to neighboring Illinois-based Northwestern University.
Entering his fourth year in the Big Ten, Barnhizer continued to improve on and off the floor while earning more minutes each season. As a junior, he crowned his effort with selections to the Big Ten All-Defensive Team, and Big Ten All-Third Team.
For the NBA, his high basketball IQ, consistent decision-making, and scalability of his game as a ball-handling multipositional defending wing. Contextualizing his current game to a feasible NBA role is the emphasis of this scouting report.
Physical Profile
At 6-foot-6, Barnhizer has broad shoulders and a well-filled frame. His consistent motor and toughness earned him a reputation as one of the Big Ten’s hardest and most fearless prospects. Despite his good core strength and decently fluid hips, Barnhizer is a limited athlete.
He has an average wingspan. There’s no official measurement available, but my best guess would be a plus two inches. Regardless, Barnhizer compensates with his strength, physicality, and consistent decision-making. Under Coach Collins’ wings, Barnhizer’s understanding of the game improved in each of his four seasons so far.
Barnhizer has good footwork, especially on the defensive end of the floor. With good timing, he makes the most of his decent verticality. The other side of the coin is that his lateral quickness is below average and that he relies on his consistent motor and effort level to compensate for playing against better athletes, which shouldn’t be graded as a negative by NBA scouts.
Offense
Catch-and-drive
Barnhizer’s most essential weapon for the NBA is his ability to make plays out of closeouts. He has decent handles and creativity. With his improving footwork, Barnhizer has the trust to be his team’s leading scorer. His rim pressure is limited but compensated with his good understanding of creating scoring angles while actively seeking to make the extra play. However, he’s often caught with tunnel vision, where he chases his buckets too much. The first play is an example of him attacking the closeout via the strong side after the open driving angle, but instead of hitting the cutter, he takes it to a well-positioned defender and hits the side of the backboard.
In the second play, the footwork looks off as his pivot foot already told the defender which side he was taking on the drive. Regardless, Barnhizer’s improving footwork shows a good last step where his pivoting before the post-up positioning led to the smooth spin move. To compensate for his lack of paint touches, Barnhizer built a reliable hook finish where his strength level allows him to cash in on these hooks further away from the basket.
In the third possession, Barnhizer shows his decision-making by not attacking the closeout every time he has the chance. He’s wide-open, but his ball-fake on catching the kick-out pass helped him to get fully rid of the defenders around him. However, in crucial positions, it looks like Barnhizer wants to get his team’s scoring too much. The fourth play shows an example where his dribble penetration leads to a crowded defense with a wide-open corner shooter on the weak side. Instead, he prioritized the tough finish in a packed painted area. In the fifth play, we see Barnhizer dishing the pass before the whistle, but that’s when he has a teammate in clear sight. For the NBA, he needs to work on his angle-creation as a passer rather than solely as a scorer.
Passing and playmaking
At over four assists and fewer than two turnovers, Barnhizer’s numbers give a good first glimpse of the positive effect of his passing, especially considering his ball-dominant role. However, the context behind these numbers is Barnhizer not prioritizing the extra pass more often than not. His playmaking reads are basic but consistent. As mentioned, his biggest challenge is to overcome his tunnel vision as a scorer, which often gets in his way, especially during his senior year, as he’s trusted to be his team’s leading scorer. Regardless, extra playmaking from the wing position is his offer to NBA scouts.
One of his advantages is playing booty-ball where Barnhizer uses post-ups to draw help defenders his way. His baby hook or regular hook finish is at the top of opposing scouting reports, helping him to use that as gravity to lure help defenders toward him and thus space the floor for outside shooters. In the first possession, an example is shown. Another vital part of the NBA is dribble penetration, leading to an open teammate. In the second play, Barnhizer enters the crowded paint and gets the paint touch he is looking for. Seeing how crowded the help defenders around him made that area, Barnhizer naturally looks for an outside shooter. That’s a good response on his part, which he should make more of a habit rather than looking for the tougher two-pointer in these scenarios. In that case, his playmaking can truly help a team’s offensive rating due to higher-quality shots being a result of his drives.
On an NBA floor, I mostly expect Barnhizer to be a reliable ball-mover with the third and fourth plays being examples. He recognizes clear angles and space in front of his teammates and doesn’t hesitate to make a quick pass in both plays. On top of that, Barnhizer shows a good understanding of the game that comes with the habit of passing the ball ahead in transition. These intangibles are vital to grade a player’s feel for the game, where he's scoring well compared to most of his peers.
Catch-and-shoot
Barnhizer hasn’t shot over 35% from three in his four-year collegiate career. This season, he’s under 30%, and honestly, NBA scouts shouldn’t care less. The context behind numbers matters, and in Barnhizer’s case, his attempts are a variety of rushing his shots off the catch but also being the player who has to make tougher shots at the later stages of the shot clock. For the NBA, he must develop into an average shooter to support a team’s offensive rating with him on the floor and to receive enough respect for his dribble penetration, especially as a below-average athlete who has to get his advantages via good decision-making.
When looking at Barnhizer’s jumper, his process makes sense. He’s not standing still on the floor and is actively and purposefully moving on the floor, as shown in the first play below. However, despite setting his feet quickly, he’s putting too much pressure on his toes before elevating as high as he can on the shot. He’s also moving backward rather than staying right on the floor. With his high-arcing release, Barnhizer can afford to jump less high while maintaining better stability. The jumper itself is smooth, and the form is consistent but it needs adjustments at the next level to take the fastest shot while managing good balance at all times.
In the second play, Barnhizer pivots his left foot as he’s looking to attack the closeout while bringing the ball to his side. He has to keep the ball and his feet at 180 degrees toward the basket to ensure the best stability. That’s the reason he hit the side of the basket after not attacking the closeout but settling for the shot. The third possession looks much better, but there’s too much pressure on his toes as he’s elevating too high on the shot, leading to a lack of balance. In the fourth play, he’s leaning too far behind, leading to the shot falling short.
The process makes sense, and after adjusting the aforementioned, it’s imminent that Barnhizer will show better results on his three-point shooting off the catch.
Pick-and-roll
For the NBA, the extra value to a team’s offensive rating comes via gradually improving his on-ball touches in time. Barnhizer is a creative enough scorer. His reading the floor leads to good decisions in dribble penetration. That’s the base to succeed as a pick-and-roll ball handler and scorer. While he’s averaging close to six free throws per game, he finishes these at about 77%, which is a reliable number. Despite the lack of high-end athleticism, Barnhizer’s handles and good decision-making get him to paint touches when he needs them.
In the first play, he does well to bank on the straight-line drive the defense offers him, where his stability and balance after the bump are impressive. He almost gets the and-one on the play. For the NBA, that’s the type of individual scoring via pick-and-roll teams look for to add to their bench unit. The handles support Barnhizer’s fluidity in the second possession below, where his jab steps and fakes keep the drop-coverage center from the opponent honest and force a rotation, and thus a possibility to collapse a defense. After the crossover, it’s understandable that Barnhizer tried to execute his advantage creation with the midrange jumper.
Understanding angles is the base for success in the NBA. Barnhizer’s good feel for the game in the third play shows an example. He recognizes the defense playing drop coverage, and thus, he uses the jab step to perfection to force the switch and leave him wide-open above the break for the three-pointer that gave his team the lead. However, at times, he’s caught by surprise with how easily his strength and good frame can help him get advantages. In the fourth play, he misses the wide-open midrange jumper after his defender hits the deck. For NBA scouts, the consistency of his banking on physical advantage creation determines how many ball touches he potentially gets at the next level.
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