Cam Christie Scouting Report

Shooting versatility is crucial to succeed as an NBA wing. Christie convinces NBA decision-makers on that end. But what else is there to like in his profile? 2,000+ words on this topic are here below.

After putting up 11.3 points per game, Christie earned himself a spot in the Big Ten All-Freshman Team. The productivity increased in a season where he earned more on-ball reps, strengthening Christie’s NBA appeal. All successful NBA teams have one thing in common: shooting versatility from their low-usage rotational wings.

Christie’s role fits the bill thus making that his unique selling point to NBA franchises. However, there’s more to expect from the wings who manage to stick in the league to carve out a long career. This scouting report solely focuses on his NBA role and what Christie has to improve at the next level.

Physical Profile

While measuring 6’4.50” in socks, Christie has the positional size to play both the one and the two. This is the same role as in Minnesota, where he also often played the three. At 190 pounds he still needs to fill his frame, which is okay considering he’s still 18 years old on draft night. That’s an area NBA decision-makers will have to give more importance to when preparing his developmental plan.

Christie has good upper-leg strength. While he doesn’t have fluid hips, he has long strides on his dribbles combined with good foot speed. With broad shoulders, there’s enough room to bulk up his upper body and potentially guard the one, two, and three spots in the NBA as well.

Defense

Christie’s main areas of development are on the defensive side of the ball. The intangible in his profile that makes future improvement in other areas feasible is his footwork. When Christie closes out on the shooters, he combines long dribbles with a very good last step. This helps him to maintain his balance to stay ready in case his close-out is attacked.

At a 6’8” wingspan, Christie has a decent length, giving him room to stay a few inches further from his opponent, helping him to have enough space in between to compensate for his slower first step when his closeouts are attacked. A positive in the four sequences below, where Christie guards spot-up shooters is him fully committing in his contests while not fouling.

The first two sequences give an example of how well Christie’s last step is, which forms a great base for the intensity of his contesting shots. The third play is a summary of what Christie has to work on: his positioning. While he was stationing himself to force a ball handler to the strong side, he was too far away from his opponent, having to correct his stance which caused a late shot contest.

Timely rotations are another crucial factor in closing out in the NBA. In a switch-heavy game, that becomes more important. In the fourth play below, we see Christie unbalanced after his teammate went for another rotation, showing a decent burst to get to his assignment and close out timely. That’s what NBA decision-makers look for, mobility combined with a good feel for rotations.

When his closeouts are attacked, Christie becomes more vulnerable by overcommitting, leading to him getting blown by, as shown in the second play below. Partially that’s a testimony to his work ethic and wanting to put up winning plays on defense. But more experienced NBA players will gladly wait for his hard closeouts to simply collapse the defense. In the second play, we see Christie losing his balance, ending up out of bounds when his opponent attacks the rim.

A confidence-giver to evaluators should be his last step and balance when he’s closing out with more composure, as shown in the first play below. Excellent use of stretching his pivot foot further out to maintain his balance, whereafter he launches to meet his opponent at the midrange. The third play below shows another area of development: lack of strength. His opponents win too much ground inside the arc by being physical, whereafter Christie does well using his arms to force a shot after the ball handler picks up his dribble. With good length, he manages to get the defensive board after the miss as well.

An NBA guard or wing will play with better handles, not going for the dribble-pick-up on the play, which makes it an important sequence to see how Christie could struggle against stronger players in the league. We see a similar sequence in the last play below, where Christie does well to force the ball handler to attack via the strong side, but after initiating contact, Christie gets bumped off his body too easily, leading to an open floater opportunity.

At 1.6 personal fouls in 30 minutes per game, Christie generally plays in control. However, he’s more aggressive when he’s navigating through screens. His lack of a solid upper body gives him more room to avoid foul calls when harder fighting through contact. In the first play, Christie gets stuck in the pindown, whereafter he shows his toughness to get through the contact and still manages to force his opponent to the strong side.

After quickly turning by moving his hips, Christie gets the hard contest on the shot. Often, evaluators throw in the term “playing hard” too easily; in Christie’s case, this first play shows how he does play harder than someone might expect, considering his skinnier frame compared to other wings in this class.

In the second play, Christie does well in avoiding the stagger, whereafter the amount of bodies inside the arc led to his assignment getting separation on the baseline out-of-bounds play. After a timely rotation by his teammate, another area of development occurs: keeping his arms in the air and showing disappointment after the shot goes in.

An NBA decision-maker weighs in intangibles as these heavily. In a game where teams score 110 points on average, it’s crucial to not let two points allowed lead to bad energy, especially since the effort level is high like in Christie’s case. Therefore, staying in a position to potentially pick up the defensive rebound to initiate a transition looks should be what Christie has to focus on, instead of showing disappointment in himself with his body language.

In the third play, Christie looks more confident when fighting through the pindown. Hereafter he meets his assignment at the midrange, using his length well to contest the jumper, whereafter he picks up the defensive rebound. Sequences like these are the potential outcome of Christie’s NBA screen navigation, especially when he manages to get stronger in the next few years. The same applies to the fourth play, where Christie looks overwhelmed after getting through the pindown, strengthening the argument of getting stronger in his first few years in the NBA.

The majority of sequences where Christie gets called on fouls is when operating as a pick-and-roll defender. That’s the area that will be a threat to an NBA team’s defensive rating. His struggles on the physical side of the game lead to him having to contest harder when he’s defending mismatches at the rim.

In the first two plays, Christie looks overwhelmed when facing stronger guards getting downhill. In the third sequence, he faces Shannon Jr., one of the strongest wing scorers in college basketball. That’s the caliber of physicality he’ll face in the NBA on every given night. Therefore making it a sequence where NBA decision-makers can get the confirmation of the areas of development that occurred throughout the season.

In the third play, Christie does well in absorbing the hit, using his pivot foot well to maintain balance, but following up on the heavy bump looked like too much to handle. Therefore, the importance of him improving his upper-body strength becomes clear. Considering the potential of becoming better screen navigation makes it feasible that Christie will improve as a pick-and-roll defender.

Another area where an NBA team will see its defensive rating get hurt with Christie on the floor is when he’s guarding off the ball. Against cutters, he has to improve his defensive awareness and reactionary speed. In the first play below, Christie hits the deck after realizing he got beat by a backdoor cutter.

We see similar concerns in other intangibles, such as a lack of a quick second jump. In the second play, Christie is in a mismatch where he has to quickly move his hips to launch the second jump. That didn’t happen. This sequence is a clear example of the lack of good hips, making it harder for Christie to defend against cutters against a heavy ball-movement-focused NBA offense.

In the third play, Christie is caught ball watching, whereafter the cutting play-finisher can easily draw the foul for the and-one with him reaching in for the ball. As an 18-year-old, future improvement is imminent when getting more experience. However, the above-mentioned areas of development lead to being value-droppers when considering a low-usage role, thus making it more crucial for Christie to impact a game with his defense. And as of now, there are quite some areas to work on.

Offense

At 39.1% on 5.4 three-point attempts, the numbers support the high-level shooting in Christie’s profile. When shooting off the catch, he shows all the must-haves to operate in a faster-paced NBA game.

Christie does well to move toward the ball and being in a good position on the perimeter when he can afford relocations before the offensive set resulting in his open look. In the first play below, he does well in moving to the elbow to make the extra side pass easier before his jumper. When evaluating his mechanics, he sets his feet very quickly while having the ball around his waist. He follows it up by powering up fast due to his good upper-leg strength. With a consistent high-arcing release, the jumper is an area where NBA teams looking for shooting depth on their wings will be solid instantly.

In the second play, we see Christie again set his feet very well quickly after moving to the corner to pick up the ball reversal. The jumper ended in a bad miss, but that doesn’t take away anything from how fluid his mechanics are which he follows up with a quick release. In the third play, we see another corner three after being in better balance on the catch. Where on the defensive end, the second jump looked questionable, he’s more comfortable and fluid when he can fully focus on his jumper.

The fourth play supports the quick feet before the jumper. With movement shooting being one of the most-wanted values in wings, Christie takes away some of the defensive worries with the consistency of his jumper. Despite having a great sample size, it’s irrelevant in his case due to not needing many attempts to see the consistency of the process making sense from setting his feet to his release. When looking for an area of development, Christie should experiment with not lowering the ball below his waist in a few years, after he gets much better with his upper-body strength.

While shooting 79.1% from the line, the consistency of his jumper translates to a good free-throw number. However, the lack of physicality leads to Christie struggling to get downhill consistently. This makes it easier for NBA teams to defend him, and takes away value from his shooting, due to teams being able to fully engage to stop his jumpers.

What consistently came back is Christie struggling to drive into the paint with an idea. The lack of offensive creativity is a consequence of his shooting-heavy game. In the first play below, he shows signs of improvement due to recognizing his opponent not setting the pivot foot well, thus losing its balance making it easier for Christie to attack the strong side. It results in two free throws, despite finding a decent lay-up opportunity to finish. In the NBA, that has to be an and-one to add value to a team’s offensive rating.

As a 47.5% rim-finisher, the lack of strength is a part of the reason. Another one is the lack of offensive creativity, where straight-line drives are the most common way for him to get downhill. In the third play below, Christie settles for the midrange jumper, bailing the defense out that gave up an open driving lane. Showing more aggressiveness that ends up in a floater attempt instead of the pull-up is the type of play an NBA decision-maker looks for.

To be effective in closeouts, Christie has to show aggressiveness and the ability to play hard to compensate for the lack of physicality. We see an example in the second play, where he tries to hammer down the dunk. The consistency of these attempts isn’t in his profile, as Christie consistently bails out defenses by trusting his pull-up game, as shown in the third and fourth plays below.

The impressive part of the last play is making his pull-up jumper look effortless despite the lack of balance, but the value of it will determine how much more he can do on offense to make it harder for opposing teams in trying to figure out what to take away from his game on defense.

At 2.2 assists per game to only 1.2 turnovers, the assist-to-turnover ratio gives a good first impression of the plus value of his passing. That’s a crucial part of his game to decide to either shoot or make the extra pass in a ball-movement-heavy NBA scheme. Leveraging his shooting threat will open up his game in terms of creating space or opportunities for others.

Christie doesn’t stand out in executing complicated passing reads. But he’s more than able to make quick decisions and stay composed on his passes. In the first two plays, we see him getting an assist via baseline out-of-bounds plays. This is an important aspect of his passing, mostly because an NBA team won’t ask him to be a self-creator often in the NBA. Showing that he can process the offense quickly to land the right pass is key. In the second play, we see Christie adjust quickly after his pull-up is heavily contested.

In the third play, Christie attacks the closeout, which is another area where he’ll find his fair share of assists on an NBA level. The plus-value in the play is in his using movement to leverage his shooting threat, luring his assignment to close out harder to stop his jumper. A timely dump-off is the result of a well-read defensive stance.

Christie continues to show playmaking flashes. In the fourth play below, he does well to stay composed after the screener is late with his roll, decelerating at the sideline to win an extra second to see if he can hit the inside pass. He adjusts quickly to find the open shooter near the elbow. Not a complicated read to execute by any means, but in terms of fluidity and composure, an NBA team will likely be willing to invest in Christie in terms of giving more on-ball reps to improve his secondary playmaking.

These on-ball reps will determine how far an NBA team will go in diversifying his offensive scoring package. Mostly to add a certain of unpredictability to his game, thus making his high-end shooting less predictable and more effective in the future.

When Christie can utilize ball screens, he’s much more effective in getting downhill. At a below-average rim-finishing number, the quality of his touch around the rim gets devalued. However, in the second play below, Christie shows important flashes of high-end scoring potential inside the arc.

He used his jab step very well when the defense flirted to go over the ball screen. This led to a drop, whereafter Christie didn’t think twice and attacked the rim via the straight-line drive. He recognized his opponent’s defense being ready to collapse after he put up the jab step, whereafter he still was heavily contested on his lay-up finish high off the glass. As mentioned earlier, when he’ll gets stronger in the future, we’ll see Christie hitting the deck less often. The positive in this stage of his career is that he’s not shying away from initiating contact when he has separation from his original assignment

In the first and third plays below, we see Christie put up his signature move, being the pull-up jumper one dribble after utilizing the ball screen. With analytics-heavy NBA teams valuing ball movement ending up in open threes, Christie is the exception among his peers due to his excellent foot speed and quick pull-up ability as a result. In a league where shooting has never been more important, these are the sequences that can get a prospect into the first round.

However, an area of development for an NBA game where all scouting reports will have the above-mentioned circled name is not to force the shot. In the last play below, the incoming high ball screen took a few seconds longer to arrive. This made his pull-up three from the elbow more predictable. Despite the make, on an NBA floor, this could have led to feeding the cutter—being the relocating wing to the weak side in this play.

NBA Draft Projection

Christie is one of the best shooting prospects in this class. The quickness of his setting his feet, followed up by a clean and quick pull-up is what most NBA teams have been trying to find for several years. With a great sample size, the consistency of the above-mentioned became more clear.

However, the lack of a variety of ways to score limits the potential of Christie’s profile. Having potentially elite shooting eventually gives it less value when he can leverage it to create advantages via other routes.

His plays out of closeouts miss the needed offensive creativity to turn him into a high-end wing scorer in the NBA. With teams being hesitant to put the ball in a rookie’s hands, Christie has his passing potential to still earn his much-needed on-ball reps. In terms of composure and executing basic passing reads consistently, Christie can find early NBA minutes in his career in terms of keeping a team’s offensive rating at par.

The value-droppers are on the defensive side of the ball. With a lack of upper-body strength, there’s a lot of ground to win for Christie. In all fairness, he’s one of the youngest prospects in college, and still 18 years old on draft night. His body still needs to mature and an NBA decision-maker would do good to focus on his strength and conditioning in the first few years of his career.

Important flashes making future improvement feasible is Christie’s toughness when fighting through screens and defensive footwork. That will be an argument an NBA decision-maker can use to draft him in the first round. An area that keeps him out of the top 20 is his off-ball defense. Against cutters, it’s clear that the lack of experience and basics such as ball-watching make him a threat to a team’s defensive rating on day one, thus making his shooting production far more crucial than it should be.

Based on all covered areas, and the pros and cons of his profile, I project Christie to be a possible late first-round pick. In a class that’s very close after the lottery, his freshman status is what gives him a disadvantage in this case. This the contrary to the last few draft cycles. With many winning teams drafting in his range, who value experience and readiness.