Eric Gaines Scouting Report

Defensive-minded guards remain a wanted commodity. In a class lacking depth on that end, Gaines has a chance to land a roster spot next season. What's the intrigue? What's his NBA role? Find out below

In a successful four-year career, Gaines crowns his production with an AAC championship. The defensive specialist developed his offensive creativity, adding value to his NBA profile. After spending his years as an underclassman in the SEC, Gaines committed to Coach Kennedy, who trusted him enough to put the ball in his hands.

In back-to-back double-digit scoring seasons, Gaines worked on his biggest development area: taking care of the ball. In contrast, lowering his usage rate from 26.1% in his freshman year to 16.5% as a senior. NBA front offices value taking care of the ball in their evaluation of leading guards. That’s the entry point for this scouting report that will focus on his NBA role and areas of development.

Physical Profile

At 6’1.25” in socks, Gaines is slenderly built. His 148 pounds will be held against him in an NBA decision-makers evaluation. His slender build forces him to play tougher when he’s operating inside the arc. The positive that partially mitigates the weight is Gains having almost 50% of his total shot attempts coming from inside the paint or at the rim.

Gaines has an explosive first step, his main weapon is to create separation. With good handles and much-improved offensive creativity, Gaines shows that his burst and overall quickness are the areas where he separates himself from most of his peers.

With a 6’7.5” wingspan, Gaines’ size is mitigated with a long wingspan. Gaines shows extremely light feet, with his footwork being another area to create advantages on the offensive side of the ball. On the defensive end, this means activity where he’s continuously looking to impact passing lanes, both on and off the ball.

Gaines shows great verticality, mostly benefitting his finishing near the rim. On the defensive end, the lack of a filled frame limits him from guarding any position outside of the one, which is a value-dropper in terms of his physical profile.

Offense

At 26.9% on 4.1 attempts per game, Gaines’ shooting numbers don’t reflect the quality of his jumper. While being an undersized guard with below-average shooting numbers may seem like an uphill battle, Gaines has a few areas to show NBA decision-makers that he’ll be a better shooter at the next level.

In the chart above, we see Gaines being more comfortable shooting from the elbows, rather than from above the break. When focusing on his mechanics, Gaines is good at quickly setting his feet before pulling up. The lack of strength forces Gaines to shoot while powering up the ball from his waist. Despite a lower release point, the fluidity of his jumper gains value by its consistency.

Gaines is the inbound passer in the baseline out-of-bounds play in the first play below. His moving his hips after the pass to the elbow is followed up by his quick feet and clean pull-up. That’s an advantage he’ll have on an NBA floor, where hitting open threes off movement is crucial for him to stay on the floor.

In the second play below, we see Gaines’ range on display. Leveraging his pull-up threat from way beyond the three-point line is a must-have to be a threat to opposing teams. This is because NBA defenses will likely be content on Gaines entering the paint, and thus countering that aspect of the opposing scouting report.

While shooting 24.1% on 58 NBA-ranged threes this year, the numbers are less important due to how consistent the quality of his jumper is. A reason for the below-average results is Gaines’ willingness to shoot and is one of the few high-volume three-point shooters in an interior-scoring-focused UAB system, where the Blazers rank in the 15th percentile in attempted three-pointers.

Therefore, teams were guarding Gaines heavier on the perimeter, which led to his biggest area of development: shot selection. In the third play below, Gaines has to attack the closeout with a wide-open driving lane to the basket, instead of taking the contested corner three. That’s a main area of improvement NBA decision-makers have to focus on when preparing their developmental plan.

When making plays out of closeouts, Gaines shows his aggressiveness by quickly launching for the drive after seeing a lane occur. To avoid physical contact early on in the drive, Gaines positions himself further away from the basket, therefore leveraging his lack of strength to exploit his quickness and burst.

Considering his fluid pull-up three being in his arsenal, Gaines would hurt his scoring chances by waiting near the three-point line. Instead, he uses movement off the ball to find drives to the rim when he’s further away from the three-point line, avoiding physical contact early on, and thus improving his chances to get downhill to either finish or make the extra pass during the process.

At 57.3%, Gaines is a decent finisher at the rim. The context of his slender build not allowing much contact near the basket makes it a better number when compared to taller players with better frames. In the three plays below, the focus is on finishing off plays after absorbing contact, which shows NBA decision-makers there is improvement in his profile on that end.

In the first play below, we see Gaines attack the rim from far beyond the perimeter, using his handles and hesitation moves before the crossover. However, on an NBA floor, this play has to end in a kick-out pass to the corner instead of the lay-up. A positive is that he shows off his good verticality on the finish, but his drive to the rim was too quick to get off a balanced lay-up so far away from the basket.

The second play shows Gaines again using distance and his quickness to get downhill. He’s taking a higher-quality look this time, absorbing the hit to keep the defender away from his right finishing hand. His touch isn’t the reason for the miss, which was mostly due to the amount of contact he had to process and still keeping his balance. An NBA strength and conditioning program is a must to fill his frame and add upper-body strength.

Gaines doesn’t have to bulk up to 200 pounds, because his quickness and burst are his two primary weapons. But adding strength is simply a must to stand a chance against the physicality of the average NBA interior defender.

The last play below shows how good of an athlete Gaines is when he’s facing the opposing guard on the catch and drive. He uses his jab step very well to open up some extra driving lane in the middle, whereafter he hangs in mid-air before nearly getting the and-one in the process. Sequences like these show Gaines’ toughness and should lead NBA decision-makers to look further than the numbers and his being undersized.

At 21.5% usage, Gaines has 5.5 assists per game. That’s a valuable number showing the positive impact of his playmaking. He keeps a healthy balance in contributing to others carrying a large chunk of the scoring load. The main selling point to NBA decision-makers is his composure and a great feel for the game as a playmaker.

Gaines has a great basketball IQ, showing it in important detail, with the first play as an example. He sees the wide-open shooter in the corner. But waiting for the backdoor cut with the overhead pass fake shows his composure. With the cut to the rim not happening, he hits the corner shooter with the pass, using eye manipulation to cause a part of the defense to expect the entry pass to the strong side of the mid-post.

One of the reasons why UAB was such an effective team has been their transition offense. That’s where Gaines’ decision-making has made a positive impact for them. In the second play, he launches the full-court skip pass after two dribbles, not hesitating when seeing a wide-open teammate.

As mentioned earlier, Gaines’ combination of attacking the rim while being further away from the three-point line is one of the reasons that made him an offensive threat in the AAC. In the third play below, his composure as an added value in these plays is what landed him an assist on a tough read. While driving into a packed paint, Gaines is forced to pick up his dribble, leaving him in mid-air waiting for the right angle to hit the cutter. That’s the advantage of drafting experienced players as Gaines learned to master his physical tools to improve himself as a playmaker throughout his college career.

On an NBA floor, the limited ball touches will mostly lead to Gaines executing basic reads. We see fewer sets involving horns, but in UAB’s interior-scoring-heavy game, having two forwards on the court is what made that an effective part of their game. The fourth and fifth plays below are examples of how effortless Gaines’ playmaking looks at times, making that an added value to his NBA profile.

Defense

Gaines is one of the best defenders among guards in college basketball. His footwork and toughness are the two main reasons. At the NBA level, he’ll be asked to guard against spot-up shooters. The team context around UAB helps his draft value as Coach Kennedy used Gaines as a weakside defender more often than not in half-court settings.

This led to utilizing Gaines’ quickness and feel for the game. He’s very good at recognizing rotations. Where his burst and explosiveness help him on the offensive end, Gaines uses these in closing out to the perimeter against open shooters. That makes it more likely that he will continue doing so on a better-spaced NBA floor.

His main weapon on closeouts is his last step. Gaines worked a lot on his footwork in his earlier life, with his last step being automatic in terms of quickness and how well he places his pivot foot to stay in slide mode and keep his balance at all times.

In the first play below, Gaines does very well to rotate to the interior after a timely roll by the opposing big man. Hereafter, he closes out immediately before the ball handler launches the shot to the weak-side shooter. Most of his peers would have placed their pivot foot further away in the last step, leading to having to power up to contest the shot. But Gaines uses both feet and floats while using his length to close a passing lane, control the potential drive, and dare them to shoot. That’s what NBA teams are looking for.

The second play shows timely helps defense, whereafter Gaines has to make up for lots of ground. These plays are usually a fifty-fifty chance, mostly being a gamble by defenders. The positive is that Gaines tries to control the offensive play by his opponents with his help defense, forcing the ball handler to make the extra pass. The gamble was well-thought because Gaines knows that his burst and quickness will lead to him effortlessly closing out. The shot allowed was still a tad too open.

NBA teams know they can’t take away every shot. That’s why the feel for the game is in being in sync with all five players on the court in what they are willing to allow opponents to get. The third play is another example of Gaines’ help defense, knowing his man is open from NBA range. Despite the make, that’s a shot he had to be willing to give up and go to offer help defense on the perimeter where the opponent found a mismatch by taking on his big man in isolation.

The last play below is an example of how good Gaines’ feel for the game in terms of rotations. He makes it look effortless, and this adds to the value of his defensive profile.

When defending against closeout attackers, Gaines’ light feet and excellent hips are on display. His burst and defensive footwork allow him to quickly react to anything the opponent throws at him to lose his balance. Despite the lack of physical strength, Gaines compensates for it by not allowing his defense to collapse when opponents challenge him off the dribble.

It’s a given that in a switch-heavy NBA game, teams will attempt to put Gaines in mismatches to play bully-ball against him. That’ll be there, and that’s the nature of an advantage-seeking NBA offense. NBA decision-makers know this. That’s where toughness becomes more important, both physically and mentally.

A comparable situation to Gaines is Houston’s Fred VanVleet, who used his feel for the game and toughness to respond to opponents trying to take advantage of mismatches with his toughness. Physically this meant not shying away from contact, and mentally the composure and patience to know when to want to absorb contact. Gaines has the same style of play where he’s absorbing the hit when the ball handler is slightly out of balance, creating an advantage in a situation of a disadvantage.

In the first play, we see a mismatch, where the opponent tries to take on Gaines in isolation. Gaines initially takes the hit, recovers, and allows some penetration into the paint, whereafter he again gets close after his assignment slightly loses his balance, forcing the fadeaway midrange jumper.

Another area where teams take away the mismatch-seeking from their opponent is to plan team defense around it. In the second play, Gaines does well to stay in front of his man, but UAB designed their defense to pack the paint in a triangle-shaped form with three players, and one player roaming to either close out or stay within the interior, as seen at the 8:43 mark of the clip. This opens up the perimeter and moves the problem elsewhere. It’s not a solution, but that’s where the main emphasis of NBA team defense comes into play: what type of shot is a team willing to allow?

The area of development for Gaines is shown in the third play below. He’s alone as the weakside defender, with the corner being left wide-open after UAB defends the high pick-and-roll. Gaines went to close out after the bailout passed to the weakside. Instead, staying inside the arc to force the ball handler to take the pull-up three or beat him off the dribble should have been the play. This isn’t a red flag to his profile by any means, but a sign for NBA decision-makers that the degree of toughness in Gaines’ game could lead to mistakes in defensive reads like in this particular play.

At 2.1 personal fouls in almost 34 minutes per game, Gaines plays in control. He picks up most fouls when he’s operating as a pick-and-roll defender. That’s where opponents will target him in the NBA, thus making it an important part of his draft evaluation.

Gaines will lead to a team’s defensive rating being influenced negatively. That’s something every NBA decision-maker will take into account. The crucial question remains how much they are willing to allow in terms of negative impact.

His light feet and quickness allow Gaines to stay in front of most assignments he’ll face. It becomes harder when he’s near the high-post area of the interior where physical contact starts to occur. When he’s put on an island, it forces Gaines to gamble on defense, as shown in the second play below where reaching for the ball didn’t work, thus allowing the open dunk. Coach Kennedy trusts his floor general to make the right decisions, whereas most AAC opponents used these types of plays trying to exploit Gaines’ deficiencies.

The reason for this is Gaines’ toughness. As mentioned, he doesn’t shy away from absorbing contact on his terms, mostly when a player is slightly out of balance. The third play below is an example of how the other side of the medal looks like in terms of pick-and-roll defense ending in Gaines getting the stop. Excellent screen navigation on his part, tagging the ball screen whereafter he dares the ball handler to beat him off the dribble. He does well to use his left foot as the pivot foot before launching to guard the weakside on the drive. After the ball handler picks up his dribble, Gaines uses his left foot as the pivot again before contesting the shot.

With the NBA adjusting the foul-baiting rules in 2021, Gaines used this strategy to his advantage to grow his chances of garnering more stops as the pick-and-roll defender. This is likely to continue at the NBA level.

NBA Draft Projection

There were 13 players at 179 pounds or less with more than 30 NBA games played this season. And I don’t see any reason why Gaines can’t have the same outcome next year. An NBA team is getting a 23-year-old high-feel guard who has had a defensive-minded game throughout his collegiate career.

As a senior, his offensive creativity fastly improved, which was one of the main areas of development when he tested the waters in last year’s draft. The above-mentioned areas in the scouting report show the feasibility of his game translating to the NBA.

On the offensive end, shot selection and hunting his offense at times were the two main areas of development. His production and efficiency will improve in the upcoming years when Gaines manages to get stronger in his upper-body area, which will lead to better-finishing numbers at the rim.

An NBA team is getting a solid playmaker in Gaines who knows how to leverage the threat of his explosiveness and burst to get downhill. Despite not being an above-average finisher at the rim, his ability to generate paint touches should benefit a team’s offensive concept in terms of spacing.

On the defensive end, Gaines’ footwork and great feel in terms of rotations make him an effective team defender on day one. A team will exploit the lack of size and physicality, with the last paragraph showing how that can be limited due to Gaines’ good understanding of when to absorb contact.

Based on all the pros and cons of his draft profile, I project Gaines to be an undrafted free agent this summer. He will be one of the first players to be signed on a two-way contract to work on his shooting efficiency in the G League while still playing in a limited role for a team in the regular season.