Keshon Gilbert Scouting Report
Iowa State addressed their biggest need via the transfer portal: scoring. How will Gilbert impact the Cyclones' offense? What's the intrigue for the NBA? Find out below.
Iowa State is one of the most underrated teams in the country. As per ShotQuality.com, the Cyclones rank first in Adjusted Defensive ShotQuality (adjDEF SQ). However, their struggles on offense led to a poor post-season performance Therefore, addressing their offensive production was their main goal in the summer.
The Cyclones’ head coach, T.J. Otzelberger was the one who originally recruited Keshon Gilbert to UNLV; with his name available in the transfer portal, they are reunited and ready for the task at hand: improving Iowa State’s offensive firepower while keeping their defensive identity intact.
Physical Profile
At 6’4”, Keshon Gilbert primarily plays as a scoring guard. He has a strong upper body at 190 pounds and thrives at finishing through contact. With a long wingspan, Gilbert is a disruptive presence on the court who can play passing lanes very well. He’s a good athlete who knows how to use his tools to his advantage on both ends, especially when initiating contact.
Offense
The first thing that caught my attention is that Keshon Gilbert doesn't avoid contact at all. He thrives on getting to the bucket at will. His strong frame allows him to absorb contact very well. However, his shot selection on that end is inconsistent, which led to a finishing rate of 43% at the rim on 197 attempts in the last two seasons.
Despite the numbers being bad, there’s a consistent pattern in it. Gilbert was the main bucket-getter in his sophomore season at UNLV, which often led him to force shots rather than look for the extra pass when arriving at the hoop.
However, this doesn’t mean that his game wouldn’t change on this end. Gilbert has great handles which allows him to dribble out of almost every pick-and-roll coverage the defense throws at him. He’s way above average when it comes to creating his looks as the P&R ball-handler.
For his potential NBA role, I project that playing next to a pass-first point guard in Tamin Lipsey is going to make it easier for Gilbert to play within the flow of the offense and eventually find a healthy balance of when to make the extra pass to find the open spot-up shooter after collapsing the defense, rather than looking to finishing the play himself more often than not.
At the NBA level, Gilbert will mostly be asked to serve as a spot-up shooter early on in his career. At 6’4”, he’s slightly undersized to play as a full-time two-guard, however, his high release will translate well. The only thing I’d like to see improve is the quickness; as of now, it looks a bit too slow for my taste.
What stood out to me was Gilbert’s footwork. Whether it’s to lure a defender into biting on a pump-fake or to shift angles to get in a better position for the pass to his teammate. With 3.2 assists per game as a sophomore, Gilbert fulfilled his role as a secondary playmaker outside of his task to carry the scoring load.
As a passer, Gilbert’s footwork is his biggest weapon. The hip mobility is a big plus in his draft profile and combined with how composed he is at all times, the building blocks are there to improve as a playmaker in the long run. At Iowa State, it’s likely that he’ll again serve as a secondary playmaker, which will likely be his NBA role as well. To that end, I expect Gilbert to naturally improve his playmaking qualities.
In terms of his shot diet, we see that in the last two seasons, 25% of his field goal attempts were three-point shots. However, in today’s NBA, two guards have to be able to be volume three-point shooters. UNLV was a low-volume shooting team, and I expect that it’ll stay the same at Iowa State. Therefore, when evaluating Gilbert, I had to take this into consideration.
As a sophomore, Gilbert shot 38.4% on 3.4 three-point attempts per game. Despite the lower sample size, there was a healthy balance between catch-and-shoot threes (27) and self-created shots (50) from downtown. UNLV relied on Gilbert’s ability in isolation, and that’s a good sign of what to expect at the next level. Despite the lower sample size, Gilbert has shown that he’s able to be a go-to guy on that end.
In today’s NBA, rebounding from the guard position is becoming more important than ever. With the amount of switching on defense, there’s a higher chance that the guard will be in the situation of a defensive box-out. With almost 4 rebounds per game last season, Gilbert has shown he’s an above-average rebounder in numbers.
When looking at the rebounds, I see a consistent pattern of him boxing out hard without leaving his defensive assignment. His strong upper body helps when boxing out against taller wings and even some forwards. This leads me to the conclusion that Gilbert allows NBA teams to play with three-guard line-ups for a certain amount of minutes, with Gilbert as the smaller three.
Defense
At the NBA level, Keshon Gilbert will add value to a team with his ability to guard the one, two, and three spots. It’s clear that he takes a lot of pride in making winning plays on that end of the floor.
The first thing that stood out to me was the disruptive nature of his perimeter defense. He uses his long wingspan to impact passing lanes or to reach for the steal after taking on the contact. He slides his feet very well on defense and has the lateral quickness to match the intensity against most guards.
As a screen navigator, Gilbert is well aware of the incoming screen at all times. However, his will to win may get the best of him from time to time, as he’s aggressive when fighting through ball screens or off-ball screening actions. At 6’4”, his frame allows him to stay on his feet, despite taking on the heavy contact from bigs.
His solid hip mobility helps him to navigate through screens easily. When looking at his game in detail, I like how he uses his arms to tag the screener and anticipate what the ball handler’s next move is going to be, like in the second clip above.
In a switch-heavy NBA game, Gilbert will be a target for opposing offenses due to his size. More often than not, this is being presented as a risk. However, I don’t see it that way myself, due to him showing that he’s able to handle contact with his strong frame, and the feel for the game as a pick-and-roll defender being at a level where he’s already able to use his athletic tools to his advantage. That’s a big plus in the NBA readiness of his game.
When looking at his numbers, a steal rate of 4% over his first two seasons is eye-popping. Although a part of it has to do with the lower level of competition in the Mountain West compared to the Big 12, however, it would be unfair to say the numbers are inflated.
After watching his defensive possessions in detail, the feel for the game is clearly there and scalable to the next level. Whether it’s the reach for the steal well as an off-ball defender, like in the first clip above, or when playing as a point-of-attack defender in the full court, Gilbert has outstanding timing in his defensive actions.
Despite playing a crucial role, the foul numbers confirm that his actions are controlled: 2.0 per game in the last two seasons. However, there is an early concern in his profile that has to improve in his junior year: help defense.
Gilbert has the tendency to either overcommit or simply leave too much space between him and the spot-up shooter, making it harder to closeout. Of course, finding a healthy balance is a long-term process. But to me, it’s tougher for prospects that have the tendency to leave too much of a gap with the shooter, because of the spacing differences with the NBA.
At the NBA level, it’s important to be able to guard all the way to the rim, and that’s something we don’t see in Gilbert’s game yet. Although he has the lateral quickness to match the intensity against most guards, he has a tendency to rely on the help defender.
In the long run, that’s a red flag regarding playing long minutes. This is the biggest area of development for him in his junior year at Iowa State against tougher competition in the Big 12.
NBA Draft Projection
Being almost 21 years old on draft night, Gilbert has an NBA-ready game with versatility on both ends of the floor. His rebounding and handles are two major pros in his profile; the defensive consistency as mentioned above is an area of development.
Overall, Gilbert has the tools to be a long-term role player as a microwave scorer with secondary playmaking duties that add value on the defensive end with his toughness and ability to guard all the way up to three.
His off-ball game is solid on both ends, making it more likely that he’s able to translate to his potential NBA role fairly quickly. Therefore, I project Keshon Gilbert as a draftable player who can be selected between 46 and 60, especially if he improves on the defensive end.