A decorated Big East performer for 3 years, Julian Champagnie had an up and down college career full of flashes. As a junior, Champagnie averaged 19.2 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 2 APG, 2 SPG, 1.1 BPG, and 1.5 TOPG on shooting splits of 41/34/78. Below is his full scouting report:
Name: Julian Champagnie
Height/Weight: 6’8/212
Wingspan/ standing reach: 6’10/8’11
Hand size: 9 ¼
Position: Wing
Pre-Draft team: St John’s
Tools: Scoring/jump shooting, defensive production
Pros:
- Good shooter with good range in spot up and off the dribble
- Improved defender that records lots of defensive stats
- Good in transition
- Quick release on his jumper
- Decent athlete that can finish above the rim
- Good cutter
- Strong give & go passing instincts
- Good at finding cutters
Cons:
- Lacks explosiveness in the half-court
- Struggles to get his shot off against tight defense
- Needs to get better at going left/ shooting off going left
- Jumps too much guarding the perimeter
- Stiff hips on-ball defensively
- Needs to be more consistent as a shooter, especially spotting-up
- Can lose his footwork at times for the sake of quick shooting
- Stiff jumper and stiff body at times
- Medicore frame
- Struggled finishing at the rim
Summary:
Julian Champagnie is a scorer with size that could be appealing as an upside play to be a volume scorer off the bench.
In order to achieve his scoring upside, Champagnie needs to iron out some wrinkles in his game, including: rushing shots by sacrificing footwork, going left, countering a lack of explosiveness, and becoming more consistent in spotting up. While Champagnie knows how to use off-ball screens to get to the basket and to slip for an open jumper, he must quickly get consistent as a scorer from deep. His stats decreased as a junior in almost all categories, which will be a flag to teams looking to draft him in the second round. For some players, private team workouts and shooting drills mean more than for other players; with Champagnie, how he performs in shooting drills plus team workouts will dictate whether or not he gets drafted.
Defensively, Champagnie has stiff hips defending drives, but still has found a way to be a productive, positive defender. His defensive stats serve as projections towards being a positive defender, being able to disrupt plays despite some physical shortcomings. His 6’8 frame gives him a cushion defensively, giving him more leeway in mistakes because of his size advantage on defense. As long as he isn’t making bad reads and decisions defensively, Champagnie projects to be a near neutral defender.
Given Julian Champagnie’s defensive neutrality projection, combined with his scoring upside, Champagnie has potential to be a key contributor in the NBA as a rotation player off the bench.
Similar to: TJ Warren, Kostas Papanikolaou
Projected draft range: 40-undrafted
Expected role: Bench scorer that can force mistakes as a defender.
Unplayable if: Jump shooting doesn’t translate; he only shot a respectable 3P% one time in three years at St. John’s.
Exceeds expectations if: Hip speed can be countered by his size as a cushion defensively, and shot-making consistency scales up against NBA spacing.
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