Name: Dominick Barlow
Height/Weight: 6’10/221
Wingspan/ standing reach: 7’3/ 9’0 ½
Hand size: 10 ½
Position: PF/C
Pre-Draft team: Overtime Elite
Tools: Size, shooting, passing upside, transition scoring
Pros:
- Good shooter with excellent release point
- Flashes of passing ability
- Reliable spin move in isolation
- Good in transition
- Room to grow as a ball-handler; has a low crossover in his bag currently
- Excellent frame with massive hands
- Sufficient lateral quickness
- Uses his athleticism best in transition, where he finishes above the rim
- Projectable finisher at the rim
- Very young- will be 19 for all of the 2022-23 season
Cons:
- Guide hand can sometimes interfere with shooting hand, causing bad misses
- Needs to get better at hitting jumpers off the dribble over defenders
- Not very explosive in the half-court, especially on drives
- Still raw; must learn ins and outs of both ends of the floor
- Mediocre athlete- 34 inch vertical
Summary:
Dominick Barlow is a raw, high-upside power forward with the ability to defend, shoot, lightly create, and pass.
Offensively, the ideal immediate role for Barlow is becoming a spot-up shooter as he continues to iron out some minor technique issues. The upside that will intrigue teams lies in his ability to make some high-level passes at such a young age with good size, along with some nice dribble moves to set up shots, including a strong one-dribble stepback and a reliable spin move on drives.
Another area Barlow can contribute in is fast-paced offense, thriving in transition. This is where Barlow uses his athleticism best, often fearless as a finisher and using his height/athleticism combo to his advantage. With NBA pace, Barlow should thrive being able to run ahead of his positional opposition in transition, getting easy points at a high level. As Barlow progresses and develops, the hope becomes that he can not only become a strong cutter in the NBA, but a light creator in limited capacity as well.
Defensively, Barlow has the mobility to stay with multiple positions and drives, but will need to learn when and how to use his tools better to adjust to the jump from high school to the NBA. Learning how to become consistently disciplined, and how to use his length best against NBA slashers and creators will be big, on top of learning how to properly defend off-ball and as a team defender.
Overall, the outlook for Barlow, a 6’10 shooter, defender, and potential passer, seems optimistic. He needs the right team, but the combination of size + skill will be hard to turn down in the second round. Although Barlow is still a couple years away, he is worth a swing for a team with multiple picks in the draft. If Barlow has been impressive in pre-draft workouts, he could also sneak into the final few picks of the first round as a high upside play.
Similar to: Maxi Kleber, Jalen Smith, Bobby Portis
Projected draft range: 28-58
Expected role: Shooter with defensive upside and good athleticism to serve as a cutter and transition finisher.
Unplayable if: Jump shooting inconsistencies never get ironed out, and he never advances his knowledge of the game to utilize his tools effectively.
Exceeds expectations if: Ball-handling grows, and defenses scales up while his shooting continues to develop.
Videos:
Shot chart:
