Following a transfer from Marquette, Jamal Cain was the Horizon League Player of the Year in 2022. As a fifth year senior, Cain averaged 20 PPG, 10.2 RPG, 0.7 APG, 1.8 SPG, 0.6 BPG, and 2.2 TOPG on shooting splits of 50/30/84. Below is his full scouting report:
Name: Jamal Cain
Height/Weight: 6’7 ½/ 199
Wingspan/ standing reach: 6’9 ½/ 8’7
Hand size: N/A
Position: Wing
Pre-Draft team: Oakland
Tools: Scoring
Pros:
- Clean jumper with range
- Can score off the dribble or spot up
- Good ball-handling ability
- Long athlete
- Great rebounder
- Good cutter
- Thrives in transition
- Underrated post game with good face-up jumper
Cons:
- Gets lost off-ball easily
- Can have tunnel vision at times and have poor shot selection
- Weak on-ball defender; rarely in stance and lets guys dribble past him
- Needs to reduce avoidable turnovers
- Needs to be more consistent from 3
- Minimal playmaker
- Poor finisher at the rim
Summary:
Jamal Cain is a scoring wing with good size and athleticism, knowing how to get to his spots and scoring from those spots. While he needs to improve shot selection following him being a one man show at Oakland, his abilities were showcased as a dominant offensive player. With deep ball-handling ability at his size with a projectable jumper, he could be a bench scorer for a team on the wings if he can improve frequent tunnel vision and poor shot selection.
Cain put minimal effort into the defensive side of the ball, but his abilities (size, athleticism) can project his defense to improve in the NBA. Cain must become a good defender to find a way with an NBA team, because having poor shot selection and lack of defensive intensity may come across as a red flag to NBA teams.
If a team believes they can tone down those two weaknesses, they might have a good project on their hands to develop. Look for Cain to spend a year in the G League, likely on a two-way contract this season.
Similar to: BJ Johnson
Projected draft range: Undrafted
Expected role: Bench scorer with creation ability
Unplayable if: Shoot-first mentality doesn’t change in the NBA, and finishing ability doesn’t scale up to the NBA.
Exceeds expectations if: Finishing improves, and tendencies such as defensive intensity and shot selection improve.
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