A former top 25 recruit, Wendell Moore finally had his breakout season living up to his pre-college hype as a junior. On the year, Moore averaged 13.4 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 4.4 APG, 1.4 SPG, and 2 TOPG on shooting splits of 50/41/81. Below is his full scouting report:
Name: Wendell Moore
Height/Weight: 6’5 ½ / 217
Wingspan/ standing reach: 7’0 ½ / 8’5
Hand size: 10 ¼
Position: Wing
Pre-Draft team: Duke
Tools: Shooting, length, versatility
Pros:
- Good in transition
- Good vision
- Clean shooting form with quick feet to get set
- Good rebounder
- Finishes well at the rim
- Limits turnovers well
- Adequate defensive ability to stay in front of his man
- NBA ready body with big hands and long arms
- Efficient within 15 feet from the rim
- Good fadeaway jump shot
- Projectable, quick floater
Cons:
- Lacks blow-by burst
- Needs more confidence as a shooter
- Simple handle; can be trusted with the ball but doesn’t have many high-level moves
- Needs to reduce lazy passes
- Must improve ball security on drives; gets ripped driving into help defense
Summary:
Wendell Moore played an incredibly translatable role at Duke with four other NBA caliber players as an off-ball scorer, lite creator, and a good defender. Moore is a jack of all trades, master of none type player. He can handle the ball well and be a tertiary passer, finish off cuts, spot-up shoot, and defend multiple positions. However, he does not project to be a star due to limited self-creation ability and a lack of burst with the ball in his hands. Because of this, Moore projects to be a solid role player and glue-guy that acts as a connecting tissue to make everyone around him better.
We saw a glimpse of this role at Duke when surrounded by four other NBA talents in the starting lineup, and it was the best version of Moore in the three years at Duke. A big help of this fit has been his growth as a shooter. While he still has strides to make as a shooter over shot contests (26 contested 3s to 71 open 3s) Moore took a big jump in confidence as a shooter as a junior. While Moore likely only needs to master spot-up shooting in the NBA, improving as a shooter off the dribble (8/29 from 3 off the dribble) will greatly unlock another element of shooting. Since he can run pick & rolls lightly, improving ball-handling and learning to manipulate defenses behind screens will be big for Moore.
Defensively, Moore can guard multiple positions due to length, athleticism, and size. He has good footspeed and strong instincts, making him active and likely to disrupt offensive flows easily and frequently.
A key element of context for Moore’s breakout season and overall draft stock is that this is only his second draft-eligible season in three years at Duke. Moore won’t turn 21 until training camp, and should be able to contribute a meaningful role early on while being able to grow into being great at the key strengths he currently possesses. As he becomes a great shooter and strong level defender, with his length and light playmaking ability, he has the potential to be a key rotation wing that is consistently an advanced metrics darling.
Similar to: Troy Brown jr, poor man’s Khris Middleton, Kevin Huerter
Projected draft range: 25-40
Expected role: Versatile wing that can play many roles on both ends of the floor, and can be trusted with the ball in his hands.
Unplayable if: Unlikely to become unplayable, but a worst case scenario lies in his shooting confidence holding him back from being a solid 3&D wing.
Exceeds expectations if: Shooting off the dribble grows, and overall handle grows into becoming a creator in limited capacity.
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