At The 2
Archie Goodwin’s natural position is the shooting guard spot. But at 6’5″ and 198 pounds, he’s often a bit skinny in comparison to the stronger starting shooting guards that litter the league.
However, Goodwin’s lightning quick first step gives him an immediate advantage over his defender, allowing him to blow by his man and attack the basket with what feels like reckless abandon at times. At 20 years old, Goodwin is already agile enough to get past the first line of the defense and to the rim.
The only problem is at this stage of his career, he has problems finishing once he gets there.
Per NBA.com, Goodwin has only converted 29 of his 66 field goal attempts (43.9 percent) from five feet in this season. Goodwin is a 36 percent three-point shooter this year, but he’s taken a limited number of attempts from long range. Of his 39 made field goals this season, 29 of them have come from that distance less than five feet, so it’s inherently obvious where Goodwin likes to score from.
Eric Bledsoe said Goodwin’s knack for getting to the rim, even if it doesn’t always result in a basket, is a positive sign.
“He’s being aggressive,” he said. “He ain’t gonna let nobody change his game, you know, everybody always calls him out of control but at the end of the day he comes in and plays hard, he just tries to be the hardest player out there.”
Head coach Jeff Hornacek also acknowledged that Goodwin has a hard time finishing through contact right now. But he believes the future is bright considering how well he can already get to the rim.
“I think a couple of times when he drove in there, he’s got that ability to get by guys, just, you know, again, he’s working on his strength,” he said. “And he is getting stronger. Last year he probably would’ve been flipped on those drives to the basket, now he’s taking the contact and he didn’t finish a couple of them, but I see as the years go on and he gets stronger and stronger, he’s going to be blowing right through those guys and laying it in or dunking it.”
Next: At The 1