#3 Shabazz Muhammad (6-6 220, 25-years-old)
Another lottery pick – in 2013. He had such a bright future coming into the league as a scorer with an appealing 6-11 wingspan.
His two biggest shortcomings were his 3-point shot and his defense. Today, those remain a weakness.
However, he has worked on them.
Last year, he shot a career best on corner 3’s and mid range shots. He has been eating healthy and training hard in LA, dropping from 15% to 6% body fat. That’s really impressive.
He’s been shooting a lot of 3’s and improving his shot and you’d have to think a slimmer Shabazz would play better defense if only he put his head into it.
At only 25-years-old, if he does figure it out he would fit right into the timeline and have many years of good play in front of him. It didn’t work out last year as he only managed 5 points and 1.8 rebounds in 9.7 minutes per game.
However, that could say more about Thibodeau, the Bucks, a plethora of forwards and defensive focus than it does about whether Muhammad is ready to contribute.
Throughout his young career he’s averaged 9 points and 2.8 rebounds in 17.2 minutes per game on 47% field goal accuracy. His best season was with Minnesota in 2014-15 when he shot 49% from the field and averaged 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 0.5 steals in 22.8 minutes per game.
In the last 10 games when he’s played 20 to 25 minutes he boasts percentages of 54% on field goals and 32% on 3-pointers (0.7 treys made) along with 16.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 0.7 steals. He could end up being a microwave scorer off the bench for Phoenix.