By my count, there are eight players coming to the NBA after spending at least a year playing overseas.  Throughout the week we are going to look at each player’s individual game one by one, to see what we can expect from them this year in the NBA.

Past Editions: Nikola Pekovic | Timofey Mozgov | Tiago Splitter

After coming out of Portland and playing one season in the D-League, Pooh Jeter headed to Europe.  After three seasons overseas (the final stretch was a 22 game stint with Hapoel Jerusalem) and numerous Summer League invites, the 5’11″ Jeter has finally got himself a NBA contract.

For this scouting report, I am looking at Jeter’s games overseas.  The reason I prefer to use this rather than his Summer League performance because I think it will give us a better look into his game.  With Hapoel Jerusalem, Jeter was playing with guys who he was comfortable with, rather than a group of guys assembled almost at random with each trying to prove themselves.

Note:  Jeter wears #15 for Hapoel Jerusalem.  Their colors are red and white.

Strengths

Ball Pressure

Pooh Jeter is small and quick, and this makes for the perfect on ball defender in my opinion.  He is able to get low and disrupt a point guard’s dribble and his speed allows for him to force the ballhandler to change directions a number of times:

Here, Jeter’s speed and ability to stay in front of his man forces him to change directions twice.  The second time, the ballhandler is worried about Jeter reaching in and stealing the ball, so he turns his back to Jeter.  This allows for the double team to come and force the turnover.

Now, the ball handlers are better in the NBA, but I think Jeter’s speed is enough for him to be able to stay in front of his man.

Ability To Run A Team

At 5’11″ Pooh Jeter just isn’t big enough to exclusively be a scorer.  In the NBA, you just can’t have a 5’11″ shooting guard.  It creates bad matchups on the defensive end and makes it hard to score on the offensive end.  This means that Jeter is going to have to handle the basketball/run the team part of the time he is out there.  Fortunately for him and the Kings, he does that quite well:

Running an offense and being a go to scorer are two completely different roles, and Pooh Jeter was forced to play both during his time with Hapoel Jerusalem and for the most part he did it very well. Most of the time, Jeter knew his role on the court, when the team wanted him to score, he scored. When they needed him to run the offense he did that. When he was the primary ballhandler, he wasn’t looking to get his shots. He was looking to get the team into the set and hitting his teammates in position to score.

Outside Shooting

Jeter’s best skill is his outside shooting.  Jeter uses the three point shot to get a good chunk of his points, but maybe more importantly, the threat of him hitting a shot is what allows him to get into the lane and create havoc.  When Jeter is under control (and not in heat-check mode), he has really good form whether it is coming from off the dribble or of a catch:

Off the dribble, jump shooters (and that is what Jeter is) tend to float and that really messes with the result of a shot. However, Jeter’s shot in the clip above is an example of perfect from. His last dribble loads him up, he rises up, and lands in the same spot.

Off the catch, Jeter again shows solid form. Here, he floats into the open space, makes the catch (and doesn’t bring the ball down – that’s important) and knocks down the jumper.

Once Jeter starts knocking down a few threes, he becomes really dangerous.  Jeter’s defenders now have to press up on him, and that is when he can use his speed to his advantage.

On both of these plays, Jeter uses the threat of a shot (once with a head fake and once with a hesitation dribble) to get his defender to push up on him. The result is a drive by from Jeter (though on one play he gets fouled).

Weaknesses

Tendency To Overshoot

If Pooh Jeter knocks a few threes down, he has a tendency to take a few heat-check shots.  When he is shooting under control Jeter’s form is on point, when he is firing up heat-checks that is a totally different story.  One of the three games that I watched Jeter went 9-10 from three (his one miss was a 3/4 court heave).  He was simply unconscious and he took a few heat-checks:

These threes are deep, and you see Jeter’s leg swinging out in front of him.  Now they go in, so that makes them good shots, but if he misses, those aren’t good shots.  Now maybe he keeps this tendency under control in the NBA.  However, he may be prone to chucking up a couple deep bombs, especially after knocking down two or three in a row.

Closing Out On Shooters

While Jeter’s on ball defense is very good.  His off the ball defense, and more specifically his closing out on shooters, needs to be improved upon.  Jeter either closes out, a little too wildly, jumping on pump fakes (my guess is that he is trying to make up for his height, wanting to get in the shooter’s face), or he doesn’t close out hard, and he doesn’t bother the shot.

Here, Jeter has a long way to go to close out on the shooter. So he goes hard at him and jumps to try and bother the shot. The only problem is that the shooter pump fakes and Jeter goes flying out of the play.

Here, Jeter does the exact opposite. He doesn’t close out hard enough, and at his size, he can’t afford to do that. Jeter doesn’t get his hands high enough to bother the shot, and the shooter makes it in.

Conclusion

Pooh Jeter is going to get a chance to be an effective player off the bench, and I think he will do that.  In fact, I think if Jeter plays well, he can be that go to scorer in that second unit.  He can play at either guard spot, and that versatility gives the Kings plenty of options.  They can play him with Beno Udrih either off the ball or on the ball.  They can also play him with Francisco Garcia  where Garcia would play the two with Jeter playing the point.

The Kings got themselves a very explosive scorer in Jeter, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him put up a couple 20 point games off the bench.