There's nothing that I love more when looking for mid-major prospects than finding a unique talent. Someone who excels in a way that not many other players do gets me excited. Everyone knows how the NBA game works, which is why some may find it valuable to throw a player into the mix who breaks the preconceived notions of the game. That's exactly what I found when I started watching Vonterius Woolbright, a player who plays the game his own way. He's not flashy, but he does what he needs to do to win, and that's exactly what the Western Carolina Catamounts are doing this season.
pc: Western Carolina University Athletics
Let me tell you just how important Vonterius Woolbright has been for Western Carolina this season. His 21.2 points per game lead the team...the second highest scorer only puts up 12.1 points a night. He leads the team in rebounds as well, putting up 12.2 boards per game, 8 more than the team's runner up. Finally, his team leading 5 assists puts him 3 assists ahead of the next closest teammate. This is not to say that the Catamounts are a one-man-band, but that Woolbright sets the pace for them in multiple ways.
Like I said, what separates Woolbright from other players is not only his very impressive statline on the year, but how he goes about getting those stats. For example, he's not a fantastic three-point shooter, so instead of taking a ton of threes and exacerbating the issue, he picks his shots and occasionally becomes a threat from deep. He recognizes his bread and butter, and he rarely breaks away from what works. I'm here to break down what works for Woolbright, and if this unique playstyle can potentially translate to the next level, more specifically the NBA.
Woolbright's most impressive trait is his finishing around the rim. His large frame and ability to accelerate have allowed him to be an elite finisher on the drive. 52.9% of his points this season have come at the rim via either layups or dunks. On top of that, 27.9% of his points have come from the free-throw line, free-throws that were mostly generated from drawing fouls in the paint. Let's look at a cavalcade of examples where Woolbright gets the job done on the drive, and why this ability to score in the paint can translate to the professional level.
You'll see in that clip a basic example of how Woolbright cashes his checks. He doesn't exactly accelerate past the defender, but he uses his body to slither to the rim. Starting from a stagnant position, he changes directions and gets the defender on his hip. Once he's in that position the play is over, he's going to get to the rim. The big man is a step too slow to contest the layup, and it's an easy two points. Stuff like this is very routine, but he has mastered the routine.
Here's another look at him working in the half-court. This time he does use his ability to accelerate to get the defender on his hip. The defender does a better job contesting the shot here, but like I said, Woolbright is elite at this facet of the game. He's going to use his body to finish through contact, so your average hands-straight-up contest isn't going to do much. If you pay close attention you'll see that the help defender does a decent job of getting his hand near the ball, but Woolbright does an even better job of getting the ball up high above his head to avoid any sort of extra contest.
This clip shows what Woolbright is capable of on the break. In the previous two clips he didn't look particularly quick, but here you see that he's very capable at full speed. The change of direction is all it takes to beat the defender, and he lucks out when the helpless defender commits the foul on top of allowing the free bucket.
One thing that stands out about Woolbright's game is how he scores when his teammates do the playmaking. He's a guard, but he knows he's not a huge threat camping beyond the arc. Instead, he likes to inch into the paint to be an option near the dunker's spot. This is both a positive and a negative. While this does throw opposing teams off as he usually drags a smaller defender into the paint and opens up space at the top of the perimeter, it also crowds the paint and basically forbids anyone other than Woolbright from being able to get a layup. With that being said, this offensive style has worked for Western Carolina, and has added one more layer to Woolbright's game.
This clip shows a mix of the two previous plays. Once again on the fast break, this time Woolbright doesn't have the ball in his hands. However, he finds his way into the paint as every defender on the floor watches the ball instead of their man. By the time he gets the ball the only opponent in his way is a smaller defender, and he jumps through the defenders body to create space and gets the easy layup.
The final, and most unique, layer of Woolbright's around the rim play is his tendency to post-up. He is one of the best back to the basket guards in the country. His bag of tricks is at it's deepest when he's posting up, and this is also where he draws a ton of those fouls we talked about earlier.
This clip shows how simple he makes these post-ups. Only one bump pushes the defender to one side, and Woolbright rolls to the opposite side for the easy layup. When you watch him in these situations you can tell he's thinking three moves ahead.
Here he drags his defender all the way across the paint as he patiently waits for the center to seal the rim protector. Once that happens he rips through the defender to get the finish and the foul. This is not something opposing teams are used to seeing from guards, and he knows that.
Similar look here, but this time he sees the defender lay his arms down and he immediately rips up for the foul. He's such a good finisher that even with the defender draped all over him he manages to get the bucket. Just a very impressive trait from Woolbright that you don't see from guards, and it speaks to just how experienced he is.
This clip is the ultimate look at Woolbright's game. On the fast break he receives the pass, he drives into the paint, and then puts his back to the basket. The post-up doesn't last long before he spins off and toward the hoop. He extends that arm for the scoop layup to avoid the contest and hits the game winning last-second shot.
The second biggest aspect of his offensive style is his mid-range game. He is very impactful from this part of the floor, something that bodes well for his three-point shooting. Only about 13.7% of his points have come from the mid-range, but when you compare that to the rest of his output it's actually a decent sized portion.
Let's first bridge the gap between his around the rim finishing and mid-range game with some clips of shots that I didn't know how to define. They're too close to the rim to be a mid-range shot, and they're too far away to be a layup.
Obviously the last clip is a floater. That's another move that he uses from time to time. I'm more focused on those first two clips of him finishing through traffic and drawing fouls. He's working for these shots the same way he worked for those contested layups we just talked about. This time he just decides to go up for a jumper instead of in for a layup. He draws the foul on both shots and still manages to finish for the and-one. This shows that this ability to finish through contact extends outside of the paint, and that he truly is a premier difficult shot maker.
Here are three clips of Woolbright putting up legit mid-range jumpers. I like to think of him as an opportunistic scorer in the mid-range. Like I said, he is always thinking about driving the ball, but when he's given the space to take the shot he's going to take it.
Nothing too crazy about those shots. What stood out to me is the patience. His opponents assume he wants to drive, so a lot of times they give him the space he needs. However, he shows in one clip that he can create his own space when he spins off and leaves the defender coasting towards the basket.
I wanted to keep that clip separate from the rest because it's the only one that's truly contested. He doesn't really do anything to get the shot, but he shows once again that he's an excellent difficult shot taker and maker.
I've mentioned on a few occasions that Woolbright isn't a great three-point shooter, but I am of the opinion that he has the potential to become one. His mechanics are good and he's had several games where he shot very well from deep.
Those aren't even uncontested shots, he really does look like a decent shooter. I mean he's not horrible, he's shooting around 30% this season and he does pick and choose when he shoots the three. The only thing that I notice that's questionable is his tendency to step into the shot. Overall, I think Woolbright has the potential to be a very good three-point shooter.
The other two primary aspects of Woolbright's game are his rebounding and playmaking abilities. The rebounding is pretty simple. He's a big guard who boxes out and has good hands. I didn't get rebounding clips because nothing stood out, he's simply very consistent and does what he needs to do. His assist numbers are solid, but I will say about 90% of those assists come about the same way. He brings it into the paint like he always does and then he kicks it out to one of Western Carolina's solid shooters.
Woolbright has fantastic gravity, and opposing teams have to gameplan for it. They know where he's going, and in order to stop it they have to send multiple help defenders. He just so happens to be smart enough to find the open man when these extra defenders come. I wouldn't say this makes him some sort of fantastic playmaker, but it continues to prove that he's a very smart and experienced player.
That's the extent of the positive film I wanted to go over. However, other strengths of Woolbright's game include but are not limited to:
Not foul prone
Very good conditioning
Stronger than your average guard
As far as weaknesses are concerned, the list isn't too long. I already talked about his three-point shooting struggles, so I won't go over that again. Other than that you have:
Not a great defender
Turnover prone (still has a positive assist/turnover ratio)
Not overly athletic
Not a great free-throw shooter despite the volume
The biggest weakness that stood out to me was the defense. If you read some of my other stuff you will find out quick how much I value defense. I think that players who play great defense have higher offensive ceilings than players who don't. At the end of the day defense is mostly about work ethic. Sure, guys who are bigger, faster, and stronger are going to be naturally better at defense, but effort is definitely the primary aspect of being great on that end of the floor. He's not a bad defender, but I wouldn't say he stands out on defense either.
This clip shows a pretty concerning defensive possession. Now, this doesn't happen often, but I had to put it in this blog. Why? Because I don't think Woolbright messed this up because he didn't know what to do, but because he was too lazy to pick up the ball handler himself. Again, I didn't see anything else this egregious while watching him, but I think it's valuable to see the defensive issues at their lowest point.
The one good thing about the weaknesses I listed is that they're fixable or at least somewhat fixable. Like I said, defense is effort driven. Making your free-throws and not turning it over is practice driven. Athleticism is somewhat fixable. His athletic ceiling definitely still exists, but you can increase your athleticism through proper development that will become available to him at the next level. Nothing stood out where I thought he looked completely hopeless, and that's important when evaluating a prospect's floor and ceiling.
All in all, I think Woolbright is an interesting prospect. Like a lot of the guys I evaluate, he's an older prospect. This alone probably eliminates him from draft consideration. However, I think he could stand out on a Summer League or G-League team. At the very least he will play professional basketball overseas (nothing to scoff at), but I think if he were to positively develop his flaws he could operate as a role player in the league.
clips via ACC Network, WCU Athletics, & Matthew Loves Ball Highlights
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