2021 NBA Draft Profile: Jalen Suggs
A dynamic guard who ran one of the best teams in basketball this past season, Suggs is likely to be a top-4 pick in the NBA Draft.
Position: Guard, Gonzaga
Age: 20 (6/3/2001)
Height: 6 ft 4 in
Wingspan: ???
Weight: 205 lbs.
Strickland 2021 Big Board Rank: 4
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before... Jalen Suggs was a really good quarterback in high school. If you watched Gonzaga at all this past season, it was the announcers’ go-to soundbite whenever Suggs was running the offense or throwing long outlet passes (things he did very often and very well). The decision making and feel for the game needed at the quarterback position definitely translates to the basketball court. Suggs plays a very mature brand of basketball where he does pretty much everything well and only has minor flaws. He orchestrates the offense beautifully in both the half court and transition while also scoring well himself. Oh, and the size translates too. Coming in at a solid 6-foot-4 and 205 lbs., Suggs shouldn’t have any problems dealing with the physicality of the NBA.
The big question mark and swing skill for Suggs (like many prospects) is the jump shot. While he shot a respectable 33.7% from three last season, there were stretches where he’d go multiple games without a make from deep — and then there was the game vs. Iowa where he went 7-10 from deep. Fun fact (or not so fun fact): Those seven makes account for 20% of his total 3-pointers for the season given his low attempt rate of 3.5 threes per game. He was also a much better shooter off the dribble (1.1 points per possession in the half court, ranking in the 93rd percentile, per Synergy) than he was on catch-and-shoot opportunities (0.919 PPP in the half court, ranking in the 39th percentile, per Synergy).
