2021 NBA Draft Profile: James Bouknight
A dynamic scoring guard from just up north at UConn, could Bouknight be an option for a creation-starved Knicks backcourt?
Position: Combo/scoring guard, UConn
Age: 20 (9/18/2000)
Height: 6 ft 5 in
Wingspan: 6 ft 8 in
Weight: 190 lbs.
Strickland 2021 Big Board Rank: 15
The Sales Pitch: Bouknight is a hyper athlete who can score the ball from all three levels. He is comfortable both with or without the ball in his hands and utilizes his athleticism to finish over or around defenders in both half court and transition settings. He has some smooth dribble moves (including great hesitation, change of speed, and direction) that he utilizes to get to the rim or create separation for jumpers. He also has good positional size, and while I can’t find an official wingspan number, he seems to have enough length and footwork on defense to be at least adequate on that end.
Oh, and he’s a hell of a rebounder for his position, and I know Knicks fans love that about another certain young player on the roster (*cough* RJ Barrett *cough*).
Elite Traits/Skills: Shot creation and scoring, finishing, athleticism
The Devil’s Advocate Argument: Can he do anything else well enough outside of scoring that makes him a valuable player at the next level? He shows flashes as a passer and playmaker, but over his two seasons at UConn his assist-to-turnover ratio was 0.7. The shooting numbers also were not great outside of the paint, and for a guard especially, that can be concerning. He did take some very difficult shots, and he’s a better shooter off the dribble than off the catch, but that is another area he’ll need to improve on.
The Misconceptions: The main misconception is that he offers no off-ball value. This just simply is not true. While his catch-and-shoot numbers aren’t great (more on that below), he is an excellent cutter. Given injury and more on-ball reps this past season at UConn, he only had 22 possessions as a cutter — but those resulted in 1.682 point per possession (PPP), ranking in the 98th percentile, per Synergy. Looking back at his freshman season, he had 40 of these possessions, resulting in 1.35 PPP, good for 80th percentile.
Important numbers:
46/32/80%: His FG/3P/FT percentages over his two seasons at UConn. While the 3P% took a slight dip his sophomore season (29%), I still buy the shooting enough to not be too concerned given his ability to get to the rim and decent FT%. He also has shown good touch on runners/floaters.
1.373: His PPP around the basket (excluding post-ups) in the half court, per Synergy. This highlights Bouknight’s elite driving and finishing ability, as this number ranks in the 86th percentile on Synergy, ahead of guys like Cade Cunningham, Jalen Suggs, Scottie Barnes, Kai Jones, Jaden Springer, Keon Johnson, Isaiah Jackson, and many more. He shot 62.7% on these attempts as well.
0.825: His PPP on off-the-dribble jump shots last season, per Synergy. This ranks as “good” on Synergy and given the high difficulty of his shot profile (he was pretty much UConn’s only real shot creator), this number is even more encouraging, in my opinion.
21.6%: His FG% on shots off the catch last season (per Synergy). That is... not good. Now, over 75% of his attempts were listed as “guarded,” but his “unguarded” FG% wasn’t much better (22.2%). He will definitely need to improve on this to unlock his full potential. He did shoot 41.7% on catch-and-shoot opportunities his freshman year, so there is some hope.
Knicks Fit: I actually think Bouknight has a better shot at playing point guard on the Knicks than most other teams, so I’m going to say he’s a great fit. We all know that in order for Thibs to start you at the point, you NEED to put pressure on the rim. I mean, Elfrid Payton started at poiint guard this past season for that very reason, and Bouknight is better at both getting to the rim AND finishing at the rim than Elfrid.
