A scouting report on NBA draft prospect Carlton “Bub” Carrington:
- Position: Guard
- Height: 6-3.75 (without shoes)
- Weight: 195 pounds
- College: Pittsburgh
Strengths
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Carrington is exceptionally young — 18 years old for one more month — and coming off a college season that started with a triple-double vs. North Carolina A&T and ended with a 24-point performance vs. North Carolina.
He has impressive “wiggle” as a ball handler. Carrington uses subtle hesitations, step-backs and other well-honed tricks to squeeze off jumpers. He looks like he’ll be very comfortable pulling up and sinking shots against drop coverage in the NBA.
Defensively, Carrington has some appealing tools. He’s got good size and length (6-8 wingspan), and he clearly cares about holding his own.
NBA
“My dad was a coach; I grew up playing for him. I wasn’t always this skilled, I wasn’t always this size,” Carrington told No Ceilings’ Corey Tulaba and Albert Ghim. “The only way my own father would play me is if I could stop the (other) team’s best player. Defense was just always instilled in me. You’ve got to be able to guard. … And it’s a mentality. I hate when people score on me. I truly do, so why not work as hard as I can to prevent that from happening?”
For a freshman lead guard, Carrington’s assist-to-turnover ratio (4.1 assists, 1.9 giveaways per game) was excellent. He wants to make sound decisions, and it helps that he seems to have a natural feel for the nuances of pace and angles in the pick-and-roll.
Carrington is willing and able to chip in on the glass. He was the shortest player among the ACC’s top 15 in defensive rebounds.
Weaknesses
Efficiency wasn’t Carrington’s strong suit at Pitt. He shot 41.2 percent from the field and 32.2 percent from three-point range. To be fair, those surface numbers are unflattering; Carrington was a high-volume three-point shooter (6.1 attempts per game) and hit 78.5 percent of his 2.8 free-throw attempts per contest.
Carrington doesn’t have incredible downhill burst and didn’t have much success in the paint last season. According to NBA.com, he only made 50.9 percent of his shots around the basket at Pitt, which ranked in the 27th percentile nationally. This aspect of Carrington's game is a bit reminiscent of second-year Mavs guard Jaden Hardy.
Will Carrington become a serious catch-and-shoot threat in the NBA? It’s easy to identify reasons for optimism on that front — for instance, he shot 38 percent from three-point range and 86 percent from the foul line as a high school senior — but it’s not a lock that Carrington will pan out as a knockdown shooter who’s adept at both guard spots.
While Carrington was safe and solid with the ball offensively, he did very little last year in terms of forcing turnovers. Over 33 college games, he recorded just 27 “stocks” (19 steals and eight blocks).
Fit
The Sixers’ quasi-blank slate situation means that fit shouldn’t be a major focus with the 16th pick.
With that said, Carrington’s size is a plus in projecting whether he’d eventually be able to do well alongside Tyrese Maxey. Wherever he goes, Carrington will be the youngest in the locker room and have obvious potential to grow.