Haxel Merris

Strengths: An excellent position defender at the power forward position with the necessary height, weight, athleticism, bounce and tools to help translate that to the NBA...Keeps his body rigid and moves his feet well guarding NBA-caliber bigs in the brutal Big East conference...Capable of forcing more nimble big men into travels, shooting off-nights and whatnot...Can cut off lanes of comfort for big men and put them into tough shooting positions...Fairly good rebounder, boxes out decently and has the necessary spring to get some rebounds...Gets some garbage buckets every game off misses and likes to receive lobs for fairly athletic dunks...Has some shooting touch but (see weaknesses)...Very good lateral mobility for a big man. Runs the floor well, weaves in and out of the offensive scheme and can even spot up for the jumper...Can outquick other bigs offensively in the paint to get some baskets...Has shown some flashes of brilliance with a couple of nice double-double games against good competition...Looks the part of an NBA big with his relative strength, build and body...

Weaknesses: Has never lived up to the hype that was set to him at freshman year; he was a top 100 recruit but underachieved in basically what seems so far both his freshman and sophomore seasons...Poor ballhandling skills. Small hands and may be prone to do too much at offense, dribbling the ball and losing it on his way up...Exposes the ball way too much to defenses making it prone to getting blocked...Can't catch some passes, his offensive awareness is probably still at the freshman level...Decision-making is below average. Doesn't have the necessary court vision to pass out of defenses and that makes him quite turnover prone for a big man...Can get offensive fouls because his moves are so predictable that opposing defenses can adjust to it...Horrible looking jumpshot, looks like he tends to rush it...Doesn't do too well in the paint against sharp defenses....Seems to need a confidence boost at times on the court, once he doesn't do well or other players do well against him, he disappears for the rest of the game...Free throw shooting needs work (58%)...Needs to develop more patience on his jumpshot, he does have a nice touch as mentioned in the "Strengths"...Hasn't improved much statistically...Defensively, a very nice man-defender but he rarely jumps up--meaning that he gets very few blocks per game, defensively the stats don't show up despite having the tools for it...Weakside defense needs work. Needs to utilize his physical tools to get to plays unexpectedly...Can only become a prospect for so long, because his vast potential hasn't been capitalized just yet...