Prospect Watch: Kelly Oubre
In Chad Ford’s latest mock, the Thunder are taking 6-foot-7 swingman Kelly Oubre. He says this:
“Oubre has all the physical tools to be a star on both ends of the court. Patience and putting Oubre in the right culture will be the key. OKC could be great for his development in the long run.”
So, what’s the deal with Oubre? (First, nobody profiles prospects better than Draft Express’s Mike Schmitz, so watch that video.)
He was recruited as one of the country’s top prospects to Kansas and had a very meh freshman season. Part of that was impacted by the same old story of a star prospect getting boxed into a college system (especially with Bill Self). But part of that also had to do with Oubre’s still developing skillset.
His pluses are his length, athleticism, defensive potential, transition ability and the fact he’s a bit of a blank canvas that could fill out into a dynamic two-way player. His minuses are that he’s not a refined shooter, doesn’t create on his own well, sometimes lacked aggressiveness, was inconsistent and didn’t appear to have great feel.
Would he be a fit? Actually, yes. A pretty good one. The Thunder have a building logjam in the backcourt already, so adding Oubre next to Dion Waiters, Anthony Morrow, Andre Roberson, Josh Huestis (maybe) and Jeremy Lamb clogs things a bit more. But it’s pretty clear the Thunder don’t feel like they have their 2-guard yet and are still searching. So adding Oubre would just means something would have to give somewhere.
You do have to use caution any time you get in to these strengths and weaknesses, though, because it’s what’s current. It’s about what we presently have on tape. Because you can go back to Kawhi Leonard’s scouting report and it was how he couldn’t shoot. Same with Jimmy Butler. The whole idea with college prospects is that you draft potential, and then it becomes a matter of how close they can get to actually fulfilling it.
The question with Oubre is, would he have any chance to impact the rotation next season? Probably not. And how much can he improve just on the practice floor? While the hot phrase to say is “finding an impact player for next season,” with the Thunder’s current structure, that’s going to be pretty hard to do. Oubre would be a, brace yourselves, pick for the future, which is something I think most fans have grown tired of hearing.
He does have the tools to contribute sooner than later though. Really, it would be about if his college defensive skills could translate quickly to the NBA. If so, he might actually be the kind of player that could crack the rotation, if only because the door is wide open in the backcourt.
