Washington Wizards’ Kelly Oubre the Next Paul George?

Washington Wizards’ Oubre Could Be The Next George

If we’re being totally honest, the night the Washington Wizards traded up four spots in the draft to nab Kelly Oubre, Jr., a freshman out of Kansas, made June feel as cold as it ever has.

Rather than stay at 19th and select either Bobby Portis (sorely needed stretch 4) or Jerian Grant (the perfect long-term backup to John Wall and a much-heralded college player), Washington sacrificed two future 2nd round picks and rolled the dice on a lottery talent who simply couldn’t put together consistently under Bill Self in Lawrence.

I was fairly upset, and probably took to Twitter, this website, and my secret diary over the next few months fuming at another draft fail by notorious draft failure Ernie Grunfeld.

Oubre was a project that would never develop, especially not on the timeline this team needed to take the next stop, I thought.

Maybe it was his shoes, or his haircut, or his carefree demeanor, or in reality a combination of all three that put me in a ‘Get off My Lawn’ mode. But I just felt like I was staring at Nick Young 2.0, right down to the probability of one day dating an Australian pop star with the potential to be exposed for wrongdoings on TMZ.

I noticed the picture Kevin Durant threw up on Instagram with him and Oubre battling during a summer camp and figured Grunfeld took one look at social media and made the selection for that reason.

If KD gives his stamp of approval, that’s good enough for Washington after all (remember that in 5 months when we’re employing Troy Weaver, Scott Brooks, Kevin Ollie, Derek Fisher, Thabo Sefalosha, Kyle Singler, and Wanda Pratt – but not Durant).

So with all that initial agitation over Oubre, it was hard for me to expect myself to come around the kid any time soon. The Washington Wizards were poised to be make a deep run in the East and he was undoubtedly going to be buried on the bench by player development extraordinaire Randy Wittman.

The former couldn’t have been further from eventual reality, but the latter was the easiest prediction of the season. Nonetheless, with all the cards stacked against my relationship with Kelly Oubre, here I am writing this article. The premise of which is, are we seeing the next Paul George?

Before you destroy this thought exercise, understand this: predicting any ceiling for Oubre is like taking a newly minted start up with two weeks’ worth of sales in front of venture capital investors and telling them you own the next Facebook. It’s a shot in the dark but one that’s hopefully done with the slightest of forecasting ability.

That being said, is it so far-fetched to assume he at least shows some similarities?

If Oubre ends up becoming a top 10-15 player in the league (George’s current position), color me surprised. But can he turn into a two-way beast capable of initiating offense on one end and locking down the best perimeter threat on the other? There’s certainly a possibility.

Both players were mid-1st round picks, capable of greater things than their respective draft positions indicated. Each faced concerns about their play and possibly their character causing a slide that could’ve created some extra motivation necessary to get that much better.

In terms of their entry into the basketball prominence, Oubre was a much higher ranked prospect coming out of high school but it was George who shot up draft boards after returning to Fresno St. for a sophomore season.

To compare their NBA profiles, I took a look at some notes from each player’s DraftExpress scouting report.

Paul George:

“The first thing that pops off the page when looking at George’s numbers is his high turnover percentage. The Fresno State product coughed the ball up on some 18.8% of his total possessions. Obviously, his ball-handling ability will be something that he needs to refine in order to reach his potential as a player.”

Kelly Oubre:

“As a shot-creator, Oubre is very much a work in progress still. His ball-handling skills are rudimentary, almost entirely confined to his stronger (left) hand, and with a fairly high dribble that slows him down off the bounce and neutralizes his excellent natural tools to a certain extent.”

Paul George:

“As a defender, George has all the tools to be very solid on this side of the ball, but hasn’t fully put it all together just yet. He comes out of his stance too often and is unaware at times of his opponent’s strengths – backing off of a shooter or caroling a driver, suggesting he needs to pay more attention to scouting reports. Despite that, his length, anticipatory skills and quick hands have made George one of the nation’s leaders in steals, collecting over 2 a game.”

Kelly Oubre:

“The place where he’ll be able to put those tools to use most prominently early in his NBA career should be on the defensive end, where he is far from a finished product, but shows terrific potential as a wing stopper. Oubre moves his feet exceptionally well for his size and has the length to contain pretty much any type of backcourt player. He can put terrific pressure on the ball and has excellent instincts for getting in the passing lanes.”

I certainly picked and chose quotes that strengthened my case and there was separation in that initial analysis. George came into the league as a superior athlete, whereas Oubre had the more refined jump shot and a style that favored smoothness over power.

However, it easy to see where their games align.