Washington Wizards 2020 NBA Draft: Aaron Nesmith profile

Aaron Nesmith: Weaknesses

Although Nesmith’s offensive game is NBA ready, he still has quite a ways to go defensively. He’s not a liability on the defensive end, but his on-ball defense needs to improve. Quicker guards give Nesmith trouble because he doesn’t move his feet fast enough laterally, which makes him susceptible to penetration. His long, athletic frame allows him to occasionally jump into passing lanes and alter shots but his overall man-to-man defense is questionable.

Nesmith’s playmaking ability is pretty much nonexistent. He only averaged 0.9 assists as a sophomore and that’s dreadful for a player who had the ball a lot on offense. Nesmith needs to play with a pass-first point guard in order to mask his lack of vision and passing ability on the offensive end. The lack of competition he faced last year is also somewhat concerning. Auburn was the only top-25 opponent that Nesmith went against last season so some NBA teams & scouts may look at his high scoring average as an aberration. Can he consistently put up his gaudy college numbers against tougher opponents?

Last but not least, injury history has to be taken into account when evaluating Aaron Nesmith. He only played 14 out of 32 total games last season due to a stress fracture in his right foot. Interested teams will have to do their research and make sure the medical comes back clean. Foot fractures tend to not have any long-lasting effects so as long as it healed properly, Nesmith should be good to go moving forward.