2022 NBA Draft Scouting Report: Jaden Ivey

A look at his strengths, weaknesses, and what to expect

David Sajdak

May 09, 2022

Strengths:

athleticism
finishing
rim pressure
passing
off-ball proficiency
self-creation

Weaknesses:

playing with pace consistently
in-between game
defense

Jaden Ivey has arrived. After a tough freshman season, the Purdue guard put it all together in an explosive fashion, leading the Boilermakers to their best season in years. Ivey generates paint touches with ease, leveraging his blistering speed to leave defenders in the dust. He finishes well, shooting an eye-popping 67.9% at the rim per barttorvik (for reference, Ja Morant shot 60.6%, SGA 59.3%, and De’Aaron Fox 64.5%), and does a good job of kicking out to 3 point shooters when the defense collapses. At times, Ivey can fall victim to his own speed, operating at 100 mph and forcing tough shots when he should be more patient. Luckily, he seemed to improve as the season went on and had some really nice, patient drives where he put his defender in a hostage dribble.

Matt Painter had him operate off-ball for Purdue numerous times throughout the season, running him off of screens to get him an open look or to get him on the move towards the rim. Ivey’s improved shooting helped in these scenarios as he shot 35.8% (on 5 attempts per game) compared to just 25.8% (on 4.2 attempts) his freshman year. Though his free throw shooting isn’t great (73.9% in 2 years), the volume and difficulty of shots that Ivey hits give me reason to believe he’ll be at least an average shooter, enough to keep defenders honest. Hitting 3s on consistent volume and improving his in-between game will make him so much more dangerous, giving him the ability to punish teams/bigs that play drop pNr coverage. On defense, Ivey’s athleticism and lengthy frame help him get steals and blocks, but I haven’t been too impressed overall. He’s been beaten off the dribble and fallen asleep off-ball too often for my liking and it’s something he needs to improve as he enters the league.