Eurobasket Recap: Kerr Kriisa Flashes Impressive Skill

The Eurobasket performance from the Arizona Guard offered some clarity about his potential path to the NBA.

With Eurobasket entering its final stretch, it’s time to go through the tape of the handful of NBA prospects who saw significant playing time in the tournament. One of them was Kerr Kriisa, the 6-foot-3 Point Guard for the Arizona Wildcats who will be going into his Junior season. Kriisa started all five games for Estonia at Eurobasket, which not only provided NBA scouts with yet another context to evaluate his game, it also gave them the chance to see how he performs against some of the top players in the NBA.

Eurobasket Takeaways

Kriisa is a lead guard who understands his role and is able to balance his playmaking duties with his scoring instincts extremely well, generating enough gravity as a shooter to draw multiple defenders, which generally frees his teammates for open shots.

This is where his ability to pass on the move really stands out. Kriisa is a reactive passer who sees the floor really well, being capable of finding open shooters in the corners with easy drive-and-kick passes, as well as bigs trailing above the break in pick-and-pop situations. Kriisa is also prolific at feeding bigs in the paint. In pick-and-roll situations, he can find the roll man both with lobs and with low, easily catchable passes right through traffic. He also knows when to keep it simple, being quick to hit bigs with accurate and timely entry passes once they have a mismatch or have established deep position inside.

I feel like any big who can set screens, roll to the basket, catch lobs and establish deep position in the paint would love playing with Kerr Kriisa, as he feeds bigs often both in pick-and-roll or when bigs have an obvious mismatch inside. pic.twitter.com/ASdkd0tB3m

— Ignacio Rissotto (@eyreball) September 13, 2022

When it came to calling his own number, his main source of scoring was his perimeter shooting, an area in which he was especially effective at Eurobasket, converting on 38.7% of his attempts from beyond the arc, on substantial volume. Kriisa does not only show the efficiency and volume to feel confident about his projection as a shooter at the NBA level, but also other key aspects such as his mechanics, which are compact and repeatable, and the versatility, as Kriisa is able to convert jumpers off movement in a number of situations, making defenders pay for going under screens in pick-and-rolls and being capable of creating space and converting shots out of dribble moves in isolation.

Some clips from Arizona PG Kerr Kriisa 🇪🇪 at Eurobasket, starting with his shooting. He showed an impressive ability to create his own shot against high-level defenders. Shot 38.7% from beyond the arc on 6.2 attempts per game at the tournament. pic.twitter.com/qgLanvUqeb

— Ignacio Rissotto (@eyreball) September 13, 2022

There are some aspects of his mechanics which could be calibrated, such as the inconsistency in the timing of his release, which might be the reason why most of his misses off-the-catch are either short or long, but his most important area for improvement as a shooter is his consistency. At Eurobasket Kriisa shot generally well except for a 0-for-7 outing against Croatia, which correlates with his track record at Arizona, where despite performing well as a shooter during most of the season, he would be prone to cold stretches, like a 0-for-9 performance against UCLA in January or a 1-for-7 night against Houston in the NCAA tournament.

This is one of the key aspects for Kriisa going into what could potentially be his pre-draft season, especially consdering the limitations he showed as a driver, his other potential source of self-created scoring. Despite Kriisa’s creativity as a ball-handler, which allowed him to get by defenders in the perimeter with relative ease, he shot just one-for-seven inside the restricted area in the tournament. His measurements definitely played a part in this: being listed at 6-foot-3 tall and without elite length, Kriisa is at risk of getting his shot contested or blocked at the rim nearly every time he drives.

When it comes to driving, Kriisa was more limited and shot just 1-for-7 at the rim according to @InStatHoops. He does show the touch and deceleration to convert tough shots at the rim, but it's concerning that he has to rely on those to score inside the arc. pic.twitter.com/9ZENYwDx8t

— Ignacio Rissotto (@eyreball) September 13, 2022

Developing a floater game and learning to be effective a few feet away from the basket would help him mitigate some of the effects of not being an elite finisher at the rim. While the level of deceleration and touch he shows in pull-up jumpers could be an indicator of future improvement in this area, it’s something that he is yet to show in his arsenal.

Defensively, while the measurements limit him from making an impact as a defender beyond covering opposing Point Guards, he was certainly impressive within his role at Eurobasket. Kriisa was hit with one pick-and-roll after another in this tournament and he mostly held his own, showing solid lateral movement and the ability to go through screens to stay in front of opposing ball-handlers. More impressive, however, were the valuable plays he made when taking charges and baiting opponents into offensive fouls, showing a level of toughness and willingness to absorb contact in order to force opponents into turnovers.

Defensively, Kriisa plays with a ton of energy and despite being limited positionally due to his size, he is able to draw offensive fouls/charges with his positioning and willingness to absorb contact. pic.twitter.com/p0GPEwukFd

— Ignacio Rissotto (@eyreball) September 13, 2022

NBA Questions and Projections

While you can never rule out a player improving certain aspects of his game, it should be noted that Kriisa will be 22 years old by the time of the 2023 NBA Draft and that we have been watching him for years in multiple contexts: from junior-level tournaments in Europe, to the NCAA and Eurobasket. Therefore, we should have a pretty good idea of the areas in which Kriisa will bring value to an NBA team.

It’s clear that Kriisa is an interesting Point Guard prospect whose ability to convert jumpers both on and off the ball is a key aspect of his projection to the NBA, since having at least one level of reliable-to-elite scoring gravity is something that NBA lead guards must possess in an era where very few (if any) pass-only specialists thrive in the league.

Kriisa is definitely not going to shoot 15% at the basket like he did at this tournament, but his finishing numbers will likely be closer to the 41% he shot in the restricted area in his past NCAA season according to InStat, which is still not ideal for an NBA player. While he could improve, it’s likely that he won’t add much value to an NBA team in this area.

Which brings us to the two big questions for Kriisa ahead of the NBA draft. First, does this disqualify him from potentially adding value to a winning team in the NBA? No, it doesn’t. There are players in the NBA right now who add value mostly with their combination of passing and perimeter offense, but those players rarely start and are mostly confined to leading second units.

The second question, then, would be: How valuable is a back-up Point Guard who also provides a level of shooting but not much else as a scorer? The answer, as always, will depend on each NBA team once draft night comes around. For now, the first round definitely seems like a reach, but capable depth at lead guard is something that could be of value to multiple teams at pretty much any point of the second round.

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