Julian Strawther

Overview

Julian Strawther is a Spot Up Shooting Wing with excellent touch around the rim.  He has good size which will fill out with his development.  Strawther has one of the quickest releases in all of college basketball both on catch shoot 3’s and his floater in the lane.  With a greater role (due to three first round NBA draftees) Strawther improved in almost all major scoring categories. Played in 2020-21 Final Four.

NBA Role:  Spot Up Shooting Wing

Offense

Julian Strawther has the quickest release among all NBA prospects in both spot up 3s AND in the lane floaters.  He effectively uses the floater to quick-shoot shot blocking bigs and also to avoid offensive fouls when attacking the rim.  Strawther has remarkable touch around the rim.  Like his floater, Strawther’s 3’s are quick and efficient.   He shot 52% on 2s and 40.8% on 3s (on solid volume of 5.3 3FGA) respectively.   Strawther is also a timely cutter on the weak side wing.  He is a very skillful second side player that should be productive in the NBA.

Strawther can attack closeouts but does not have the dynamic playmaking handle to be a primary option.  He is shifty enough to get into the paint to shoot his floater but lacks the burst to consistently break down defenses. Strawther checks all the important boxes to contribute immediately.

Strawther is excellent in the play types that NBA teams run.  He should thrive as a Spot Up shooter no matter what team drafts him.  The frequency of specific Play Types (seen below in the right column)  are in Strawther’s wheelhouse.  He successfully ran a large percentage of P/R Handler actions where he was efficient which is another skill that translates.  Strawther’s P/R actions could be utilized on the second unit.

Assists and Decision Making

Julian Strawther stepped into a much larger scoring role over previous years. So while his assist numbers are low, so are his turnovers.  As a floor spacer, Strawther will need to be more of a connector where he may be expected to prioritize looking for established scorers on the team.  The college sample size is just too low to gain confident insight into Strawther’s passing menu.  It is a good sign that his turnovers were low and his P/R points per possession were high.

Rebounding and Defending

Julian Strawther is a solid rebounder.   While he tends to not crash the boards on offense (which may be Gonzaga’s defensive scheme) Strawther does pursue the ball on defense.  While Strawther has decent defensive energy it does not translate to turnovers.  Blocks and steals are below average which means he will need to greatly improve in that area to get meaningful NBA minutes.

Signature Game: Gonzaga v Xavier