The dust has settled on the NBA Draft Lottery and there were plenty of surprises. From New Orleans getting the top pick to the Knicks once again getting screwed, the lottery had it all.
The Spurs pick was unchanged of course, but now that the order of picks have been decided from 1 to 14, some players might be going to different teams than expected. That could leave the Spurs with an unexpected player left in the first round with their second pick of the round.
Nebraska forward Isaiah Roby played well at the NBA Combine and helped himself quite a bit. The 6-foot-8-and-a-half, 214-pound forward is moving up some draft boards and might be a guy the Spurs look at with their 29th pick.
While his numbers don’t pop out at you, he was playing on a rough-looking Nebraska team and does have some discernible skills that can help an NBA team. Here are some of his stats from last season:
- 11.8 PPG, 1.9 BPG, 1.3 SPG, 6.9 RPG, 1.9 APG
- 45.4 FG%, 33.3 3P%, 67.7 FT%
- 19.7 PER, 105.6 ORtg, 96 DRtg
Roby is not a polished shooter by any means as of now, but that has been improving over the course of his career. However, he is an excellent shot blocker thanks to his timing and leaping ability.
He’s a good defender at his position and is a good rebounder to boot. He especially gets after it on the offensive glass and uses his athleticism well on both ends of the court to clean the glass.
Some things Roby does that would entice Spurs fans is that he plays well off the ball and can score well in that fashion. He’s a solid scorer off the dribble and even a decent playmaker who got to show that off a bit during the NBA Combine.
He tested very well among forwards — he measured with a 3.9 body fat percent — and got a shout out from ESPN analyst Jay Bilas who named him one of three players to stand out during the first day of the combine.
In his first combine scrimmage, Roby finished with 10 points, five rebounds and three blocks in 21 minutes. That’s pretty good considering the games are only 40 minutes and tend to be low scoring.
While his testing and offensive skill set seem to be fairly good right now, Roby will still need to go through some growth before he earns legitimate minutes with a team.
He has to tweak his shooting mechanics a bit, but mostly to speed up his shot and take a small hitch out of it. It didn’t affect his outside shooting too much as he really only took open threes off others’ drives and kick outs.
The former Cornhusker will also have to work on creating his own shot while also cutting down on turnovers. He can be undisciplined on defense at times, but that should be an easy fix if he were to land with the Spurs.
Overall, Roby would be a nice player to have, especially in the second round. The only issue is that he may not last that long with how he has been rising up mock draft boards. It might be a tough sell at pick 2, but if he shows out during his pre-draft workouts then there’s certainly a case to be made for him going that high.
For the full list of players we’ve profiled this year, visit our 2019 Prospects Page.
