Royce White
Strengths: Super-intriguing prospect with lottery-level tools and talent ... Thick, powerful and intimidating frame ... Aggressive athlete that likes to attack the rim ... Possesses great speed for someone his size ... Runs the court extremely well, especially with the ball in his hands ... Doesn't have a problem with pulling down a defensive rebound and then leading the fast-break himself ... Remarkable ball-handler ... Doesn't have the loose dribble that a lot of other taller players have ... Sharp crossover that becomes deadly when he picks up some speed ... Passing ability rivals a lot of point guard prospects ... Good awareness of where his teammates are on the court and skilled at delivering the ball to them in a position to score ... Strong area rebounder ... Boxes out well ... Respectable mid-range shooter ... Has the strength and quickness to be an excellent scorer in the post ... Should be an incredibly difficult player to matchup against ... Won't be a great shot-blocker, but has all the tools to defend power forwards well in the NBA ... Led his team in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks during his freshman season ...
Weaknesses: Overall scoring ability is very unrefined, though he's technically still a freshman so you have to allow him some leeway there ... Is not a good long-range shooter ... Shot under 50% from the stripe, which is a major problem considering he spends so much time in control of the ball ... When he picks up a lot of momentum (either in transition or in isolation) he can become very turnover prone ... Conditioning has been a concern ... Is not a true freshman; will be 21 years old by the 2012 draft ... Has had a number of off-court problems in the past, but reports indicate that his attitude has improved greatly ... Was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder in high school, which could lead to any number of problems at the next level and has been mentioned as a major cause for concern by a number of scouts. He has had trouble flying and a report surfaced that he chose to go to Iowa State and not Baylor because he didn't want to fly there. ...
Overall: White is a high risk/high reward prospect if there ever was one ... His development will have to be handled very carefully by whichever team drafts him ... If he's selected by a team that is willing to both be patient and let him play to his strengths, then he very well could be the steal of the draft ...
