On Saturday’s episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, hosts Emily Adler, Hunter Cruse and Lincoln Shafer break down three guards who are expected to be in the mix to be WNBA Draft lottery selections: Kentucky’s Georgia Amoore, NC State’s Aziaha James and JJ Quinerly of West Virginia.
Amoore is a fifth-year player who starred at Virginia Tech for four years before heading to Kentucky with coach Kenny Brooks. The Next’s trio sees her production this year as a Wildcat — 19.6 points and 6.9 assists per game — in line with her production as a Hokie while also showing signs of growth in her game.
“We know what she can do. We know what she isn’t going to do. We know what she can’t do,” Adler said. “But I think what’s at least been encouraging is the ways that we expected her to develop — especially that in-between game, the ability to slowly get to the rim more and especially have those midrange shots start falling. We projected that after junior year [and] it’s here, so it’s nice that she’s at least following a pretty straightforward dev [development] arc.”
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James, meanwhile, helped the Wolfpack reach the Final Four last year and has been a “bucket-getter” in college, as Cruse said. But all three feel like it’s hard for that skillset to translate in the WNBA, where it becomes significantly harder for players to score, but Shafer is hopeful in her ability to do so at the next level.
“She just does enough other stuff to get above the Mendoza line of bucket-getting,” Shafer said. “She’s elite off the bounce. She can get to her spots from three, from two. She can’t really do much off the ball, which does make me concerned about, like, what’s her role?”
Finally, Quinerly is averaging 20.6 points and three rebounds, assists and steals per game each. While she’s only a 32% shooter from 3-point range this year, Shafer says Quinerly has changed her shot mechanics and is now “significantly smoother,” which should help build out a more intriguing prospect profile.
“JJ Quinerly has had this consistent production and her handle is incredible,” Shafer said. “She’s one of the best athletes in this class. She’s so quick, her first step is incredible. And when you put all that together, it’s just there’s so much to bet on with Quinerly.”
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