Predictions For Rondae Hollis-Jefferson

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Offensive Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

When breaking down Hollis-Jefferson’s offensive game, the thing that jumps out right away is his athletic ability. Because of this, he has been used to being able to take his defenders off the dribble and finishing around the rim. Along with his athletic ability, Hollis-Jefferson plays basketball with a lot of passion, which is also evident when he finishes over bigger defenders and lets it be known with a scream or famous dance afterwards.

In the 10 games that he played over the summer league period, Hollis-Jefferson shot 36.8 percent from the field. This percentage can be expected to improve once the regular season starts. You can’t take every statistic from summer league to heart (as we’ve seen over the years). Just because a player may struggle during summer league, there is no reason they can’t do a complete 180 when the official season begins.

Look for Hollis-Jefferson to take advantage when Bojan Bogdanovic and Joe Johnson are on the court with him because he will help space the defense. Jarrett Jack will also be a key component in Hollis-Jefferson’s success offensively. If Jack can get into kick-out situations, Hollis-Jefferson can attack the defender closing out and finish with a thunderous dunk on the opponent’s big man.

Hollis-Jefferson’s aggressive mentality attacking the rim also means he will be a familiar visitor to the free-throw line. In his last season at Arizona, he shot 70 percent on the year. During summer league though, he shot just 62 percent. Again, you can expect his percentage to be back up in the 70 percentile area once the regular season comes around.

Lastly, the other strength to Hollis-Jefferson’s offensive game may be the most valuable. Offensive rebounding. Throughout his two years at Arizona, he averaged 2.1 offensive rebounds per game. Cleveland Cavaliers‘ Tristan Thompson had a huge impact on their playoff run simply by being relentless grabbing rebounds for immediate put-backs, or giving the Cavaliers another chance to set up their offense. At 6’7,” Hollis-Jefferson won’t be as efficient as Thompson rebounding, but for his position he has a chance to be one of the best in the league right off the bat.

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Weaknesses

When seeing Hollis-Jefferson’s wacky release, it is easy to assume that his biggest weakness is three-point shooting. During his time at Arizona, he shot just 20 percent from beyond the arc. In summer league, those numbers didn’t get much better as he shot 21.6 percent.

It seems that a lot of his struggles on his shot has to deal with his fundamentals. First off, he doesn’t have the greatest footwork when he is preparing to rise up for a jump shot. Also his (left) shooting elbow sticks out when he shoots, which causes inconsistent release points.

Because he is left-handed, Hollis-Jefferson seems to ignore the use of his right hand. If he plans on being an effective offensive player, his ball-handling with both hands will need to improve immensely.

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