Among many, Mark Pope’s biggest mistake of last offseason was the lack of shooting he procured from the Transfer Portal. Pope’s teams have always thrived on movement and spacing, but without the requisite shooters last season, Kentucky devolved into an isolation-heavy team overly reliant on individual shot-makers.
So far this offseason, Pope has made just three additions through the portal, along with international pickup Ousmane N’Diaye, and with each, Pope has appeared determined to correct that mistake. Justin McBride, the latest pickup, provides another floor-spacing front-court option, but while he helps to solve the lack of shooting, he may exacerbate another issue, one that’s even more troubling for Pope’s tenure.
Justin McBride’s defensive questions could outweigh his shooting
McBride will be on his fourth team in four years as the 6-foot-7, 240-pound forward has bounced from Oklahoma State to Nevada to James Madison before ultimately landing in Lexington. Throughout that time, his three-point efficiency has risen each year, and last season he knocked them down at a 40 percent clip, though his shot diet still includes too many difficult long-range two-point attempts.
McBride will be able to space the floor from the power forward spot, playing alongside N’Diaye in five-out lineups, with Kam Williams on the wing, or even sliding up to the three to give Kentucky a bigger look, assuming Malachi Moreno returns to school. Offensively, his shooting allows versatility to move up the lineup, but the bigger question marks about his game lie on the defensive end.
After his signing, Jeff Goodman of the Field of 68 reached out to an anonymous Sun Belt coach, presumably one who faced McBride last year, for a scouting report. Among the weaknesses, the coach included, “defensive effort—has the ability to guard but not always interested in doing so.”
Cautious as I am about putting too much weight on an anonymous scouting report, that tracks with a player whose defensive real adjusted plus-minus was -2.5 last season (per CBBanalytics.com).
Now, the defensive end of the floor wasn’t necessarily an issue for Kentucky last season. In fact, the Cats had better analytic ratings on that end of the floor. Effort, though, was questioned, including by Nate Heise of Iowa State, who said, “I think that’s something we identified before the game. The way we just turned them over and played our defense to where it didn’t look like they could do anything else. I think, when you get (Kentucky) to that point, it’s like ‘let’s just be done.’ I think that’s their mindset,” after beating Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament.
McBride will need to turn up that defensive intensity next season, because an effective three-and-D wing has to do both things well. If he can, he’ll be a solid depth piece. If not, well, he’ll need to shoot it at an elite clip to provide value.
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