Mike Tranghese recently told me the story of how wound up at Providence College. Mike was having a talk with Frank Martin, who had just been sacked as head coach at the University of South Carolina. Mike asked Coach Martin if he had any recommendations for potential transfer candidates who could play at the Big East/Providence College level. He replied, “Yes.” Carter was one of his favorites in terms of strong potential. Mike completed his homework and urged then-PC Coach Ed Cooley to investigate the possibilities of pursuing Carter, which he finally did.
So I guess we all owe Mike a bit of gratitude as Providence College fans for his role in securing a player of Carter’s stature who, over the course of his two years at PC, has elevated his game to a point where he now feels comfortable declaring for the NBA draft. Imagine how dreary our past winter and season would have been without the benefit of watching Carter perform his contributions to this team and to the history of the program.
You could argue that the season he just finished was one of the most impressive by any player in recent memory, and this assessment is an attempt to project, based on that season, how Devin Carter will fare in the upcoming June NBA draft, as well as his chances for success at the NBA level.
A final scouting report for an NBA club typically consists of two essential elements: statistical and subjective. The case for why you believe a player will succeed or fail should ideally be supported by an explanation about how each element complements the others.
Here are Devin’s final statistics for his just completed Junior year:
33 games/35min/game:
47%FG’s; 38% 3’s; 75%FT’s; 8.7 rebounds; 3.6 assists/2.7turnovers; 1.8 steals;1 block; 19.7 points/game
For someone like Carter, who has a body of work prior to his Junior year, it’s instructive to see what his numbers were in his freshman and sophomore years in order to see if there is a trend pointing towards positive development, stagnation, or regression.
In this regard, Carter passes with flying colors — there is nothing but dramatic improvement in just about every category- shooting percentages on FGs went from 42% to 43% to 47%, respectively
3 point%’s from 27% to 30% to 47%
FT’s from 69% to 72% to 75%
Assists from 1.8 to 2.5 to 3.6 per game
Rebounds from 3.8 to 4.9 to 8.7/game
Steals from .9 to 1.8 to 1.8/game
Points from 9 points to 13 points to 19.7 points/game
There are certain indicators that jump out at you besides the obvious positive improvement in all shooting percentages. The combination of his assists (especially for a non-primary ball handler), rebounds, steals, and even block shots 1/game( for a 6’3” player), are, to me, a harbinger of a good chance of being a key contributor at the NBA level. I say this because all these categories involve instincts for the game, and are indicators of a high “motor”, and the ability to project effort and intangibles that can impact a game positively. His 8.7 rebounds/game and 1.8 steals are impressive. Rebounding and having a nose for the ball involve effort and instincts. The same can be said of steals, and to average a block a game as a 6’3” guard indicates a high degree of athleticism.
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