Richard Hendrix

[GameTime]

With his season and possibly college career probably about 10 days away from being over (Alabama is 14-13 and currently looks unlikely to play in the postseason), this is as good a time as any to review Richard Hendrix’s credentials for this upcoming NBA Draft. Reading between the lines on a recent local article, it seems very likely that this will indeed be the last we’ve seen of Hendrix at the collegiate level, and no one will reasonably be able to fault him for that considering the three excellent seasons he gave the unlucky, underachieving Crimson Tide.

After a terrific sophomore season, which earned him 2nd team All-SEC honors, Hendrix did not let the success go to his head and instead spent the summer working on his body and refining his skill set. Two cardio workouts a day helped him shed 20 pounds from his massive frame, which has noticeably helped him become more agile getting up and down the floor and especially elevating off his feet.

Hendrix’s numbers are up across the board, both per game, and per-40 minutes, regardless of the extra playing time he is seeing. His points, rebounds, steals, blocks, field goal percentage, free throw attempts, and minutes are all up, while his turnovers, free throw shooting, fouls and assists are down. He ranks 5th in NCAA PER, 5th in WIN Score, 8th in EFF, 15th in field goal percentage, 36th in scoring per-40 minutes pace adjusted, 17th in rebounding, and 29th in blocks.

The bulk of Hendrix’s points still come in the post, where he possesses a fundamentally sound, no-frills type game. He has a very nice right-handed jump-hook shot, and is extremely smart and crafty establishing position in the paint and finishing around the basket, doing a notable job brushing off contact thanks to his outstanding strength. He’s even hitting some shots with his left hand this year, doing a better job in general showing off some more advanced finesse post moves (even beating players in the post with his quickness) to go along with the brute force he can use to bully players around inside. The 62% he shoots from the field is very impressive when you consider how much of the offensive load his team expects him to shoulder, but he’s also a very good passer out of double teams, which is to be expected considering his high basketball IQ. He also gets to the free throw line at an excellent rate, but only hits a dismal 53% of his shots here, which is down from the 65 and 63% he shot from there as a freshman and sophomore respectively. We can only wonder what kind of numbers he would be putting up if he were playing with a real point guard next to him, but Ronald Steele’s unfortunate injuries derailed any hopes of that.

Hendrix also seems to be showing more of an ability to step away from the basket this season. He’s hit a couple of 3-pointers, and looked very good nailing a couple of 17 or 18 foot jumpers in the film we observed throughout the season, even pulling up off the dribble on one occasion. His bread and butter is clearly his inside game, but it’s nice to see some glimpses of potential in his jump-shot, which will play a very important role in his success in the NBA.

Hendrix’s biggest appeal as an NBA prospect has to be his rebounding ability, though. Having a body like He-Man, he boxes out as well as any player in the country, and goes after every ball with terrific timing, hands, length and tenacity. Defensively, Hendrix looks more effective now that he’s shed the excess weight he was carrying, competing extremely hard as always, and showing good timing and decent bounce getting off his feet to block shots. He’s not someone who can be backed down in the post due to his incredible strength, and thus is very effective playing man to man defense in the paint. The fact that he’s only 6-9 does put him at somewhat of a disadvantage at times, though.

Where Hendrix struggles the most is when forced to step out onto the perimeter, especially attempting to guard quicker power forwards who like to face the basket and put the ball on the floor. His lateral quickness here is fairly poor, which will hurt him especially when matched up with NBA teams who like to play a lot of pick and roll, as he can’t hedge screens the way many NBA coaches expect their big men to.

Although we won’t know for sure until the list of early-entry candidates is revealed and it’s decided who is drafting where, Hendrix looks like a pretty safe bet to be drafted somewhere in the first round this year. He’s the type of player who could help virtually any team in the NBA considering what he brings to the table at the position he plays, and may even have a chance to crack the late lottery with favorable measurements (6-9 or up) and some solid workouts. He’s not going to wow anyone with his upside or win any championships single-handedly, but can be similar to a Paul Millsap type player who does a lot of dirty work, understands his role and will do whatever it takes to help win games.

Richard Hendrix again did his best Paul Millsap impression, doing yeomen’s work on the offensive glass, picking up 6 rebounds on that end in just 22 minutes. He struggled to finish most of his shots inside, though, being unable to elevate quite high enough in traffic. He did have a nice move on the block in which he finished with a pretty jump-hook, and also did his typical work in transition and with simple finishes around the rim. Again he impressed with his passing ability and overall unselfishness, something that you rarely see out of any of the big men here.

Hendrix did everything he possibly could to help himself reportedly, blocking shots, rebounding well, scoring points both inside and outside, running the floor and playing strong defense. This is not the first strong report we’ve received from a workout he’s been in-- others have mentioned how much better he’s shooting free throws and mid-range jumpers, as well as the confidence he exudes and how impressive he is off the court as well. As we’ve discussed before, Hendrix’s numbers and overall profile compares favorably with Carlos Boozer’s at the same age, and even though we might not ever become an all-star like Boozer, he could develop into a Paul Millsap type steal if he falls into the second round.

Reference:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/nbdl/players/h/hendrri01d.html

Sham Sports on him during summer league this year:

Richard Hendrix: I went on about Hendrix quite a lot during the Warriors round-up, as well as the Nuggets round-up. Unsurprisingly, he played well for Orlando in summer league, averaging 9.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. He'll get signed by an NBA team this year. If he doesn't, then.......well, then Devean George, Ryan Bowen, Jason Hart, Jarron Collins, Kevin Ollie, Rob Kurz, Juwan Howard, Michael Ruffin, Malik Rose, Brevin Knight and Cedric Simmons had better not be in it either.

Edited July 27, 2009 by GameTime

[buckeye242424]

Holy info...!