Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Entering the 2013-14 college basketball season, UCLA Bruins Shabazz Muhammad was thought to be the No. 1 freshman of his class by some and he had a chance to go No. 1 overall in the 2013 NBA Draft. Well, his stock has fallen a bit, but he should still be picked in the top five of this year’s draft.
Muhammad missed a couple of games to start the season, but when he finally did hit the court, he was an instant scorer for this team. Overall, Muhammad averaged 17.9 points per game on the season and 5.2 rebounds per game.
He may not have the most conventional playing style when it comes to scoring the basketball, but he gets the job done and scored plenty of points all season long. Muhammad was likely a better shooter than people thought he would be coming into the year. He shot 44.3 percent from the field and 37.7 percent from behind the arc. Both are not that bad at all and an NBA team could definitely work with him.
Although Muhammad is better suited as a forward, his 6’6” height kind of limits him to a shooting guard at the next level, but he can learn to play that position. This is a very talented player that impressed every single time he took the court.
Although Muhammad will still likely go in the top 10, he should easily be picked in the top five, although that is seeming more and more likely not to happen.
His 27 assists on the season is pretty bad, but what can he say, he is a scorer. Scorers score. Muhammad could have stayed another year at UCLA to improve, but he did average a lot of points per game for only being a freshman. This is still a very good player and he is worthy of a top five pick, although that may not happen.
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