Here’s What Kobe Bufkin Showed During the 2023-24 Season

Here’s What Kobe Bufkin Showed During the 2023-24 Season

owners of the number one overall pick in the 2024 NBA draft end with reports out there that perhaps they will trade at least one of Trey young or Deon Murray the Atlanta Hawks could be looking to retool around their growing collection of young Talent which includes Jaylen Johnson AJ Griffin and Kobe buffkin for buffkin he split his rookie campaign with Atlanta and College Park where the Hawks g- League team plays in his 14 G League games the 6’5 195 lb guard averaged 23.6 points 5.4 rebounds 5.9 assists and 1.4 steals let’s just say that he was given the green light with College Park averaging 19.3 field goal attempts per contest among those who appeared in at least five g-league showcase and regular season games combined that was the second highest only cam Whitmore with Rio Grand Valley averaged more field goal attempts what’s clear about buffin is that the ball needs to be in his hands for him to have a chance at flourishing in the NBA in the g-league nearly 85% of his shot attempts were self-created which was the highest Mark in the G League that’s According to second Spectrum just about everything came out of either isolation pick and roll or handoffs among qualified players in the G League nobody averaged more shots in isolation per 100 possessions than buffkin now he only shot 41% on those attempts but as you can see from these clips he has an array of sharp moves and dribble combinations to create space and keep his Defenders on their toes he absolutely loves the step back his timing and footwork when setting himself up for them is excellent nobody in the g- league among qualified players averaged more step back jumpers per 100 possessions than buffkin and he shot a scorching 52.4% on them which was third best in the G League [Music] he’s really comfortable as well operating through handoffs sometimes right off the handoff he’d launch a jumper without hesitation and other times it was almost like a running start for him to accelerate toward the basket this is why in some ways buffkin reminds me of both Jamal Murray and cam Thomas two players who are superb functioning through handoffs and using them to get to their sweet spots for jumpers or [Music] drives now last season Atlanta ranked 10th in shot attempts off handoffs dejonte Murray took the 21st most in the league and Bogden bogdanovich took the 23rd most the player who took the most of them in the entire league was Sacramento’s Keegan Murray and second was Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxi in his brief minutes with the Hawks as a rookie buffkin took nine of these shots important for him will be developing a better touch on floaters he did not shoot a good percentage on them in the g-league making just two of his 14 attempts but I think this is something that he will need to incorporate in his scoring Arsenal considering he’s not an explosive athlete [Music] from a facilitating standpoint I thought he did a good job in the g-league finding Cutters and rollers I think he’s a Score first guard no matter what but if he draws enough attention he shows good awareness of where the open guy is and his passes to the rollers out of the pick and roll is solid ultimately I think buffkin will be a microwave scorer I’m not convinced his efficiency levels will ever be fantastic but I think I’ll have nights where he looks electric and gives the Hawks a big scoring lift similar to the way Malik monk does for the Kings or Jordan P for the Wizards buffkin did appear in 17 games for Atlanta in his rookie campaign averaging 4.8 points 1.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 11.5 minutes per contest so that’ll wrap up this video If you like this kind of content please subscribe [Music]

Kobe Bufkin of the Atlanta Hawks is one of the craftier young players in the league. He has a deep bag in his scoring arsenal, but will he ever be efficient enough to be more than just a microwave scorer off the bench? #nba #kobebufkin #atlantahawks #hawks #nbafilmstudy #filmroom

Video footage courtesy of NBAE