Vlad Goldin 2025 NBA Draft Profile

Vlad Goldin 2025 NBA Draft Profile

We are just exactly one week away from the 2025 NBA Draft! Today, we will be previewing Michigan’s Vlad Goldin, one of the oldest players in this year’s class! Let’s jump right into it!

Height (no shoes): 7’0 (7’5.25 wingspan, 9’3 standing reach)

Weight: 253.4 lbs.

Draft Age: 24.1

Position: Big

Goldin was a four-star recruit out of Russia in the 2020 recruiting class, according to 247sports, where he was a top-30 center in his class. He originally joined Texas Tech, but entered the transfer portal after his freshman season, when he only played 10 games and accumulated only 47 minutes.

He transferred to Florida Atlantic under Dusty May and his role continued to enlarge as time went on. He earned All-Conference honors as a junior, averaging 10.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 20.9 minutes per game, helping lead FAU to its first-ever Final Four appearance. He officially broke out as a senior, however, averaging 15.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game before transferring to Michigan, following May. He put together another productive year alongside Danny Wolf, one of the most skilled bigs in this year’s class.

OK, let’s dive into his profile!

Strengths:

Goldin is one of the biggest players in this glass, both in terms of sheer mass and length. He’s 7-foot barefoot with one of the longest wingspans (plus-five) and standing reaches.

Goldin worked well alongside Wolf, a 7-foot big who handles and moves like a guard. He was the recipient of plenty of 4-5 pick-and-rolls and two-man actions with Wolf, one of the best passing bigs in this class. Goldin’s one of the more dominant interior scorers in this class, converting on nearly 69 percent of his non-dunk 2s with 54 dunks on the season, according to Barttorvik.

Most of his shot diet came around the rim. He did a good job roaming the dunker spots and short corners, but I liked his fluidity as a roller, even though he’s an average vertical athlete for a big in this year’s class. Goldin’s a good screener with soft hands. He’s also good with his back to the basket with solid footwork and touch over his left shoulder.

I think Goldin moves better than most 7-foot-1, 250-pounders do when he’s running the floor. It’s not elite, but I don’t think he’s super stiff-hipped when he’s heading north-south. He’s an adequate offensive rebounder, posting a 12.0 ORB% over his last four seasons, and is a solid shot-blocker.

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Weaknesses:

For one, he’s old; he’ll be 24 on draft night.

Vlad Goldin showed more long-range shooting touch this year, but I’m very skeptical that will carry over. He made 11 3s at a 33.3 percent clip. Goldin shot 66.4 percent from the free-throw line over his final four seasons, including 73.1 percent in his lone season at Michigan. His shooting touch on non-rim attempts has improved, but I’m not buying into it until I see a greater sample of results.

I don’t think Goldin moved well enough laterally to justify him playing anything outside of a semi-deep drop at the NBA level. Slow-footed bigs on defense worry me when there’s more space for guards and skilled wings to carve them up. I think Goldin will eventually be able to hold up as an average drop defender, but I do have legitimate questions when he’s not roaming around the rim.

Even though he tested with a 30-inch max vert, he’s not overly explosive around the rim. He’s a strong finisher and a fine shot-blocker–his length helps–but he will be in a league where bigs will be as explosive, if not more than he is, on all 30 teams.

He has playmaking chops, but I think he will be limited as a DHO-initiator at the start of his career. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but he’s going to have to learn how to be less turnover prone is he’s going to operate above-the-break or from the mid-post/elbow area.

Projection: Mid-to-late second rounder

Goldin will be one of the better draftable bigs once you crawl late into the second round. I think he begins on a two-way contract, where he’ll eventually have to carve his way onto an NBA roster. There’s a role for him, but I don’t see him as anything other than a rotation big, at best, if you take a flyer on him in the second round.

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