Kel’el Ware 2024 NBA Draft Profile

Kel’el Ware 2024 NBA Draft Profile

We are less than three weeks away from the 2024 NBA Draft. Today, we will be diving into Indiana center Kel’el Ware! Let’s dive into it!

Height: 6’11.75″ (7’4.50″ wingspan, 9’4.50″ standing reach)

Weight: 230 lbs

Draft age: 20.2

Position: Center

Kel’el Ware was a sensational high school prospect. In the 2022 recruiting class, the 7-foot big was the No. 2 center and the No. 7 prospect in the entire country–behind only Nick Smith, Dereck Lively II, Dariq Whitehead, Kyle Filipowski, Cason Wallace and GG Jackson, according to 247Sports.

He chose to go to Oregon over Arkansas, Kansas, Ole Miss, Illinois, Baylor and Auburn, among several other programs. Though his freshman season–coming off the bench behind N’Faly Dante–was disappointing because of questions about his motor (more on that below).

He then transferred to play under former Atlanta Hawks (2004-10) and New York Knicks (2011-14) head coach Mike Woodson and had, by far, the best season of his career. He averaged 15.9 points, 9.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks on 58.6 percent shooting and 62.1 percent true shooting, nearly nine percentage points greater than his lone season at Oregon.

Let’s dive into some of his strengths and weaknesses, shall we?

Strengths:

Ware had the best shooting season of his career at Indiana. While his 3-point percentage spiked from year one to two, his volume from beyond the arc went down, albeit on a much bigger sample.

Though arguably his biggest area of improvement from a shooting perspective came with his touch inside the arc.

Ware took 37.6 percent of his field goal attempts at the rim (non-dunks) and 32.9 percent in the mid-range (short and long MR) as a freshman, making 62.9 and 42.6 percent of those attempts, respectively; at Indiana, he took 49.2 percent of attempts at the rim and 38.0 percent in the mid-range and upped his field goal percentages to 74.1 and 44.3 percent in those areas, respectively.

That’s a significant uptick in overall shot volume with steady increases in efficiency.

His measurables were very impressive, earning the third-highest standing reach and fifth-highest wingspan in the entire combine. He also showed his elite athleticism with the second-fastest lane agility shuttle run times combined with a 32.5″ standing vertical and a 36.0″ max vert.

Those traits showed up on film; he was explosive above-the-rim and was a very good shot-blocker. He primarily went over his right shoulder but he showed that he could face up and knock down mid-range shots with good touch beyond the arc.

The talent was always there for him, it just took time for him to consistently put it together.

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Weaknesses:

I mentioned his motor before–let’s talk about it.

Ware was called lazy at Oregon and didn’t have much leash under Dana Altman. He was far more engaged under Woodson, but didn’t always have a high motor on the glass–he was boxed by out too easily, too often.

Sure, not every prospect goes 110 miles per hour, but having a good motor is all a mindset. His motor was highly criticized, which puts a laser on you. If you don’t have a good motor, some organizations don’t 1.) want you or 2.) won’t want to coach you.

I appreciated how Ware moved forward from his time at Oregon, but those are questions that every single NBA team will have for him in the pre-draft process. I hope it’s not something that barks up during his NBA career.

It’s also difficult to teach players to have consistent touch, and I’m not sure he’ll ever be the focal point of a team’s offense. I think he’ll be a good vertical spacer, but I want to see him prove that he can knock down open mid-range and 3-point looks while being consistently engaged defensively.

Projection: Between picks No. 15-25

The talent is there. The skillset is there. The athleticism is there. But as I just noted above, he’ll have to prove doubters wrong about his consistent motor and energy on both ends of the floor. As for teams to keep an eye on: Cleveland, Phoenix and Milwaukee.

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