Sure, it's just the NBA Summer League, but do a quick Twitter search for Aaron Craft and you’d be hard-pressed to find a negative comment relating to the former Ohio State point guard.
He’s averaging just 5.8 points, 4.6 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game — pretty much exactly what you’d expect from Craft — but it’s his impact on the floor that has his teammates and the coaching staff of the Golden State Warriors Summer League team raving.
“(Aaron) Craft is as good a leader as I’ve ever been around in basketball,” said Warriors Summer League coach Luke Walton, via Diamond Leung of Bay Area News Group.
Craft spent last season in the NBA’s Developmental League playing for the Santa Cruz Warriors. He did what he usually does on the basketball court, averaging 9.2 points, 6.2 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 2.5 steals. Craft was named D-League Defensive Player of the Year as the Warriors captured the title.
His successful first season in the D-League in addition to his early performance this summer has a question resurfacing again, one that has been there since Craft’s playing days at Ohio State. Can Craft play in the NBA?
Well, at least one national analyst seems to think so.
Going on the record that Aaron Craft will play in the NBA at some point this season.
— Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) July 11, 2015
There has never been a question about Craft’s defense; he is an NBA-caliber defender at the point guard position. The question for Craft has always been on the offensive end of the floor and, more specifically, his jump shot.
Last year in the D-League, Craft shot 43.4 percent from the field and just 25.7 percent from behind the 3-point line. Thus far in five games in the Las Vegas Summer League, Craft is shooting 39.1 percent from the field and 57.1 percent (4 for 7) from downtown.
It’s only been five games so the sample size is obviously quite small, but if Craft is able to sustain respectable percentages from the field on the offensive end, he may wind up getting his shot this season. If not with the defending champion Warriors, potentially with another team. Most teams carry three point guards on their roster and specialty players also get a lot of run on NBA teams.
Craft will likely never see major minutes in the NBA, should he finally reach that destination. At best, he’s probably a rotational player who would see his minutes fluctuate throughout the course of an 82-game season.
But by the same token, he may also never get a shot to play in the NBA. It still might be too early to tell.
There are a lot of unknowns surrounding Craft’s future, but one thing is with the former Ohio State star is always a sure thing: He’s going to play hard and fight for the opportunity to make it.
