William Avery, Duke

Name:	William Avery
College:	Duke
Height:	6'2"
Weight:	185
Class:	Sophomore
Position:	Point Guard
Other Position:	Shooting Guard
NBA.com profile

Stats (Provided by JazzyJ)

                  G  MIN  FG  FGA  3P 3PA  FT FTA  REB  PF AST  TO BLK STL  PTS
97-98 Duke       35  674 102  239  32 108  61  82   69  54  87  60   1  34  297
98-99 Duke       39 1210 201  416  76 185 102 126  137  86 196 102   1  57  580
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TOTALS           74 1884 303  655 108 293 163 208  206 140 283 162   2  91  877

                  MIN   FG%   3P%   FT%  RPG  APG  TPG  BPG  SPG   PPG
97-98 Duke       19.3  42.7  29.6  74.4  2.0  2.5  1.7  0.0  1.0   8.5
98-99 Duke       31.0  48.3  41.1  81.0  3.5  5.0  2.6  0.0  1.5  14.9
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TOTALS           25.5  46.3  36.9  78.4  2.8  3.8  2.2  0.0  1.2  11.9

Scouting reports

Scout: Rob Clough

Strengths: Blinding quickness, unlimited range, penetration ability, toughness
Weaknesses: Defense, shot selection, point guard experience

Will Avery came into the season with a lot of question marks. Some wondered if this combo guard could run the Duke team effectively, especially with his crazy shot selection and sometimes erratic player. What most people didn't know is that he had a green light to shoot. Coach K wanted to give him freedom offensively in addition to training him how to lead the team. For the most part, he did an excellent job. His shooting improved tremendously, as did (to some extent) his shot selection. He got many wide-open looks thanks to Brand, and hit a number of clutch shots. There seemed to be times when he wasn't sure if he should be setting up his teammates or looking for his own offense, especially towards the end of the season. His assist numbers dropped a bit, but he overall did a good job.

His biggest problems came on defense. While he did a good job on some of his opposite numbers (like Wayne Turner), others torched him off the dribble, including Chris Herren, Ed Cota (only once) and Erick Barkley. While his quick hands got him a number of steals, he rarely played an all-out style of defense on the ball. Duke instead focused its defensive attack on the wings instead of the point.

One of Avery's assets is that he has a good mid-range game. He's especially effective in floating running one-handers, in the paint or on the baseline. He's a very good foul shooter, which is a good thing because another one of his assets is the ability to get to the basket.

Avery has all the tools necessary to become a solid guard in the NBA. His game at this point is very similar to Isiah Thomas', a point guard who looks to score first. He'd make a better shooting guard than a point, but his size demands otherwise. He doesn't have the same kind of mentality as Jason Kidd or Mike Bibby in terms of leading and distributing the ball, but that could come. He would definitely work best on a team that doesn't depend on him as their first option.

Scout: David Edelman [dedelman@acpub.duke.edu]

I like him more than most people do. Unlike some other ACC point guard prospects, Avery has all the necessary NBA point skills, including 3-point range, penetrating with either dishing or finishing it himself, and good distribution skills on the perimeter. A very good man defender, and effective in transition. Don't be fooled by the NCAA title game; he came up big in a lot of Duke's other big games last year. My only hang-up on Avery is that he doesn't have a central skill; he does everything pretty well but doesn't have a single thing he excels at. If he develops in any way he could be really, really good; if not he's a championship quality 3rd guard.