NBA Draft 2020: How Saddiq Bey fits with the New Orleans Pelicans

New Orleans Pelicans NBA Draft: Saddiq Bey could be the draft’s best wing

Saddiq Bey’s Strengths

If you are looking for the prototypical 3-and-D wing, then Saddiq Bey is probably your guy.

You won’t find many other prospects that better fit the profile of what teams want out of a modern wing, which is a guy who can defend and knock down open 3-point shots.

Bey can definitely do both, as he started as a defensive/rebounding specialist for Villanova his freshman year, then added an accurate 3-point shot in his second season.

Bey profiles as a potentially elite defender, a guy who can guard at least three spots. Here is what Villanova assistant Kyle Neptune had to say to NBA.com:

"“But defensively … he guarded everybody. As assistants we did the [opponent] scouts and we always tried to match up with the other team’s best player. Who should be guarding this guy? And it was always Saddiq. If it was the point guard, Saddiq would guard him. If it was a two or three man, Saddiq would guard them. If the best player was a four man, Saddiq would guard him, too.”"

Neptune went on to call him the perfect wing for what the NBA is doing now, high praise from a program that has produced a lot of NBA players lately, including Josh Hart of the New Orleans Pelicans.

In addition to being a great defender, Bey can shoot the rock. He shot 45.1 percent from 3-point range on 5.6 attempts per game, numbers that should translate to the next level.

Bey improved his shooting dramatically in between his two college seasons and is known as a gym rat who works hard to improve and takes coaching well. Bey is a smart player who thanked his professors on the way out of Villanova, something you don’t often see.

Here he is talking about his improved shot and then breaking down some film:

Bey has a nice looking release and NBA range, as well as the confidence to take contested catch-and-shoot 3-pointers.

If Bey gets run off the 3-point line he can use the dribble to make space and get his shot in the mid-range. He’s not just a stationary shooter, Bey has the ball handling and touch to get buckets from all over the floor.

He’s also a decisive passer and has good handles, so he can eventually be a guy who initiates the offense in the pick-and-roll. Villanova stresses ball movement and quick decisions and Bey was very good about keeping the ball moving and finding open shooters and cutters.

A 6-foot-8 wing who can defend, pass and shoot? Sounds like a top-five pick, so why do most mock drafts have him falling?