Jamaree Bouyea Player Breakdown
Dakota Schmidt breaks down the game of former San Francisco guard and current NBA Draft prospect Jamaree Bouyea.
Over the last few days, 44 NBA Draft prospects have participated in the NBA G League Elite Camp at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois. For those young men, this is a vital step in their process of prospects as this will be an opportunity to showcase their skills in front of NBA and G League front office personnel in a series of scrimmages and strength & agility drills.
One of the more intriguing players that was grinding in Chicago is former San Francisco guard Jamaree Bouyea. This was another step in the guard’s pre-draft process as he’s just weeks removed from putting up 11.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.7 steals on 56% from the field and 30% from beyond the arc on 3.3 attempts per in 3 games at the recent Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.
While those numbers are solid, they don’t come close to the level of production that he had as a super senior for the Dons. During the 2021-22 campaign, he averaged 17.3 points, 5 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.8 steals on 47% from the field and 37% from deep on 5.8 attempts per game. Those numbers plus him being a solid free throw shooter were the keys behind him maintaining a respectable 57% True Shooting and 55% effective Field Goal Percentage. That mix of volume scoring and efficient helped him be part of the West Coast Conference’s All-Conference First Team, an honor that he previously received in the 2020-21 season.
That season was a tremendous capstone of what was a tremendous five-year run at the school for the young guard born in Salinas, California. However, his impact on the team extends beyond what he did on in the course of a 40-minute game. “He garnered everyone’s respect by his day-to-day life habits, but also made sure his guys were held accountable”, San Francisco Dons assistant Michael Plank told The Call-Up.
“You have to earn Jamaree’s trust and respect it is not given and his teammates know that. Our last game of NCAA tournament right after the loss he went to every underclassmen in the locker room, walk-ons included, put his arm around them and offered words of encouragement and support to work and achieve their dreams. It was very inspiring as most people would have been into themselves during that moment,” continued the veteran coach.
The passion that Coach Plank describes in how he approaches his teammates off the court isn’t particularly surprising. When you watch him play, it doesn’t take long to see that Jamaree plays with this insatiable passion on both ends of the floor. when you watch him play. Just watch him work with the ball in his hands as you see someone that plays with a hunger that also knows what he wants to do on the floor. Those traits combined with his ability to make space allowed our subjects to be one of the best guards in college basketball at creating his own shot.
Unfortunately for foes like Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s and the rest of the West Coast Conference, our subject was able to showcase that prowess at all three levels. However, the most dangerous of those areas came through his ability as a downhill driver. Whether going up against a perimeter defender or utilizing a screen, Mr. Bouyea can use a series of tools to gain an edge. For example, when the perimeter defender is on him tightly, he can utilize a quick first step or a series of quick dribble moves to work past his defender.
An example of both those traits is seen in a clip below from his game against Loyola Marymount. After using his handles to make the defender believe that he’s going right, Bouyea hits one more crossover, which makes his defender airborne for a brief moment. The advantage that he got from this defensive hesitation was enough to give the San Francisco alum a clean lane. While the big sitting near the restricted area slides his feet to the left to give a sense of challenge, it wasn’t enough as the Dons got two points on the board through an acrobatic right-handed finish through traffic.
Although the main method of attack as a downhill threat was him utilizing his burst and dribble skills to get past his man, Bouyea showed some skill in being able to utilize screens to get an advantage. If the screen is stationary, he does a good job of getting close to his man, which forces the perimeter defender that was on our subject’s hip to quickly react. In the common occasion where that man gets stuck, Bouyea utilizes crafty change of dribble moves to get around the drop defender and get a clear path to the rim.
While those skills were impressive,you’d want to see it be utilized more, something that was partily due how Todd Golden’s offense was ran, as the individual that set the screen tended to not stay stationary for long, as they either popped out to the perimeter or drop to the paint.
This forced the big defender to stay on his man, which led to the perimeter defender staying on our subject. Although that can hurt some ball-handlers that feel more comfortable taking advantage of a switch, Bouyea takes it in stride as he can use slick change of speed moves and his handles to catch the defender off guard just enough to help his path towards the rim. An example of that is seen below as Bouyea rejects the screen and uses a stop and start move around the restricted area to create separation from his man and get a clean look at the rim.
His mix of burst, ball-handling skills, and change of speed moves allowed the 6’2 guard to overcome his smaller 180 pound frame to be an efficient threat from around the rim. As a senior, the San Francisco legend shot 63% on a total of 182 shots from within the restricted area during his super senior season, according to Synergy Sports. That level of efficiency allowed him to average 1.316 points per possession, which placed him ahead of fellow NBA G League Elite Camp participants Kenneth Lofton, Jr., Michael Devoe, and Javon Freeman-Liberty.
Breaking away from his knack of getting to the paint, the dribble moves and craft of utilizing screens translate to his ability on the perimeter. In those scenarios, there might not be a prospect that I’ll be talking about this off-season when it comes to the art of creating space for his jumpers. His skills as a ball-handler is one way that our man is able to create separation by using crossovers to lull his defender to sleep before stepping back and launching one up from deep.
Outside of using his savvy as a ball-handler to break away from his defender, our man does a good job of skirting the rules through using hand contact to aid in his goal of creating separation from his man. That push works in coordination with Bouyea stepping forward with his left foot, which is enough to lead the opposition to go off-balance. This brief moment is enough for Bouyea to execute a step-back move to create additional space needed to launch a perimeter or mid-range jumper.
Mr. Bouyea’s ability to create separation and get open looks quite frankly allowed him to be a pain in the ass for whatever team that he’s matched up against. However, that knack hasn’t led to superb efficiency , as he shot 35% from deep on 142 total off-the-dribble jumpers in 2021-22, according to Synergy Sports.
The problem that led to that pedestrian percentage might do with power as a lot of his step-backs from deep land short while his pull-ups hit the back of the rim. That inequality in power distribution is a confounding predicament to say the least as it’s tough to figure out how to mend those struggles. Because if he becomes more reliable, his threat as an off-the-dribble threat becomes even more lethal.
Speaking of areas that the 22-year-old might need to continue to grow in, Bouyea’s facilitating numbers weren’t the most eye-popping during his run with the University of San Francisco. During his senior season with the school, he averaged 3.9 assists per game with a 1.7 assist to turnover ratio, numbers that both stand as career highs. Now those lower numbers were partly due to the Dons going small with their three guard lineup which had our subject sharing the facilitating load with Gabe Stefanini and Khalil Shabazz, who all maintained an assist percentage higher than 13% during the 2021-22 season.
Despite those less than eye-popping numbers, he has the ingredients to be a solid facilitator at the next level, whether that’s in the NBA, G League, or in overseas ball. With his quicks and handles serving as the anchor, our subject has shown great flashes of being able to bring in the defense’s attention with his drive before kicking it back out to an open man.
Coinciding with Bouyea’s knack in the drive-and-dish, the San Francisco alum can utilize cross-court skips and bounce or chest passes to cutters as a way to deliver the ball to his teammates. As he looks to build on those traits at the next level, one area that he’ll need to improve on is how he handles intense ball pressure or double teams.
Back when he was with San Francisco, he seemed to panic which led to either him losing control of the ball or throwing errant passes as a way to get away from the pressure. Him having a flaw in that area can make things really difficult for Jamaree at the next level as he’ll have to deal with quicker and more athletic players than what he dealt competing against West Coast Conference foes.
While his concerns around how he struggles when dealing with double teams and the worries about the power distribution in his step-back jumpers are valid, Bouyea still stands as an enticing potential 2nd round or UDFA prospect. This largely comes from how good he is at utilizing his burst and developed dribble skills to get his shot off as a downhill and perimeter threat. If he moves on to play with a team with solid offensive weapons and good screeners, those traits may have an opportunity to be utilized in a more impactful way than during his great run with the University of San Francisco.
The confidence that I have in the University of San Francisco alum’s on-ball driving traits combined with the flashes that he’s shown as a passer makes me believe that he can be a really dynamic on-ball weapon at the G League level, if he’s working there as an assignee or two-way prospect. Bouyea’s dynamic on-ball play could become even more lethal at the next level as he has aptitude as an off-ball threat, seen from him shooting 43% from beyond the arc on 51 total catch-and-shoot attempts, according to Synergy Sports.
All of those traits in addition to being a fantastic off-ball defender, that contributed him to averaging 1.8 steals per game, are the ingredients behind him standing as one of the most intriguing mid-major prospects in this year’s draft class. Will that be enough for him to hear his named be called in next month’s NBA Draft? That’s yet to be seen. However, I hope the work here makes it crystal clear that Jamaree Bouyea is a prospect that can do big things in his pro career.