The basketball season ended for Darius Acuff Jr. and the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Sweet Sixteen against Arizona, though Acuff did his best to keep his team in the game with 28 points. It was an admirable conclusion to an impressive stretch run, including 29.3 points per game in the NCAA Tournament.
His scorching play to end the season shot him up mock draft boards, right into the laps of the Milwaukee Bucks at pick No. 10 in the pre-tournament draft compiled by FanSided's Christopher Kline. Fresh off the failure of the Cam Thomas experiment, however, they might be wary of drafting another small scoring guard, no matter how electric.
Acuff's dynamite scoring could fall by the wayside if he mimics Thomas
Thomas' season with the Bucks ended three days before Acuff's when the team waived him on Monday after a six-week stint. In large part, Thomas didn't stick in Milwaukee for the same reason he couldn't in Brooklyn: his lack of contributions beyond pure scoring.Â
The Bucks could see that as a warning against drafting Acuff this June. Like Thomas, he is a 6-foot-3 guard whose strength is scoring. Neither is a good defender. There are enough similarities to squint beneath the shine of Acuff's dominant offense and be concerned.Â
Acuff does have two things going for him that Thomas doesn't: he's a good passer and he scores efficiently. The All-American freshman averaged 23.5 points and 6.4 assists on 48.4/44.0/80.9 shooting splits. He gets his own buckets, but he also gets to the line and facilitates for teammates.Â
His shooting stroke is also a good bit more polished than Thomas' was as a freshman at LSU, where he shot 40.6/32.5/88.2 in 2020-21. Compared to Acuff's robust assist rate, Thomas dished out just 1.4 per game despite averaging 23 points. Those are clear tallies in Acuff's favor.
Proving he can contribute in other ways will be crucial to Acuff's career
Are Acuff's superior shooting and passing skills enough to reassure the Bucks? By themselves, they shouldn't be. While he is clearly a better shot creator than Thomas, poor defense will doom any undersized guard who isn't putting up All-NBA stats on offense. Acuff might be capable of the latter, a tantalizing prospect that could convince the Milwaukee Bucks to draft him, anyway, but the team that does has to be confident he can improve on the other end.Â
That will be especially critical when the inevitable happens and Acuff finds it harder to get his shot off in front of stronger, smarter NBA defenders. As a rookie, the 19-year-old point guard won't be racking up double-digit free-throw attempts on a nightly basis. His shooting efficiency could take a hit, and he won't have the cushion of production at the charity stripe.
On cold nights, he has to give the team something, whether that's defensive effort or smart passing. As an undersized player, capitalizing on hustle plays becomes all the more important. Can Acuff scrap his way to enough rebounds, loose balls, and deflections to make up for his shortcomings?
The Bucks already have a cautionary tale telling them that the answer better be yes.Â