Sam Vecenie's scouting report
BACKGROUND: Underrecruited wing who came good following a transfer. Parents are Wayne and Penny. Six brothers and sisters, including a high-level Division I hooping sister at St. Peter’s, Talah. Moved around high schools a lot. Started at Beacon (NY) High, a small upstate school where his standout performances didn’t bring him much in the way of visibility throughout his freshman and sophomore seasons. So from there, Hughes transferred to Kennedy Catholic, which led to a 26-2 record and a runner-up finish in the Catholic League in New York. Ultimately though, he needed to transfer from there to get his grades in order to play NCAA basketball. So he transferred to South Kent in Connecticut, a prep school where he moved from being the primary piece of a team to being the secondary guy. He played on a team with Tremont Waters and Myles Powell, both of whom were established high-profile prospects headed to high-major schools. Eventually Hughes settled in as a consensus three-star recruit. He chose East Carolina after his junior season at Kennedy Catholic despite having bigger offers. Didn’t go particularly well at East Carolina. Got hurt and only started seven games. Ultimately decided to transfer after his freshman season, knowing he’d have to sit out a year. Emerged very quickly after his sit-out year as a key player for the Orange. Started all 34 games in his first season, averaging nearly 14 points behind Oshae Brissett and Tyus Battle. Moved into primary role as a fourth-year junior after they both declared for the draft and left. Quickly turned into one of the best scorers in the ACC. Led the ACC in scoring at 19 points per game on his way to a first-team All-ACC berth. Declared for the draft despite one year remaining.
STRENGTHS: Hughes is the prototypical wing for today’s NBA in terms of dimensions. He’s 6-foot-6 with long arms. He has solid athleticism that will fit right in on the wing in the NBA. Above all, the key factor is that he’s a high-level shot-maker. The raw numbers don’t look amazing for Hughes, with him having hit just 34.2 percent from 3. But he can really shoot it and is a shot-maker as a creator. Syracuse doesn’t really run anything complicated offensively, and he was often tasked with creating shots for himself and teammates. That led to a lot of very difficult shots that he had to create on his own. No draft prospect had to create a higher percentage of his shots in isolation than Hughes did. Over 23 percent of his offensive possessions came out of isos, according to Synergy. That’s more than Grant Riller’s 16 percent, which was the second-most.
Simply put, Hughes had to do so much more offensive creation himself than anyone else. And he did so relatively well. He has a polished handle and a quick trigger release off the bounce that should translate well to a more minimized, defined role. He can take two-dribble pull-ups coming around screens, and loves a little hangdribble pull-up 3 in semi-transition. Has the little side step pull-up jumper that has become in vogue in recent years. Made his pull-ups at a 43.2 effective field goal percentage, a solid number for a guy with this kind of volume who took contested shots. This role forced him to really improve his shot diversity too, as he can get clean looks from a variety of angles and footworks. Generally has a tight handle and a pretty creative one going backward on step-backs and crossovers. Also an unselfish passer, although one who will need to improve his ability to look out and not just for dump-off passes at the rim.
Additionally, when he got open looks he knocked down shots at a high level. He hit his catch-and-shoot opportunities at a 54.3 effective field goal percentage, a strong number given that he took contested shots on about two-thirds of his opportunities. Give him more open shots, there is nothing here that would make you think he won’t hit at a higher rate. He’s confident, with deep range already out beyond the NBA 3-point line. Has a clean release and can hit them on the move. I expect he’ll be a 35-38 percent 3-point shooter pretty easily while also playing a solid role as a passer and occasional secondary creator.
WEAKNESSES: It seems like it shouldn’t be a problem having him downshift into more of a role as opposed to being the guy at Syracuse – given that he’s done it before in high school and in college – but he’ll need to be willing to do just that. I don’t really see him as a super high-level creator. Got himself into trouble a real amount of times this year, ending in either terrible shots or turnovers because he was probably just slightly miscast as a lead scorer. He’ll be able to do it in advantage situations in the NBA, and will be able to make plays that other more limited guys can’t. But he also is going to be more of a simplified guy. It also doesn’t help that he’s not a particularly strong finisher at the rim. Doesn’t really embrace contact and falls away too often. Made 53.6 percent of his shots at the rim this year, a nondisaster number but not a great one given that half of his shots at the rim were assisted.
The problem with that more limited offensive role is that we just have very little idea what his man-to-man defense is going to look like. Syracuse typically played a 2- 3 zone, so we haven’t gotten a chance to see him perform in a man scheme all that often in the last two years. He made plays out of the zone, and knew where he needed to be in that scheme. He got steals and had some strong weak-side rotations as a shot-blocker. If you go back to the East Carolina tape when he was a freshman in 2017, you can see that he played hard and worked at it. It’s just tough to know exactly what the level is here. He might be okay on that end, he might have some real work to do.
SUMMARY: Hughes’ ability to make shots and even create the occasional one is really interesting to NBA teams. There isn’t a whole lot of doubt about him being a good shooter. There is some question as to whether he’s a 36 percent to 38 percent guy, or a 38 to 40 percent guy. But in general, it’s easy to buy into the shot and the offensive fit on the wing. The questions do come on defense. Some are willing to bet on a guy who has the athleticism and reasonable length. Others just aren’t sure and like a few other wings more. At the end of the day though, Hughes is a fluid athlete who can be an occasional shot creator from the wing and can knock down shots while playing a premium NBA position that every team across the league is looking to fill. That’s a late first-round guy for me, even with the defensive questions.
GRADE: Late first, early second round
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