2019 NBA Draft: Goga Bitadze vs. Jaxson Hayes for Atlanta Hawks
By Dallin Duffy
Offense
Goga can create for himself and others with one of his greatest strengths: Screen-setting. He uses his boulder-like size to set a solid pick, then has a bevy of options to work with.
He can roll as either a rim-runner or a secondary ball handler or pop with the aforementioned jumper, which is capable of stepping out behind the three-point line.
He works well with the ball in his hand, sporting 1.8 assists per 36 minutes compared to Hayes’ 0.4, and is more than capable of making buckets for himself.
The outside shooting is great and he looks to translate into the new breed of NBA stretch fives well, but he also brings a old school back-to-basket scoring style to the table as well.
Goga Bitadze is going to open up some eyes tomorrow at his Pro Day if he shoots it like this in the star shooting drill. Reminder: he's 7-feet tall. pic.twitter.com/yZGBiWs2ZU
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) May 22, 2019
Hayes does posses the better shooting percentage overall, but is much more of a quality over quantity guy, and is less capable of getting a bucket at will.
Maybe the biggest knock on Hayes’s offense besides his limited shooting is his play making. He produced just 9 assists last season for the Longhorns in 747 minutes. Making matters worse, he had 29 turnovers in that time.
Goga is the better shooter, facilitator and post scorer. While Hayes might edge out Bitadze in athleticism and finishing above the rim, his other pitfalls are too steep for the Atlanta Hawks in the 2019 NBA Draft on offense.