Craft hopes to prove he can shoot the ball
Aaron Craft is hoping for some kind of Cato June transformation, accomplishing things in the NBA that he hasn't accomplished in four years of college ball. Bad start for him at the combine:
In early testing at the NBA Combine, the results were mixed. Craft was one of just two players to miss all five attempts on a set shot from the left side of the court, and was the worst of guards shooting off the dribble and breaking right (1-for-6). He did, however miss only one attempt from the top of the key (5-for-6).
him.
Like the old joke says, Craft is a great outside shooter. Too bad they play their games inside.
All the joking and funny gifs aside (and I do enjoy them), I'm genuinely curious as to how a kid spends four years as a starting guard at a high major basketball program and finishes his eligibility as still such a poor shooter. Didn't Ohio St. have any "shooting gurus" on staff who could fix this kid's technique and turn him into a consistently decent shooter? It's not as if Craft didn't have athletic ability.
Consider a counterfactual: Do you believe Craft would still be this terrible a shooter if he'd spent four years under Coach Beilein? (I think this is one of Beilein's greatest unsung attributes as a coach -- sure, he tends to recruit guys who are already good shooters, but he also makes all of them even better.)
Somewhat related to this -- an interesting recent Grantland piece on the San Antonio Spurs "shooting guru," Chip Engelland, one of the best in the business. He even turned Kawhi Leonard, a really bad shooter in college, into a pretty good NBA scorer: