Royce White to Rockets: Scouting Report, Video Highlights and Analysis

If you understand what Royce White's exact role is going to be in the NBA, then you're a step ahead of me. There's a reason I listed his position as "No Clue (but actually SF/PF)" in every mock draft I wrote over the past few months.

No prospect, with the possible exception of Andre Drummond, displays the tantalizing boom-or-bust potential that oozes from every pore of the Iowa State Cyclone's body. 

What White Brings to the Team

White may stand at 6'8" and be listed at forward, but he's in no way simply confined to that limiting role. In fact, he often took the ball up the court and ran the offense as a point guard, which allowed him to average the second-most assists per 40 minutes of any power forward in the last decade, trailing only Utah State's Spencer Nelson in 2004-2005, according to the DraftExpress database.

That's not the only way that White was a statistical outlier during his collegiate career.

His unique role and versatile skill set, which should be what is expected from him in the NBA, allowed him to lead the Cyclones in every single one of the major surface-level per-game statistics.

Unfortunately, not all of those statistics are positive, because White doubles as a turnover machine. He tends to want to create plays by himself too often and is commonly called for offensive fouls when he's not throwing passes to defenders and players/fans on the sidelines. 

Now that he's surrounded by significantly more talent than he played with at Iowa State, White should be able to stay more under control and allow the positives to far outweigh the negatives, much like he'll outweigh the guards that attempt to slow him when he has the ball in his hands. 

What Experts are Saying

Of course, I couldn't go much further into this profile without discussing White's oft-publicized anxiety problems. The versatile forward has been very open throughout the last year and in recent days about his red flag-littered past. 

However, it is still very much a major topic of discussion. For a full look at his beleaguered past, I'd recommend reading this article by ESPN's Myron Medcalf. 

If you just want a one-sentence summary though, leave it to DraftExpress' Walker Beeken: "On top of his legal trouble and past behavior, White's recently chronicled anxiety disorder adds another wrinkle to his story that NBA teams will want to further investigate."

Rookie Impact

White may eventually live up to his high upside, but I seriously doubt that he's going to make a major impact during his rookie season at the NBA level. 

It isn't his anxiety that will cause the most problems as he attempts to adjust from the collegiate level to the highest one the sport has to offer, but rather a change in role. 

There's absolutely no chance that White will receive the same amount of freedom he did at Iowa State, and he'll likely have to settle in as a true power forward, and an undersized one at that. There may be some opportunities for White to play point forward, but it will be a secondary position, if not a tertiary one. 

White needs to improve his conditioning while converting his excess weight from cushioning to muscle that allows him to overcome his lack of size when banging around with other power forwards in the paint. Until that happens, I can't predict a lot of rookie success. 

Pick Analysis

Royce White is one of the most intriguing players in the draft.  At 6’8”, White is extremely versatile; he can handle the ball like a guard and score in the paint like a forward. White has made headlines with his off-the-court issues, causing some teams to shy away, but with Houston he should fit in well and be a solid contributor.