Isaac Haas, C

Purdue

22 years old

7’2” - 7’4” wingspan - 290 lbs

The hard truth is that Isaac Haas might have come along 20 years too late. He’s a basketball dinosaur, massive and strong, and not fit to survive the current climate of NBA small ball. But with the Warriors dismantling of the league, is it time teams start thinking about zagging where others zig?

His college career won’t show the numbers a player of Haas’s caliber should or his talents merited. For most of his time at Purdue, he was stuck behind A. J. Hammons (46th pick in 2016), the 2016 B10 defensive player of the year, and the All-American Caleb Swanigan (26th pick in 2017). It wasn’t until his senior season that Haas finally became the man on his team, despite being consistently one of the most efficient big men in the nation on the offensive end.

In his senior season, Haas posted career-highs in nearly every major category: 23.4 mpg, 14.7 ppg on .617% shooting, 5.7 rpg, and over a block a game.

Haas’s career at Purdue ended in tragedy. In Purdue’s first round match-up of the NCAA tournament against Cal-St. Fullerton, Haas was pulled to the ground and the weight of his giant frame landed squarely on his right elbow, fracturing the elbow and leaving the senior in a cast that he was only recently able to rid himself of as he starts to work out for NBA teams.

Strengths:

• For a big man with such size, Haas has soft around the basket with either hand. He has a bevy of post moves that are nearly impossible to get to. He’s consistently shown improvement in this area each year.
• He’s drastically improved his free throw percentage. His freshman year he shot .547% from the line. His sophomore year he jumped up .714%. He finished his senior year shooting .758% on 190 attempts.
• Efficient scorer. While he doesn’t stretch the floor on offense, Haas takes up the paint and is too large to be moved from his spot. He shot .617% from the floor on 300 field goal attempts.
• Draws a ton of fouls. Has never averaged less than 7 fouls drawn for 40 minutes. Shoots a lot of free throws.

Weaknesses

• Defense. Haas’s size is a deterrent at the rim but get the big man moving and he doesn’t have the lateral quickness, timing, or awareness to block passing lanes consistently or seal off dribble penetration.
• Limited rebound. Haas takes up a lot of space, but he’s not great at moving out of his spot to go get rebounds. He’s never been a great rebound on either side of the floor.
• Doesn’t lend to either a pick and rolling big man or a pick and pop big man. He’s rarely stretched his jump shot passed turnarounds in the post or shown the mobility to consistently threaten the defense by setting a pick and then rim-running.
• Not an explosive athlete, has struggled to finish dunks regularly through his career. Takes a while for him to get into a second jump, and when he does go for blocks and leaves his feet, it takes a bit of time for him to recover.
• Not a great passer. While he’s shown strides in limiting his turnovers and finding cutters off the double-team, he is still more natural at just taking on the double-team by a direct kick-out or continuing to attack the basket.
• Has had some off-court issues pop up after his career that might make it a little less likely a team takes a flier on the big man right away.