Kurt-Curry Wegscheider | Scouting Report
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Kurt-Curry Wegscheider was born in 2001 in Bangui where is the capital of the Central African Republic. KCW’s father is a German of French origin. “Kurt” is his father’s nickname. On the other hand, “Curry” is a pure coincidence, he is not related to Steph Curry. He played football until the age of five but turned to basketball at his mother’s request. Kurt’s mother and uncle were famous players of the Central African Republic. His uncle, in particular, was one of the best players in his country, he received offers from clubs in Europe but did not leave country. His mother wanted Kurt to play basketball because he was coming home too late when playing football. Because of the bad conditions in Africa, she did not want it. That’s why Kurt started playing basketball. He played for the Central African Republic until the age of 14. Afterward, he managed to enter the academy with his performance at an NBA camp in his country. He was at the NBA Academy for five years before playing for New Mexico in the 2019–2020 season. KCW trained between 05:30 and 07:30 every day. He studied French Literature at Keur Madior High School between 08:30 and 16:30. He trained between 17:30 and 21:00. During his last two seasons at the NBA Academy, Kurt was one of the team’s three leaders. Along with Nelly and Samuel, Wegscheider was taking on the team’s responsibilities both on and off the court. Curry, always plays active, full of energy. Defense awareness is not very high, but offense awareness is very high. Primary handler and secondary scorer. Sometimes his individual playing in the matches harmed the team, but in general, he managed to become one of the key parts of team play.
Physical
Standing 6-foot-3 with a strong 190-pound frame and average length, Kurt-Curry Wegscheider has nice size for a 19 years old point guard. His upper body looks strong. Arms are not long, also, shoulder zone is narrow but looks strong. Core and chest muscles are great. These muscles add explosiveness to his athleticism. I mean, Kurt-Curry Wegscheider, whose athleticism is based on fluency, can do highlight dunks in transition / open floor attacks thanks to strength in his core and chests. He doesn’t have a perfect vertical pop but it is enough. Wegscheider moves well laterally on defense, he can block the entire dribbling channel of his opponent. He runs the full court at incredible speed. If I did not observe it wrong, he ran the full court with the ball in four seconds and scored 17 times in the games he played in the last two years in EYBL. His feet are very fast, hasn’t hip mobility, but I don’t think he needs that. Due to the problem with his shoulders and the lack of elite vertical pop, he sometimes has problems in 3-pointers but doesn’t have these problems as a catch-and-shooter. Seems a little undersized, should wide the general base of his body. I mean, I think he should focus on vertical pop and shoulder training.
Offense
A hot shooter who hit threes in CnS and spot up situations with good release, arc, timing and BBIQ (decision-making), Kurt-Curry Wegscheider showed growth as a floor spacer, finished dominantly in the open floor, moved the ball well and did much some of his best work offensively as a passer showing the ability to drive and dish and use his defensive prowess to create opportunities to set up teammates in transition. In my opinion, he is not a great operator in pick-and-roll situations but showed some flashes as a crafty passer. Usually, after the roll, he showed skill-set to use driving the rim with a strong first step and average last touch. Also, after the roll, he showed a lot of drive-and-dish positions and mid-range jumpers. His handling package is good. Kurt isn’t a handler who can play with shiftiness or creativeness but knows how to use his strong upper body to create spacing for himself and others. Thanks to his court vision, operate offensive sets around the half-court line, so, team’s spacing getting wider. He is not a finisher who can play above the rim consistently but footwork (eurostep, sidestep, etc.) and BBIQ (burst, go-stop-go) helps him here. Competing with toughness and timing offensively, Kurt-Curry Wegscheider can create his shot around the perimeter. For the 3-pointers, no, he can’t create his shot. However, as a catch-and-shooter, Kurt is one of the dangerous shooters in his class. Knows how and when to use his shot. High release, good timing and arc. As I said, he is a good transition player both passer and scorer. I have a big question mark on his offense package. Not being able to create his own shot in the three-pointers doesn’t seem like a huge problem right now, but the ammunition in Kurt-Curry Wegscheider’s score arsenal is not enough. So yes he is a good athlete and finisher, but he cannot use these things consistently. Also as an off-ball scorer, Wegscheider has shown almost nothing so far. In my opinion, if KCW wants to maintain the roles of a primary handler and secondary scorer throughout his career, he must develop physically and expand his offensive repertoire during this development process.
Defense
To be clear, I think that his defensive package better than his offensive package. I know, physically it may seem that KCW does not have perfect defensive potential, also, as I mentioned at the beginning of the report, his defensive awareness is low but when you watch his matches you can see how well he is doing on-ball and off-ball defenses. Playing with good motor defensively and flashing very quick hands, Kurt-Curry Wegscheider is a playmaker with the quickness, high BBIQ and intensity to be pesky on the ball. He is always active in the passing lanes. Despite his lack of elite physical tools and athleticism, Curry Wegscheider moving well laterally while he defending quicker and physical guards. Thanks to his BBIQ, he can runs around the screens very well. Showed shiftiness on the perimeter and regularly picked the pocket of ball handlers. He’s not perfect in the rest of the things. He can switch but not defend in pick-and-rolls. In the face of shooters, he sometimes got fake’s too quickly, makes a timing mistake. Due to the fact that he plays with full energy, he sometimes loses his defensive balance, makes unnecessary help defenses. There is no rim protection, not suitable for the switch, and makes unnecessary fouls against transition offense. He has to improve these things, also, should be more aware on defense. However, in general, I like the KCW’s defensive performance. Many African guards are very bad at defense, but his energy, BBIQ, and success in practice are valuable. End of the day, he may not be an obvious candidate to defend multiple positions but is among the best defenders in his class.
Summary
I think Kurt-Curry Wegscheider could be a good player in the NBA. Because he can play both as a shooter and a handler. His passing repertoire is not perfect but enough to lead a team. He also does many things well on defense but must develop physically and be consistent on his offensive arsenal.