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Sam Merrill can provide any NBA team with something each needs: another 3-pointer shooter.
A career 42% shooter from deep over four years at Utah State, Merrill can score both off the dribble and the catch.
“When I was a kid, I was an above-average shooter but didn’t really take a ton of threes. During my senior year in high school, I think I made 27 threes, one a game,” Merrill told USA TODAY SMG’s Bryan Kalbrosky. “I went on my LDS mission, came back and realized that the ability to shoot the basketball was going to be so important for me because, obviously, the level of athleticism from high school to college is a big jump. So I knew that I was going to have to be a great shooter and just put in a ton of work. During my freshman year, I was more of just a catch-and-shoot guy and then I just continued to work and work. That’s how I’ve been able to develop into the shooter that I am right now.”
But the projected late second-round pick — the Brooklyn Nets the 55th pick in the 2020 NBA draft — isn’t satisfied with being solely labeled as a shooter. Merrill intends to show he’s a complete player who can help teams fill up the lone statistical category they care about: wins.
“I always tell guys that while I have the ability to score the ball and do all that kind of stuff, I think the one way that I would describe myself to people is just as a guy that makes winning plays,” Merril told Kalbrosky. “That sounds like a cliché, but you can name guys in the NBA that when they come to mind, you see them as guys that just make winning plays — whether that’s taking a charge or getting a loose ball or getting a timely offensive rebound or knocking down a clutch shot. There are guys that do that, and those guys are highly, highly valued in the NBA. I think I have the ability to shoot the ball, I think I can defend, I think I handle it. But, more than anything, I really think that I can be a guy that can help teams win.”
For Merrill’s full interview with Kalbrosky, head on over to USA TODAY SMG’s Rookie Wire.