Bear Territory Tuesday: Breaking down the NBA potential of Cal power forward David Kravish

     With the NBA Draft happening a week from Thursday, I thought it would be appropriate to break down the NBA potential of Cal power forward David Kravish this week. Before I dive into his strengths and weaknesses, I will first give you his season averages from his senior season: 11.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.2 assists, .4 steals, 1.5 blocks, and 1.5 turnovers per game. He shot 47.8% from the field, 28.6% from three-point range, and 72.6% from the foul line. His overall efficiency via the NBA's efficiency formula was +13.9090, which is ok, but not great.

     Strengths: David Kravish is an intriguing NBA prospect because of his size, length, and ability to play well on both ends of the floor. At 6'10, 240 lbs, while also sporting a solid wingspan that measured 7'0 in his freshman year, David Kravish has a solid NBA build. He definitely has the size and length to handle NBA bigs.

     As for his offensive abilities, during his time at Cal he showed nice touch around the basket, scoring a lot of his points on jump hooks. He also developed a nice fade away jump shot and used his length to shoot the ball over taller defenders. Unlike his former teammate Richard Solomon, who currently plays for the Oklahoma City Blue of the D-League, Kravish is a finesse player in the paint, using the glass and crafty moves to score as opposed to muscling his way in for a thunderous slam.

      During his time at Cal, he added more and more weapons to his repertoire and became a very skilled big man with the capability to knock down an open three on occasion as well as a mid-range jump shot. He also became a solid free throw shooter, shooting 72.6% from the foul line this past season, making opponents pay for fouling him inside. Kravish's offensive versatility makes him a legitimate NBA prospect.

     In addition to having an array of moves and touch on the block, David Kravish runs the floor very well in transition and is good at finishing plays on the fast break due to his length and mobility. He is very capable of catching lobs in transition when given the space and has also proven capable of playing in a more uptempo offense.

     On the defensive end, David Kravish is an intriguing prospect because of his shot blocking ability as well as his ability to grab rebounds. He is the number one shot blocker in the history of Cal with 219 blocks, while averaging 2.1 blocks per game in his junior season and 1.5 blocks per game in his senior season. As for his rebounding numbers this past season, he averaged 7.0 rebounds and 5.2 defensive rebounds per game.

     His rebounding numbers are decent, but his shot blocking numbers are outstanding. If there is anything that makes him stand out from other power forwards in this draft, it is his shot blocking ability. To give you a sense of how his shot blocking stacks up, here are some shot blocking numbers from some first round prospects: Louisville power forward Montrezl Harrell averaged 1.2 blocks per game, Arkansas power forward Bobby Portis averaged 1.4 blocks per game, UCLA power forward Kevon Looney averaged .9 blocks per game, and Wisconsin 7'1 center Frank Kaminsky averaged 1.5 blocks per game. Judging by the those numbers, it is clear that David Kravish is a very good shot blocker in comparison to other players in this draft.

     What you might be wondering is why his shot blocking numbers dropped from his junior season to his senior season. In my opinion, it had to do with him being forced to play away from the basket a lot more due to the system and needs of the team, as opposed to it being a sign of regression. David Kravish exhibited the same knack for blocking shots that he did during his junior season. Don't let the numbers fool you into thinking otherwise.

     Weaknesses: Probably the biggest weakness for David Kravish is his lack of strength or at least his lack of willingness to use his strength. Compared to other NBA power forward prospects in this draft, his height, weight, and length are actually on par or better. He definitely isn't undersized or too light. But for whatever reason, almost to a fault, he has the tendency to make a finesse move inside as opposed to using his strength.

     In essence, he shied away from contact a lot and didn't get to the foul line. His field goal percentage of 47.8% wasn't very good and I think it largely had to do with him trying to avoid contact in the paint by taking tougher shots. If he had more of a willingness to finish through contact and go up stronger, his field goal percentage would have been better and he would have grabbed more offensive rebounds.

     During his career at Cal, he averaged only 1.6 free throw attempts per game and only improved slightly to 1.9 free throw attempts per game in his senior season. If he wants to have success in the NBA, he'll have to do a much better job of getting to the line and finishing through contact. Especially since he is actually a pretty solid foul shooter.

     In addition to not being willing to finish through contact, David Kravish wasn't the most consistent player this past season. In the Pac-12 opener against Washington, he had a very solid game, scoring 21 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. In that game, he looked like a legitimate first round talent, dominating inside and scoring in a wide variety of ways. The same can be said of his game on the road against Stanford, in which he had 23 points, 12 rebounds, and 1 block; his game in New York against Texas in which he had 19 points and 5 rebounds; and his game against Washington State in the Pac-12 tournament in which he had 25 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks.

     But amid those gems, he also had some poor performances. At home against Eastern Washington, he had 3 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 block;  on the road against Washington State, he had 4 points and 1 rebound; on the road against USC, he had 8 points and 7 rebounds; and on the road against Utah, he had 4 points and 4 rebounds.

     It's hard to explain the inconsistency, but there is one interesting commonality I noticed in these eight games. In the four sample games in which he played really well, he averaged only 2.5 fouls per game. In the four sample games in which he really struggled, he averaged 4.25 fouls per game. What does this mean? It means he has had an issue with getting into foul trouble. During his senior season, he averaged 3.2 fouls per game and 4.3 fouls per 40 minutes. In his junior season, he averaged 2.7 fouls per game and 3.3 fouls per 40 minutes.

     While he does a good job of blocking shots, he hasn't done a very good job of staying out of foul trouble, which has clearly affected his performance. When he stays out of foul trouble, his play has ranged from solid to very good. When he gets into foul trouble, his play has ranged from ok to very poor. While it is true for all basketball players that the fewer fouls they commit, the better they play, this seems to be especially true for David Kravish.

     A key question to answer is why does he have an issue with getting into foul trouble? I think it has to do with him sometimes gambling on defense to block a shot and also not always being tough down on the block. It's clear from his offensive numbers that he shies away from contact, so it stands to reason that the same can be said for him on defense. A lot of those fouls were fouls that he could erase with more toughness and discipline down on the block.

     Lastly, it's not clear how much upside David Kravish has. While I would say he has certainly improved over his four years at Cal, he didn't have a breakout season during his senior year like he would have hoped. With Richard Solomon gone, David Kravish had a real chance to shine and put up some big numbers, but he wasn't able to do so with regularity. It's hard to say how much better he will get, which could scare some teams away from picking him up.

Overall conclusion: David Kravish is an interesting prospect because of the combination of skills and abilities that he has. He has good size, length, and mobility for an NBA big, good offensive skills, and a knack for blocking shots as well as grabbing rebounds on defense. If he is able to toughen up inside and learn to handle some contact in the paint, he could become a solid role player in the NBA. The tools and pieces are definitely there.

---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @nba_lord for NBA and Cal basketball news