[The following scouting report is part of a series on potential 2023 draft prospects from Sports Business Classroom alumni.]

Leonard Miller
Frame: 6’10” 210lbs
Position: Forward
Team: G League Ignite
2023 Draft Age: 19
Stats via G League 

Offense

Miller boasts talented guard skills at his height. He looks very comfortable bringing the ball up the court and facilitating. While he’s not a flashy passer by any means, Miller is unselfish and makes many good decisions with the ball in his hands—finding open teammates along the perimeter and seeing cutters. With his height, he has the potential to be a high-level shot creator out of the pick-and-roll by seeing overtop his defenders. 

Miller is at his best as a scorer off the ball. He attacks the basket fearlessly off handoffs and cuts and has excellent body control, which allows him to make mid-air adjustments and finish against the defense. Miller also likes to operate out of the post. He has a soft touch around the rim and great patience, which he uses to get his defender in the air, draw a foul, or maneuver around them and score. Miller is also an active offensive rebounder, averaging 2.3 per game for the Ignite this season. 

Miller is very calm and confident in transition. He displays a very high IQ as a facilitator and outlet passer. He fills the lanes and uses that aforementioned patience and body control to outsmart his defender and create a bucket for himself or his teammate. 

In terms of shooting the ball, Miller has plenty of room for growth. He shows flashes of a pull-up game and takes three-pointers confidently but lacks consistency. The inconsistency is likely a mix of weaker handles and underdeveloped shooting form. Miller’s release point is very low, making it challenging for him to make any shot without reasonable space. This will change as he gets stronger, but his shot is not much of a threat to opponents now.

Defense

Miller’s rise to a first-round prospect has been unique. From constantly switching high schools between Canada and the United States, struggling to find consistent playing time, and dealing with injuries, Miller had difficulty properly developing his fundamentals. This hindered his development most defensively. Before joining the G League, Miller played for a high school in Canada, where the competition was not comparable to his skill level. With that, he shined offensively, but his defense was not tested to the level it should be for an NBA prospect, which saw him develop some bad habits. 

Miller tends to ball watch, often slowly creeping further and further away from his assigned matchup and leaving them wide open. Another glaring hole for Miller defensively is his inability to maneuver through screens. He needs to get better at thinking on his feet and deciding whether to go over or under the screen. 

Furthermore, he’ll rarely box out, focusing too much on the ball and not enough on his man. Luckily, these are all fixable problems. Where Miller lacks experience and discipline, he makes up for with potential and heart. With a 7’2 wingspan and the ability to move around like a guard, Miller has the mobility and frame to be an elite perimeter defender eventually.

Bad habits aside, you can tell from his hustle and heart that he wants to be a good defender, and if he puts that energy into eliminating those bad habits, the sky is the limit for him as an on- and off-ball perimeter defender. 

Looking Ahead

Leonard Miller projects to be a secondary ball handler that could score at all three levels, with an emphasis on high-level scoring at the rim. With his gifted frame and agility at his size, his potential as a perimeter defender is limitless. However, patience will be required on that front as he has plenty of bad habits to break and fundamentals to develop before he can be trusted to stay disciplined in an NBA defense.

Regarding potential, Miller displays shades of Justise Winslow as a reliable playmaker and switchable defender with similar interior scoring tendencies. He is not going to come into the league and make an immediate impact and will most likely see a lot of the G League early in his career, but as a long-term prospect, a contending team in the late first round could see themselves grabbing the steal of the draft.