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Roberts Blums Scouting Report



DOB: 02-11-2005

Nationality: Latvian

Position: Shooting guard

Height: 6'2

Wingspan: Unknown

Weight: 190 lbs

Team: VEF Riga

Pro Comp: lite and smaller Bogdan Bogdanovic / Kyle Guy

Draft range: Late second round pick / 2025 NBA Draft

Strengths:
-Advanced guard play and IQ at a very young age
-Gifted three-point shooter
-Willing defender, he shows great activity on that end of the floor
-Great touch in floaters.

Weaknesses:
-Undersized to be a shooting guard, unexpected to develop as a lead guard.
-Lowers his center of gravity most of the time, unabling himself to contest perimeter shots
-Avoids to finish at the rim. Reluctant to expose himself to that situation

Question marks:
-Can his shooting talent outweigh his size?
-Will his defensive IQ be enough to not be a negative defender?

Latvian basketball has Kristaps Porzingis and Davis Bertans as the two most successful NBA careers and the country might have an excellent chance to add a third player to the mix in Roberts Blums, son of Janis Blums, a respected former player who had a long and successful career in European basketball. After an outstanding performance in the past U18 European Championship Division B, a tournament in which Latvia won the gold medal after a seven-game undefeated tournament with Blums as their star, which was enough to be named the MVP of the Tournament, averaging 20.0 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1.6 SPG and 3.4 3PTM on 38.7% 3PT at 17 years old.

Roberts Blums spent the last year in the youth team of ASVEL, a French powerhouse of European talents. He didn't get any minutes with the professional team, and was limited to participating in the Adidas Next Generation Tournament in Patras and the Espoirs national tournament, the U21 teams of the most important French teams. After his great tournament, he was offered a contract in Saint-Quentin Basketball, where he would have been teammates with another NBA prospect, Melvin Ajinca. While he initially accepted the offer, he decommitted from playing for them and decided to go home and play for VEF Riga, a Latvian club in which his father is part of the front office, over the chance to play Basketball Champions League, the third-tier European international tournament.

He’s an elite 3-point shooter, a major threat off screens with his speed and agility, and has a quick release that allows him to easily run many offensive sets. More of a top-of-the-key and wing shooter than a corner one. Something that stands out immediately when he's on the floor is how he can communicate with his coach and teammates to have the best offensive possessions possible, something that at 18 years old seems incredible and predicts a future as a high-IQ guard for whatever teams he plays in his career using his understanding of the offensive angles, the mismatches, and his ability to run plays under almost any role — even as the screener.

A very gifted player when dribbling the ball, but tends to overdribble when looking to create a shot for himself, which can be a result of his slow first step and lack of motor when attacking the rim. For instance, his strongest suit comes up when operating pick-and-rolls, where he has shown his ability to put his defenders in jail holding them in his back and freeing up a lot of space for his mid-range pull-ups or floaters.  

He's reluctant to finish at the rim. In this season in the Estonian-Latvian Basketball League, only 20% of his two-pointers were at the rim, and he had a poor 42%FG in these actions. His still-young body has not developed the necessary strength to finish through contact, and he doesn't have a special layups package to get an advantage. Instead, he has developed a really soft touch in floaters, one of the "must" shots that guards in today's NBA have to develop, having a way better 60% FG in non-restricted-area paint shots and those represent a higher percentage of his twos — a 30%. 

The hope that Blums had another growth spurt seems unlikely at 18 years old considering he's about the same height as his father, who is 6'3. His size might be a problem in his NBA aspirations, especially considering he's not a lead guard and his playmaking skills are not as trustable as he would need to be a secondary ball-handler. His poor finishing at the rim makes it even more difficult since he would need to be a three-way-threat at scoring to get even the chance to enter into a rotation as an undersized 6'2 combo guard. Also, his "effective height", might be even shorter since he lowers his center of gravity in almost every scenario on the floor, especially on defense. 

He compliments his high IQ really well with an undeniable commitment to play defense, especially off-ball. The way he closes angles denies the ball, and decides the right moment to help or stay on his matchup is awesome to see in somebody of his age. It is factual that in a minor league, his defensive impact may be overestimated, especially playing for a team that has a solid roster with defensive-minded players, but his role was far away from being hidden because of his young age. He was constantly picking up the best opposite-team guard and not giving him any easy shots. 

The big problem with how impactful he can be is that if you mix up what was referenced before about how he plays almost full-time with his center of gravity lowered to his wingspan, he can barely contest other guards' three-point shots and almost any shot. Also needs to gain some strength, since rivals were fine playing through his contact or even taking him out of plays by just moving him with one arm and creating space for themselves.

During his showcase in the Basketball Champions league his performance was really uneven between games. He was a major contributor in a one-point game between his team and Cholet, the Tidjane Salaun team, scoring 11 points on 3-6 from three in a game that was played one week before his 18th birthday. Then, his performances were discouraging including a no-show against Lenovo Tenerife, scoring 0 points in 21 minutes against a team that could've been a great landscape considering the increased level of difficulty of the opponent. 

His 41-point breakout performance needs added context since it happened in a blowout win played in an empty gym against the league's worst team. Despite that context, he showcased his full offensive potential and generated for himself a lot of clean looks.

Being one of the youngest players in this draft class may be appealing since he doesn't turn 19 until November. Regardless, his main interest might be to receive some feedback from NBA evaluators and come back to European basketball for at least one more season. Blums would really benefit from going back to France and having some minutes in the LNB Pro A, as he was expected to do this season. His development after playing several minutes as a pro might help his case into being even a 2025 Draft first-round pick, if he's able to land in the right scenario next season.

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