2025 NBA Draft: Derik Queen
NBA Draft Scouting Report
Derik Queen
Height/Weight: 6’10, 246lbs
Position: Center
Team: Maryland
Birthdate: December 27th, 2004
Player Overview
Derik Queen is a highly skilled big man who plays at his own pace. Coming out of Montverde Academy as a five-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American the expectations were high for Queen, and he has certainly delivered. Maryland’s 83.6 ppg is their highest since they won the national title in 2001-2002 and with wins in seven of their last eight, it’s clear they’re starting to play their best basketball right before March. Queen has played a major role on the offensive end through his ability to create his looks off the bounce and push the ball in transition as a big man. On the other end, where Maryland ranks 20th nationally in KenPom, Queen is still finding his footing. His low athleticism hurts him but he’s still a physical presence that can prevent straight-line drives.
Strengths
Fundamentals
The appeal of Queen coming out of high school surrounded his refined skills for a player of his size, and it’s stayed true in college. Derik can bring the ball up in transition to run the break but also slow things down in the halfcourt to break down his defender off the dribble. An ability like this for a young big like Queen is rare and shouldn’t be taken lightly. His handle isn’t one that’s overly quick, but it’s surgical and appears like he has the ball on a string. Adding to this fundamental nature, the footwork of Queen is a sight to see. He uses his pivot well to seal off defenders in the low post and survey the floor in the mid to high post. Then, when driving to the rim, he often uses his long strides to set up reverse layups or just create space on these drives. While he does have a big frame that he uses well to establish post and rebound positioning, most of his space creation on the drive and in post-ups is due to this fundamental nature. He’s a more finesse big that can throw you off with the aforementioned handles and footwork but also smaller details like head/ball fakes that contribute to his polished pace.
Pace
One element that aids in the fundamental nature of any player is their pace. While footwork, handles, etc. are all important attributes, you must play under control to truly use them to your advantage. Derik Queen does exactly this as almost everything looks calculated when he has the ball in his hands. He’s incredibly patient and can catch defenders off guard by changing gears to get to his spots. His acceleration forces defenders to fly at him and leave their feet, leading him to decelerate and wait for these defenders to fly by. This ability keeps the defense guessing and allows Queen to still get open looks at the rim even if he can’t outleap defenders or beat them with his straight-line speed. I constantly harp on pace being very indicative of basketball IQ and body control and to me, it’s the reason many vets can stay in the league for so long. Athleticism will eventually regress and once it’s gone you must depend on your mind to succeed. This is not me saying Queen’s athleticism is that of a regressing old player, but it should be noted that he plays like a veteran at such a young age. If he’s able to build on his frame and combine it with this veteran IQ he’ll be extremely dangerous from the jump with room to play a long career.
Rebounding
Queen is an absurdly productive rebounder reaching a defensive-rebounding percentage of 24.4% and an offensive-rebounding percentage of 9.9%. He’s the only freshman in the country hitting both of these thresholds simultaneously, revealing many great qualities. On offense, it displays how he never quits on a play. He crashes the boards on almost all shots and is a major contributor to second chances for himself and his teammates. Additionally, he draws tons of fouls in these situations as his high motor forces defenders to struggle with boxing him out and foul him in the process. Over to the defensive end, Queen expands on this high motor and shows great ball skills in the process. While his wingspan isn’t a huge plus sitting at 7’0 while he stands at 6’10, he still uses each inch to his advantage. He’s constantly going full extension and high-pointing the ball to keep it away from defenders. His strong hands are also on display here as he maintains great control of the ball through a crowd. All in all, his high motor, ball skills, and foul-drawing ability that come out of elite rebounding are traits translatable to many other parts of his game. This motor can contribute to Queen running the floor in transition and improving his defensive contributions while the ball skills and foul drawing can continue to make him a formidable paint presence.
Concerns
Athleticism
As I’ve previously mentioned, Queen is more of a finesse big man with the ball in his hands. However, this fundamental nature will only go so far and the athletic flaws ultimately cap his ceiling. Offensively he struggles to finish through contact with the large majority of his misses at the rim coming from situations where defenders move their feet with Queen and/or a rim protector walls up in front of him. Even while his handle and footwork can create space in one-on-one scenarios, disciplined defenders and help-side defenders can often expose Derik’s athletic limitations. Defensively I question how often he’ll have a favorable matchup. I don’t think he’ll play the 5 at the next level if he continues to trim weight for the sake of getting quicker and ultimately I don’t know if the weight loss will be enough for him to be quick enough to guard opposing 4s. He’s a unique prospect in this regard as his success can entirely depend upon the system he’s drafted into and the personnel that already exists around him. I do think his fundamentals and IQ are impressive, but it’ll only go so far in the NBA where many players are both freak athletes and have sufficient discipline and basketball IQ.
Shooting
Queen’s least efficient scoring zones come in the mid-range and from beyond the arc, with shots beyond the arc being his least frequent looks as well. To me, apparent mechanical issues are preventing him from being an efficient shooter. When shooting uncontested he releases the ball far in front of his body, leading to a flat arc and horizontal follow-through. Meanwhile, when shooting contested, he pulls the ball back, high points it, and releases it from the right side of his body, leading to many left and right misses. One doesn’t have to go very far for the perfect jumper as it involves one good piece from each adaptation of his current jumper. The release in the midline of his body on the uncontested looks and the high-pointing of the ball on his contested looks would make his jumper deadly if combined consistently. High-pointing the ball with a more vertical follow-through will fix his arc inconsistencies while releasing the ball in the midline of his body will keep his shot path centered. It’s all of course easier said than done, but there are clear flashes where he puts all the pieces together, and the ball tends to go in when he does so.
Defensive Ability
While this concern may give off the vibe that Derik is a complete liability on this end, I still believe there are some things he does well. One of these good things is that Queen uses his body well to bump players off their driving lanes and give them a harder route to the rim. As a player with a lower level of quickness, it’s key for him to play to his strengths, and in this department he does. However, I’m still fairly critical of his defensive game as a whole. His stance is inconsistent as he may be low to the floor when closing out on ball handlers, but once they put the ball on the floor he’ll stand straight up. A large amount of his fouls come from this weakness with him often getting called for blocking fouls after getting blown by and colliding with offensive players as he’s caught standing. Another result of his low quickness is Derik being caught closing out short on many rotations. If switched onto a guard or overall quicker player he can often close out far too short in fear of getting blown by, allowing offensive players to shoot right over him and nullify any possibility of Queen deterring their shot. In the crucial area of creating steals and blocks the numbers don’t jump off the page, but I still think Derik shows some good signs. He has very active hands on the drive and when he’s able to stick with players in these instances he can often poke the ball away. In the post where he doesn’t have to worry nearly as much about his quickness, he does a great job of walling up and again poking at the ball as both an on-ball and off-ball defender. At the end of the day, Queen’s defensive ability is one of my largest concerns for him. His athleticism and size make me question how projectable his role is at the next level. While he can be physical and have active hands it won’t mean much if he can’t stick with his assignment all over the floor.
Shot Charts
Frequency
Efficiency
Analytics
Predictive Value
While analytics and statistics don’t tell the entire story, there’s no denying that many have been good indicators of success at the next level. Recently, user “criggsnba” on X correlated 25 statistics to NBA VORP/yr from 212 collegiate bigs drafted between 2008 and 2023. VORP represents “value over replacement player” and estimates the points per 100 team possessions a player scores over their replacement. VORP has been used since the 1970s and is one of the best statistical indicators of success in the NBA. The findings showed BPM (box plus-minus), net rating, DR% (defensive rebounding percentage), and 2P% were some of the stats that correlated the most among bigs.
Derik’s Situation
Twenty-six games into his freshman campaign Queen has notched a BPM of 7.6, offensive rating of 115.8, defensive rating of 87.3, DR% of 24.4%, and 2P% of 58.9%. Underclassmen since at least 2008 who have met all of these thresholds simultaneously over an entire season include big men like Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, Chet Holmgren, and Jonathan Isaac. While it’s impressive that Queen has hit these marks while being less of a shooter, defender, and athlete than many of these prospects, these will still be factors in if he can be nearly as productive as these guys have been in the NBA.
Glossary
BPM (box plus-minus): Measures point differential between teams per 100 possessions where that specific player is on the floor
Net Rating (offensive rating-defensive rating): Measures the difference between points produced per 100 possessions and points given up per 100 possessions by a specific player
2P% (two-point percentage): Measures shooting efficiency on two-point shots
DR% (defensive rebounding percentage): Estimates the percentage of available defensive rebounds a player grabbed while he was on the floor