Matt Rogers

Joseph Treutlein

One of the more interesting long-term prospects in the D-League, Matt Rogers was the Legends' first-round pick in the draft this year out of Division II Southwest Baptist University. Coming off a knee surgery that has taken away some of his athleticism, Rogers is still finding his way into the team's consistent rotation, averaging just 14.5 minutes per game thus far with those numbers fluctuating noticeably from game to game.

From a physical standpoint, Rogers has excellent size, pretty good length, and a well-built frame, while being well coordinated and mobile for someone his size. He isn't the most explosive athlete and isn't going to blow anyone away with his leaping ability, but it's tough to say if he's fully recovered from surgery and how much more athletic he will be over time.

While it'd be foolish to come to many strong conclusions based off such a small sample of playing time, Rogers certainly shows some nice things on the offensive end, where he has a crafty post game with solid instincts on the block, having a strong turnaround jumper in his arsenal along with some decent counter-moves. He also does a good job crashing the offensive glass and making simple cuts to the basket, showing no problems going up strong at the rim.

The most intriguing part of Rogers' offense from the long term, however, is probably his perimeter jumper, as he's hitting on 75% of his free-throws and hit 81% his final year in college. This isn't quite translating to his spot-up jumpers quite yet, as he's hit just 7-for-20 of the mid-range jumpers charted by Synergy thus far, but the potential is obviously there for him to develop into a nice pick-and-pop threat.

Defensively, Rogers is active and has good awareness, showing nice toughness, moving well off the ball, keeping his hands up, and using his length to close off passing lanes. He's struggled some adjusting since knee surgery, not being nearly as much of a shot-blocking threat as he was in college, lacking some elevation on his attempts. His fundamentals are solid in the pick and roll, though he could do a better job adjusting to professional post defense rules, as he doesn't take full advantage of the ability to use his forearm and hand, allowing opponents to score against him more than they should.

Looking forward, it's tough to come to any conclusions about Rogers' game except to say it will be interesting to see how he develops down the road. He's in an excellent situation being on a team connected with a well run NBA franchise, and already has a decent foundation to work with. He's also playing against a much higher level of competition than he's ever faced before, something that will take some time to adjust to.