I just finished watching tape of new Cal men’s basketball grad transfer Kareem South. Below is a breakdown of his strengths, weaknesses, and overall outlook.

Strengths: Moves well without the ball. Reads defenses well to get open. Alert on defense. Sticks with his man. Does a good job communicating on defense. Does a good job fighting through screens. Keeps opposing offenses on their toes. Hustles (1.3 steals per game as a senior). Handles the ball well and pretty quick with it in his hands. Definitely capable of playing point guard if needed. Runs the floor well in transition. Knows how to get out in the open floor. Confident shooter. Has a quick release and not afraid to let it fly. Has good form on his shot. Can shoot with a hand in his face.

Finishes strong in transition. Can score at all three levels: Around the rim, mid-range, 3-point range (13.8 points per game as a senior). Has multiple tricks up his sleeve. E.g. floaters. Has good shot selection. Plays smart. Good foul shooter (82.2% for his career). Has improved his ability to get to the foul line (2.2 attempts per game as a junior; 3.1 attempts as a senior). Crashes the glass well (5.1 rebounds per game as a senior), especially the offensive boards (1.8 offensive rebounds per game). Unselfish player. Willing to give up the ball to open teammates. Does a good job playing within the flow of the offense. Brings veteran leadership. Not afraid of the moment. Confident.

Weaknesses: While he took more threes per game his senior year (4.3) than his junior year (3.7), his 3-point percentage decreased from 37.0% in his junior year to 36.7% his senior year. He didn’t always knock down the wide open, uncontested three. He needs to become more automatic when left open. He’s a streaky shooter and needs to develop more consistency. He had seven 20+ point scoring games his senior year and 11 games in which he scored in single digits. It’s hard to predict which guy will show up.

At 6’2”, 185 pounds, he plays more like a shooting guard than a point guard. He’s a tad small for a point guard, but definitely small for a shooting guard. It’s fair to question how he’ll handle Pac-12 shooting guards from a physical stand point. Both on offense and defense. It’s not clear if he’ll be able to score at the clip that he did at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Especially since opposing defenses will key on him. Was a good scorer at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, but not elite.

He averaged just 2.0 assists per game his senior year. While he’s not a selfish player, he doesn’t do a great job creating for others. Needs to do a better job penetrating defenses and finding open shooters. He’s a below average playmaker right now. Given his role on the team, he didn’t make as much of an impact in the win-loss column his senior year as one would hope. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi finished 14-18 (9-9) last season, 6th in the Southland Conference.

Overall: Kareem South could be just what the doctor ordered for Cal in terms of giving them another weapon in the backcourt. His ability to score in a variety of ways will be welcomed as well as his veteran leadership. The big question mark with him is can he be effective at the Pac-12 level. He’s coming from a small conference and a team that didn’t accomplish much these last two seasons. He has a lot to prove, but the potential for him to have an impact 5th year at Cal is definitely there.