Bittle is a skilled 7-footer who is a bit of a dinosaur because he stayed at Oregon for all five years. The former five-star recruit battled injuries throughout his tenure, but when healthy, was one of the premier centers in college basketball throughout the past two seasons.
About
Third-team All-Big Ten in 2024-25.
One of five finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award.
One of three players nationwide to total at least 490 points, 260 rebounds and 70 blocks in 2024-25 and was the only one of the three to make over 30 3-pointers.
Strengths
Excellent feel for the game defensively, even if the athleticism isn’t off-the-charts good. Can guard in space in a pinch, but is best-suited doing the dirty work around the rim as a fearsome shot-blocker.
The intersection of size, skill, passing, shooting and defense presents multiple pathways to becoming a useful rotation piece.
Bittle has legitimate pick-and-pop gravity. Drained 72 combined treys over the past two seasons and is a career 74% 3-point shooter. He also can face up and hit midrange jumpers.
Weaknesses
Bittle carried a heavy load and played big minutes for a bad team going nowhere, but his conditioning may not ever be a major asset. He can be a bit of a lumberer up the floor.
Unfortunately, injuries are a big part of the calculus. Bittle has missed significant chunks of four of the past five seasons with a barrage of maladies, including a broken wrist and a badly sprained ankle that featured ligament damage, per Oregon coach Dana Altman. His lack of vertical pop was noticeable, but part of that could be due to that leg injury.
Bittle does not have the ability to bend defenses as a driver at all.
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