Mario Chalmers is the third best true point guard in this draft, and, although there is a humongous gap between him and Derrick Rose as well a space behind  D.J. Augustin, he has the makings of a solid starter at the position.  

His handoff from Sherron Collins where he dribbled left and his a high arching 3-point shot over Rose is already part of folklore.

He has a great burst of speed into the crossover and knifes into the lane really well to create floaters and dish offs.

But Chalmers will also use pre-dribble ball fakes before getting into his dribble.  

He will frequently dribble into the defender and then pull back for a mid-range jumper with the space he creates.  Chalmers uses this bump often and is brilliant at it.

Chalmers has really nice tempo coming off pick and rolls while getting into the middle.  He is comfortable getting doubled here and will be patient and poised.

He has great balance penetrating into the lane and has enough hang time and body control while in the air to dodge potential shot blockers.

He?s not the absolute most gifted passer but is a good one for a point guard.  He gets the ball to the man rolling to the hoop at the ideal time, making sure he draws help defenders to maximize his teammates? potential openness.  Chalmers also has an ideal delivery on the drive and kick.  His decision-making is extremely mature, and he had a huge leap in his assist-to-turnover ratio from 1.36 to 2.25 this year.

Chalmers is really more about timing and feel than pure imagination as a passer, which is not necessarily a bad thing for a point guard expected to keep things organized rather than absolutely run the show.

One area that he must improve upon is when he goes baseline and hits a dead end - he ends up leaving his feet to either get a shot off or pass it away.  The shot is low percentage, and the pass is turnover prone.  He should instead preserve his dribble, get out of the area, and reset the offense, something Steve Nash and Chris Paul do flawlessly.

He has great speed in transition, not nearly as fast as a Ty Lawson, but is plenty quick enough and is more effective at changing speeds.  He also has enough elevation and length to finish open dunks.

Another area of his game that is much stronger than Lawson and your average point guard is how well he moves without the ball.  He makes great backdoor cuts, grabs handoffs, and can play rather well without the ball in the halfcourt.  His path when curling around for shots is excellent as he squares up and has his body aligned with the hoop ahead of time.

Chalmers? shot mechanics are very good and, not surprisingly, he was a 47.8% from beyond the arc.  His shot is compact, nearly perfect and extremely consistent.  Chalmers will rarely miss a perimeter shot to the left or right.  He has great range and can extend it to the pro line already.

Importantly, Chalmers shoots it very well when contested.  On the catch-and-shoot, he has an incredibly quick release and, therefore, isn?t concerned with getting it blocked.

The 3-point shot is available to him in transition because of how quickly and smoothly he can jump stop into it.

Defensively, Chalmers will get a ton of steals with his quickness and cunning.  He often pokes balls away from post players when helping.

He also gets a lot of on-ball picks against the dribbler in the open floor.

Chalmers also gets into the passing lanes incredibly well with his long arms and quick feet.

If he isn?t valuable enough on the defensive end of the ball, Chalmers also really enjoys scrapping for defensive rebounds.

There is a long list of teams that need point guards, and I have genuine respect for GM's that disregard how much 'value' they think their slot needs to yield and simply draft the best fit.  Even though Chalmers is unlikely to become an All-Star, he will vastly improve the team that selects him.

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Christopher Reina is the executive editor of RealGM.  He can be reached at [email protected] where he may use your draft questions in a future mailbag edition