Generally speaking, Muhammad is not the most intense player you'll find defensively. His energy level is highly dependent on how he's faring on the other end of the court. When he misses a shot or doesn't touch the ball on a given possession he can be slow to get back on defense, and his lateral quickness appears to be just average on top of that. When Muhammad is dialed in, he can be extremely effective, though, as his combination of length, strength and aggressiveness allow him to make some very impressive plays contesting shots on the perimeter or challenging opponents inside the paint. If he can find a way to stay aggressive on every possession, there's no reason why he can't become at least a solid defender in the NBA.
Like other former UCLA players, such as Arron Afflalo, Malcolm Lee or Tyler Honeycutt, Muhammad does not get in the passing lanes very often, averaging under one steal per-40 minutes. As analysts such as ESPN's Kevin Pelton have pointed out, it's rare to find too many successful wing players who have been successful in the NBA without generating many steals in college, as that appears to be a major indicator of athleticism. Players who fit that profile as freshmen or sophomores include the likes of Harrison Barnes, Damion James, Luke Babbitt, Kirk Snyder, Wilson Chandler, Nick Young and Joe Alexander – which is not the most impressive list you'll find.
Perhaps more alarming is how few assists Muhammad generated this season, just 27 in nearly 1000 minutes of action. He ranks 78th among the 81 college players in our Top-100 rankings in assists per-40, and 79th in assists per possession. The only non-big men first round picks we found in the past 10 years who averaged fewer assists per possession as a freshman or sophomore are Michael Beasley, Morris Almond, Lazar Hayward, Al Thornton, and that's it. Beasley, Hayward and Thornton played mostly at power forward before being converted to the wing in the NBA. Is Muhammad a selfish player as his poor body language occasionally suggests, or was his role as a finisher in Ben Howland's offensive simply not conducive to generating assists?
