Vecenie on Jackson, interesting take.
"I love Jackson. He was one of my two favorite players in college basketball last season because it’s clear he thinks the game at an exceptional level. His ability to play at high speed and process everything that’s happening around him is not normal. His reactivity and quick decision-making are superb. His movement without the ball is terrific. He’s an elite athlete with terrific, functional traits that will impact the game at an extremely high level because he also plays with a never-ending motor. He’ll defend across the positional spectrum and will provide terrific team defense. But in today’s NBA, you must be able to do something on offense to score. Otherwise, teams will leave you alone, and there will be poor impacts on your team. And yet, Connecticut still scored 124.3 points per 100 possessions when Jackson was on the court versus 114.3 when he was off it, per Pivot Analysis, because of the way he’s able to move without the ball, push tempo and make plays for his teammates. So, where does that leave us? At the end of the day, I’m just willing to bet on Jackson"
Julian Phillips:
Phillips is such an interesting bet because the defense is terrific already, and at lower levels, the offense has shown the exact skill set that he needs to be successful. Phillips clearly has real touch. He made about 37 percent from 3 in 2021-22, combining his AAU and high school stats. And yet, his offensive performance at Tennessee was so disastrous that it’s hard to buy him as a real shooter. And this wasn’t really a situation where you can blame an archaic collegiate offense. Phillips simply missed a lot of open looks and missed them badly in many cases. It comes down to believing that you can fix the shot and put some strength on Phillips’ frame. If you believe in your ability to do that as an organization, then you take him either late in the first round or early in the second. If you don’t, then you have him probably in the two-way bucket as an intriguing high-upside defensive flier. The range of outcomes both in Phillips’ career and on draft night will be wide.
Rayan Rupert
"Rupert’s length gives him an awful lot to be excited about as a long-term investment. He has a terrific frame and tremendous upside on defense due to his physical tools and lateral quickness. He’s a former point guard who is at least comfortable handling the ball and making plays, which should allow him to continue to build on those skills to the level he needs them in the NBA. He is your patented 3-and-D type prospect if the shooting comes through. But his season as shooter was not good enough to instill a whole lot of confidence on that piece of his game coming through. It’d be ambitious to expect him to turn into a 15-point-pergame scorer or to provide much offensive value in the first three years of his career. But he’s likely going to be a very difficult problem for offenses when he’s defending due to his rotational instincts, motor and on-ball potential. If all his skills hit, you can squint and see a starter down the road. But that requires you to really have a plan for how to work through his issues with his shooting base. If you’re going to make a developmental bet as an NBA team, I get buying into Rupert."
This is just the short list of guys with NBA athleticism and undeveloped offensive games. Which one will actually pop and we'll go doh, should've drafted that one?
