Post by elp525 on Apr 26, 2011 7:22:51 GMT -5
04/25/2011
Chip Fontanazza
Morgantown
The announcement came as a bit of shock to Mountaineer fans that junior forward Kevin Jones submitted his named into the NBA Draft. He didn’t quite have the dominating season that a pre-season All-Big East player is expected to have, averaging 13.1 points and 7.5 rebounds per game this past season.
President of DraftExpress.com, Jonathan Givony, is an NBA draft expert who travels all over the world to watch potential NBA prospects. Givony says it’s a good idea for Jones to test the NBA waters, but it may not be the best choice for him to enter the draft this year.
“I think people were a little bit higher on him last year than they were [this year],” explained Givony. “It doesn’t seem like he’s made a big jump. Usually you see guys go from their sophomore to their junior years and make a big jump, especially when the other players graduate and I think the opposite happened.
“It really surprised some people that he entered,” continued Givony. “He is a junior and he has one opportunity to test his draft stock and it’s like why not? He has nothing to lose.”
Jones had trouble dealing with all of the pressure that comes with being “the man” on the basketball team this past season. With Da’Sean Butler and Devin Ebanks gone, Jones was expected to pick up some of that production, but he struggled for the majority of the season being the player teams game plan around. Givony says that’s another reason why scouts and teams aren’t too high on Jones heading into this year’s draft.
Givony also says many teams are aware of Jones and the type of player he is. Surprisingly, the one thing that may not play to his advantage when he eventually enters the draft is his height.
“He is a guy that’s a prospect, but he’s a little stuck between positions,” explained Givony. “He’s probably more of a four, but he’s really a little undersized (6-foot-8) for a four and he’s not particularly strong or athletic to make up for that.”
These are things that Jones will find out when he enters the NBA Draft and goes through the workouts. Each player can enter and withdraw their name from the NBA Draft once. Jones isn’t even ranked in the Draft Express Top 100 prospects and Givony feels the feedback Jones receives from submitting his name may benefit both Jones and the Mountaineers.
“There are a lot of players that have done that, come back and have had great seasons after that,” said Givony. “I don’t see it as a negative as long as he gets the correct information and he is fully aware of where he stands.
“If you go about it the right way and go out and do some workouts and get some feedback from scouts on what they like, and what they don’t like, and what they want to see you improve on – it can help a lot of guys,” continued Givony.
Overall, Givony feels Jones is a solid player and has NBA potential, but leaving college for the NBA Draft is not the best option, for now.
“I think he’s a good player, but right now I’d say he’s a borderline guy,” explained Givony. “He does have some very good qualities: he’s a teammate, he really plays hard, he’s won a lot of games with not a lot of talent around him. That says something.”
Chip Fontanazza
Morgantown
The announcement came as a bit of shock to Mountaineer fans that junior forward Kevin Jones submitted his named into the NBA Draft. He didn’t quite have the dominating season that a pre-season All-Big East player is expected to have, averaging 13.1 points and 7.5 rebounds per game this past season.
President of DraftExpress.com, Jonathan Givony, is an NBA draft expert who travels all over the world to watch potential NBA prospects. Givony says it’s a good idea for Jones to test the NBA waters, but it may not be the best choice for him to enter the draft this year.
“I think people were a little bit higher on him last year than they were [this year],” explained Givony. “It doesn’t seem like he’s made a big jump. Usually you see guys go from their sophomore to their junior years and make a big jump, especially when the other players graduate and I think the opposite happened.
“It really surprised some people that he entered,” continued Givony. “He is a junior and he has one opportunity to test his draft stock and it’s like why not? He has nothing to lose.”
Jones had trouble dealing with all of the pressure that comes with being “the man” on the basketball team this past season. With Da’Sean Butler and Devin Ebanks gone, Jones was expected to pick up some of that production, but he struggled for the majority of the season being the player teams game plan around. Givony says that’s another reason why scouts and teams aren’t too high on Jones heading into this year’s draft.
Givony also says many teams are aware of Jones and the type of player he is. Surprisingly, the one thing that may not play to his advantage when he eventually enters the draft is his height.
“He is a guy that’s a prospect, but he’s a little stuck between positions,” explained Givony. “He’s probably more of a four, but he’s really a little undersized (6-foot-8) for a four and he’s not particularly strong or athletic to make up for that.”
These are things that Jones will find out when he enters the NBA Draft and goes through the workouts. Each player can enter and withdraw their name from the NBA Draft once. Jones isn’t even ranked in the Draft Express Top 100 prospects and Givony feels the feedback Jones receives from submitting his name may benefit both Jones and the Mountaineers.
“There are a lot of players that have done that, come back and have had great seasons after that,” said Givony. “I don’t see it as a negative as long as he gets the correct information and he is fully aware of where he stands.
“If you go about it the right way and go out and do some workouts and get some feedback from scouts on what they like, and what they don’t like, and what they want to see you improve on – it can help a lot of guys,” continued Givony.
Overall, Givony feels Jones is a solid player and has NBA potential, but leaving college for the NBA Draft is not the best option, for now.
“I think he’s a good player, but right now I’d say he’s a borderline guy,” explained Givony. “He does have some very good qualities: he’s a teammate, he really plays hard, he’s won a lot of games with not a lot of talent around him. That says something.”
