Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, 6’7” forward, Arizona: “He’s the best defender in the draft, but he’s going to have to be Bruce Bowen because his shooting is completely broken. It needs surgery, not just a tweak. Look what happened to Tony Allen, and Rondae is 10 times worse than Tony Allen as a shooter. Highest motor in the draft. He can’t shoot, but to his credit he doesn’t take shots that hurt you.”
Dakari Johnson, 7-foot center, Kentucky: “He’s not a sexy athlete at all. He’ll be a backup big in the NBA for a long time. In the second round, he’s a no-brainer. He’s not the quickest twitch guy in the world, but his energy is high and he’ll go rebound the ball. He needs to work on his body and agility, but from what I’m hearing he just doesn’t have the work ethic to make that happen.”
Stanley Johnson, 6’7” forward, Arizona: “He has the tools to defend at an elite level. Offensively you saw some improvement. His work ethic and competitiveness lead me to believe he will develop a jumper eventually. The downside is there’s no upward mobility physically. He is who he is. As you move up a level, you can’t punk guys like you did in high school. He’s going to see Wesley Matthews, who is built like he is. He’s got a body like Ron Artest. He had a lot of shots blocked because he has stubby arms.”
Kevon Looney, 6’9” forward, UCLA: “I’m not sold at all. I think his rebounding was overstated. He doesn’t have the physical tools to get rebounds out of his area. He’s not an elite shooter. So I don’t know what he does that will get people excited. I don’t care if he can dribble through cones. I don’t know if he can transition to the three. His greatest asset is his length. He has a 9’2” standing reach. I think he could evolve into a decent shooter.”
Trey Lyles, 6’10” forward, Kentucky: “That’s a high-level talent right there. When they were running those platoons, he was the one getting screwed. He’s a good all-around player, although I thought he was average defensively. Very coachable, good character, defends fairly well. He’s not great at anything, but he has good size.”
Jarell Martin, 6’9” forward, LSU: “He needs to get in shape. You’re auditioning for the NBA. Give up the donuts and pizza for a few weeks. I mean, trick us. Decent athlete, decent rebounder, decent offensive player, but there’s nothing that grabs me to think that guy’s a star. He has to fix his outside shooting. I can see him developing because he’s a young kid, but he doesn’t have anything to hang his hat on.”
Emmanuel Mudiay, 6’5” guard, China: “He’ll be at the Brandon Jennings-O.J. Mayo level. From what I saw of him at the Hoop Summit, I wasn’t blown away. I’m not convinced he’s an elite passer. Everyone talks about how athletic he is, but he’s not going to be like Russell Westbrook or John Wall. I was in China recently, and they all said he was a great teammate, good guy, responsible guy, not an idiot in any way. Just a big, strong point guard. Shooting is his biggest weakness, but I think he made progress on that over in China.”
