There’s a difference between the “one-and-done” players at Kentucky compared to those at Duke. And NBA scouts have noticed.
Jason King with Bleacher Report spoke with 4 anonymous NBA Scouts, collecting the scouts’ evaluations for potential members of the forthcoming NBA Draft class. Each evaluation is perhaps a collection of thoughts from one or more scouts. When commenting on Duke’s Jahlil Okafor, the scout(s) emphasized the lack of his defensive development at the college level and how that is part of the plan at Duke:
The reverse side is that, defensively, he’s got a lot of work to do. Duke doesn’t really force its one-and-dones to play tough defense. At Kentucky, they start with defense first and let their natural offensive ability carry them. Duke is just the opposite. Their defensive foundation has always relied on juniors and seniors to lead the charge. But they’re not asking these freshmen to do much of anything defensively, which kind of bites them in the butt. So I’m not sure Okafor has ever really been taught how to play defense. He’s not a rim protector. They just hope he stays in there and clogs the middle a little bit. He’ll improve as he gets in better condition. That’s where he’s taking his breaks, on the defensive end.
Despite the knocks on Okafor’s defense, the evaluation sticks with the prediction that Jahlil is the default #1 pick.
The article also shares evaluations for Kentucky’s potential Draft Night participants. The scouts interviewed aren’t so sure if they’re seeing the real Willie Cauley-Stein:
It’s like an NBA guy playing in a contract year. Is this a one-year burst? Is this the real Cauley-Stein? Or is this a guy turning it on when he has to? That’s what we, as scouts, have to decide. Shoot, maybe he’s trying to decide who he really is, too. If you’re going to pick him for what he’s done this year, he’s a top seven guy, for sure. But I don’t think we’re going to get the truth on Cauley-Stein until next year.
These anonymous scouts were very high on Devin Booker & Trey Lyles, were not so high about the Harrison twins, requested patience for Karl-Anthony Towns and considered Dakari Johnson “solid” but not selected in the first round. Check out the article for more details and then tell us that every Kentucky player should be drafted sequentially starting with the first pick because Kentucky.
(Tip of the hat to my buddy Haggai for the BR link.)
Edit: LOL I PUT “TRAY LYLES” ON THE COMPUTER DURRR
