De’Andre Hunter and Ty Jerome just led Virginia to a national championship.
Now, they’re trying to parlay that title into success at the next level.
Hunter and Jerome declared for the 2019 NBA drat with the intent to stay in it, Virginia announced.
Hunter will probably be a top-10, maybe even top-five, pick.
At 6-foot-8 with a 7-foot-2 wingspan and a strong base and impressive lateral mobility, the forward has excellent defensive versatility. He’s steady on and off the ball. I question whether he’ll lock up the better athletes he’ll more regularly face in the NBA, but his defensive floor is quite high.
He’s also a good 3-point shooter, though his slow release limits the number of attempts he can get up. Otherwise, Hunter lacks the explosiveness and ball-handling to become a traditional star.
Maybe he’ll be an excellent 3-and-D role player. In this weak-looking draft, that possibility is enough to make him coveted.
Jerome also lacks the burst to possess high upside, but that’s more understandable late in the first round, where he’s projected. The 6-foot-5 guard is a good outside shooter with a knack for getting open. He has plenty of distributing ability for a secondary playmaker but isn’t enough of a threat to create for himself to run an offense through him.
He’s limited defensively, but he has a decent knack for when to gamble when there’s good help – like Hunter – behind him.