This was another expected announcement — Baylor’s Perry Jones III is headed to the NBA, according to CollegeBasketballTalk (via CBSSport.com’s Jeff Goodman).
But this is the kind of player that scares NBA general managers because he feels boom or bust. ESPN’s Chad Ford put it well once: “A” game and a “C” motor. That said he had to enter the draft because Jones is a lottery pick — DraftExpress has him going No. 9 overall — and he could make some GM look brilliant. Or get him fired.
When he is focused the 6-11, 235-pound forward is as good as anybody in this draft. He is long, athletic and can rebound and defend. But, really where he shines is his handles and perimeter game — he’s a four that could play the three.
Jones is a guy that can dazzle you one game then disappear into the background the next. In back-to-back games against quality opponents Memphis and Kansas in February he was a combined 3-20 shooting and had no real impacts on the game.
Interviews and individual workouts will matter here. The concern for NBA GMs is simply this: If this guy can coast and seem content in college, what happens when he gets millions in a rookie contract?
But he is in, and somebody is going to take a chance on him in the lottery.
