2016 NBA Draft: Could Damian Jones be a steal?
Damian Jones is projected as a late-first round 2016 NBA Draft pick. Could he carve out an NBA career as a starting center?
This year’s NBA Draft is littered with big men. Ben Simmons, Brandon Ingram, and Marquese Chriss figure to be the first ones off the board, then guys like Dragan Bender, Jakob Poeltl, Deyonta Davis, and Domantas Sabonis figure to be selected.
Related Story: Will Tyler Ulis fit at the next level?
Those prospects are all lottery picks, and all figure to have tons of potential to do some big things in the NBA some day.
However, at the back-end of the first round, and even into the second-round, there are a ton of big men with similar potential.
Vanderbilt center Damian Jones is one of those guys.
In his junior season with the Commodores, Jones averaged 14 points, seven rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game. Those are not necessarily eye-popping numbers, but solid nonetheless.
Jones has all of the physical tools that NBA teams look for in centers. He stands at seven feet tall, weighs 244 pounds, and possesses a wingspan of almost 7’4″.
Also, for a seven-footer, he’s very athletic.
Unfortunately, when it comes down to his basketball skill-level, Jones is lacking, hence him being projected as just the 29th overall pick by DraftExpress.
Apart from posting his defender on the block, where he shot 56 percent this year (and 75 percent at the rim overall, according to hoop-math.com), Jones doesn’t bring much to the table offensively.
More from NBA Draft News
- NBA Draft 2023: Overall takeaways and key grades from draft results
- 10 players most likely to succeed from 2023 NBA Draft
- NBA Draft 2023: 5 underrated NCAA Basketball players to watch
- NCAA Basketball: Top 50 players from 2023 NBA Draft most likely to succeed
- NCAA Basketball: Analyzing the key 6 teams for 5-star forward Jarin Stevenson
He was extremely inefficient away from the rim, as he made just 26 percent of his jump shots on the season. And his consistently poor free throw percentage means that percentage is probably no fluke. There isn’t much he can do unless he catches the ball in, or very near the painted area.
Defensively is where Jones should make his money, but despite his impressive size and physical gifts, he wasn’t that great of a shot-blocker at the college level. His block rate went from 7.5 percent during his sophomore year to just 5.9 percent during his junior season.
Again, that’s not a bad number at all. It just seems that a seven-footer should have a bit more of an impact on that aspect of the game. Plenty of similarly-sized big men entering the draft posted much better block rates, such as Davis (10.2 percent) and A.J. Hammons (10.4 percent).
DraftExpress’ scouting report on Jones says that he “has some impressive flashes rejecting would-be scorers, but doesn’t have great instincts contesting shots on the ball and isn’t always as physically aggressive as you’d like a player his size to be around the rim.”
They also note his poor defensive rebounding, as he ranked just fourth-to-last among centers in the draft in defensive rebounding.
What the scouting report did compliment, though, was his ability to step away from the rim and defend the perimeter for spurts.
We can easily see that in action here as he stays in front of Jamal Murray, one of the best guards available in the draft.
His defensive awareness isn’t that great, but that’s something that can be taught at the next level.
You can’t teach someone to be seven-feet tall, and have a 7’4″ wingspan. Or to lock-down Jamal Murray like he did.
The Ringer had an article on big men in the NBA Draft that I thought was relevant to Jones’ NBA stock. They pointed out that the NBA Draft Lottery always seems to be filled with big men who end up busting and not carving out much an NBA career, like Ekpe Udoh.
And many of the late-draft steals seem to be tall, mobile players, like Draymond Green, or Festus Ezeli.
Ultimately, the article concluded that so much of a big man’s production in college has to do with the system he’s playing in, arguing that if Jahlil Okafor and Myles Turner would have switched college teams, they would have subsequently switched draft positions as well.
So college situations have a lot to do with where a guy is drafted.
Next: NBA Draft's top five centers
So maybe Jones can be one of those late-first, early-second round draft steals, like his fellow Vanderbilt Commodore Ezeli was. He certainly has the body and ability to play in the NBA immediately.