A few concerns led to franchises overlooking the Duke basketball sensation.
While the NBA has certainly changed drastically over the past few years, so too has its draft. It is no longer about selecting the most accomplished college players and guys who can help NBA teams immediately, which clearly hurt the stock of former Duke basketball star Tre Jones, who had to wait until the San Antonio Spurs picked him at No. 41 overall on Wednesday night.
ALSO READ: Spurs land the draft’s biggest steal in Tre Jones
Now, the NBA Draft has become all about upside and potential. General managers and various front-office executives are more concerned about what a player can do three or four years from now than what a player is able to do right away.
If it was mainly about selecting the best college players, Obi Toppin would have been the No. 1 pick (instead, the 22-year-old went No. 8 overall to the New York Knicks, and Georgia one-and-done Anthony Edwards went No. 1). Former Blue Devil standouts like Jones and Vernon Carey Jr., who landed with the Charlotte Hornets at No. 32 overall, would have been selected shortly after.
But that is not how it is anymore. Guys can go to college for a year, play on terrible teams, put up misleading numbers, and still be at the top of the draft. Some players can skip college altogether.
So how does Jones, the reigning ACC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, slip into the second round? Let’s look at four explanations…