UConn junior guard Andre Jackson has opted to enter his name in the 2023 NBA draft pool and will test the waters, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
[RELATED: 2023 NBA Draft Early Entrants List]
Jackson, who started 31 of 36 games for the national champions in 2022/23, averaged just 6.7 points per game with a modest .432/.281/.646 shooting line. However, he chipped in 6.2 RPG, 4.7 APG, and 1.1 SPG while playing strong defense.
According to Wojnarowski, team executives believe Jackson’s play in the NCAA tournament boosted his stock and view him as a borderline first-round pick if he remains in the draft. The junior is currently the No. 30 overall prospect on ESPN’s big board for 2023.
In addition to Jackson, Purdue center Zach Edey also announced today that he’ll test the draft waters without forgoing his remaining college eligibility (Twitter link).
Unlike Jackson, who is considered a promising NBA prospect despite underwhelming scoring numbers at the college level, Edey was an NCAA star, earning National Player of the Year honors after averaging 22.3 points, 12.9 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks in 31.7 minutes per game across 34 starts as a junior for the Boilermakers.
However, there are questions about Edey’s NBA ceiling due to his lack of lack of agility and versatility on defense, Jonathan Givony of ESPN writes in his scouting report. The 7’4″ Edey still ranks 49th overall on ESPN’s board, but is referred to by Givony as a “Boban Marjanovic-style player” unless he can add some range to his jump shot.
Finally, Adam Flagler, who won a national championship with Baylor in 2021, is also declaring for the 2023 draft, per Givony (Twitter link). The redshirt senior guard only ranks 74th overall on ESPN’s board, but is coming off a strong 2022/23 season in which he posted 15.6 PPG and 4.6 APG while making 40.0% of his three-pointers.
Flagler has one year of NCAA eligibility remaining, but neither Givony’s report nor his own Instagram announcement indicates whether he plans to forgo that final year or keep the door open to return to school. When he withdrew from last year’s draft, his comments strongly hinted that he planned to go pro in 2023.
Its a crazy time when a 7’4 guy is deemed the best player in college basketball, but is only considered a borderline, fringe (if even that) NBA prospect.
It’s not like he was some fringe college basketball player that “happened” to be 7’4, so he might be intriguing to the NBA… he was voted by people deemed QUALIFIED to have a vote, that he was the best player in the country!
7’4!!!
He has no real skills and only played well because he was freakishly tall. This is Rudy Gobert on offense but without the defense. All he has going for him is height; there’s no skill that will translate to the NBA
Again…. so what does that say for our college basketball, that, with all you just said, he’s still voted by the “experts” as the consensus best player in college basketball?
You don’t win that award based on height or Tacko would have won it.
It’s a significantly larger pool of talent. Still incredible athletes and skills, but less of those untapped-potential 6’8 perimeter mismatches can consistently win the 1-on-1, or the guard play isn’t consistent enough to expose him in P&R.
From a strictly defensive perspective, Edey is like a taller Enes Kanter.
Yeah, but most of the players in college are small compared to the pros and they obviously have less skill, overall. He dominated his 6’8″ counterparts but struggled against more talented teams. His lack of foot speed was very evident towards the end of the season and he’s not good at anything defensively except rebounding. His rim protection is adequate, but if he gets beats by a fast guard, he’s toast.
Again, you make my point… all those negatives – yet he’s the college basketball Player-of-the-Year.
So, what does that say about college basketball today? Now you see why so many nba players can play forever as long as their bodies hold up.
These young guys coming into the league
can
not
play.