The Jett Howard Thread

[Knightro]

No guarantee it would have played out like this, but considering Toronto and New Orleans both took shooters, had the Magic picked Dick or Hawkins at 11 it stands to reason that Howard would’ve gone 13 or 14 anyway.

[eyriq]

I generally don’t agree with the concept of a player being a reach anyway because it’s not typically possible to move down and pick a player where he’s “supposed” to go.

If you are picking 11th and you really like a player, does it matter if he’s “supposed” to go 18th? You’re not picking 18th.

And the concept of reaches and value picks also incorrectly assumes that every single team has the exact same ranking on every single player which we obviously know isn’t the case either.

Adding to this, many had a 4th tier that ran from pick 10 through the early second round. So I'm not sure spots were that valuable given the depth of this draft.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Hollinger worked for the Grizzlies and he thinks it was a reach. Congrats

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Wow a former NBA front office guy with an opinion. Still doesn’t change the fact that our FO (you know guys actually paid by the NBA - who are also proven excellent NBA drafters) prefer and selected Jett. Maybe Toronto or OKC loved him and were about to take him. Jett said those were his best workouts.

Point is there is a ton of NBA only dialogue going on between these teams and they have a MUCH better feel for when a player will likely go. So a fan coming in and saying “no one on earth had him in lottery” is on its face a ridiculous argument because you only got to see the irrelevant draft dialogue.

Hopefully, it works out. As of right now, I don't see him as any better than Houstan, and he's still younger than Jett.

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Caleb is 8 months older.

[eyriq]

No guarantee it would have played out like this, but considering Toronto and New Orleans both took shooters, had the Magic picked Dick or Hawkins at 11 it stands to reason that Howard would’ve gone 13 or 14 anyway.

It's a failure of imagination that Jett wasn't included in the "shooters" cluster of Gradey and Hawkins more generally.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

I’ve been doing my customary YouTube roundup (his interviews, day in the life) with Jett. And I am warming up to his personality.

[Petre1978]

This is why fans are annoying. You have no idea how NBA teams felt about him. You know how people who don’t get paid by the NBA did. Congrats.

Hollinger worked for the Grizzlies and he thinks it was a reach. Congrats

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Wow a former NBA front office guy with an opinion. Still doesn’t change the fact that our FO (you know guys actually paid by the NBA - who are also proven excellent NBA drafters) prefer and selected Jett. Maybe Toronto or OKC loved him and were about to take him. Jett said those were his best workouts.

Point is there is a ton of NBA only dialogue going on between these teams and they have a MUCH better feel for when a player will likely go. So a fan coming in and saying “no one on earth had him in lottery” is on its face a ridiculous argument because you only got to see the irrelevant draft dialogue.

I agree.

[basketballRob]

Wow a former NBA front office guy with an opinion. Still doesn’t change the fact that our FO (you know guys actually paid by the NBA - who are also proven excellent NBA drafters) prefer and selected Jett. Maybe Toronto or OKC loved him and were about to take him. Jett said those were his best workouts.

Point is there is a ton of NBA only dialogue going on between these teams and they have a MUCH better feel for when a player will likely go. So a fan coming in and saying “no one on earth had him in lottery” is on its face a ridiculous argument because you only got to see the irrelevant draft dialogue.

Hopefully, it works out. As of right now, I don't see him as any better than Houstan, and he's still younger than Jett.

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Caleb is 8 months older.

I looked at his age wrong. Jett, at one year younger, is way more interesting

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[[whistler]]

Caleb Houstan: 20Y 166D
Jett Howard: 19Y 283D

Source: Basketball Reference

[fendilim]

https://www.noceilingsnba.com/p/dont-cool-on-jett-the-prospect-overview

Good writeup

[basketballRob]

The talk about Howard around 8:40.

Watch on YouTube

[yoyojw17]

https://www.noceilingsnba.com/p/dont-cool-on-jett-the-prospect-overview

So, what happened? Did Jett suddenly become bad at basketball? Was he a non-con, stat-padding FRAUD who couldn’t get it done in the Big Ten? Not really—he just got hurt. On January 22nd, he left a game early against Minnesota with an ankle injury. He kept playing through it. Then, on February 18th, he injured his other ankle against Michigan State. Howard still played three more games after that. He finally took a rest, sitting out NIT play after the full extent of his injuries were outlined. In fact, his injuries went even deeper than the two ankle injuries! In Andrew Graham’s article about Jett sitting out NIT play, he provides this quote from Juwan Howard, Jett’s Head Coach at Michigan and his father

The numbers for Jett Howard, in terms of his ability to make threes at high volume, knock down long twos, and convert at the charity stripe as a freshman all seemed pretty remarkable. As such, I ran a BartTorvik query. The only high-major freshmen in the last ten years to make over 36% of their threes on 200 attempts, make over 40% of their long twos, and shoot 80% or better at the free throw line are Trae Young, Malik Monk, and Jett Howard.

Even if you lower the three-point volume threshold, few players that have Jett Howard’s size come up. It’s mostly smaller guards that display this level of touch. Reducing the number of three-point attempts to 150, and the only players over 6’5” that come up are Lauri Markkanen and Alex Karaban, who was an older redshirt freshman that will still likely play in the NBA at some point. Players Jett Howard’s size and touch are a rare commodity

Players with Jett Howard’s size and shooting skill don’t come around too often. His propensity to hit tough threes off movement at his size, paired with his playmaking prowess and feel, make him an intriguing floor spacer and secondary/tertiary creator at the NBA level. While he may never be a defensive playmaker, his length will do him favors, and he should look more competitive on that end as he ages and fills out his body. Ultimately, I see him as a 2/3 wing with plus length who shoots at a high level, makes plays when called upon, and holds his own on defense. I have a lottery grade on Jett Howard and think taking him as early as 8 or 9 could be reasonable in the right context. Movement shooters with size who can move the ball selflessly always have a place and tend to be valuable in a playoff setting. Given his context, there may be an athletic leap within Howard. Even if there isn’t, he’s still going to bring a valuable set of skills and tools to the table

[yoyojw17]

https://www.noceilingsnba.com/p/dont-cool-on-jett-the-prospect-overview

Good writeup

haha... just saw this after i posted it. good article!

[drsd]

Was pretty surprised by the pick as he wasn't on my radar.
Will watch Summer league with an open mind for him and Black, but hopefully this will be my last year having to watch the Summer league with Orlando having 2 less important picks in the late 20's next year.

I too am super excited to see how a 100% Howard plays against non-drafted NCAA guys. He would be expected to dominate on offense. If he does, that will be very encouraging!

..

[G-Heel]

If he was injured and was limited, then I'm really looking forward to summer league just to see what he's capable of. I've been critical of the pick but I'm praying to be wrong.

[drsd]

I like Howard's release point. He always has his eyes on the basket.

He gets the ball off very fast and well.

[KillMonger]

Was pretty surprised by the pick as he wasn't on my radar.
Will watch Summer league with an open mind for him and Black, but hopefully this will be my last year having to watch the Summer league with Orlando having 2 less important picks in the late 20's next year.

I too am super excited to see how a 100% Howard plays against non-drafted NCAA guys. He would be expected to dominate on offense. If he does, that will be very encouraging!

..

I mean should you expect that? Because remember Franz summer league performance was pretty bad against non drafted ncaa talent

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[yoyojw17]

Watch on YouTube

His best workouts were in Toronto and OKC.

[KillMonger]

It's funny how goalposts are moved when things don't tend to go how people want it to go...... "we need a shooter I don't care about anything else" We get a shooter but all of a sudden now it's....."oh but what about his defense?" I thought you didn't care about anything else? Now you care because it's not the prospect YOU wanted... That's the thing about being man fans, you get so focused one one person you forget that there are others that can do the job.... It was kinda like the whole Jabari thing, all the mocks and analysts had people brainwashed and indoctrinated that it was clearly Jabari.

Quite a few mocks if not most had gradey at 11 so everyone just accepted it. When in reality you could argue that gradey/hawkins/jett are in the same prospect tier

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[cedric76]

Funny because 4 months ago Jett was ranked higher than dick, you guys r sheeps, trained to follow medias

[drsd]

I am baffled by the "we could have gotten value if the Magic traded down and selected Howard". That is a risk. If he is your guy, just draft him.