Risers
Posted: Wed Jul 7, 2021 12:28 am
James Bouknight
CBS Sports Big Board rank: No. 5
Being high on Jalen Green means, by default, I am high on James Bouknight. The two are similar in several ways with Bouknight's leaping ability jumping off the page similar toGreen's.
Bouknight's feel and finesse as a pure bucket-getter also helps separate him as one of the best scorers in this draft. The knock here with him is that his efficiency isn't quite up to snuff: he hit 29.3% from 3 last season, 44.7% from the field and has, for two seasons, had a higher turnover rate than assist rate.
How much of a creator will he be in the NBA? And if his best trait as a prospect is scoring, why are we buying someone who was so inefficient?
There's layers to that onion. Most importantly, we have to keep in mind that those numbers aren't totally representative of his impact on UConn overall. He had an in-season elbow injury that ultimately required surgery.
Then, when he came back, he really wasn't quite 100%. There's also the context to his own situation worth considering; he was UConn's leading scorer and the way in which he scored -- taking tough shots, serving as Chief of Late-Shot-Clock Bail Outs -- was a huge reason why, statistically, his shooting stats aren't quite what you'd want to see from a top-five prospect.
Taking all those factors into account, I think there is so much to like about his game, his skill and his long-term projection that I've moved him to No. 5 on my board.
He turned real heads at his recent pro day in Chicago, particularly with his shot-making. He'll be a sparkplug offensive weapon in the NBA and a really, really good one for a long time.
Joshua Primo
CBS Sports Big Board rank: No. 17
With Primo officially bypassing his remaining college eligibility -- which up until the Combine was not a certainty -- he now lands comfortably in our first-round projections.
The 6-foot-5 Alabama guard measured with a 6-foot-9 wingspan at the Combine and showed real pizazz at the event with the ball in his hands. He was creating for others and attacking off the bounce, which we rarely saw in his brief stint with the Tide.
There's a lot of untapped potential here that scouts were hoping to see and indeed did witness.
Whether you buy the upside or not the outside scoring package and youth (he's the youngest player in the draft) is reason to believe in him as a role-player ... and why I'm buying the long-term upside, even if we didn't see it much in college.
CBS Sports Big Board rank: No. 5
Being high on Jalen Green means, by default, I am high on James Bouknight. The two are similar in several ways with Bouknight's leaping ability jumping off the page similar toGreen's.
Bouknight's feel and finesse as a pure bucket-getter also helps separate him as one of the best scorers in this draft. The knock here with him is that his efficiency isn't quite up to snuff: he hit 29.3% from 3 last season, 44.7% from the field and has, for two seasons, had a higher turnover rate than assist rate.
How much of a creator will he be in the NBA? And if his best trait as a prospect is scoring, why are we buying someone who was so inefficient?
There's layers to that onion. Most importantly, we have to keep in mind that those numbers aren't totally representative of his impact on UConn overall. He had an in-season elbow injury that ultimately required surgery.
Then, when he came back, he really wasn't quite 100%. There's also the context to his own situation worth considering; he was UConn's leading scorer and the way in which he scored -- taking tough shots, serving as Chief of Late-Shot-Clock Bail Outs -- was a huge reason why, statistically, his shooting stats aren't quite what you'd want to see from a top-five prospect.
Taking all those factors into account, I think there is so much to like about his game, his skill and his long-term projection that I've moved him to No. 5 on my board.
He turned real heads at his recent pro day in Chicago, particularly with his shot-making. He'll be a sparkplug offensive weapon in the NBA and a really, really good one for a long time.
Joshua Primo
CBS Sports Big Board rank: No. 17
With Primo officially bypassing his remaining college eligibility -- which up until the Combine was not a certainty -- he now lands comfortably in our first-round projections.
The 6-foot-5 Alabama guard measured with a 6-foot-9 wingspan at the Combine and showed real pizazz at the event with the ball in his hands. He was creating for others and attacking off the bounce, which we rarely saw in his brief stint with the Tide.
There's a lot of untapped potential here that scouts were hoping to see and indeed did witness.
Whether you buy the upside or not the outside scoring package and youth (he's the youngest player in the draft) is reason to believe in him as a role-player ... and why I'm buying the long-term upside, even if we didn't see it much in college.
