DeAndre Jordan

[SacKings7]

Found a nice article on RealGM about Jordan

DeAndre Jordan has the kind of size, athleticism and skill set to make just about any GM become enamored with his potential, but like so many similar big men who have come before him, his drive to become great is in serious question. His physical skills are great and it is evident how he can be molded into a top-five center, but I’m not sure if he has the necessary instincts to become a great NBA player.

He fumbles or outright drops too many passes; unmistakably his hands are average. Jordan also frequently has to take an unneeded gather dribble before he finishes. But once he does have the ball firmly in his hands, he is a great finisher, rising quickly with his strong vertical and long arms, attacking the rim.

Though he will never have great hands, they should naturally improve from their current state with more strength and confidence as they did throughout his freshman season. He was able to handle the bad passes with better efficiency in late February and March, an indicator of transparent development.

Jordan’s technique sealing defenders before getting the ball is advanced considering his age, making great use of his massive wingspan. He is already a sophisticated player in the post and there is a lot of promise remaining in the tank.

He has a nice up and under move that he likes to use and impressively invites and takes pleasure in contact, but he sometimes will commit an unexpected travel or take an awkward baby hook shot if he begins to feel overwhelmed by a good defender. Jordan also occasionally leaves the ball in a position that makes his shot susceptible to being blocked by inferior talent.

He is a horrible free throw shooter, but his form is far from awful and he should develop a nice 15-footer and be all-around effective in the mid-post and high-post. Jordan’s touch with his jumper and all around the hoop with both hands is very nice.

He flashes to the ball from the low-post with purpose and he immediately gets the ball high to look for an open teammate. He has a great eye for finding an open cutter and when he finds a perimeter player, he cuts hard to the bucket looking for a return pass. Jordan commonly will make high caliber passes that make you forget he is a 7-foot teenager.

It is for this reason he passes the important test I place on big men when I try to visualize how good of a player they would be if they were four inches shorter.

For much of the early part of the season, Jordan was primarily a screener in Texas A&M’s halfcourt offense. He sometimes doesn’t get enough body on defenders when setting a pick reducing the effectiveness.

Jordan will immediately be an elite center in terms of running the floor in transition. He seems to enjoy this aspect of basketball the most, likely from his high school days at Christian Life Center; he has good instincts on how to be the trailer and is even quick enough to lead the fastbreak and make a solid catch and finish with either hand in one fluid motion.

He is inconsistent on how quickly he finds a guard for an outlet pass on defensive rebounds, not seeming to read the floor in these situations quickly enough, which I think is more a matter of self-trust than anything else because he reads the floor without delay in the halfcourt.

He is in fact more raw defensively than he is on the offensive end of the floor. Jordan also doesn’t have as strong of a motor on the defensive end, but he should at least become a quality shotblocker/shot affecter at least by default and even more so because he’s left-handed. I saw him make some outstanding on-ball blocks, but I’d like to see him become more of an intimidating help presence; he clearly has the necessary physical tools, it will be merely a manner of effort and proper timing.

Jordan already does a nice job of fronting the post, as well as finding the proper positioning when playing fundamental help defense, but is incredibly foul prone and it will be a problem that will worsen in the NBA and plague much of his career.

Blake Griffin and Demar DeRozan not withstanding, Jordan would probably have been the number one overall pick in 2009 had he returned to College Station for his sophomore season. I don’t believe we will see as big of a progression between the DeAndre Jordan we see on day one in the Vegas Summer League and the five-year veteran DeAndre Jordan. Even though he isn’t the sure thing of a Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley or even, at his position, Brook Lopez, the odds of Jordan being a solid NBA center are not too long and he has good of a shot as anyone to eventually be considered that ‘third player’ from this draft.

http://www.realgm.com/src_fromtherafters/166/20080530/draft_report_deandre_jordan_of_texas_a&m/

Also, a decent video of his rookie season at Texas A&M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN2RoJD3dx8&feature=related

 

[Vlade4GM]

No thanks, Kwame Brown will already be available this summer.

 

[bajaden]

I would love to see him take a hand eye cordination test. When I watched him play, god forgive me, but at times I was reminded of Duane Causwell. I really don't want to put that label on him because I think he will be better than that. However he does some of the same things Causwell used to do. Causwell had terrible hand eye cordination along with, being probably, not too bright. A bad combination.

I think Jordan would be a risky pick. Probably the one you'll be kicking yourself four years later for not making.

 

[Arby's Roast Beef]

DeVon Hardin is the next Kwame Brown, unfortunately. I think there was a scout that aptly described him as "Billion dollar body, 1 cent head." He's got a lot of flaws relating to hands, focus, perimeter game, being foul prone on defense, etc. I remember when scouts were all the rage over his body saying that he had the body of a Dwight Howard in his freshman year at Berkeley, and now, well...it's obvious he couldn't capitalize on his vast potential, and has solidified himself into a 2nd round pick. Without that body...he would clearly be undrafted, so it's really his frame that's keeping his stock alive. He seems like a smart person off the court and in academics, but if his game can't match his abilities there, I think he'll quickly wear out his welcome in the NBA. Of course, someone will take a flyer on him just off his body, and I wouldn't mind him at our #42nd or #43rd slots, as he's not much of a risk pick there anymore.

Another thing...last year the Pistons made a promise to draft DeVon Hardin in the 1st round, but it seems like Hardin made the unfortunate mistake of returning back to school. Now the Pistons have made their promise on a nitty-gritty Jason Maxiell type in DJ White, but I think their rescinding of their promise to DeVon Hardin speaks volumes.

 

[Arby's Roast Beef]

Actually, Jordan is a notch up Hardin. He can either go in Hardin's and Kwame Brown's direction, or he can take it up a notch and become the next Dwight Howard. He's still young, very green, raw and unexposed (didn't even play much in the tourney 15 mpg?), and only a freshman, and although there is a huge bust potential particularly considering his inability to gather minutes, his work ethic and his raw game, he does have that elite level body with wingspan, mobility and athleticism and that's ultimately making him a lottery pick. He actually would be best served to enter the draft now--scouts marvel at his body, his potential, and having Dwight Howard oozing out of their minds and many have made him a lottery pick almost by default because of that, regardless of his actual game. If he stays at college he may get further exposed and suffer Hardin's fate.

In terms of team needs, I wouldn't mind the guy because he's an absolute foil to our last draftee Spencer Hawes (athletic shotblocker as opposed to skilled offensive player) but I think we've got bigger priorities considering we do have a young big and quite frankly, a plethora of bigs including Brad Miller, Thomas, Moore, and Abdur-Rahim. Besides, he's got even bigger bust potential than my preference, Westbrook.

 

[Aenadin]

it would certainly complement hawe's low post skills and would fill the athlethic shot blocking and rebounding big that we so need.. we sure have a plethora of 4's but one of them is out of service atm (SAR), and has no part in our future but continues to ride the pine (KT) Moore i have no problem with he has shown his durability this season but his stats does not entirely live up to a starter..

my knock on Jordan is that he doesnt have much fundamentals.. horrendous shooting and FT% what ever we pick in the 12th i just hope it would help the team in some way

 

[bajaden]

A brief report from the pre-draft camp by draftexpress:

NBA Pre-Draft Camp, Day Fourby: Jonathan Givony - PresidentMay 31, 2008Fatigue began to set in for many of the prospects and scouts in attendance here in day four, causing much of the attention to turn to the 15 physical-only players, who were here to participate in the combine and conduct light drills and skills-based workouts that drew quite a crowd of high-level NBA executives.

Darrell Arthur, Joe Alexander, O.J. Mayo, Derrick Rose, Donte Greene, Anthony Randolph, JaVale McGee, D.J. Augustin, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Eric Gordon, and Brook Lopez, Jerryd Bayless, and DeAndre Jordan were the players the NBA types had an opportunity to drool over. This was an interesting setting, since the lottery candidates joined in on all six of the pre-draft camp teams here, giving us an unique comparison gauge to evaluate their physical tools and skill-sets alongside second round and mostly undrafted prospects. With a good number of NBA GMs on hand to take in the action, there were many interesting draft-related conversations going on at all times in the stands, some of which we got to take part in.

Opinions on how much we were able to learn from the workouts here were very mixed. Some were very happy to be able to see all these players in action in person and take a look at what type of shape they are in, while others called it “a complete waste of time” due to the absolute lack of competitive play. The drills consisted mostly of ball-handling skills for guards going through cones, post-ups for bigs, mid-range and long-range spot-up and pull-up jumpers, and some very basic transition play. The sample size of shots the players took was limited, so keep that in mind.

Pat Riley and Larry Brown (JG/DX)

Clearly the most impressive workout of any of the 15 players belonged to Derrick Rose. Not so much for what he showed, but mostly just for what he is. He got up and down the floor fluidly and smoothly, covering tons of ground with each and every stride, and looked excellent changing speeds and operating skillfully with both hands in the ball-handling drills. His athleticism is nothing short of stunning, starting with his phenomenal first step, his ability to change gears, and his incredible explosiveness finishing around the basket. He came out with a business-like approach, and left no doubt about just how unique his talent-level and physical tools are. A nice bonus was the way he shot the ball, hitting more than one NBA 3-pointer and looking solid from mid-range as well.

AP

Also catching our eye was Russell Westbrook, who came out very seriously and didn’t seem to be taking anything for granted. He was fantastic in the transition drills, flying up and down the court with his terrific athleticism, and also shot the ball fairly well after starting off slowly. His ball-handling skills are just OK at this point.

D.J. Augustin brought both a high skill level in the drills and excellent quickness, making him a pretty impressive workout player to take in in a setting like this. It really seems like his size is the only thing that can hold him back. He also had an unbelievably fast run in the ¾ court sprint.

Donte Greene looked big and very smooth, making an effort to dunk every ball he could as hard as possible, while also shooting the ball well from the perimeter. He still has work to do on toning up his body, though, and is clearly just an average ball-handler.

O.J. Mayo was very smooth and very confident in everything he did, barely missing in the perimeter shooting drills. He’s clearly not on the same level athletically as Derrick Rose or Russell Westbrook for example, but already has the looks of an NBA player with the way his body looks and how he conducts himself out on the floor.

Michael Beasley looked super fluid and athletic getting up and down the court, finishing with either hand and looking to be in pretty good shape. He attacked the drills with a lot of competitive fire, but most definitely was clowning around way too much throughout the day right underneath the noses of the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls. There were a few people that expressed concern with some of his antics over the past few days. He shot the ball just decently.

AP

Darrell Arthur looks like someone who is going to impress mightily in workouts based off what we saw here. He passes the eye test and then some on first glance, and then showed really nice athleticism to go along with a fairly high skill level in the drills, although oddly attempting to bank every 3-pointer he took. He struggled a little bit remembering what to do in some of the drills, though.

Jonathan Givony, DraftExpress

It was interesting to see DeAndre Jordan working out alongside DeVon Hardin, as the two look shockingly similar in terms of their physical tools and all-around skill-level, but are projected around 20 spots apart on most mock drafts. Considering that only two years separates them age-wise, you have to wonder whether Jordan would still be considered a better prospect than Hardin if we fast-forwarded things two years ahead, as there is really not that much separating them at this point. Jordan showed questionable ball-handling skills and shooting ability and didn’t seem to get out of the third gear for much of his workout, leaving a fairly lukewarm impression. Still, you can’t ignore the physical tools and upside he brings to the table.

 

[SacKings7]

^^I'm liking Westbrook more and more every day. The only bad news is that if he continues to do so good in these workouts, he'll be gone by #12. And despite what it says, I still like Jordan. I just don't see him contributing until another year or 2

 

[bajaden]

An ESPN article about Jordan.


• DeAndre Jordan, Texas A&M
I hate to use the word bust except on rare occasions, and I hope I don't have to use it here. This young man is 7-foot, and there is no question about his athleticism, length and potential. But at this point in his career, Jordan is not ready to step on an NBA floor.


Despite some incredibly tantalizing dunks this past season, Jordan showed a limited offensive game around the basket with no go-to moves. His ability to hold his ground in the post is poor, and he is a below-average passer out of the post. And, he shot 43.7 percent from the foul line this season.


Like most first-round prospects, he is working with an NBA trainer to shore up the holes in his low-post game, but the muscle memory needed to develop a touch around the basket typically takes about two years. Then, he needs the build the confidence to use the move in live action.


Defensively, he had a very limited presence, as well. He averaged 1.3 blocks in 20.1 minutes of action and had more than two blocks in only four games all season.

There was no question that a year ago, Jordan was a one-and-done guy. I have heard Jordan's name mentioned early in the draft, and that could be scary for a team picking that high. If he slides to the middle of the round, he becomes a good risk for a club with the patience to develop him.

 

[BMiller52]

He reminds me of Tyson Chandler but he has the potential to be much better or much worse. I think he goes between 10-15 with an outside shot of slipping a spot or two after that. Depends on how he does after the workouts.

 

[Jerichoholic]

That's just the thing, Jordan is not ready to play in the NBA, he is a good 2 to 3 years out, purely a long term investment. The team that drafts him will have to spend a lot of time and money preparing him with extra coaches and after hours practice...kind of like Coachie and Kevin Martin. Jordan must want to put the time in or he will never make it but if he does he could become the next Dwight Howard, huge risk here...although he will never make it to number 12 anyway so it won't be the Kings issue.

Another player that won't make it to 12 is Westbrook and it is too bad, this guy is going to be a stud. He will learn to play the point well, he has all the tools and just needs to improve his ball handling a little. 3 years from now he will be seen as one of the top 3 players from this draft.