Since we all seem to be singing our love of Jordan Hamilton, I thought I'd chime in.
I watched him a lot this year. I actually really enjoyed watching Texas play, and my primary focus was on Hamilton.
As mentioned, he's got a very quick release, but his shot is very flat. I'd like to see him get a bit more arch on his shot, but he is a good shooter.
Through-out the year I was sort of comparing him with Barnes, and for about 75% of the season I thought that Hamilton was the better player. Barnes was horrendous early, but came on strong towards the end, and ultimately proved to me that he was the better prospect.
To be honest, I have Hamilton as the 2nd tier of prospects in this draft, and towards the end of the season, when it became obvious that the Kings were going to be really bad and have a very high pick, I sort of put it into my mind that Hamilton wasn't a player we would end up with, as it would be too much of a reach.
Putting all that aside, Hamilton has the ability to become a very good player, and I could actually see him in a starting role on this team if we don't solidify the SF spot through free-agency.
He's more athletic than most of the players on our team and he's a fantastic rebounder. He doesn't look as if he'd be that good of a rebounder, but he just has a knack of finding his way into good rebounding position on both the offensive and defensive end.
He's very good at coming off of screens and quickly pulling up for the jumpshot. In fact one of his favorite moves is to use a down-screen, come up to the 3pt line at the top of the key, receive the hand-off, then turn and pull-up for the 3pt shot.
Texas did this multiple times each game, and though the shot is flat, Hamilton had very good success with it.
Hamilton also likes dribbling down to the baseline, then pulling up for the 12-15ft jumper, and he has good success with that.
While watching Hamilton, I was trying to picture him playing the SG spot, and the biggest issue was whether or not he'd be able to play defense there.
I think that I felt he could, provided he wasn't matched up against players like Monte Ellis or Eric Gordon.
From a defensive stand-point he can absolutely play the SF position.
I think his biggest weakness is his decision-making off the dribble. He has a decent handle, but got himself into trouble dribbling into too much traffic, rather than pulling up for the jumpshot. He also had problems passing while dribbling in the lane, and though he tried it, it wasn't as successful as he'd like.
He does have a good pull-up jumpshot, and there were also some games where he was effective in posting up.
Another thing he liked to do a lot was throw an alley-oop pass to Tristan Thompson. He'd stand at the 3pt line (usually the left wing), and then throw the pass to Thompson for the jam. They always tried that at least once each game.
So though he isn't a passing dynamo, he has shown the ability to pass, though as mentioned earlier, he needs to work on his passing off the dribble.
I'm hesitant to say this, but the game he most reminds me of is Paul Pierce.
Now I'm not saying that he's going to be anywhere near as good as Paul Pierce. But something about his game reminds me of Pierce's.
He's deceptively athletic, he has a whole array of offensive moves, he has a good knack at getting to the spots he wants on the floor, and has a good pull-up, even in awkward positions.
When first looking at the potential draft, there were a whole host of players I would have picked before him, as I saw him as a 2nd tier prospect, who could end up being a very good player if everything came together. But now will all of these players pulling out, and Derrick Williams sky-rocketing up the board, he's now a more reasonable choice than I originally thought.
I would definitely take Williams, Irving, Knight, & Kanter over Hamilton at this point.
I put Hamilton in the next group with Faried, Fredette, Singleton, & Burks, and who of this second group I would choose would be completely dependant on what the organization's free-agency moves were going to look like. ( I don't want Walker on this team, and I haven't seen the International players play, so I can't comment on their ability or the pros/cons of drafting them)
With all the prospects who have pulled out, it really has leveled the playing field, and it is looking as if picks 5-15 are all closely packed, with decisions being about how a player is going to fit with a particular team concept.
So I wouldn't be too disappointed if we ended up with Jordan Hamilton, though I would prefer to end up with him due to some sort of trade or swapping of picks, rather than see him selected with the 5th pick in the draft.