Once a discarded day on the calendar, the NBA Draft now generates more interest for Alabama basketball. The Crimson Tide has had a player selected in two of the past three drafts after failing to produce a draftee from 2009-17.
After seeing point guard Kira Lewis Jr. selected No. 13 overall in last year’s draft, Alabama heads into Thursday’s draft with three possible draftees in Joshua Primo, Herbert Jones and John Petty Jr.
Primo figures to be the highest pick of the bunch. The 6-foot-6, 190-pound wing averaged 8.1 points and 3.4 rebounds per game while shooting 38.1 percent from beyond the arc during his freshman year last season and is being tabbed to land somewhere in the mid-to-late first round.
Jones has also seen his name mentioned on draft boards. The SEC Player of the Year averaged 11.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per game while shooting 45 percent from the field and 35 percent from behind the 3-point line. He also earned SEC Defensive Player of the Year honors averaging 1.7 steals and 1.1 blocks per game.
Petty is viewed as more of a long shot to hear his name called Thursday. However, the sharp-shooting guard did develop into a more complete player over the past two seasons. Petty averaged 12.6 points and 5.2 rebounds while shooting 42 percent from the floor and 37 percent from deep last season.
Prior to Thursday’s NBA, BamaInsider compiled five major mock drafts — ESPN, FOX Sports, Sports Illustrated, The Athletic and The Ringer — to get a better feel at where Alabama’s draft hopefuls will land.
Joshua Primo
ESPN — No. 28, Philadelphia 76ers
FOX Sports — No. 29, Phoenix Suns
Sports Illustrated — No. 24, Houston Rockets
The Athletic — No. 26, Denver Nuggets
The Ringer — No. 28, Philadelphia 76ers
ESPN basketball analyst Jay Bilas: “I think the more I watched him, the more I really liked him. I’d be surprised if he’s not a first-round selection. Really a talented player, one of those kind of do-it-all guys that can — he has better size than I thought, and he’s versatile on both ends of the floor. Came off the bench, but great effort and can handle it.
“I was very impressed with the way he played at the combine. He’s a good catch-and-shoot guy. I liked him a lot, and with the way he defended, as well, and he showed he could handle it, which I honestly wasn’t sure that he projected necessarily as an initiating or handling guard. He’s got a lot of ability. I was really impressed with him, and just — he can be a sniper shooting the ball.”
Hebert Jones
ESPN — No. 46, Toronto Raptors
Sports Illustrated — No. 49, Brooklyn Nets
The Athletic — No. 34, Oklahoma City Thunders
The Ringer — No. 44, Brooklyn Nets
Bilas: “He’s got 3-and-D written all over him. He just needs to become a more consistent perimeter shooter. But he’s a really good handler, passer. His motor is great. Plays with energy, and his defense is fantastic. Just relentless on the ball. He has long arms. Tough guy to score on. He gets steals, he can block shots, rebounds at a good rate.
“I think as a point guard because he was thrust into the point guard position based on what Alabama had, he turns it over a little bit too much, but I don’t think that’s that big of a deal. But I’m a big fan of his.
“I don’t know if I was the — I probably wasn’t the first to say it but I hope I was the loudest early on to say he should have been the SEC Player of the Year. Really good player.”
John Petty Jr.
Not projected by any of the five mock drafts
Bilas: "Petty is a shooter, as you know. Really good range. He moves without it, catch and shoot, pretty good off the dribble, and did a good job sort of in screening action, whether it was ghost screens or whatever of setting up for a shot. I think he got better and better.
But his value is going to be as a floor-spacing shooter. He's not going to be a primary scorer in the league, at least I don't see that, but he can go in and help space the floor and make shots."
