To quote Nino Brown: “See ya, wouldn’t want to be ya.”
Late Monday night, Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports reported that Mississippi State junior Jamont Gordon would declare for the NBA draft and most likely send his official letter to the league on Tuesday. This certainly should come as no surprise to Bulldog fans as Gordon wasn’t on MSU’s Starkville campus attending class for the first couple weeks of April (most likely surpassing his eight unexcused absence limit – but I’m sure a miracle could have been pulled off had he decided to return to school).
What does come as a surprise is that Jamont believes he will be a first round pick. Or at least that’s what he’s been told, by whom I can’t imagine. Gordon has evidently submitted an evaluation request to the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee, which is composed of all 32 NBA General Managers and is chaired by Stu Jackson, the Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations for the league.
Essentially, the Advisory Committee does just that, they provide feedback, or advice, to potential undergraduate entrants to the NBA draft so they can get an idea on their future status before making important decisions such as skipping class or hiring representation. Gordon has stated that he will not sign with an agent in the event that he gets injured during the draft workout process.
About a week ago, LSU fab-freshman, Anthony Randolph, received word from the committee that he would be a lottery pick. He thus hired an agent, former Chicago Bulls point guard B.J. Armstrong, effectively ending his 1-year career at Louisiana State.
There is no question that Jamont Gordon has an NBA body as he is quite the physical specimen. And while he won’t jump out the gym, his 6′4 225 pound size just might instill fear in NFL wide receivers, much less NBA point guards.
Unfortunately, Gordon has a couple factors working heavily against his favor. For one, he currently lacks the competency to efficiently manage a team, even on a college level. His propensity for turning the ball over, to the tune of 4.1 per game during his three year career with the Bulldogs (4.1 TOPG was also his junior year average, good enough for 5th highest in the NCAA), would no doubt be further exposed once faced with the faster, better, stronger defenders of the NBA. Considering that the point guard position is exponentially harder to learn than any other position for NBA newbies, I would find it very hard to believe that a league GM or NBA coach would try to use him as such.
Naturally, the next option would be two-guard, but despite his muscle, jump shooting is not exactly Jamont Gordon’s strong point. Many reports entering this past season indicated that Jamont Gordon spent the entire summer working on his jumper. However, his FG% actually went down between his sophomore and junior campaigns, from 41.9% to 41.5%; the more glaring drop being 3P% which fell from 34.7% to 31.9%. Averaging 17.2 PPG this past season, Gordon certainly burned his share of nets, just not with the efficiency, decision-making, or shot-selection that NBA scouts desire.
On March 29th, I wrote a post analyzing Jamont Gordon’s NBA resume and where the various internet mock-drafts had him being selected. Out of 15 sites surveyed, only two had Gordon being selected in the first round. After a quick check, much of the same holds true today. The two mock drafts which do have Gordon going in the first round are among the lesser-known NBA mock draft sites.
If I had to take a guess, Gordon will stay in the draft and an NBA team will take a chance on him in the 2nd round. However, I do not see him playing himself onto a roster as a result of summer league play. Jamont could go make some decent money playing pro-ball in Europe, or beyond, where the more physical game might be best suited for his style. But I see him using the budding National Basketball Development League (NBDL) to hone his game/pg skills and garner more attention which might allow him to make the jump to the league.
Back to my opening quote, I wish Jamont Gordon the best and certainly hope he represents his Mississippi State basketball experience well in trying to work his way into the first round. However, I would not want to be in his position of having to overcome his own obstacles to get into the territory of guaranteed first round money. Wait, what the hell am I talking about? I’d love to have his talent and a chance at life in the National Basketball Association.
