NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole chatted with ESPN’s Jay Bilas about which players could potentially fall to the Warriors with the seventh overall pick in the NBA draft.
James Bouknight -- a potential top-10 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft and a possible Warriors target -- is starting to generate a lot of buzz.
But draft analyst Chad Ford has some reservations.
The following back-and-forth took place on the most recent episode of The Ryen Russillo Podcast:
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Russillo: "James Bouknight continues to get praise. I very rarely hear any criticism about him from teams, and he seems to be stuck outside the lottery. I just heard again that this workout recently -- he absolutely torched it."
Ford: "Everything that I heard out of that workout in Chicago was he could not miss a shot. He was stroking it from everywhere on the floor. And I'm like, 'OK cool. He did that in a scripted workout with an agent.'
"[But] he shot 29 percent from three at UConn, his assist-to-turnover ratio was dramatically under water, no way he's gonna be a lead guard, he's a little bit undersized for his position and I don't know what he necessarily gives you defensively.
"So you have this guy who I think can be an elite scorer in the league because he is wired that way and he's a good athlete. So I get the appeal.
"But the analytics are a little bit discouraging [and] for teams who want multi-positional players -- he's not that. If he's a lights out shooter, then he should be a top-10 pick in this draft. But [he shot 29 percent from three].
"I think it's fair to have some skepticism."
It's true that Bouknight is a bit undersized at 6-foot-3.5 without shoes on, but he does have a 6-foot-8.25 wingspan.
And yes -- the athleticism certainly is there.
The 20-year-old went 1-for-13 from deep over his final three games with the Huskies last year, which brought his 3-point percentage down to 29.3 from 33.9.
"I just feel like the role I had at UConn, being that go-to-guy to go get the team a bucket when we need one, I sometimes took ill-advised, tough shots," Bouknight recently said at the NBA combine. "That came with the role I had.
"I’m not worried at all about my 3-point shot. Like at all. I think I’m going to surprise a lot of people.”
Golden State Warriors
Lastly, the Brooklyn native actually isn't on the outside of the lottery looking in when it comes to the mock drafts.
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The Athletic's Sam Vecenie has the Warriors snagging Bouknight at No. 7, while ESPN's Jonathan Givony -- who originally had Bouknight to the Warriors with the 14th pick -- recently moved him up to No. 8 overall.
A lot can change between now and when the draft takes place July 29, but it sure seems like Bouknight's stock is trending in a good direction.
Having said that, it's understandable why Ford is a little skeptical. The draft is an inexact science and it's not easy to project how every prospect will perform at the next level.
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