Players That Did Not Appear in My January Top 100
A look into three players just outside my top 100
Keyontae Johnson- PF, Kansas State
Point blank, I am afraid he might die on the court. If you are unfamiliar with Keyontae’s story, he collapsed on the court in an absolutely frightening scene back in the 2020-21 NCAA college basketball season when he was playing for Florida. After receiving medical attention on the court, Johnson was rushed to the hospital where they found he had a serious heart condition and many thought his playing days were over.
Fast forward to the next season at Florida and Keyontae remained with the team helping out with coaching and mentoring the young guys. He also appeared for a second on the court in the last game of the regular season as a thank you and wish you well on your way ceremony.
Keyontae was determined to get back on the court, however, and after getting clearance from TWO doctors he sought a transfer and ended up at Kansas State.
BOTTOM LINE: There are “medical concerns” and then there are “life-threatening concerns” and I am going out on a limb here that NBA teams have the latter when it comes to even think about bringing Keyontae in for training camp. Yes, Keyontae has been “medically cleared,” but I am uncertain HOW MANY doctors he went to in regards to remaining his playing career. If it was just those two and they said yes then that is a positive sign. If the answer is that he sought out MULTIPLE opinions and ONLY two said he was good, that is a terrible sign.
One thing that has made me keep Keyontae off the board is the lack of NBA Draft Journalists’ desire to stick their neck out for, or even talk about Keyontae Johnson. Sam Vecenie is a good example as he has said on multiple occasions that he has “no desire” to discuss Keyontae Johnson…which to me is incredibly odd as Keyontae’s story is what ALL journalists hope for in terms of a story to tell that everyone can get behind. My gut tells me that the people who are paid to do this and have actual connects and intel know that Keyontae is a medical risk or at the very least do NOT want to say a thing until they know all of the medical facts about Keyonate Johnson’s future playing basketball.
And I want to be clear, I say all this to say I care about Keyontae Johnson NOT his basketball career. Also, I am 1000% certain with his condition causing that scary collapse on the court, NBA teams that are interested in Johnson are not just going to run him through a round of check ups at the NBA combine, but a whole round of doctors from the minute the draft workouts start until the eleventh hour before the draft.
I am one of many rooting for Keyontae Johnson’s comeback, but he has more to offer basketball than just being on the court and can be impactful in so many different ways if he isn’t 100% cleared.
Emoni Bates, SG/SF Eastern Michigan
One of the most natural scorers in this draft, Emoni Bates has been hyped up for a long time as a professional scorer who was destined for the NBA. Seeing as he is now putting up 20.4 points per game on shooting splits of 49.0% from two, 36.1% from three, and 77.3% from the free throw line this projection seems to remain intact.
Unfortunately, this is the most recent step in an unusual and, at times unflattering, journey for Emoni. Originally committing to Michigan State University in high school two years ago, then switching to Memphis and Penny Hardaway where he would learn to play more of a lead guard role, Emoni did not show much promise in college before this season. While part of the damage to his stock was being miscast as a point guard for Penny Hardaway’s Memphis squad last year, seeing fellow freshman Jalen Duren go on to accolades and on-court success despite being raw made people question, why can’t Emoni and the Memphis coaching staff figure out how to best utilize Emoni’s skills?
Now at Eastern Michigan University, Emoni finally has been given the rock and is allowed to focus on the thing he excels most at, scoring. This is where it gets hard for me because while I believe Emoni is a great isolation scorer, we all know the NBA does not operate as an isolation heavy league any longer. Emoni currently has a 30.8% usage and I am not alone when asking, how can THIS ROLE translate on to and NBA floor? I am at the point with Emoni where all I care about is, does he play defense and is he willing to pass more?
For me, it boils down to can Emoni play a role in the NBA if he were drafted right now? Maybe. Would he be a sixth man microwave off the bench? Could he translate into being a shooter that can get hot any minute? Would he be able to be a secondary or tertiary offensive option? I don’t feel great about saying yes to any of these questions because the only role we have seen Emoni thrive in thus far is when he has the ball in his hands a lot. This is not to say I don’t think he can’t translate into an NBA role, just that I don’t feel great about it right now.
I also think Emoni is a difficult conversation to have because people either want to say “he’s a bucket! This is a first rounder!” or “Oh he’s got baggage and is a diva.” Rafael Barlowe of NBA Big Board recently did a fantastic job covering Emoni both in terms of his stock being incredibly hard to gauge and scouts seeing real cause for concern in Emoni’s attitude and chemistry with teammates.
This is where I will step in and say DON’T SAY ANYTHING YOU DON’T KNOW! Anyone making a comment on “knowing” Emoni to be a “problem” or having “clear character concerns” can see their way out. Unless you are there with the young man you can’t say anything definitive about who he is as a person. He could have very easily crawled into a hole and fallen off a cliff after Memphis—or even after his arrest shortly before the season. What he DID do was work to get back with his team and then play his game on the court.
My thoughts for Emoni this season are I hope he comes back next season. I think it would be beneficial for him to test the NBA Draft waters at the combine and get scouts feedback there. This way he could address all the specific issues teams might have with him and bump himself up into being a NO DOUBT first rounder because his talent should warrant that.
Dillon Jones, PF/C Weber State
Someone who I LOVED watching his tape from last season was Weber State’s Dillon Jones. I was really in on him as a sleeper in this 2023 NBA Draft Class. A big that can pass and rebound who MAYBE has more of a three-point shot than what he’s shown, Jones screamed versatile big man. While he did have defensive concerns, all the things he showed he could do on offense were great evidence to argue he could translate that IQ over to defense too.
As the season has worn on, however, Jones is a test case for me into how one or two big games can skew the overall sample into thinking a player is more than what he shows on a night to night basis. While his stat line of 15.5 points per game, 10.9 rebounds per game, and 3.9 assits per game on shooting splits of 51.9% from two, 36.5% from three, and 84.4% from the free throw line all look enticing, there are two things that throw water on this fire for me.
While tracking Jones’s progress this season I took him off the board around game 10 when he was scoring and pulling in rebounds, but was shooting 27.8% from three. When I checked back in on him at game 15 to see if that improved, it was still a bad 32.1%. Then game 16 happened and Jones went 5 for 7 from three in that game. Just from that ONE GAME, Jones percentage upped to 36.7% from three across his first 16 games.
And, if you think this is an overreaction, Jones posted 10 games in these first 16 where he shot under 34% from three. And, in the games since his 5 for 7 outing, Jones put up two more games where he shot under 21% from three. Another way to look at it is if you JUST take out that one 5 for 7 game, Jones is 22 of 67 from three on the season which translates to 32.8%. This ONE great shooting performance is greatly skewing his overall percentage.
All hope is not lost when it comes to Jones’s shooting though as he has posted over 78% from the line all three years he has been in college. If you believe in free throw percentage being a good indicator of three point success, then Dillon Jones has a shining beacon of hope for you there.
Another aspect of Jones’s game that needs major improvements is in his passing. While it is rare to find a 6’6” 235 pound big man who can post a 25.6% assist percentage, he is also posting a high turnover rate at 22.7%. Looking at his totals it is 82 assists to 78 turnovers. So while he can move the rock and find teammates, he is pressing way too much this season and chucking some flat out dumb passes on the court.
Couple this with evaluators like Adam Spinella and Maxwell Baumbach flat out saying Jones is bad defender and it is hard to make the case for Jones as a 2023 NBA Draft prospect. Luckily, Jones does have another year of eligibility left and should also test the waters at the NBA Draft combine to get useful feedback. Hopefully this time next year I will be arguing for Jones moving up the board rather than off it because he is a very unique played that can be a big mismatch advantage if he works out all the kinks in his game.