re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

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Random basketball thought but I’m guessing we are about to see the last of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge this season.



Cecil

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Current @AlabamaMBB head coach, Nate Oats, promised his former @UBmenshoops players that if @BlueCollarUTBT got to the final 16 of @thetournament he’d find a way to get to Columbus…

COACH IS A MAN OF HIS WORD

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Nate Oats, Jay Bilas preview Alabama hoops in the 2021 NBA Draft

The 2021 NBA Draft tips off on Thursday, July 29, and as many as three now-former Alabama men’s basketball players could hear their names called among the 60 picks (two rounds).

Ahead of the Detroit Pistons making the first selection, Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats (in an interview with Paul Finebaum) and ESPN analyst Jay Bilas (on a media teleconference) broke down Alabama’s top three draft prospects -- Josh Primo, Herbert Jones and John Petty.

Below is what both Oats and Bilas said about each Crimson Tide draft hopeful.

JOSH PRIMO

Oats: “We have a younger kid in Josh Primo that’s gonna be the youngest player in the draft. He came to us for one year … and he did well enough that they’re projecting him to be a first-round pick. I think he’s got a ton of upside. They draft a lot on potential now, and his potential’s high and he’s a really high-character kid that works hard.

“I’ve got a GM of one of the better teams in the NBA shot me a text an hour or so ago. They’re looking to talk to me about Primo, and they’re a late, first-round pick. He’s one of those guys that they’re gonna project how good can he be, and that’s what they want to know -- how good could he be in two or three years? And I think he’s got a ton of upside because he’s got a ton of upside and he’s gonna get there. He’s a long, athletic guard that makes shots at a high level.”

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. He’s got — he really shot past, I thought — I thought Herb Jones was going to be the best prospect off that team and Primo wound up being. But Jones isn’t far behind.”

HERBERT JONES

Oats: “It looks like Herb’s late first, early second, somewhere in there. I’d love to see him go in the first round. I’m just excited he gets a chance. I think once he gets on a team, they’re gonna love him. He’s all about the right stuff. He was one of three players in the history of the SEC to win Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same year. It’s Anthony Davis, Tyler Ulis and now Herb Jones, so I think he’s in pretty good company. I think whoever gets him is gonna get a rock-solid, just do whatever it takes to win the game kind of player. I think he’s gonna stick.”

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

Oats: “In John Petty, you’ve got a shooter, an elite shooter that’s got range. The NBA’s become about shooting, and he’s one of the best shooters in the draft. He had some injury problems through the workouts, wasn’t able to work out as much as he would have liked in the spring and summer, so it’s probably not gonna help him a lot. But hopefully, he gets drafted.

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.”

The 2021 NBA Draft will begin at 7 p.m. CT and will air on ABC (first round only) and ESPN.

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