NBA Draft Fate Awaits UConn Trio
The Story: Jordan Hawkins, Andre Jackson and Adama Sanogo ended their college careers as NCAA champions. Tonight, the three UConn players will find out where the next chapter of their basketball journeys will begin.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Hawkins, Jackson and Sanogo — presumably in that order — will be waiting for their names to be called during the 77th NBA draft (8 p.m, ESPN/ABC) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
• Hawkins and Jackson are considered locks to be among the 58 players selected over two rounds, while Sanogo, the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player, might need to wait until the final pick is announced.
MOCK DRAFT MANIA: Where are the three players most likely to be picked? Just about every media outlet on the planet has produced at least one mock draft, and some, like CBS Sports, take the overkill approach and produce six.
• The Daily, exercising the highest possible standards in its mock draft selection process, waded carefully through all the mockery and culled information from 12 of the most reputable media sources. The result is the following table, which shows the predicted landing spots for Hawkins, Jackson and Sanogo.
• One common thread among the 12 is that each one is a two-round mock, with selections for all 58 draft positions.
JORDAN RULES: Initially, Hawkins — highly coveted as perhaps the best shooter in the draft — was viewed as a late lottery pick, and he still is to some degree. Four of the 12 mock drafts include Hawkins among the top 14 picks, going as high as No. 12 according to the Sporting News.
• Then again, he’s also projected to go as low as No. 24 and is listed below the top 20 in two mocks. He’ll probably be picked in the late teens, with the Lakers at No. 17 viewed as the most likely team to draft him.
HIT THE LOTTERY? NBA.com lists the most common picks at each of the lottery spots (1-14), and Hawkins falls outside of the top 14.
• If Hawkins somehow lands among the top 14, he’d be the first UConn lottery pick since James Bouknight, who went 11th to Charlotte two years ago, and the eighth Huskies player since the lottery expanded to 14 teams in 2004.
• Hawkins will be in attendance in Brooklyn as one of among 19 players initially invited to sit in the “green room,” a staging area in front of the draft podium for players and their families. Coaches Dan Hurley and Kimani Young will join Hawkins in the green room, along with his family and his high school coach, Mike Jones, from DeMatha Catholic in Hyattsville, Maryland.
• Hawkins is hoping he will be a lottery pick because he will be immortalized with a banner on the wall at UConn’s practice facility. He also doesn’t want to be seen as just a three-point “specialist,” believing he has more skills to showcase than just his shooting ability.
THE ACTION ON JACKSON: Jackson falls into that nebulous “late first to early second” mix, along with about 25 other players vying for the highly sought guaranteed contract that comes with being a first-round pick.
• According to the mocks, Jackson is on the cusp of the first round and just barely falls short in most of them. Four of the 12 mocks have Jackson going to Detroit with the 31st pick, and nine have him being picked in the 31-35 range.
• There’s still a chance Jackson could break into the top 30. A few of the one-round mocks have Jackson getting drafted as high as No. 28 by Utah, like this one from Fox Sports. Where Jackson is drafted will depend largely on how much teams value his extraordinary intangibles over his shooting struggles.
SANOGO’S SITUATION: Sanogo is projected as a late second-round pick in nine of the 12 two-round mock drafts, going as high as No. 44 in The Ringer’s projections and as low as pick No. 57 in ESPN’s mock.
• If Sanogo goes undrafted, he would become an unrestricted free agent who will no doubt get an NBA tryout and play summer league ball.
• No matter what happens, Sanogo is motivated and committed to unselfishly helping his family and the people of Mali.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING:
About Hawkins
• “Hawkins is one of the top pure shooters in this draft class and has continued to shoot the ball well during team workouts.” (Yahoo)
• “Elite shooter with a lightning-quick release and the stamina to run around the floor all game and the intelligence to find open space at a high level.” (The Ringer)
• “Hawkins’ perfect mechanics from a standstill are why it translates running off actions.” (The Athletic)
About Jackson
• “While teams acknowledge Jackson’s shooting woes, scouts have still found a way to love his athleticism, passing and intangibles for a unique two-way playmaker role.” (Bleacher Report)
• “Has elite feel for the game. One of those guys who just knows where to be all the time and knows how to make winning plays.” (The Athletic)
• “Jackson is an intangible guy who impacts the game outside of the box score.” (Yahoo)
About Sanogo
• “Effective post player who uses his strong frame to carve out positioning, which is beneficial when sealing off defenders and crashing the offensive boards.” (The Ringer)
• “Despite being a below-the-rim finisher, Sanogo’s numbers stack up with anyone in the class because he has arguably the best interior touch of any big to come through the draft process in at least five years.” (The Athletic)
• “The fact that he has improved his game so much is a good sign that he can continue to improve and has excellent determination and work habits.” (NBAdraft.net)
— David Kull
Top photo: Jordan Hawkins, Andre Jackson and Adama Sanogo have entered the NBA Draft. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)
