It was a short week in college hoops thanks to the holidays, but here's a handful of notes I've collected from NBA GMs and scouts concerning the upcoming 2012 draft.
The Curse of No. 2
One week after Baylor's Perry Jones rose to No. 2 on our Big Board, he reminded us why some scouts still aren't believers. In a critical matchup against West Virginia, Jones managed to score just four points in 41 minutes of play. While Jones did grab 10 boards and a couple of steals, he disappeared at times on the offensive end -- a sin he committed with regularity during his high school days and as a freshman last season.
The fact that the matchup was watched by numerous scouts and was against Jones' toughest opponent yet made it a bit more glaring. Nevertheless, a number of the NBA scouts I spoke with said they're taking it with a grain of salt. Jones made a number of aggressive plays in the game where he just couldn't get his shot to fall, and a player's draft stock doesn't rise and fall based on one game. He'll have another shot to prove his mettle against a player with a very similar athletic profile, Arnett Moultrie (Top 100 Rank: 33), on Wednesday.
If he stays in this funk for a month, then yes, he'll fall as concerns about his lack of a killer instinct will resurface. But for now, we'll chalk it up to the inevitable one bad game. A game, by the way, that Baylor won.
Stock Check
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