Expert opinion
NBA scouts weigh in on Hawkins, Sanogo and Jackson
When Jordan Hawkins arrived on campus in the summer of 2021, UConn men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley told him he could be “the next James Bouknight.”
If all goes according to plan, Hawkins’ path to the NBA could look quite similar to Bouknight’s.
Bouknight spent two seasons in Storrs before being selected with the 11th overall pick of the 2021 NBA draft. Hawkins, in the midst of a terrific sophomore season that sees him sitting atop the Big East scoring list in league games, may not be a lottery pick. But it appears the 6-foot-5 guard is line to be a first-round pick in the 2023 draft.
“I’d be shocked if he slipped and didn’t go in the first round,” one NBA scout told Hearst Connecticut Media.
For what they’re worth, the mock drafts have Hawkins as a near-consensus first-round pick. NBAdraft.net has him going No. 21 to the Knicks. NBADraftRoom.com sees him going No. 28 to Utah.
CBSSports.com projects him all the way up to No. 14 to Utah, which would make him a lottery pick. On the flip side, 247Sports.com doesn’t have Hawkins going in the first round.
“I wouldn’t be shocked if he slid into the early second round,” another NBA scout said. “But yeah, he’s pretty locked-in for that middle-of-the-draft area: late-first, early-second, I think. And he’s got a chance to rise, especially if his team makes a deep run.”
No doubt, if Hawkins can help lead UConn to an NCAA Tournament run, his stock will rise. But his stock is already pretty strong.
“We like him a lot,” said an Eastern Conference scout. “We think he’s really talented, has big upside. I think he’s more athletic than people think and stronger than people think. He’s become a really good player.”
That same scout was recently talking to the head coach of a Big East opponent of UConn who went out of his way to praise Hawkins.
“Some head coaches sometimes pump up a kid to the scouts to try to get him out of the league,” the scout noted. “But he knows the kid’s most likely coming out anyway, and he said to me, ‘I think he’s going to be a really good pro’ ... I think he was really genuine. He thinks he has the chance to be a bigtime player.”
In 13 Big East games this season, Hawkins is averaging 17.5 points while shooting 38.3 percent from 3 and 88.9 percent from the foul line.
“The offense has been pretty awesome this year,” a scout noted. “He’s really found his shot. He’s hit
ting shots in a variety of ways that translate well, coming off screens. Movement shooting is so valuable, in terms of getting defenses unsettled and out of position. There's value in being able to hit that stand-still shot from the corner, but to be able to do what he's been doing coming up and hitting off the wing off movement is really valuable.”
And defensively?
“He's solid. He's nothing special, but he's rock-solid, he's reliable. And as he gets stronger, that will give him a little more versatility in the ability to switch up or down. But he needs to keep filling out, physically.”
‘If he can get a good NIL deal ...’
The far more intriguing questions as far as the NBA is concerned are Adama Sanogo and Andre Jackson Jr., both in their junior seasons.
At 6-foot-9, Sanogo is undersized as an NBA center. He has worked hard to diversify his offensive game, and it's resulted in 40percent 3-point shooting this season, which is actually tied with Hawkins for second on the team in overall games. In fact, Sanogo's 42.9-percent shooting from distance in conference games is tops on the Huskies.
Still, it's a relatively small sample size, and Sanogo will never be confused with a Kevin Durant or Dirk Nowitzki, peeling off ball screens or hitting contested 3's.
“I think he's helped himself a little bit,” one scout said. “The problem with guys like him and (Oscar) Tschiebwe at Kentucky, and even a guy like Armando Bacot from Carolina who's bigger than them, their game just doesn't translate to the NBA. Most NBA teams will look at Sanogo and say, `He's a tough kid, he's a little under-sized as a fiveman, he plays hard, he's got ability, he's certainly a very good college player, one of the top bigs in the Big East.' I might be surprised, maybe somebody will take a chance on him in the second round, but I see him more as a G-League/international guy.”
The scout added that Sanogo lacks the explosive athleticism that might overcome his relative lack of size or shooting, but remains a prospect.
“I like Sanogo, I think he's worked hard, improved a lot,” the scout said. “I think Danny's done a good job with him.”
There is perhaps no greater conundrum than Jackson Jr., the 6foot-6 dynamic passer and versatile defender who “might be the best athlete in the country,” per one scout, but whose shooting woes have been highlighted this season.
“It's tough with him, just because the shot just hasn't gotten better,” one scout said. “Three years in, it's hard to imagine it changing, even with another season.”
That said ...
“I wouldn't be shocked if he went mid- or late-second round. But, to be an older guy, an upperclassman, still with no scoring ability in the halfcourt setting, it's a really tough sell.”
Several mock drafts have Jackson going in the second round, some high up in the round, others in the 45-60 range where teams tend to “draft and stash” players overseas.
“Having a wing defender in the league today has some value, because there's so many good players between 6-5 and 6-10 that are great wings,” one scout pointed out. “When you get a guy like Andre Jackson who can defend a guy 6-9, but also a guy 6-3, that's a wide range of defensive versatility. People like guys like him. That's why they take chances on guys like him.”
But the other scout sees things a bit differently.
“There isn't space for defensive specialists in the NBA anymore. There are, obviously, guys who are elite defensively. But you have to have at least something offensively, in a complimentary role, that can keep you on the floor. He is a really high-level passer and play-maker, but he needs the ball in his hands offensively to do that, and he doesn't have the scoring talent to really warrant that many touches at the next level.”
The scout pointed to Cleveland's
Isaac Okoro as perhaps a model for Jackson. Okoro was taken No. 5 overall in the 2020 draft out of Auburn as a defensive specialist who couldn't shoot. He has improved to the point where he's currently shooting 49.3 percent overall and 34.8 percent from 3 this season.
Neither scout envisions Jackson on an NBA roster next season, but rather likely in the G-League, perhaps on a two-way contract. With that in mind, would it behoove Jackson to return to Storrs for his senior year?
“If he can get a good NIL deal and have a crazy-good summer and come back and be able to hit one 3 a game on mid-30s, that would be great for him,” one scout said. “Because the defense and athleticism are so high-level and he is a great passer. He checks so many boxes, except he's just such a (struggle) in the most important one.”
Looking way ahead to the future, both scouts like what they've seen from freshman Alex Karaban.
“He can hit a variety of shots on the perimeter, finish inside, there's not many holes in his game,” one scout said. “He'll always be more effective as guy off the ball, spreadthe-floor, come off the pin-down or attack the close-out. There's a lot of value to that.”
“I think he's got a chance,” the second scout added. “He's probably a guy that will take longer ... I think this kid's a three or four-year player, but he might be a three or four-year player that ends up getting drafted.”