2022 NBA Draft: #37 Jaden Hardy (6' 3", 6' 9" WS) to DAL | two 2nds to SAC

[juanc]

I'll admit right now that I haven't watched a lot of Koloko's full games, but have seen a myriad of highlights (which we all know is the end all be all!). I'm not in love with him as a prospect. Even in his highlights he makes mistakes that I believe would get him destroyed in the NBA.

He has a tendency to be really rigid in defending the post, and a lot of his blocks come from when a defender going around his hip, he makes a little bit of contact, which leads to a block. Of course to me the contact is incidental, but in the NBA? I've seen that called a multitude of times.  

He also has a really weird habit of constantly jabbing his feet on the perimeter. It works in college as most guards are average at best. Of course it's good that he has quick active feet as well, but my issue here is that while it's very active, it's not reactive. Just a ton of wasted movement. At the NBA level when literally 1 misplaced foot is the difference between a block, foul, or layup, I can see him getting absolutely torched by a guard in the PnR. That habit alone makes me not want to touch him. 

Again, these could all be one-offs and he's a fine player, but if he's making these small mistakes in highlight vids that are supposed be him only making good plays I can't imagine the other mistakes he does in a full 40 min game.

Things like this is why I said that he is a project, who will need time to develop those little things. But it is fixable in my opinion. He can be out of position, but he was in right position more often than not. 

For example there were many times Kamagate was left on an island like this, now imagine that in the NBA...
https://twitter.com/thunder_draft/status...1613987841