The Cleveland Cavaliers will have the No. 1 overall and No. 33 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. In the next few weeks here at Right Down Euclid, we will be profiling players the Cavaliers might draft on June 26th. Today, we profile UCLA guard Jordan Adams. Click here for more draft profiles.
Tale of the Tape
Name: Jordan Adams
Position: Guard
College: UCLA
Age: 19 (Turns 20 on July 8th)
Height: 6’5”
Weight: 209
Wingspan: 6’10”
Honors: 1st Team All-PAC-12
2013-2014 Per Game Stats: 17.4 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 2.3 APG, 2.6 SPG, 0.1 BPG, 48.5% FG%, 35.6% 3PT%, 83.6% FT%
Jordan Adams has bounced around the draft board throughout the draft process. Some project him to go in the late teens or early 20s of the 1st round, while others see him slipping to the second round, potentially. A young and talented shooting guard who is incredibly aggressive, and has potential as an impactful player on both ends. However, questions have been raised about his athleticism and shooting, which are why he could drop on draft day, similarly to how Jamaal Franklin and Allen Crabbe dropped in the 2013 NBA Draft.
Physical Tools
Adams isn’t a great athlete, by any standard. He’s not that quick, has a stocky frame, and doesn’t have great first step quickness. Adams is also completely a below-the-rim player, with a 29.5” max vertical, and isn’t very explosive in any plane of motion. However, Adams does have excellent length, with a 6’10” wingspan, which makes him a fun defensive prospect despite his lack of athleticism. However, that lack of explosion and quickness could limit him and his ceiling as a player.
Offense
Adams is great at attacking the basket on off ball cuts, which is probably his best use offensively at this point. He’s a smart off-ball player, using screens and finding space in the defense to get to the rim, where he finishes at a very high rate. Adams is also an improving spot-up shooter, especially off screens, and it looks like Adams will be a strong off-ball threat at the next level. Adams still has some inconsistency with his shooting, and a lot of that falls on his shooting mechanics. Adams looks like he’s shooting a fadeaway on every jumper, and his motion can be jerky at times. He’s also not particularly good at scoring off the bounce, for the same reason. If he can continue to improve his jumper, Adams should make for a nice off-ball scorer for an offense, doing damage on cuts, off screens, and off offensive rebounds, something he’s very good at due to his size and strength.
Defense
Defensively, Adams looks like he could be decent. He has good hands and great length in order to stay in front of opponents, and was an excellent off-ball defender, averaging 2.6 steals per game and playing passing lanes very well. However, due to Adams’s youth, he’s incredibly inconsistent on this end. Adams’s effort isn’t consistent, and he can get blown off the ball if he’s not in a good stance. This is correctable, of course, but it’s still an issue that needs to be addressed. Adams can also ball-watch off the ball, and lose his opponent, even though he often does a decent job of recovering. A lot of what Adams does wrong on the defensive end is a product of him being 19, and it’s very probable that he becomes a decent defender at the NBA level.
Intangibles
Adams has potential to develop because he is 19, and already has shown great improvement from his freshman to sophomore season. He scored very efficiently in the ways he’s probably going to need to in the pros, and that will make the transition into a role player easy for him. There aren’t really any huge red flags with Adams, which is a good thing given the issues surrounding players like P.J. Hairston in a similar spot.
Player Comparison
Given Adams’s size, strength, finishing ability, and defensive potential, former Cavalier Anthony Parker is a good analog for Adams. Parker was similarly efficient off the ball, and great at finishing at the rim. He was a rough three point shooter early in his career, but became a great shooter from outside after his tour of duty in Europe. The games here are very similar, and Adams should fit the same role Parker did in Toronto and Cleveland at the next level.
How Does He Fit on the Cavaliers?
The Cavs could probably use another shooting guard, and someone that has 3&D potential like Adams makes sense. Adams is projected to be a late-1st rounder, but could slip into the second round if teams are worried about his athleticism. If he drops to No. 33, he’d be a nice developmental project for the Cavs, and would fill huge needs for them with his finishing ability and off-ball defense.