Determining Stokes' NBA potential is a pretty simple analysis. He is 6'9"... The skillsets required for a NBA player of his size are black and white...no gray areas:
NBA Center (5)- NBA Centers are typically 6'10" or taller. NBA Centers at 6'8" and 6'9" are labeled as under-sized centers. Stokes would need to adjust his shot release in the NBA to avoid blocks. He even struggled with strips and blocks this season. There are only a handful of current NBA undersized centers, and these players are usually power-forwards who are forced to play center due to weak rosters or injury. They are usually considered a liability, and they are typically extreme leapers who can posterize larger players on occasion. (See J.J. Hickson)
NBA Power Forward (4)- NBA Power Forwards are scorers and leapers who are typically 6'8" and taller. Power Forwards can be great leapers and closers in the paint and on a fast break (Blake Griffin, Kenneth Faried), or can be deadly mid-range shooter who creates his own shot (LeMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love). Jarnell is not a great leaper, and has a less-than-average mid-range game.
NBA Small Forwards (3)- NBA Small Forwards are typically primary scorers 6'6" and taller. They must be agile, explosive, great off the dribble, and deadly mid-range and 3-point shooters. They can take over games. Lebron James, Kevin Durant, Paul George are a few of the best. Does anyone think that Jarnell Stokes' skillset is even on the same planet as these players?
Eliminating Shooting Guard (2) and Point Guard (1) by default for obvious reasons.
So if you are Jarnell Stokes, and you just had the biggest year-over-year improvement than almost all of us expected... Wouldn't you come back and continue working with the same coaches that helped develop this drastic improvement? Couldn't Jarnell work on adding a dependable mid-range shot to his game his senior year? Wouldn't his name be publically discussed 100 times more often as an even more dominant college player, than bench-warming rookie or an over-seas player? And isn't next year's draft expected to be much more open to an under-sized risk like Jarnell Stokes?
For me is a little baffling. His size and talent can be dominant at UT, but has huge missing pieces in the NBA. He could fill in some of those pieces by staying his senior year. Regardless of his decision, I am a big fan of Jarnell. He gave us one more year than most of us were expecting when he arrived. He is a class-act, and represented UT very well. :salute: As a fan, I just hope that he isn't receiving some bad advice.