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Authored by Christopher Reina - 18th June, 2008 - 1:41 pm
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Davon Jefferson, a 21-year-old freshman from USC, became one of the most intriguing combo forward prospects in college basketball during the 07-08 season.
He was a highly touted recruit out of Lynwood, California and was slated to attend UNLV but did not qualify academically. Subsequently, he went on to play for The Patterson School, where he averaged 20 and 12.
His offensive game is varied as he is adept at scoring off the dribble as well as having an effective mid-range jumper. But, what is most notable about Jefferson is his tremendously instinctive knack to be perfectly positioned on put-backs. He should have an excellent offensive/defensive rebounding ratio on the NBA level, giving his team many very valuable second chance points.
Jefferson’s ball-handling skills need a lot of development, but he shows promise especially because of his balance. He is unquestionably very right-handed.
His ability to get to the basket from the high post is reminiscent of Stephen Jackson. He is almost always effective with the dribble even though it sometimes looks a bit sloppy.
Jefferson gets into the lane from the wing in transition extremely quickly for a bigger player.
In the mid-post, Jefferson has a little jumper that must be respected, so when played tightly, he is able to dribble into his defender, back him up, stop, and shoot a nice jumper over him.
He is a spotty perimeter shooter, but he has the kind of form that suggests he will improve during his first few seasons in the NBA. He has a high release point, a great follow-through, and fluid movement in all aspects of his shot.
His decision-making is a little questionable at times, which largely comes from trying to do too much but will certainly progress in this area when he naturally matures as a ballplayer.
Defensively, he does a great job fronting the post and keeping a body on bigger players as he showed against Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin and Kansas’ Darrell Arthur, both of whom struggled when matched up against him.
Beyond his work in the post, Jefferson defends the pick-and-roll well; his long arms are active in the passing lanes; he takes charges and also is a cerebral shot-blocker, not merely an athletic one.
Jefferson will likely fall into that multi-dimensional and ever increasingly useful Jamario Moon niche albeit on a more direct route to the NBA as a late first rounder, early second rounder.
- Click here to see our full list of 2008 Draft Prospect Reports
Christopher Reina is the executive editor of RealGM. He can be reached at Chris.Reina@RealGM.com where he may use your draft questions in a future mailbag edition |
