Marquette Golden Eagles star Kam Jones is a versatile guard prospect that absolutely dominated college basketball last season en route to a second-team All-American selection, averaging 19.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game last year while shooting 48% from the field. Though his three-ball suffered in percentage from his previous season, he took a lot more of his shots off of the dribble, hitting about 1.9 per 6.1 attempts per game for 31%.
Jones played a lot of lead initiator for Marquette this past season, lending credence to the theory he can be a true combo guard at the NBA level, playing both on and off of the ball. His marked increase in assist numbers also supports this idea, as he became the team’s best playmaker, especially off of a live handle.
Though he was inefficient from distance, Jones was very much a problem inside the arc for opposing defenses, as his craftiness and ability to finish at the rim, including through contact, help him to create offense both for himself and for others. He also provided rebounding, using his 6-foot-5 frame to get near the rim.
Defensively, he also helped to create transition opportunities by averaging 1.4 steals per, meaning he will be playable early on in his career for whichever NBA team decides to draft him. His experience will lend itself to early impact, as he is fully developed physically at 200 pounds. He’s strong, evident in the aforementioned rebounding as well as his ability to finish at the rim – he almost invites contact at the cup, though he only averaged 2.6 free-throw attempts per game.
The issues with Jones come when discussing his shooting percentages, which were poor this year outside of attempts in the lane. He shot just 65% from the line, which underlines his massive drop in three-point shooting from the previous season, where he was 40%. Still, Jones brings so much to the table that his lacking outside game should not be a complete stock killer overall.
Whoever decides to select him will be getting a player who is ready made to lead the second unit of an offense, with eventual hope that he can be a starting guard who can slide into either spot.
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