Perry Ellis and the draft…

 I think he will be a solid NBA player.  He may never be a starter or average 10 points, but I bet he plays 10 years.  The way he approaches the game should translate.  All these prospects have come and gone at Kansas and all he has done is continue to produce and improve.

 I think he will be a solid NBA player.  He may never be a starter or average 10 points, but I bet he plays 10 years.  The way he approaches the game should translate.  All these prospects have come and gone at Kansas and all he has done is continue to produce and improve.

He impressed me last night. Maybe able to carvecout a role similar to Karl Landry.

He impressed me last night. Maybe able to carvecout a role similar to Karl Landry.

 is the second coming of Brian Cook from Illinois.

He has always had a great post game and great mid range jumper since the day he arrived at KU. But this year he added a reliable college 3 pt shot and has been driving on bigs more. I have no concerns about his offensively.

Defensively he isn’t just "not good." By NBA standards, he is terrible. With KU’s swarming defense, he is rarely asked to stop a guy one on one, but he usually gets burned when he does. He gets pushed around all the time and the boys are just going to get bigger or stronger at the next level. He does an ok job of hedging on the perimeter and recovering back to his man. He will be a rebounding liability for any team that takes him. He will offer no rim protection at the next level.

He will spend his career riding the bench in the NBA or being a stud in the euroleague. I don’t see any starter potential in him for the NBA.

FYI: I am a KU fan and LOVE Perry, as a college player. I just don’t see him being able to change his fundamental softness personality/playing style, since he hasn’t gotten tougher in the last 4 years. More consistant, yes. Better, yes. Tougher, no.

 is the second coming of Brian Cook from Illinois.

He has always had a great post game and great mid range jumper since the day he arrived at KU. But this year he added a reliable college 3 pt shot and has been driving on bigs more. I have no concerns about his offensively.

Defensively he isn’t just "not good." By NBA standards, he is terrible. With KU’s swarming defense, he is rarely asked to stop a guy one on one, but he usually gets burned when he does. He gets pushed around all the time and the boys are just going to get bigger or stronger at the next level. He does an ok job of hedging on the perimeter and recovering back to his man. He will be a rebounding liability for any team that takes him. He will offer no rim protection at the next level.

He will spend his career riding the bench in the NBA or being a stud in the euroleague. I don’t see any starter potential in him for the NBA.

FYI: I am a KU fan and LOVE Perry, as a college player. I just don’t see him being able to change his fundamental softness personality/playing style, since he hasn’t gotten tougher in the last 4 years. More consistant, yes. Better, yes. Tougher, no.

Ellis can do some things at the NBA level, but I don’t think he ever moves into a starting position like Morris. In fact, Morris was a more NBA style player, who was more versatile on the perimeter, with better ball handling, and a player who struggled far less against longer players. He was the Big-12 Player of the Year his junior season, and I think maybe time has effected your memory of him as a prospect.

Still, Ellis is a mid-range beast with excellent footwork. One thing I’ve noticed most about his improvement from last season is being able to take hit off a drive and still finish. The past three seasons he would get blocked so many times, and he would often go straight into players. This year his ability to go both right or left, use his body to create separation and contact, then finish with his off hand is NOTICABLY head and shoulders above where it was in years past.

He’s developed a perimeter shot, but is still a little awkward on the perimeter. I would have liked to see more improvement on his handle, but he can still bring the ball up at times. Not much of a crossover though, despite a decent first step for a forward.

Perry will be a system fit. I think in the right organization he can use his inside/outside game to his advantage and carve out a role. He’s clearly put in a lot of work, and his athleticism is no longer a knock. He gets off the floor quick, and is really a pretty explosive player (but a two footed jumper for sure, not a graceful spring loaded one footed leaper). I think 35-60 is his range. I do think he gets picked, but it may take him a while to find a spot where he’s more than a garbage time player.

Ellis can do some things at the NBA level, but I don’t think he ever moves into a starting position like Morris. In fact, Morris was a more NBA style player, who was more versatile on the perimeter, with better ball handling, and a player who struggled far less against longer players. He was the Big-12 Player of the Year his junior season, and I think maybe time has effected your memory of him as a prospect.

Still, Ellis is a mid-range beast with excellent footwork. One thing I’ve noticed most about his improvement from last season is being able to take hit off a drive and still finish. The past three seasons he would get blocked so many times, and he would often go straight into players. This year his ability to go both right or left, use his body to create separation and contact, then finish with his off hand is NOTICABLY head and shoulders above where it was in years past.

He’s developed a perimeter shot, but is still a little awkward on the perimeter. I would have liked to see more improvement on his handle, but he can still bring the ball up at times. Not much of a crossover though, despite a decent first step for a forward.

Perry will be a system fit. I think in the right organization he can use his inside/outside game to his advantage and carve out a role. He’s clearly put in a lot of work, and his athleticism is no longer a knock. He gets off the floor quick, and is really a pretty explosive player (but a two footed jumper for sure, not a graceful spring loaded one footed leaper). I think 35-60 is his range. I do think he gets picked, but it may take him a while to find a spot where he’s more than a garbage time player.

Late second-rounder.  What you see is what you get.  He is 22, a senior, and should have dominated against younger, less experienced, and probably less talented competition.  He was inconsistent this year, and was overall unimpressive from an NBA standpoint.  He is a good college player, on a very good college team, but he doesn’t even do any one thing amazongly well.  He is not a lock-down defender, not a great ball handler, not a great shooter, so what does he do at an NBA level?  A few good tournament games cannot undo the last 4 years.  This shouldn’t take away from the fact that he will graduate college, and quite possibly win a national championship in the process.  He always struck me as a high character kid so I suspect he will do well in life at whatever he puts his mind to.  Though just not in the NBA.

Late second-rounder.  What you see is what you get.  He is 22, a senior, and should have dominated against younger, less experienced, and probably less talented competition.  He was inconsistent this year, and was overall unimpressive from an NBA standpoint.  He is a good college player, on a very good college team, but he doesn’t even do any one thing amazongly well.  He is not a lock-down defender, not a great ball handler, not a great shooter, so what does he do at an NBA level?  A few good tournament games cannot undo the last 4 years.  This shouldn’t take away from the fact that he will graduate college, and quite possibly win a national championship in the process.  He always struck me as a high character kid so I suspect he will do well in life at whatever he puts his mind to.  Though just not in the NBA.

 Ellis has grown on me some as a prospect. A couple of years ago I would have said there was no way he was an NBA player. He was a tweener, too small and not athletic enough to play in the post and not skilled or quick enough to play on the perimeter. Plus he was inconsistent from game to game and it seemed like he generally struggled against longer and more athletic defenders.

Over the past couple of years, he has made great strides in his perimeter game and seems much more comfortable both handling and shooting it out to three point range. I could legitimately see him functioning as both a serviceable 3 and small ball 4 at the next level. I see some similarities to Ryan gomes in his skill-set and gomes was a decent NBA player for a stretch. Some of the same concerns with his game translating to the next level still exist, but if nothing else he has demonstrated he is a hard worker and high character guy. I think he will get drafted in the second round and wouldn’t be surprised to see him carve out a decent NBA career.

 Ellis has grown on me some as a prospect. A couple of years ago I would have said there was no way he was an NBA player. He was a tweener, too small and not athletic enough to play in the post and not skilled or quick enough to play on the perimeter. Plus he was inconsistent from game to game and it seemed like he generally struggled against longer and more athletic defenders.

Over the past couple of years, he has made great strides in his perimeter game and seems much more comfortable both handling and shooting it out to three point range. I could legitimately see him functioning as both a serviceable 3 and small ball 4 at the next level. I see some similarities to Ryan gomes in his skill-set and gomes was a decent NBA player for a stretch. Some of the same concerns with his game translating to the next level still exist, but if nothing else he has demonstrated he is a hard worker and high character guy. I think he will get drafted in the second round and wouldn’t be surprised to see him carve out a decent NBA career.