Is former Purdue Boilermakers Center A.J. Hammons the biggest wild card in this year’s NBA Draft? Well, he’s right up there, according to ESPN NBA Draftnik Chad Ford, who answered media questions during today’s NBA Draft media call.
According to Ford, most NBA teams are enticed by A.J. Hammons, but also scared of selecting him too. All the questions that surrounded Hammons during his four years at Purdue, about maturity, attitude and work ethic, have now carried over to the pre-draft and evaluative process.
Of course, these kinds of issues also surrounded Kentucky’s DeMarcus Cousins, now with the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, and Ford made a couple Hammons-Cousins comparisons on this call.
Here’s transcript of the A.J. Hammons Q&A via ESPNmediazone.com
Q. Just kind of interesting to know how you see this playing out for A.J. Hammons [from Purdue] and what the laundry list of pros and cons are surrounding him.
FORD: “Yeah. As far as talent goes, he is extremely talented. He is a gifted big man, and if you’re talking just on talent, he would have been drafted in the lottery. As far as a big man that maybe he has some like DeMarcus Cousins in him and how he plays and how he sees the game.”
“The question for him is many of the same things that have plagued DeMarcus Cousins over the years like commitment, conditioning, playing hard all the time, being a good teammate. He didn’t produce like DeMarcus Cousins produced at Kentucky, too. A lot of it was a little bit more theoretical.”
“DeMarcus Cousins was a big-time scorer and producer as a freshman at Kentucky, and A.J. Hammons really didn’t start to produce at a high level until his senior year this year at Purdue.”
“And I think that’s extended even to the workouts. I think he’s come in and he’s in better shape, but he’s not in elite shape, and I think when you go into a job interview for the NBA Draft, these teams look at you and say, how can you not, for millions of dollars, like be in the best possible shape that you could be for us, right?”
“Like what’s going on? And most prospects are.”
“Most prospects are spending months just changing everything about what they do so that they can come in and show like I’m dedicated, I’m a pro. And so there’s the conundrum with A.J. Hammons”
“The fact that he’s 23 years old, and there’s still questions about his maturity and still questions about his commitment, but that you see the skill set that is so enticing and so attractive that teams want to take him. I’ve talked to a number of teams about him, and I think he’s one of the most difficult prospects to pick.”
“If I told you every team in the league liked him, that wouldn’t be an exaggeration. They love the skill set and if I also told you that every team in the league is afraid to take him, that also wouldn’t be an exaggeration.”
“So where does that end up?”
“I think it ends up probably in the second round where the risk is less and the guaranteed money is less and teams can use that lack of guaranteed money as a way to try to motivate a player by basically saying, look, every year you have to produce or your contract ends, right, as opposed to a guaranteed deal that you get in the first round that can protect you a minimum of two years and most of the time three or four. I think most teams will see that as a motivational tool for A.J.”
Will we have to wait until the second round to see A.J. selected?
Here’s where we have him getting taken in our latest NBA mock draft:
48. Chicago (from POR)-A.J. Hammons, C, Purdue, 7-0, Sr.
Consistent effort has been a concern but Hammons has the size and good skill on the block but can also step out on the perimeter and knock down jumpers. Go here for more on Hammons.
ESPN will televise the 2016 NBA Draft on Thursday, June 23, at 7 p.m. ET. We also published the Hammons analysis of another ESPN NBA Draftnik, Fran Fraschilla, in advance of the NBA Scouting Combine. You can read that in full at this link.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication.
He also consistently appears on numerous talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram