Michigan freshman Jett Howard a first-round pick in latest NBA mock draft
Michigan Wolverines basketball freshman guard Jett Howard is one of the top pure scorers in the Big Ten, ranking ninth in the league overall and second among freshmen with 15.5 points per game. Since his fantastic exhibition game against Ferris State to the midway point of the regular season, he’s generated a lot of NBA buzz.
The Athletic‘s Sam Vecenie released a fresh mock draft Jan. 12, and placed Howard No. 16 overall to the Phoenix Suns. He was the seventh wing player to appear, behind Villanova’s Cam Whitmore (fourth), Alabama’s Brandon Miller (fifth), Overtime Elite’s Ausar Thompson (sixth), Duke’s Dariq Whitehead (10th), Kansas’ Gradey Dick (13th) and Ohio State’s Brice Sensabaugh (14th).
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The number of things Howard is able to do offensively stands out to Vecenie. He’s an excellent spot-up shooter, with a 55.6 effective field goal percentage on jump shots, which ranks in the 85th percentile nationally per Synergy. He’s hitting 38.8 percent of his three-point attempts, but also has a runner (52.2 percent), pull-up jumper (39.7 percent) and can finish at the rim (54.8 percent). His passing is good and improving, with a 2.5 assist per game average. He dished 7 assists in Michigan’s win over Northwestern Sunday.
“Howard ticks a lot of boxes for teams looking to add to their wing rotation,” Vecenie wrote of the Michigan freshman. “He has plus positional size for the wing at 6-8 and hits shots at an exceedingly high level off movement with a beautiful, fluid stroke. On top of that, he’s a really sharp passer who can make plays off the bounce, especially off some of the zoom actions Michigan runs when he gets the ball coming off a pin-down and takes dribble-handoffs to get some penetration into the paint.
“He’s not a great athlete, though. It’s hard to see him truly separating right now from his man. But he does have some shake that he could grow into.”
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Some view Howard as a potential lottery pick, but Vecenie put him just on the outside looking in. His defense, which has struggled, is a big reason why.
“The defense pushes him slightly outside of the lottery for me — he really struggles with his quickness to guard — but Howard is terrific and possesses many skills that evaluators covet,” Vecenie said.
Howard could become Michigan’s fourth one-and-done player this century, joining Ignas Brazdeikis (2019), Caleb Houstan (2022) and Moussa Diabate (2022).
Michigan ranks sixth nationally with 29 all-time first-round NBA Draft picks, trailing Kentucky (57), North Carolina (53), Duke (53), UCLA (40) and Kansas (35). The Wolverines have had nine first-rounders since 2013, with the most recent being Franz Wagner in 2021 (No. 8 to the Orlando Magic).
