St. Bonaventure guards Jaylen Adams and Matt Mobley didn’t have their usual performance against UCLA, but it is hard not to be impressed by the duo. Both players will have a chance to earn money playing professionally.
Jaylen Adams has been a big-time scorer for St. Bonaventure for the last three years. His production and efficiency have been great. For his career, Adams has a 61% True Shooting %. St. Bonaventure won more than 20 games in each of the three seasons of Adams scoring at a high level. Those things go hand-in-hand.
Adams is a near elite level shooter with a solid assist to turnover ratio. He also racks up good steal numbers. Those things point to Adams having a good basketball IQ. His numbers also suggest that he will likely continue to improve throughout his playing career.
Adams isn’t the biggest lead guard at 6-foot-1. That will be a slight knock against him for finding a roster spot in the NBA. He does have good feet and decent strength, though. Add those attributes to his feel and awareness, Adams has a chance to be an NBA rotation player.
In order to make it at the game’s highest level, Adams will have be a great outside shooter, excellent passer and, at least, a decent defender. He’s not far from being a great or elite shooter. He shot 39.6% on 6.3 three-point attempts per game for his college career. On top of that, he was an 83.7% free throw shooter. If he takes a step forward with his shooting, Jaylen Adams is a candidate to make a roster. For his career, Adams averaged 5.4 assists and 2.8 turnovers per game. He averaged 6.5 assists per game as a junior. If anyone saw his behind the back pass after driving to the basket against UCLA, he has a flare for passing. Although he is an average to below average defender overall, Adams averaged 1.6 steals per game for his career. There is some potential for him as a defender.
One of the biggest things that caught my eye in the UCLA game was Adams not letting his poor shooting deter the rest of his game. Aaron Holiday had a snowball of errors down the stretch because he knew he had to make plays and then make up for those errors that he committed while trying to make plays. While Holiday had a litany of errors, Adams took care of the ball and didn’t force plays. Despite being 1-15 from the field, he hit the big shot late in the game then put it out of reach with his foul shooting. It was extremely impressive from a mental toughness and awareness standpoint. Working through errors and failures is a big part of succeeding at the highest level.
Matt Mobley projects more as an overseas prospect or G-League prospect. He’s more of a shooting guard or combo than lead guard. At 6-2/6-3, he is very undersized for those positions in the NBA. At a lower professional level, he could excel.
Mobley has developed into being a good three-point shooter after being a poor shooter as a freshman and below average as a sophomore. He ended up shooting 38% on 8.3 three-point attempts per game as a senior. That suggests that his shooting is no fluke. He isn’t cherry-picking the best outside shots if he is taking over eight per contest.
Other than being a good shooter and a guard that doesn’t turn the ball over, Mobley doesn’t project well to the NBA. He’s not a very good defender, especially for the NBA level, and he doesn’t create for others. He would need to be fantastic in one of those areas to have a realistic chance of making the NBA.
Overseas or in the G-League, Mobley would be a good enough shooter and scorer to be a valuable roster player. He could likely take the ball-handling duties in spots for lead guards at those levels. Matt Mobley has a chance to make a living playing basketball, he will just need to find the right situation.
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