Date of Birth: October 3rd, 1997
Position: Small Forward/Power Forward
College: Florida State University
Measurements: 6’10, 205 lbs
Strengths:
Jonathan Isaac’s length and potential are his greatest strengths at this point. Because of his length, Isaac is able to rebound at a great rate. He has a DRB% of 25% which is very impressive for a player who likes to stay on the perimeter.
Isaac has solid fundamentals on the court. He rebounds well on both sides, has a nice hop-step into his jumper, and a good stroke as you can see here:
As you can see in the video above, Isaac has a beautiful jump shot. He shot 41% on 2-point jumpers and 35% from deep which are very solid marks for someone as raw as him.
Jonathan Isaac has the makeup to be a great player in the NBA one day. He might very well have the highest potential out of any player in this draft. If he continues to develop his game and continues to get better at the pace that he is at, Jonathan Isaac will quickly become a household name.
Weaknesses:
Isaac is not a polished basketball player yet. He is very lean and is position-less at this point. He isn’t quick enough or skilled enough offensively yet to be a small forward in the league and isn’t big enough to be a power forward.
He will have a tough time creating for himself immediately. Just about 49% of his makes at the rim were assisted. Isaac won’t be able to take guys off the dribble until he has a matured offensive game.
Jonathan Isaac is okay at a lot of things on the basketball court. He needs to become very good at least at a couple of things to succeed. Right now, he isn’t going to come into a team and make an immediate impact. It’ll take him at least a full year to develop some of his skills.
Risks:
Whenever a player has the potential that is through the roof and the player isn’t nearly at that level yet, he is always a risk. Jonathan Isaac has loads of potential, but may never reach it. Whatever team chooses Isaac, will select him with the belief that he will reach that potential one day. Even if he does reach that potential, the team is taking on the risk that they just drafted a player who might not produce much for their team for the next couple of years.
Interesting Stat:
Jonathan Isaac is 1 of 2 freshman forwards in the last 3 years in the NCAA to make 30 3-pointers while shooting above 50% from the field in a season.
Comparison:
Danilo Gallinari
I’ve heard the comparisons of Jonathan Isaac to Kevin Durant, but that is simply not feasible. Isaac has supreme potential, but even if everything works out, he won’t be a Kevin Durant clone. Danilo Gallinari is the comparison that I have given to Jonathan Isaac. If things work out for Isaac and his shot becomes consistent, he could one day produce on the court the way Gallinari has. Danilo is an elite scorer when healthy so Isaac has a lot of work to do, but there is no denying that if Isaac reaches his potential, he could get to the level that Gallinari is at.
Draft Prediction:
Between picks 5 and 10
