School: Tennessee
Year: Junior
Height/Weight: 6’3″, 179 lbs
Strengths:
A big plus about Jordan Bone is that he ran an offense that ranked third in offensive efficiency this past season. The junior point guard took a huge step forward this year in his second year as a starter. He bumped up his scoring, rebounding, and assist totals while taking a bigger role in an offense that featured a two time SEC Player of the Year in Grant Williams. Bone helped turn around a Tennessee program and led them to a #2 seed in the 2019 NCAA tournament.
Bone got an opportunity to show his skillset with an invite to the combine and sure enough he displayed some impressive speed, quickness, and hops. Bone posted the quickest lane agility and shuttle run time while having the second highest vertical jump and the fourth highest three quarter court sprint. He also performed well in the point guard drills at the combine. Bone’s quickness is a big part of his offensive game and likely will be key to his possible performance at the NBA level.
While watching film, Bone shows great aggression to get out and run the fast break at any given moment. He loves to push and catch the defense on their heels and with his tremendous speed and the pace of the NBA he could enjoy that style of downhill attacking play.
Bone was impressive in his ability to gather up assists as the leader of the Vols offense. Out of all NCAA players with 200+ assists last year he had the fifth highest assist/turnover ratio. He has a solid passing ability that, when paired with an ability to get past defenders, could be an interesting mix going forward.
Jordan has decent touch on his floaters and the ability to slip by defenders and finish with either hand. He is a decent shooter who isn’t afraid to fire a deep three either. He shot an impressive 35% from deep this year, a figure that should stick around that mark at the next level. He’s got solid form on his shot and rises up well on his jumpers. Jordan Bone likes to utilize a solid hop step and then can rise over defenders for a short to mid-range pull up.
Weaknesses:
While being both fast and quick, Bone is fairly light for an NBA Point Guard at only 179 lbs. That is 15-20 pounds less than Kyrie Irving and Steph Curry who both are his height. He even weighs less than Kemba Walker who is 6’1″. He will have to fill out if he wants to take the beating of the NBA. His small frame and height also indicate that he probably won’t be able to switch much at the next level.
Bone didn’t show the ability to gather many steals or blocks at the college level. At the combine he had a nice steal on an inbounds play but at the next level he’s got to prove to be an adequate defender to make an NBA roster. He has the quickness to keep players in front of him and the vert to contest jumpers, but he needs to show it in workouts.
As effective as he was at running the Vols offense, there were many moments where I felt as if Bone was trying to play too quick. There were a couple drives where he would attack and get caught looking for someone to find for the kick out. He will have to learn how to balance when to push or instead when to play it slow to be effective at the next level.
Future Outlook:
Bone decided he was going to forego his senior year and stay in the 2019 NBA Draft and is likely to be either a late second round pick or an undrafted free agent. He was the point guard and third option on a successful Vols team. He could develop into a quality guard who could spark a team with his attacking ability, efficient passing, and solid outside shot, but will need to bulk up for that to become a reality.
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