Portland Trail Blazers: What should we know about potential JUCO prospect Jay Scrubb?

Per HoopsHype’s Bryan Kalbrosky, the Portland Trail Blazers have been in talks with JUCO Player of the Year Jay Scrubb as a potential 2020 NBA Draft target. What should we know about him?

There’s an often-used saying attached to the scouting of prospects: if you’re good, the right eyes will find you. Such could potentially be the case for the nation’s JUCO Player of the Year, Jay Scrubb of John A. Logan College. Earlier this afternoon, HoopsHype reporter Bryan Kalbrosky reported that Scrubb had multiple interviews with Neil Olshey, the general manager of the Portland Trail Blazers prior to the 2020 NBA Draft.

This fits the typical billing for the Portland Trail Blazers. Over the last few years, they’ve proved intent on finding the “hidden gem;” the home-run hitter. Given Scrubb’s standing on 2020 NBA Draft boards, it’s plausible to assume he could be a target with their No. 46 selection in the second round.

Should that be the case, Scrubb would be the first JUCO-selected player in 16 years. In 2004, the Atlanta Hawks took a chance on Donta Smith, ironically, another Kentucky-born prospect.

For those skeptical of the Blazers’ interest in a junior college prospect, it’s important to note that Scrubb’s potential roadmap to the NBA is only slightly different. He signed and committed to the University of Louisville, a perennial 20-to-25-win program, even during the post-Pitino transition.

In fact, under head coach Chris Mack, the Cardinals were the No. 1 team in the NCAA Top 25 polls in early December. That gives you an idea of the collegiate program Scrubb was poised to contribute to. In an interview, Scrubb noted that he had four Division I offers. Him going to junior college wasn’t something based out of athleticism.

Don’t take me for an expert on Scrubb and his production at Illinois’s John A. Logan College. But, through crash courses and deep dives into his play, there are a few things worth noting in regards to his game.

In final JUCO season, Scrubb averaged 21.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.7 assists on 50.1 percent shooting from the field, 33.3 percent from 3-point range, and 72.7 percent from the free throw line.

Perhaps more specifically, one has to love his ability to generate fouls; on the year, he generated a 49.7 free throw rate. Essentially what this means is that he was drawing whistles on roughly half of his takes, and that led to an impressive 59.8 true shooting percentage.

Experts are gushing over Scrubb’s 3-and-D potential, but where he jumps off the page the most during JUCO play is his play in the open floor. Off misses, he gets out like gangbusters. Per Synergy, he was a whopping 75-of-122.

Most scouting reports make note of that being a cause for detriment, though. On defense, he’s been said to “gamble for steals,” and have lackluster defensive effort as a ball-watcher from time-to-time. Perhaps spending time under the tutelage of Rodney Hood and Trevor Ariza would serve him well.

His Draft profile really hit on the need for a coach to teach him discipline, and the nuances. He struggles with awareness, and can be vulnerable to getting blown by cutters, or lacking the stance to defend drivers, despite the specs (a 6-foot-9 wingspan, and a 40-inch vertical).

One statistic that seemed to fit that JUCO, underdog mentality: he embraced the challenges of defending 1-on-1 players. In isolation situations, he held opposing scorers to just 5-of-21 shooting this past season.

In interviews, he notes his penchant for simply putting the ball in the basket, something the Portland Trail Blazers have been known to covet in prospects. He’s also shown potential as a glass crasher. When the lefty scored off of offensive rebounds, he averaged 1.26 points per possession.

Those closest to Scrubb say that where they’ve seen the biggest transition is in how he’s become a better shooter. He has the look of a three-level scorer, though, based on my count of the shot chart, he shot 12-of-52 from the midrange area, and struggled from the right corners and from the deep left wing. Also of note — and more advanced scouters were much more candid in their descriptions — he has a tendency to have “tunnel vision,” missing cutters and open players.

The more one learned about Scrubb, though, the harder it was to root against him. He appears to come from that McCollum-type mold, in how he wants to put future JUCO players on the map in the same way that the Trail Blazers’ combo guard speaks so avidly about keeping the door open for prospective, future mid-majors.

You can sense his hunger, too. In Ball is Life workouts, he’s often muttering the phrase, “We the ones,” as if to say that he’s up next.

If he does, he would be joining players like Mitch Richmond, Steve Francis, Jimmy Butler, Dennis Rodman and Bob McAdoo to make a successful jump from junior college to the NBA. And wouldn’t that be a Portland Trail Blazers type of story? In 1992, TLC said they didn’t “want no scrubs.” But here in 2020, it might just be the way to go. Mark Jay Scrubb as a potential player to watch for in the 2020 NBA Draft.