Every year, there are players expected to hear his name called early in the draft but who fall lower than initially anticipated. One of the players in the 2024 NBA Draft who could deal with such a slide is Ron Holland.
While he was projected the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft on HoopsHype’s Aggregate Mock Draft as recently as just a few months ago in January, a lot has changed since then. Now, the projections are far lower.
Holland was a McDonald’s All-American who helped lead Team USA to win gold medals at the FIBA U-17 World Cup and the FIBA U-16 Americas Championship. Some recruiting services had him as the top player in his class before he eventually chose to play for the G League Ignite.
While he was often the focal point of his offense, it was a bit of a disastrous season for the program. Eventually, in fact, the G League made the correct decision to pull the plug on the Ignite.
Holland suffered a ruptured tendon in his right thumb at the end of January and had season-ending surgery. But when it was all said and done, his year looked pretty good on paper.
He averaged 19.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 2.3 steals per game during his 29 appearances playing against pros. So why do many feel that his draft stock is sliding? Here are some of the latest reports.
Streaky shooting
Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo (via ESPN): His poor decision-making and streakiness as a shooter were concerns that were amplified by his outsized role last season, but the 18-year-old has plenty of room to continue to improve. His season was cut short by a ruptured tendon in his right thumb, which forced him to miss the Ignite’s final 19 games.
Pre-draft process
Sam Vecenie (via The Athletic): “His range is seen as quite wide right now. He hasn’t had a strong pre-draft process; he struggled to impress teams during visits and at his pro day, according to league sources. However, Holland isn’t the type of player who typically impresses in those situations, so teams would be wise not to over-index on that portion of the process.”
This is a more appropriate range
NBA scout, via Raphael Barlowe (via Andscape): “I think Ron is really in his normal range. I always had him around picks 15-25. I think he’ll go top 20, but it’s all in the eyes of the beholder. When he was promoted as a potential No. 1 pick or as a top-5 pick last summer and fall, a lot of people in the media followed suit. Now you’re seeing he’s dropping on these mock drafts even though he had good numbers, but I don’t think he’s falling. He [is] around where he should have always been.”
Lack of team success
Jonathan Wasserman (via Bleacher Report): “The losses, poor shooting and suspect decision-making have turned certain scouts off, but even without a reliable jump shot or high-level creation, he still put up big numbers using his speed, improved ball-handling, athleticism around the basket and streak shotmaking.”
After the Ignite failed to reach expectations this season, Holland could potentially face some of those consequences on draft night. But he still projects as one of the most intriguing players in this class.
At BetMGM, the draft position over/under for Holland was set at 9.5 and he was +120 to go in the top ten.
