LA Clippers: Three second-round gems that can be unearthed in the 2020 NBA Draft

LA Clippers prospect #3 – Jay Scrubb (SG/SF, John A. Logan College [NJCAA])

Jay Scrubb appears to be another promising asset that would profit from a G League assignment.

Scrubb was initially poised to play at Louisville in the 2020/21 NCAA season, however chose to declare for the draft after an impressive sophomore year with John A. Logan College.

The Kentucky native averaged 21.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists a game last season, and will be hoping that his collegiate exploits will make him the first Junior College draftee since 2004 (Donta Smith).

At 6’6” and weighing 200 pounds, the 20-year-old possesses an NBA-ready body that will allow him quality opportunities to advance his offensive inventory at the professional level. One aspect that scouts will be fiercely monitoring is Scrubb’s three-point shooting, where he shot the ball dramatically worse as a sophomore (33.3 percent) than from distance in his freshman campaign (46.4 percent).

The glaring criticism of Scrubb at the collegiate level was his subpar defense, which looms rather ominously at an NBA level where offensive talent is exponentially greater than that of the NJCAA. To earn minutes at the Clippers, Scrubb will need to develop a defensive portfolio that incorporates his strong physical attributes to create no less than a neutral impact on this side of the floor.

But despite his defensive frailties, optimism remains for Scrubb to emerge on the shortlist of draft day steals. There is a belief that if Scrubb was competing in the NCAA, he would be in the upper echelon of second-round projections. And with a – quite frankly – flat talent pool in the 2020 class, there is every chance that Scrubb could find himself as one of the standout rookies of the 2020/21 season.