Justin Patton - A NBA Draft Update

Justin Patton is a very tall man who is good at basketball.

Glad we got that out of the way.

Last week, Patton spent some time at the NBA Combine and got all of his measurements and whatnot out of the way, as well as showing scouts and journalists what he’s capable of. Luckily for lazy schlubs like myself, the Omaha World-Herald’s basketball aficionado Jon Nyatawa was in attendance to observe and report. Without him, none of the information below would be possible, so special thanks to him for doing his job and travelling to Chicago to scrape the Windy City clean of it’s treasure trove of information.

Though a self-proclaimed 7-footer, Patton actually stands at a dwarf-like 6’10 without shoes on. With the Converse All-Star’s laced up, he hovers over peons at 6’11 ¹⁄₄ with a standing reach of just over 9’. His wingspan measured out at 7’3, his max vertical jump at 30 ¹⁄₂ inches, and he weighed in at 229lbs - mind you, he came into Creighton at 215lbs soaking wet.

Patton became notable with the Jays for his ability to run the floor and, in front of scouts weaponized with stopwatches, he recorded a 3.46 second ³⁄₄ court sprint - or 75 feet if you’re uncertain of the dimensions of a basketball court. According to SportingNews, this wasn’t a great showing of his athleticism, which could potentially ward off some suitors, but teams have seen how he plays in real-time scenarios.

During the combine process, players are typically asked bizarre questions to measure the amount of media properly covering the event. Because of advances in digital media, this allows for annual comic relief for us sports fans, yet causes a bit of strange animus for the answering party considering their livelihood and future paychecks sort of depend on the combine process. Here’s a list of some of the questions the players were asked, click away to laugh or cringe or burn some time at the office.

Justin Patton was asked what he’d do when approaching a yellow light - speed up, or slow down. His response? “Depends on where I’m going.” (via Eddie Sefko on Twitter)

With the NBA Lottery all sorted out, the picks set in place, where does this leave JP in top publication’s mock drafts?

Other than Sports Illustrated, it appears that Patton will go in the late teens in the draft, lest some new information comes out about him. If this holds, it would be only the fourth Bluejay picked in the first round of the draft, joining Benoit Benjamin, Bob Portman, and Doug McDermott.