Often undervalued because of an apparent lack of potential, could Josh Hart be the latest senior to fly under the radar until after the NBA Draft?
Who Is Josh Hart?
Josh Hart is a 22-year-old shooting guard who recently finished up his fourth year of NCAA ball at Villanova. Hart is a national champion, as he was Nova’s leading scorer and best player when they emerged from the NCAA Tournament victorious in 2016.
Now that he’s done with his four years of college, Hart is ready to enter the 2017 NBA Draft and make an NBA roster. Hart previously declared for the 2016 NBA Draft, but decided to return to Villanova for his senior season.
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Hart’s decision to return to school was a good one. He didn’t receive much draft love leading up to last year’s draft, and Hart improved significantly as a player in his last collegiate season. Hart’s age and lack of outstanding measurements will likely preclude him from the first round, but he’s got definite strengths to counteract his limitations.
Milwaukee Bucks fans who are also fans of the Wisconsin Badgers might remember Hart, as the Badgers dispatched Villanova in the March Madness tournament a few months ago. Although Nova lost, Hart put up 19 points in the contest.
To get a read of Josh Hart’s profile as an NBA Draft prospect, we’ll look through his strengths, weaknesses, what the experts are saying about Hart and his potential fit with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Strengths
Josh Hart’s greatest strength might be his intangibles. Hart is a proven winner, a trope that does carry real weight even in this new era of statistics and data. An NCAA title doesn’t necessarily make a prospect into a real NBA player, but it certainly doesn’t hurt.
Hart’s draft stock has risen because his scoring has also risen. Hart came into Nova scoring just 7.8 points per game. That number has crept up by around three points per game each year, culminating with Hart scoring 18.7 points per game in his senior season.
Always a capable finisher who has shot 59.2 percent from two-point range in his collegiate career, Hart improved his three-point stroke by his senior season, when he hit 40.4 percent of his 5.1 three-pointers per game. Hart’s shooting isn’t the best part of his game, but it’s extremely important that he’s able to knock down threes when he has to.
Hart is a 6’5″ guard with a long wingspan, explaining why he gobbled up rebounds in college. Hart grabbed 6.8 rebounds per game in his junior year and 6.4 boards per game last season with Villanova. In addition, Hart reached a career-best season in terms of assists, dishing 2.9 per game last year.
In recognition of an excellent senior season, Hart received numerous awards and accolades. He was a consensus First-Team All-American, a finalist for both the Wooden Award and the Naismith Award, and was named Big East Player of the Year.
Weaknesses
Although still quite young in terms of an average person, being 22 years old is one of the biggest factors working against Josh Hart. If he had the kind of season he just put up when he was 18, he’d be a lock for the first round.
Hart took a little longer to develop though, and although he’s certainly going to be drafted he won’t be a top pick. There are reasons besides age that some teams might want to pass on Hart as well.
His 6’8″ wingspan will certainly help, although being 6’5″ means Hart is limited in terms of his position. The NBA is more fluid than ever before in terms of guys playing all over, but with small forwards sometimes standing 6’10” it will be tough for Hart to stay with some of the bigger wings, should he ever end up at a larger position than shooting guard.
Much like Milwaukee’s own Malcolm Brogdon, Hart is a polished player who does a lot of things well but isn’t incredible at anything. It’s highly unlikely he ever becomes a star, which is technically a weakness although there’s nothing wrong with being a role player in the NBA.
What The Experts Say
(as of 5/21/17)
Draft Express (Jonathan Givony): 45th
The Ringer (Kevin O’Connor/Danny Chau/Jonathan Tjarks): 32nd
Sporting News (Sam Vecenie): 28th
The Step Back (Trevor Magnotti and Chris Stone): 24th
Quotes:
Mike Schmitz and Julian Applebome over at DraftExpress believe Hart is a jack of all trades, but perhaps a master of none.
"There isn’t much flash to Hart’s game and his calling card offensively at this stage is perhaps more his ability to do a little bit of everything than any one particular element. He’s an intelligent, opportunistic scorer who scored in a variety of ways at the college level."
In a conversation with Keith Pompey of Philly.com, Josh Hart compared himself to Malcolm Brogdon in terms of being a senior who can come into the NBA and be productive right away.
"“When you have four-year guys definitely like Malcolm, who had a heck of a year, I’m rooting for him,” Hart said. “When you come from great spots like Virginia and Villanova, when you come from programs like that, you know how to play basketball.”"
Fit With The Bucks
As previously mentioned, Hart does have much in common with Malcolm Brogdon. As Hart himself described, both are players who finished four-year careers at respected basketball colleges and didn’t get tons of love leading up to their NBA Drafts.
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In addition to the broad strokes, Hart and Brogdon are somewhat similar players as well. Hart averaged 18.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.5 steals per game on 51.0 percent field goal shooting and 40.4 percent three-point shooting last season.
Brogdon, in his senior season, averaged 18.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 0.9 steals per game on 45.7 percent field goal shooting and 39.1 percent three-point shooting. Statistics don’t tell the whole story, but both players are talented on-ball defenders who received player of the year honors in their conference the season before they were drafted (assuming Hart doesn’t shockingly go undrafted.)
Hart, like Brogdon, probably isn’t ideally an NBA starter. Both of them are talented and versatile players though, and adding another guy who is on or even near Brogdon’s level in the second round would be a huge coup for the Bucks.
Milwaukee could use a solid reserve shooting guard, especially considering both Tony Snell (if he’s retained) and Khris Middleton will be starting going forward. With Rashad Vaughn not panning out, Hart could certainly occupy that reserve shooting guard role in Milwaukee.
Next: NBA Draft 2017 Prospect Watch: Terrance Ferguson
Josh Hart’s projected draft spot varies wildly right now, but he’s likely going to make fans of whatever team picks him up quite happy, especially if he ends up resembling Brogdon at the next level.