Scottie James NBA Draft Profile: Updated Projections for Liberty Forward

Getty Scottie James #24 of the Bradley Braves is defended by Chance Comanche #21 of the Arizona Wildcats.

Scottie James has been on a bit of a journey to get to this point. After setting high school records at Tarpon Springs (Fla.) High, he shipped up to Peoria (Ill.) to play for the Bradley Braves. After just a season, he decided to change the scenery by transferring to Liberty, a small college in Lynchburg (Va.).

That’s about 2,000 miles of travel from Florida to Illinois to Virginia. James and the 12th-seeded Liberty Flames had to fly across the country again for their NCAA Tournament opening round matchup with No. 5 seed Mississippi State in San Jose.

Should James be over the jetlag, he figures to be an effective inside presence against the Bulldogs. In another SEC matchup back in December, James notched a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double against Alabama.

Also, he made social media waves with a theatrical flop against Lipscomb in the Atlantic Sun Tournament title game.

When not auditioning for WWE Raw, the 6-foot-8, 235-pounder averages 13.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. He holds the 10th-best 2-point percentage in the country at over 70 percent. He also can drain a triple if he needs to (33 percent).

The Flames need him to stay hot to pull the upset over Mississippi State (7:27 p.m. EST, Tru TV). It’s way too early to peg him as an NBA Draft prospect, but could a run in the tournament start to earn him looks as a G-Leaguer?

Let’s take a dive into his prognostications, as well as mock drafts and big boards.

Scottie James NBA Draft Projections & Mock Draft

Currently, there’s absolutely nothing for James on mock drafts or draft boards. Bryan Kalbrosky of Hoops Hype aggregates 5 separate mock drafts and doesn’t list Merrill on any of them. ESPN doesn’t list him on its “best player available” either.

Getting drafted doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a professional future, however. Several NBA frontcourt contributors only stand 6-foot-8, so if James adds girth to his 235-pound frame, he has a shot to be a bully inside for someone.

Scottie James: Who Does He Compare To?

James compares to a few NBA players. The criteria has to be someone in the 6-foot-8 to 6-foot-9 range, and has to weigh above 235 pounds. With that said, the first comparison is Brooklyn Nets forward Alan Williams.

Williams played at a similarly low-profile school at UC Santa Barbara. He’s a 6-foot-8, 265-pounder who’s best season came in 2016 with the Phoenix Suns. That season, he put up 7.4 points and 6.2 rebounds a game.

Coming off the bench, he’s a wide-body that can give effort minutes by scrapping for buckets on offensive rebounds. Williams also switches time on the G-League affiliate in Long Island at the moment, which appears to be a decent parallel path for James.

The other decent corollary is Sixers’ reserve forward Amir Johnson, who entered the NBA right out of Westchester High in Los Angeles, going in the second round to Detroit. In addition to his 6-foot-9, 240-pound frame, he also possesses James’ ability to hit a 3 (33.7 percent in his career).

Williams and Johnson are examples of players that excel in limited ways: rebound, score around the basket and hit a 3 if no one is around them. James can follow this model to a journeyman career between the NBA and the G-League.