First thing to understand about this kid is his story/background. Breh was legitimately obese in HS, about 270lbs until his senior year, until one day he said fukk it, I want more from my life than this. His senior year of HS was his first year of organized basketball. He's not only super new to the game still giving him a lot of room to grow, but his body is also still rapidly developing. He slimmed all the way down to 200lbs quickly, his work ethic and faith in himself is off the charts. Breh fell out of the draft because he told teams he knew he'd be a star someday and they were scared off by his confidence
He's in good shape now, and continuing to get into better and better shape. Now in terms of on the court. Breh plays like James Harden and Luka basically as a scorer. His value is with the ball in his hands creating offense. Three level scorer, terrifying off-the-dribble. He can shoot pull-ups, out of hesi, and step-backs from 3 creating space for himself and is comfortable taking and making difficult contested ones. Shot 3s at high volume, and the volume+difficulty of shots+shot versatility+83%FT shooting indicates good potential as a 3PT shot creator in the future. Around the rim he was one of the best finishers in college basketball. He doesn't get above the rim, he uses his strength, smarts, and excellent touch to be a terror around there like how Luka and Harden are. He has that deceleration ability, utilizes pump fakes, jump stops, angles, etc. He shot 75.6 percent at the rim, the best among high-major players 6'5" or shorter, and most of his attempts were from his own creation and contested. Didn't get free ones in transition. IMO the best aspect about Jones though and the one that ties together the Harden/Luka comp as a scorer is his ability to draw fouls. He drew more fouls than anyone else in the nation, brehs FTr destroyed Harden's in college and was at the level of Harden at his peak on Houston. I don't know if I've ever seen a college kid better at drawing fouls than Mason Jones, and as we've seen with guys like Harden, Doncic, Embiid, etc. that can be a game changing skill. He's also a +passer with ball in his hands. He's not amazing, but he can find open teammates off the stuff he creates well. For a score-first wing, his AST% was impressive actually. He scored over 35 points 5 times in 31 games in college, scored over 40 twice. Dude's a bucket.
The flaws? He's not a great explosive athlete. His body is developing, so this could improve, he reportedly improved his vertical roughly 10" over the Summer iirc by continuing to get into shape. His strength and deceleration are valuable unique athletic aspects. He's still learning how to bring value when the ball isn't in his hands - I think continued growth as a shooter will do a lot in this regard and make it easier. He's never going to be a great defender, he's not the most mobile like that, his length isn't bad but it isn't crazy, although his STL% was promising indicating he may have some instincts and be disruptive at least at times.
When you look at how the flaws are fixable and how advanced he is you see the potential. Then though you go back to his off-the-court stuff. Factor in how new he is to the game, how strong his work ethic is, and how his body is still improving and the picture becomes really bright. It's super impressive he's as good as he is for being so new to the game, he grows super quickly, and by virtue of being so new he should continue to grow. Losing that much weight his body surely still has room to grow more athletic. Factor in an insane work ethic and confidence and I have faith he'll tap into a lot of that potential.
this is the one time Houston gave him real run, check out some of his college highlights too. Not saying he'll be a star, but I think he could be a good offensive wing and a very good 6th man type
