I can’t remember a time where a player as talented as Darius Acuff Jr. was so polarizing. If you go online right now and just search his name you’ll see a bunch of mock drafts ranging him from a top 3 pick and the way down to the 38th best prospect in the draft. There have been players that people were confused about, or maybe just not sure about, but for there to be this much disparity in his perceived value has to be a rarity. Now, I fall in the former camp – as you can tell by the title I think that he’s going to be a superstar in the league, but before I give you my reasoning I want you to watch this video and let your eyes dictate how you feel.

Now does that seem like the 38th best player available to you?

Team: Arkansas Razorbacks

Counting Stats: 22.7 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 6.4 APG

Shooting Splits: 48.7 FG%, 43.7 3P%, 80.1 FT%

Hardware/Honors: SEC Rookie of the Year, SEC All-Freshman Team First-Team All-SEC, SEC Player of the Year, SEC Tournament Champion, Impending All-American 1st-Team Selection

Now, I’m not insane. For the Jazz specifically if we’re lucky enough to land 1-3 I think we clearly need to take Boozer, Dybantsa, or Peterson (click on the hyperlinks for the Draft Profiles we’ve already done), but if we fall to No. 4? If we don’t select Acuff I think that decision will haunt us for years to come. Acuff really only has one defect in his game but in every other aspect of the game, by every metric, and by every anecdote he is a phenomenal basketball player. He’s efficient, he has the ability to go off for BIG scoring nights (49 against Alabama and 37 against Oklahoma just a few days ago), he is a fantastic facilitator (led the SEC in assists per game as a true Freshman), he’s fast, he’s strong, he can play at different paces, he takes care of the ball even when he has such a high usage rate… I mean what else can I say?

In the NBA you need to be able to score at all three levels and Darius has that firmly in his bag. He shoots nearly 60% around the rim, 42% in the midrange, and 43.7% (!!) from deep. His three point shooting ability shouldn’t be overlooked either. The secret has been out on Acuff for quite some time so the 3 point looks he’s getting aren’t the “lick your finger and check the wind” kind of open shots I was talking about in fellow SEC player Thomas Haugh’s profile. These are TOUGH buckets – iso situations, side-steps, tween tween pullups, in transition; it’s completely fair to say that Acuff is an ELITE offensive talent. If the tape and the numbers aren’t doing it for you, maybe some of these superlatives will:

Joined Brandon Miller and Anthony Davis as the only SEC players to win BOTH Freshman of the Year and SEC Player of the Year.Only player since “Pistol” Pete Maravich to lead the SEC in points and assists in the same season.Statistically, he’s had the BEST season of any player coached by John Calipari with the exception of Anthony Davis.

If that doesn’t scream “superstar” I don’t know what will.

The one weakness of his game is his defensive ability. Let’s not get it twisted, though; he’s not a bad defender, he’s just not great. On the year he’s averaging 1.1 stocks (steals + blocks) a game which is fine, but when you look at other guys in the SEC like Duke Miles who’s averaging 2.6 steals or Aiden Sherrell who’s averaging 2.3 blocks, the numbers seem lacking. His defensive rating of 116 seems horrendous too but when he has a net rating of 13.3 it’s pretty easy to forget his “lackluster” defense when he’s one of the best offensive players in the country.

By every metric he is a slightly above league average defender. He has an above league average defensive win share and defensive box +/-. Is he going to earn any All-Defensive selections this year in college or in the NBA? I doubt it. Does that mean we should overlook who he is as a player? Absolutely not.

I’m assuming that this is the largest disconnect with the people who have Acuff outside of the lottery in their mock drafts. I’m not sure there’s anything that we can really do about that, either. I mean we can’t possibly think of any NBA players who are/were slightly above league average defenders who turned out to be superstars, can we?

Not ONE name is coming to mind.

I’m certainly drawing blanks. I guess the draft nerds got this one right. Touché.

If it hasn’t been obvious to this point; yes, I think we should draft him if we have the chance. Again, if our draft pick falls in the Top 3 then we need to go with the clear cut superstars in this draft. If we fall 4-8 and Darius Acuff Jr. is still on the board? Our decision should only take as much time as it takes to write his name on the draft card.

He’s not a shot-chucker, he knows how to put the ball in the hoop, he isn’t a traffic cone on defense, he rises to the occasion in the biggest moments, and he makes his teammates better because he’s helped raise the draft stock of Meleek Thomas and Trevon Brazile in a lot of people’s minds, mine included.

He’s been part of a winning culture this year with Coach Cal, and I think that he could very easily bring that winning mentality to the Utah. Just mere moments ago the Razorbacks lifted the SEC Tournament Championship Trophy and Darius Acuff had his fingerprints all over the game with 30 points, 11 assists, and shot 45% from the field. We NEED that on our team, and I think that we have the roster to make the most out of it.

In my mind the absolute zenith of what he could be on this team in a backcourt with Keyonte George is what we saw a few years ago in Portland with Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. Did that pairing have flaws? Absolutely. Did the Trailblazers maximize what those two could be? I’m not so sure. Neither Key or Darius will be winning and DPOY Awards anytime soon, but thankfully we have guys like Jaren Jackson Jr. and (hopefully) Walker Kessler to make up for some of that. Not to mention the defensive efforts of Elijah Harkless that we’ve seen this year. I believe in this front office to make this pairing work should we be lucky enough to have Acuff fall to us, and I really believe in what he could be as a NBA player.

Don’t let these people with Mock Drafts on Twitter fool you. Darius Acuff Jr. is a SUPERSTAR. Trust your eyes.

Did you watch the SEC Tournament Final? What do you think Acuff could be at his peak? Sound off in the comments below!

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