NBA Draft classes are now made up of so many different types of players, from international stars to four-year seniors and players who never took a step on a college campus. Ron Holland is one of the latter and was part of the recently shut down G-League Ignite Team, which allowed players at the top of the recruiting class to avoid college and focus on their basketball development instead.
Ron Holland Draft Profile
Holland spent two years with the Ignite. In the first, he suffered a season-ending thumb injury. Last year, he played in all 14 games and got a chance to showcase his skills. Holland averaged 33.6 minutes, 20.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.5 steals per game. He doesn’t have much experience post-high school but has two Olympic gold medals from the FIBA Under-17 Basketball World Cup and another from the FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship.
Strengths
While Holland showed off his scoring, he is most praised for his defense. He hustles on defense and can easily switch onto other attackers off of screens. Holland has explosive speed, which usually cuts off fastbreaks or leads to chase down blocks. He will be one of the youngest players selected in the draft, which hopefully means a team will have more time to develop him.
Weaknesses
Holland needs to work on his offensive flow. He isn’t the best at shooting off the dribble and usually takes extra time to spot-up and get his feet set. Holland is a 75% free-throw shooter, so it feels like the mechanics are there; he just needs help putting it together consistently. He turns the ball over entirely too much, so he needs to work on making crisp passes and his ball handling.
Player comparison: Cam Whitmore and Will Barton
Neither of these are bad comps, but you’d hope for a higher ceiling for a potential top-10 pick. Still, you can see what type of player Holland is expected to be. He is a defensive-first forward/wing who will hopefully develop his shot to go along with his slashing ability. Some analysts think his ceiling is Josh Jackson, but more realistically he grows into a role player with upside.