When Jahmi’us Ramsey was selected by the Sacramento Kings with the 43rd overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, it was known that he would take some time to come into his own in the association. Ramsey was the seventh youngest player on an NBA roster last season at 19 years old and when high-usage scoring was your primary college skill the learning curve becomes even steeper.
With limited practice time due to an unprecedented condensed season impacted by Covid-19, Ramsey’s opportunity to get acclimated with his new teammates and environment was minimal. Any on-court chances were even more scarce this season for JR as he tallied just 94 total minutes with most of those coming in “garbage time”.
It’s nearly impossible to assess any player when there are only two games where his playing time surpassed seven minutes. Particularly a player of Ramsey’s mold who projects to be a microwave scorer and likely would benefit from the opportunity to catch a rhythm.
With that in mind, the time Jahmi’us Ramsey spent in the G-League Bubble is the most that we have to work with at this point in time. He played 12 games for the Agua Caliente Clippers with mixed results on a guard-heavy roster where he averaged 9.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 0.96 assists on 35.6 percent from the field, 22.4 percent from three, and 85.7 percent from the free-throw line.
Not great numbers on the surface, but there were some bright moments where he put up a handful of points in a hurry which led to three games where he surpassed 15 points including a season-high 21 point performance.
Yet, against the Delaware Blue Coats, Ramsey managed to accumulate five fouls throughout only eight minutes of playing time. That same stat line included zero points, zero rebounds, zero assists, and two turnovers – not great.
There is still plenty of reason to believe that Jahmi’us Ramsey can turn himself into the scorer that he was touted as coming out of Texas Tech. 19-year-olds that are not lottery talents typically struggle in their first few seasons, and Ramsey’s Covid affected season was no outlier.
His stellar 42.6 percent on 5.2 three-point attempts per night in college still leaves plenty of room for optimism in Ramsey eventually spacing the floor for the Kings at the minimum.
With an offseason under his belt to improve and add aspects to his raw talent, and hopefully a semi-normal sophomore season ahead of him with typical practice time, there’s a chance for needed improvement.
Jahmi’us Ramsey’s bubble showing was underwhelming, and he was then given very minimal opportunity on Sacramento’s guard-heavy roster to catch any sort of rhythm. The jury is still out on Ramsey, and it’s important to remember that he is only 19 years old in a grown man’s league that player’s often taken time to get comfortable in.
Less than 100 minutes because we were chasing the 10th seed. And failed¦
That’s fucking amazing!
Yeah, saw it on Twitter today. It’s perfect.
My recollection is that the first time I saw it was immediately after the DMC trade was announced.
Consistency!
I want this image on a shirt.
So do I!
Make it happen TKH.
I want it on a shirt photoshopped on Vivek
haha! This is good
I don’t see anything in Ramsey. I hope I’m wrong.
I’ve got no impressions on Ramsey other than he might be best suited in Stockton next year and the guy sure is easy to spot in garbage minutes thanks to his distinctive hairstyle.
Yeah, I think he’s definitely a G-leaguer next season unless he takes a truly gargantuan leap in multiple areas this offseason.
I like that he appears to have very good quickness and athleticism. If he can utilize those on the defensive end, he could make himself into a very useful player.
Grade: Incomplete. Small sample size.
Just look at another 2nd round pick (Xavier Tillman) and the 30th pick (Desmond Bane) from the Grizzles…they already playing significant minutes and helping their team to win ball game.
while our 2nd round rookies finding difficulty reaching 100 minutes of playing time…
It’s all on Lose Walton, even in blowout game, he sub in Ramsey like less than 3-5 minutes ? Fxxk that.
Tillman and Bane were both 4-year college players that were extremely polished for rookies coming into the league. Ramsey was a raw one-and-done (though he shouldn’t have been). I’m not fan of Walton, but there are likely zero teams in the NBA that would have given Ramsey real minutes this year.
I could see him getting more run on another lottery team where it was understood that winning games wasn’t the highest goal for the season.
Sure. I should say, I can see some team totally out of competition throwing him some minutes. But not because they think he’s ready for them or that he’s likely to contribute positively.
The primary point is that the difference between Bane/Tillman’s playing time and Ramsey’s playing time isn’t Walton. Bane and Tillman were significantly better players and more ready for the NBA than Ramsey coming out of college. Which isn’t a knock on Ramsey. That’s just not where he is in his development. And nothing I saw in the bubble said he’s ready for NBA minutes.
So yeah, if they didn’t care about winning they could have thrown more minutes at him. But I’m not sure it would have necessarily benefited the team or the player.
I do agree with you, with Tillman and Bane having spent more time in college, and being older, it’s logical that they would be more likely to make more significant contributions than a youngster like Ramsey.
But if you’re going to have him on the active roster, it only makes sense to give him as much burn as possible when the situation makes sense. There were no shortage of blowouts where Ramsey could have played for stretches of five minutes or more, to try and get his flow going. There’s no way to get actual NBA experience without playing in games that count.
It makes sense for Ramsey to spend most of his time in Stockton next year, so that he can experience that grind in a more typical way that was possible due to the pandemic. But if he’s in Sacramento, he’s got to get some run when the situation permits.
Interesting thing about Memphis vs Sacramento. Grizz had 10 guys with a 1000 total minutes played on their roster, Sacramento had 9. But 3 of those split time between 2 rosters: Cory Joseph (1446 minutes total), Terence Davis (1074 total minutes including 581 with Sac) and Delon Wright (1748 minutes including 696 with Sac).
Meanwhile Bane and Tillman played a bit under 2600 minutes combined.
I would say looking at both rosters, the situations were very different. The real question is probably should the Kings have kept Tillman and I doubt it matters that much either way.
I’m not sure if Tillman was the Kings pick to begin with. I mean yes Tillman was picked by the Kings but I wonder if a trade was already in the works where Memphis wanted the Kings to draft Tillman for them in exchange for the 40th pick which became Woodard.
That’s pretty much always how those draft day trades work. They agree on the trade of picks, then make the pick the other team wants. Same goes for Martin, Jr. and Trent Jr. the previous year.
That’s the least important part of my point, but sure, it was clearly Memphis’ pick. The bigger question is why the Kings preferred Woodard.
Monte McNair clearly chose to trade back and get a different player. Why? If they just liked Woodard better, fine. I’ll buy that anytime. I’m not upset about the Kings not keeping Xavier Tillman or anything, it’s not that much of a needle mover. If anything, I speaks it to Tillman and Memphis doing something right.
¯\_(ã)_/¯
My point is even if the Kings didn’t do the trade with Memphis, Monte would probably just picked Woodard with their pick instead of Tillman. Maybe they just like Woodard more than Tillman.
I personally would have preferred Tillman since I knew there was no chance Giles would remain with the Kings.
IMO Kings preferred Woodard- Tillman has reached his ceiling, Woodard has not Woodard more athletic and more potential and plays the 3.
I have no opinion about this player, but I enjoyed the article.
I like that snow-globe with the 21 in it!
Not acceptable. You are the official Dumbass, and all Dumbasses have opinions.
“I agree,” he said, confirming your point.
Why are scouts overrating the Texas Tech freshmen? BHE? anybody?
I’m not sure who you’re talking about. Texas Tech didn’t really have any freshmen of note this season. Or are you talking about Ramsey, in which case, I’d ask which scouts and what are they saying about him?
Are you thinking of Shannon, Jr.?
Zhaire smith, Jaret Culver, and although Ramsey went in the 2nd round, most mocks had him going in the 1st.
Oh, you’re talking about Texas Tech players in general. Though Culver came out after his sophomore year. I don’t know. I could venture some guesses. First, Chris Beard is a very good coach and employed a defensive system that lends itself to defensive stats. A big part of all 3 of those guys draft profile was their ‘stock’ numbers. Both Culver and Smith were considered guys that would be carried by their defense until the time if/when their offense came around. So I think the issue, to some degree, with both of them is that their defense was overrated (as was Ramsey’s) and they haven’t been able to develop their offense to enough to make up for it. As you note, Ramsey’s pre-draft assessment was all over the place. Some had him as high as the teens. Others had him undrafted. The last Athletic Big Board put him at 45. I think the challenger with mock drafts and big boards is that they’re created by a wide swath of people with various levels of expertise. But very few of them are active scouts. Some are just using their own opinions. Some actually have some connections and build theirs on what they can glean from inside sources. I would guess that people that had Ramsey very high were mostly basing their assessment on stats (17pts, 42% from 3, 2-ish stocks per game…). You’d have to watch him a lot to see how questionable his team defense and offensive decision-making actually were.
Ultimately, I can only guess. I wasn’t high on Smith or Ramsey, but I did like Culver (if not quite as high as he went.). As much as I don’t believe the draft is a crapshoot, it’s certainly an inexact science. As predicting the future tends to be.
I was thinking the same thing: coaching, team defensive scheme, and being surrounded by other athletic players for the college level. Plus maybe everyone appears more rangy in that zonish defense. players might also appear more aggressive than they would appear if they played their man straight up without having a guaranteed help defender, and everyone gets labeled as someone who can guard multiple positions.
Last year, I had Ramsey on my “don’t draft” list. Nothing stood out for him except 3 level shooter and potential. But there are another 40 guys in that category. He does not seem to be a PG and his listed 6/4 height seems exaggerated. On the other hand, it does take time for some young guys to develop.
Woodard- I believe the Kings liked him- size, SF and potential. I liked Tillman but I think he is close to his ceiling and seems a bit clumsy. We shall see in 2 more years.
agree with BHE- Ramsey all over the place in pre-draft analysis. None of the T. Tech guys have worked out in relation to draft slot so far.
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