NEW YORK — Jonathan Isaac — and his fellow Jordan Brand Classic teammates — worked out in front of about 40 NBA personnel on Thursday at Terminal 23, but the Florida State signee says he’s focusing on future NBA Drafts and no longer the one in 2016.
The 6-foot-10, 205-pound forward originally from The Bronx is currently slotted at No. 13 in the 2017 Draft by DraftExpress.com.
“Yeah, I have seen that,” Isaac told SNY.tv this week. “It just makes me feel good. It tells me I have a lot of work to do because I don’t want to be Top 10, I want to be No. 1.”
He has enjoyed playing in front of the NBA personnel this week.
“It’s a blessing to be able to play in front of them,” he said. “It’s kind of overwhelming [the] first time playing front of NBA dudes, but it’s a blessing.”
In February, there was some speculation that Isaac, 19, might declare for this year’s draft and try to go straight from IMG Academy to the pros. SI.com came out with a story saying Isaac was considering the move, but Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com quickly shot it down on Twitter, saying, “He’s not eligible” because he “does not have his diploma in hand.”
NBA rules state that a player must be 19 and one year removed from his graduating class to be eligible. Isaac got his core classes finished last season and is one year removed from his graduating class, but didn’t yet have his diploma, IMG coach John Mahoney told SNY.tv. He might have had to hire a lawyer to fight for his case, Givony wrote.
“It was a tough situation,” Isaac said this week. “I was given misinformation. I was told that I was eligible when I really wasn’t. Instead of really looking into it, I just went with it. I think it was a mistake, it was a premature decision to come out with that article. So I just want to learn from it, get past it and focus on being a good freshman at Florida State.”
Isaac declined to say who gave him the “misinformation.”
“He is a senior,” Mahoney said in February. “I just asked him. He will be at Florida State.”
ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla has seen Isaac several times, including at last week’s Nike Hoop Summit where he managed just 7 points and 4 rebounds in 20 minutes as the USA crushed the World Team, 101-67.
“I can tell you that at the practices he was extremely impressive because he’s such a good offensive player,” Fraschilla said on The 4 Quarters Podcast. “He’s got some Brandon Ingram in him, really. You look at his skillset, being a 6-10 kid who can score from the outside, almost outside-in, and with strength I think he’s going to be able to score around the basket as well.
“In terms of the physical package going into his freshman year at Florida State, he has a chance to make a huge impact. And he did impact a lot of the practices in the week leading up to the Hoop Summit game, so I think his future’s very bright, both at Florida State and when he does go to the NBA. But the thing that will be critical to him is physically maturing into an adult because right now he doesn’t have the strength to be able to capably compete at the NBA level, and you hope in 18 months or so that he gets that. Or 30 months, whatever the case may be. He’s certainly on the trajectory of being an NBA first-round pick over the next year, two or three.”
Isaac knows that he must get stronger while at Florida State.
“My strength has kind of been my Achilles’ heel in basketball,” he said.
For now, Isaac is focused on enjoying the Jordan Classic and then heading to Florida State and trying to help Leonard Hamilton’s crew make the NCAA Tournament.
“My role is to come in and produce,” he said, “and try to be the best freshman I can be.”
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