NBA Draft 2012: 5 Prospects with the Biggest Question Marks

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The supposedly weak NBA draft class of 2011 is proving to have a fairly large impact during this 2011-2012 season. Just imagine what the 2012 NBA draft is going to produce. 

As completely stacked as this group of collegiate players may be, they still have their fair share of weaknesses. Even Harrison Barnes, who I consider the third-best prospect in the game, still has his own question mark. 

Read on for the five prospects with the biggest question marks in the upcoming 2012 draft. 

Harrison Barnes

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School: North Carolina

Year: Sophomore

Position: Small forward

2011-2012 Per-Game Stats: 16.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.4 blocks, 1.1 steals

 

As great of a scorer as Harrison Barnes is, he's got a major question mark when it comes to creating his own shot. Barnes is terrific off the catch-and-shoot, but there's no guarantee that he'll have as good a pure point guard as Kendall Marshall feeding him the rock when he makes it to the next level. 

An even bigger question mark is Barnes' ability to pass the ball himself. 1.1 assists per game is a pretty pathetic mark when you remember just how talented the rest of the North Carolina Tar Heels' roster is surrounding the sophomore small forward. 

Terrence Jones

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School: Kentucky

Year: Sophomore

Position: Power forward

2011-2012 Per-Game Stats: 11.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.9 blocks, 1.2 steals

 

At times, Terrence Jones has shown that he can be a leader on this young Kentucky Wildcats squad, despite the fact that he's just a sophomore and shouldn't have been thrust into this position quite yet. 

Jones can sometimes disappear in bigger games and is prone to having some stinkers throughout the season. As rigorous as the NBA schedule is, Jones needs to prove that he can stay motivated throughout a grueling campaign. 

Myck Kabongo

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School: Texas

Year: Freshman

Position: Point guard

2011-2012 Per-Game Stats: 9.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 0.1 blocks, 1.3 steals

 

With tremendous athleticism and quickness, Myck Kabongo assuredly has the physical tools to play point guard at the next level. I'm even more sure that he has the passing skills necessary, as he has court vision that is almost unmatched in the college game. 

But can the talented Texas freshman shoot the ball well enough to avoid becoming a professional liability? Right now, the answer has to be a definitive "no" since Kabongo is shooting 40.4 percent from the field and 28.9 percent from downtown. 

Kendall Marshall

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School: North Carolina 

Year: Sophomore

Position: Point guard

2011-2012 Per-Game Stats: 5.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, 9.6 assists, 0.2 blocks, 1.4 steals

 

The same question that applied to Myck Kabongo applies to Kendall Marshall as well. 

The sophomore point guard for the North Carolina Tar Heels is as good as it gets when it comes to passing the ball, but his teammates are incredibly talented when compared to the rest of college basketball and the same will not be true in the NBA, relatively speaking of course. 

There's no sugar-coating it: Marshall simply can't shoot if his initial plan of passing the ball doesn't work out well enough. 

Patric Young

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School: Florida

Year: Sophomore

Position: Power forward and center

2011-2012 Per-Game Stats: 11.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.6 assist, 1.1 blocks, 0.6 steals

 

Patric Young is an absolute physical specimen, but his basketball skills don't necessarily match up with his physical gifts. 

Young has no post moves worth mentioning, and his jump shot is even worse, assuming, of course, that it's possible for something to be worse than his arsenal of moves in the paint. 

If he's going to become anything more than a mediocre, defensively-oriented big man, he needs some offensive tutoring pronto.