The Rundown:

I think it has been clear in my draft analysis, be it this year or last, that I am definitely, unequivocally, undisputedly NOT high on small guards. I believe that an outlier skill is needed for small guards to be a good or great NBA player. So, it may come as a shock for many to see the 6’2, definitively small Jean Montero holding prime real estate in my lottery. So, if my philosophy is dead set on small guards getting a not so fair shot, it is equally as sure in what forces my hand and dictates my appreciation on the floor generals. I believe that if a point guard prospect can reasonably be trusted to run 20+ pick and rolls in a game, there is a role for them in the league. So, Jean Montero? Have I got a job for you!

Jean is exquisite in the pick and roll, using his jaw dropping creativity and flair to open windows most players don’t dream of. The career of a big man in a Jean Montero offense will be like living on easy street, just run to the rim and you will be doing your job to perfection. While passing is a prerequisite in the arsenal of any presumptive pick and roll maestro, a scoring threat is just as necessary. Jean uses generational change of direction, manipulation, and deceleration to get to his spots, where his touch and immense finishing package will do the rest of the work. With a very refined and creative handle at his disposal as well, half court offense shouldn’t be a problem for Montero (best Lil Nas X pun/joke in the comments gets put in the scouting report so get brainstorming). While his shooting is at this point inconsistent, I buy the shot to a fair extent. He has a quick release, especially off the catch, flashes difficult shot making, is a good free throw shooter with good touch, (great indicators of shooting) and shows legit deep range.

The worry comes on defense, which is why I drop a large majority of exquisitely talented offensive guards. At his current level his defense is actually quite good, especially in a team sense. He has great IQ and longish arms, making him a solid point of attack defender, and his quick hands make him great in a team defense. Great steal numbers and solid shot blocking instincts make me more confident than most on his defense, but his slim frame and height will invite attackers every game, day 1 and onward. If Montero can prove to not be a liability on this end, it is hard to imagine him falling out of a coaches good graces purely due to the effectiveness of his offense. We shall see if this context where his creativity is pushed to the very max is beneficial, or if it is just giving a lackluster prospect an altogether unlackluster palette.

Synopsis:

Almost unbelievably agile and flexible, and uses his creativity in his handle and passes to the greatest extent possible. A fairly projectible shot to go along with this is more than enough to bet high and assume it makes up for his (perhaps) untranslatable defense.

Comparisons:

D’Angelo Russell, a bit of Trae Young, a bit of Stephon Marbury, maybe a sprinkle of Dennis Schroder and De’Aaron Fox?

Montero is one of the most crafty players this year. However, he is small and plays a very one sided game. For that reason, I don’t love him. On the plus side, he is a nifty passer who has excellent court vision. He is a good athlete, who is a great self creator and can score off the dribble. Montero is a decent shooter, but on the flip side he is a great playmaker. My one concern is that his numbers are being inflated, playing in the Overtime Elite. Essentially, he is competing against high schoolers. Due to that and a couple other factors, he is super hard to evaluate. If he can add strength and physicality to his game, he will be a great floor general.

Comparison: Patty Mills/Lou Williams

Projected Draft Range: 20-45

Height 6'3

Weight 180 lbs

Wingspan 6'4

DOB 7/3/03 (Draft Age: 19)

Pre-Draft Team Overtime Elite

Offense

• Shifty attacker.

• Good finisher playing at a high speed. Nice floater.

• Can make advanced reads out of the PNR.

• Perimeter shooting is a work in progress. Needs it to offset his lack of size.

Defense

• Good rebounder considering his size.

• Ball watches, motor is intermittent.

• Quick hands and footwork

Swing Factors

Role

• LOW:

• HIGH:

Ranking Scale:

Athleticism: 4/8

3pt shot: 5/10

Finishing: 5/10

Handle: 7/10

Playmaking: 6/8

Defensive Versatility: 3/10

Defensive Positioning: 4/8

Rebounding: 3/6

NBA Fit: 7 /10

Total score: 44/80

Honestly idk why Montero fell off so hard with people. Yes he went to OTE and it soured people's opinion on him really hard because no one really knows what's the deal over there. But like you got actual tape of him doing really good overseas in the Spanish 2nd division as a 16-17 year old and people had him as a surefire lottery pick back then. He was dominating at the Nike Hoop Summit a couple of months ago which fair enough, was a bunch of high schoolers (albeit the top ones). So it's a shame he got injured during the combine scrimmages and couldn't show his game. If you go look at the tape he looks like a pretty electric point guard with a lot of scoring and playmaking ability. I've seen some people say he's undersized but he's 6'2 which is very normal height for point guard. He's also one of the youngest players at the draft, think only Duren, AJG and Nzosa are younger so unless he's doing awful in workouts/interviews I can't think of a reason he wouldn't be worth a flier in the mid late first looking for a project player.

Best fits: Minnesota, Miami, Golden State, honestly whoever is willing to take the risk and has an open guard spot on the bench

Player analysis

Jean started off his season with the experimental Overtime Elite as a mid-first round pick and actually stayed in the range for a majority of the year before slipping in the pre-draft process. I think teams started to look at his lack of size and poor efficiency despite younger competition and really soured on him. Montero made a name for himself through his agility and speed and the way it made him an effective shot creator, he used his twitchiness to blow past defenders and his size allowed him to do tricky moves. In the league however trickiness doesn’t really work unless you have a great shot to pair with it and Jean simply did not post the splits high enough to convince scouts. The Overtime Elite is also very hard to evaluate not only because this is it’s first year but also because the league is kind of a fraud, most of the competition is against their own players and for prospects the age of college players that doesn’t pose well to organizations. It's a little suspicious when a prospect goes for playing against highschool level talent rather than a pro league or college team, I think Montero could have been in the draft range of another smaller guard prospect, Kennedy Chandler, if he had gone a different route. Jean stands only at around 6’0 and without a jump shot it makes it likely that he just won’t work on offense, in terms of playmaking he didn’t have options with OE so that wasn’t shown off as often as it should. I think many of you can infer how effective a 6’0 guard was on defense. Overall I like Montero’s intangibles but I think he has many scares in his on and off the court stuff.

Projection

Draft range: [ 34 - 56 ]

Comp: [ Dennis Schroder ]

Strengths: Shooting and Playmaking Weaknesses: Size and Athleticism plus Shot Creation

High Side Comp: CJ McCollum/ Jamal Murray Low Side Comp: Shabbaz Napier

Best Fit: Primary Ball Handler and Facilitator

Draft Range: 20-58

Result: UDFA- NYK

Athleticism: 4/10 Size: 2/5 Defense: 5/10 Strength: 2/5 Quickness: 7/10 Creation: 4/5 Jumpshot: 8/10 Finishing: 3/5 NBA Ready: 3/5 Ball Handling: 8/10 Passing: 8/10 Intangibles: 4/5 Potential: 7/10 TOTAL: 65= Mid First

Jean Montero is a smooth guard who’s crafty, quick, and shifty. He has a great mid range and can finish around the rim. He’s on the smaller side and will have to develop his floater. He’s needs to work on his playmaking because he has consistency of making bad passes.

Celling: Starter/ Patty Mills

Floor: Out of the leauge/ Isiah Thomas

Strengths:

• Has an amazing handle, can really sauce up his defenders to find his shots

• A really nice mid range jumper

• Shot mechanics are super smooth

• His 3 point shoot looks really good and he's very confident in it

• Has some superstar swagger to him

• Super quick, shifty guard

• Has a really nice ball fake

• Always finds the open man on the perimeter

• Pretty good at threading the needle to hit the roller

• Can read the occasional passing lane

• Really young (2003)

Flaws:

• Played against weak competition at OTE and often times looked disinterested, should of just went G league ignite

• Can be difficult to evaluate due to weak competition

• No stats are available

• Is pretty short, only 6'2

• Super light at 172 pounds

• Might struggle defensively due to small size, will often find himself in mismatches and likely get bodied

• Looks like a very average perimeter defender