DJO to the NBA?

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Last week, the experts at NBA Draft Express ranked the top NBA prospects in the Big East Conference for the upcoming season. There was little shock that Connecticut’s sophomore guard Jeremy Lamb was ranked No. 1, followed by Villanova’s sophomore forward Mouphtaou Yarou. Both are hard to debate, as they have the youth and athleticism that could one day turn them into Lottery picks.

But coming in at No. 3 was Marquette’s own Darius Johnson-Odom, just above Connecticut’s Alex Oriakhi and Syracuse’s Kris Joseph, who rounded out the top 5.

Here’s a breakdown of Johnson-Odom’s game and how it could translate to a successful career at the next level.

Body/Size: One quick look at Johnson-Odom makes it apparent that he has the body of an NBA player. He is one of the strongest guards in the country and his broad shoulders allow separation on drives and allow him to finish in traffic. His strong lower body makes every step count and gives him the ability to rise up and do things like this. Maybe the best part about his size is that he hasn’t needed an adjustment period to change his style of play after an offseason of bulking up, like some players do. Since the day he stepped on campus, Johnson-Odom has been ripped. He knows how to get the most out of his size and uses it to draw contact, create separation and battle defensively.

The biggest issue for Johnson-Odom is his height, which is no stranger to Marquette prospects. His listed height of 6-feet, 2-inches is legitimate, but that will still make him “short” compared to the NBA standards, where 6-foot-4 point guards are commonplace. Johnson-Odom is a pure shooting guard at this stage in his career but his ball handling (we’ll get to that later) isn’t bad by any means. And, to be fair, Johnson-Odom has never been asked to play the point at Marquette, in large part because he is so good off the ball. His lack of height, relative to the rest of the Association, will hinder him, but it certainly won’t throw him off the big boards of NBA teams.

Outside Shooting:Johnson-Odom exploded onto the scene in his sophomore year, draining 73 threes at an astonishing 47.4 percent rate. While no one expected him to

Marquette Tribune File Photo

replicate those numbers in his junior year, the drop was significant.

After a slow start to the season against a cupcake non-conference schedule (13 points vs. Prairie View A&M, 11 points vs. UW-Green Bay, 12 points vs. Texas A&M CC), Johnson-Odom turned it on by the start of the Big East season. In conference, Johnson-Odom finished the year with 2.2 threes per game and made 38 percent of his shots from downtown.

He has also perfected his mid-range, pull-up jumper that adds another dimension to his game. He has shown it off in transition and off the dribble and feels comfortable using it at any point in the game.

His form is excellent, he has a quick release and he has some rise off the ground on his jump shot, the last two of which will help him at the next level. He will need to improve on his outside shooting percentages from a year ago, but early returns from scrimmages and individual workouts show that Johnson-Odom is much closer to his sophomore shoting numbers than his junior numbers.

Passing: If Johnson-Odom plays at the next level, it will be because he was able to transform himself into a scoring point guard. Part of that entails his passing ability.

Again, he hasn’t been asked to play the point at Marquette, so it’s tough to gauge how he would fare in a half-court setting, but he has done an excellent job creating off the dribble and on the drive to create passes for his teammates.

He does have a tendency to get tunnel vision when he drives, making his mind up early that he is going to shoot as soon as he gets by his defenders, but part of that is because Marquette relies on him to score.

He has averaged 2.4 assists per game in both of his seasons with the Golden Eagles, numbers that admittedly could be higher.  It will be interesting to see what he does in 2011, because Jimmy Butler is now gone, meaning Johnson-Odom will have the ball in his hands even more, with more opportunities for assists.

When he does pass, he makes smart decisions (just 2.0 turnovers per game last year) and gives crisp dishes to his teammates. It’s certainly not a strong suit of his, but he is on record as saying he would like to get to five assists per game this year. That may be a bit much, but it shows that he’s going to make the effort to improve that aspect of that game.

Rebounding: His defense as a whole needs to improve if he wants to make it at the next level, and much of that is his aggressiveness on rebounds. Marquette’s offense LOVES to run, so Johnson-Odom is usually the first outlet pass on missed shots, but he is fully capable of averaging more than the 3.0 rebounds he averaged a year ago (2.4 per game in 2009).

Much of rebounding, especially for an ultra-athletic player like Johnson-Odom, is effort. That’s not to say he doesn’t give it his all on the court (he does, maybe more than any player on Marquette), but it’s an aspect of his game he could improve.

For reference, a year ago Kemba Walker (6-foot-1) averaged 5.3 rebounds, Ben Hansbrough (6-foot-3) averaged 3.9 rebounds and Vincent Council (6-foot-2) averaged 4.2 rebounds.

His 1.9 percent offensive rebounding rate (the percentage of possible offensive rebounds a player gets to) was less than Dwight Buycks’ (2.9) and just about even with Junior Cadougan’s (1.8). Again, Johnson-Odom has said he wants to average five rebounds per game this season, but it’s something we’ll need to see.

He won’t be relied upon to rebound in the NBA, but it’s still an area he has to do improve.

Driving ability/Speed:Johnson-Odom’s lack of height won’t matter much if he blows by his defender every trip down the court. There may not be a better player in the Big East at getting to the basket, and he does it in a number of ways.

Marquette Tribune File Photo

He is great moving without the ball, which will serve him well in the NBA, and has the best pump fake in the nation. I have personally witnessed players biting on it from 35 feet out. His strong dribble kept close to his body prevents any pokes from defenders, and when he gets to the basket, look out.

A year ago, Johnson-Odom drew 4.9 fouls per 40 minutes, which ranked him fourteenth in the Big East. However, Kemba Walker* was the only player ahead of Johnson-Odom in that category who attempted more three pointers than him. It’s clear that Johnson Odom’s prowess from behind the arc left some foul shots on the table, but he still managed to finish in the top 10 in free throws attempted in 2010 (161 attempts).

*Note: Kemba Walker attempted 266 free throws last year. That is absurd.

Johnson-Odom isn’t the fastest NBA prospect in the Big East, but he might be the quickest. He wastes no step and, combined with his size, he’s lethal when he gets a step on his defender. Think Tyreke Evans, minus a few inches.

Defense: Johnson-Odom is by no means a poor collegiate defender, but he will need to improve in that area to succeed at the next level. He reads passing lanes very well, which turn into breakaway dunks, but he can take too many changes at times, which leaves him out of position. He is just an average on-the-ball defender at this point but does a good job using his size to his advantage and not letting the ball handler go around him.

He doesn’t block all that many shots (13 in two seasons), but his athleticism and leaping ability alter shots at the basket and on the perimeter. Still, there’s reason to believe Johnson-Odom will improve on the defensive end in his senior season. He has put the time in and wants to become a better all-around player, and defense will certainly be included. That being said, a team is going to draft Johnson-Odom because he can score. Above average defense would be an added bonus.

Intangibles: It sounds unbelievably cliché, but Johnson-Odom is a true gamer. Coach Buzz Williams will be the first to tell you, and he has told many, that Johnson-Odom plays with a chip on his shoulder because of his former junior college status. He’s a fierce competitor who lets his emotions get the better of him at times (technical foul at Connecticut last year), but more times than not that’s a good game.

He knows the game and makes the right decisions more times than not. He has been a vocal leader ever since he put on the Golden Eagle uniform and an NBA team can never have too many of those.

Buzz Williams has admitted that he hasn’t politically endorsed Johnson-Odom to give him more attention, but maybe that’s a good thing. Letting Johnson-Odom continue to work his rear end for every accolade that comes his way will give him incentive to continue to improve in every facet of his game. It sure worked for Wesley Matthews, Lazar Hayward and Jimmy Butler.

Summary: Marquette is one of just five schools who have had a player selected in the first round of the NBA Draft in each of the last two seasons. It’s a safe bet that Johnson-Odom will make it three years in a row, but he will need to prove his sophomore year was the start of a trend, not an outlier. The best part is that he has his senior year ahead of him and full reins of a team destined for a deep NCAA Tournament run. One could argue he is already further along than Hayward and Butler were after their junior seasons, which should make his senior season that much more special.

And let’s face it: A Final Four appearance wouldn’t hurt his stock, either.

Preseason prediction: Late first round.