The 2024 NBA Draft is chock full of uncertainties and bereft of surefire star talent at the top, but there are always a few stars in every draft, even if they're not the top picks.
Ron Holland was always supposed to be one of those stars. He was among the top five on every draft board heading into the season (including No. 1 on some) and headlined a loaded G-League Ignite team that looked set to have a big season.
But the Ignite imploded with an awful 6-44 campaign. It was so bad that the program itself has since been shutdown, and players like Holland, Matas Buzelis and others have seen their respective stocks fall badly.
But is Holland this draft's star talent hiding in plain sight? If everything goes right, Holland may well have the best upside in the entire draft class.
So, let's take a look at Holland's scouting report before the 2024 NBA Draft.
Ron Holland NBA Draft Scouting Report
Holland projects as an NBA wing, standing 6-foot-7 with a near 7-foot wingspan. His frame is a bit light but should fill out some in time, and his size and length give him significant advantages on both ends of the court.
That should ultimately allow him to play and defend two-to-four with ease.
Holland is one of the youngest players in the draft. He doesn't even turn 19 until a week after the event. That's important considering other wing prospects getting compared to Holland — like Dalton Knecht — have a full four years of development, both physically and on a basketball court.
NBA teams will have to consider not just how good Holland is right now but also how good he'll be with those two, three, four extra years of development like the peers he's being evaluated against.
The intangibles are off the charts with Holland. He's a high character guy who's really won at just about every level, right up until this disastrous Ignite season.
Holland looks and carries himself like the best player on the court, and he plays with intensity and a never-ending motor, something that stood out even in the doldrums of blowouts and lost games during a lost season.
That motor could help Holland make defense his calling card, along with his size. Holland is a big time defensive playmaker with a serious nose for the ball, and he's also great in transition, which is a quick way to get a basket.
His team defense and positioning need some work — along with his anticipation and timing — but a well-coached Holland may eventually guard four positions in the NBA and switch easily from one to the next.
Holland's calling card is his outstanding driving ability. He's a walking paint touch, relentlessly attacking and getting into the lane and creating looks both for himself and for others.
Holland's passing and decision making need some work, but he's consistently creating advantages, and that's a skill that just isn't replicable.
It's also one that's all the more impressive when you consider just how poorly constructed the Ignite roster was, with zero functional spacing. Imagine what Holland will do with NBA shooters and finishers around him.
Holland is a fast-twitch athlete with one of the best first steps in the class. He's really skilled with the ball and is a coordinated, fluid athlete with all the moves with the ball in his hands.
He can string together multiple moves and, though he turns it over some, you like to see him able and willing to try some of those things at this young age, even if they lead to mistakes. (Think a bigger, more skilled Lou Williams.)
Holland's shot will be a swing factor, as with many players. He hit only 24% of his 3s, an ugly number, but the jump shot itself looks compact and tenable, and the 73% free-throw rate is more on the right track.
Holland looks like a potential three-level scorer, but the shot has to come around.
The other swing factor, and maybe even the bigger unknown, is Holland's decision making and feel for the game at both ends. His shot selection is ugly at times, and far too often he's simply out of place.
You really have to believe in Holland's ability to accept coaching and grow, which means his team situation will be key.
The Ignite situation was poor, and you get the sense that there's a ton of raw potential here that's never really been pushed. There's a chance it never really does, of course, but what if the talent does all come together?
The NBA draft is about betting on what a player will become, not what he is right now.
Right now, Holland is an incomplete, raw player. He's exactly what he was this season — the flawed best player on a struggling 6-44 team.
But what can Holland become?
Take an athlete with his body and his unteachable ability to attack the paint and get to the rim, give him some proper coaching to develop his instincts and decision making with the ball and on defense and hope he finds some shooting along the way.
Do all those things and suddenly you have a big NBA wing that can defend the opponents' stars and make plays with the ball in his hands with the game on the line — the exact sort of wings the Boston Celtics just built their entire championship roster around.
Holland has the potential and upside to be the best player in the draft. And in a draft lacking exactly that, he could end up as valuable as any pick on the board.
