2019 NBA Draft: 5 reasons Jaxson Hayes should be first round pick

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AUSTIN, TX – NOVEMBER 12: Jaxson Hayes #10 of the Texas Longhorns reaches to block a shot by Travis Munnings #1 of the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks at the Frank Erwin Center on November 12, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images) /

5. Foot speed in the paint

What a lot of Texas basketball fans didn’t expect out of Hayes in his true freshman campaign was the maturity to have such refined footwork in the paint this early on. No one realistically expects what was thought to be a raw four-star recruit that plays in the front court to come in and look as good as Hayes did in his first 10 career games.

Moreover, Hayes showed the ability early on to keep up with of the more talented bigs the Horns faced on the non-conference slate so far. The real test for him will come at the outset of Big 12 play. Adjusting to the grueling schedule that the Big 12 presents, and how good some of the front courts are in the conference, can be a true test of the will of someone like Hayes.

As a recruit, Hayes wasn’t even rated among the top 100 high school prospects in the nation for the 2018 recruiting cycle. The 247Sports Composite Rankings put Hayes as the nation’s No. 102 high school prospect and the No. 21 power forward. NBA scouts clearly think of him in higher regard than the recruiting rankings ever did.

What Hayes has as a part of his refined skill set is the foot speed that allows him to keep up with some of the more agile and elusive bigs in the NBA whenever he declares for the NBA Draft. He’s rising up draft boards so quickly, that he could be in and out of the Forty Acres as soon as the conclusion of the 2018-19 season.

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