TicketsJacob Evans Introductory Press Conference with the Golden State Warriors:
By Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
CINCINNATI – When Jacob Evans III first told University of Cincinnati basketball coach Mick Cronin that he intended to enter the NBA draft shortly after he had completed his junior year with the Bearcats, Cronin had just one question for him.
"Are you ready to be a grown man and have 29-year-old guys with wives and children try to rip your head off?" Cronin asked him, "because the NBA is not the banana boat, hugs and kisses. Those guys are different. The rest of that league, those guys are trying to keep their job as long as they can and they view guys like Jacob as competition. It's real grownups playing. If you're ready for that and you're going to get drafted, then you should go."
Jacobs decided he was ready for whatever the NBA would throw at him. The Golden State Warriors, winners of three of the last four NBA titles, including this past season, agreed with him.
"He was somebody that got a lot better, has a great work ethic, serious-minded player, cares about both sides of the ball," Warriors general manager Bob Meyers said Monday at a press conference introducing Evans. "You hear a lot of things these potential draftees say but one thing he said was 'before I'm done I want to win a championship.'
"I feel like in so much of this process – whether it's the draft or free agency - winning is the thing that gets lost more than anything. All we're trying to do is put up as many of those yellow banners (as possible)," Myers said. "Nothing else matters. If we can draft a guy that helps us do that then we've succeeded. I think we have one in Jacob."
The Warriors selected Evans with the 28th pick in the first round of Thursday night's NBA draft, making him the first UC player to be drafted in the opening round since Jason Maxiell, who was taken with the 26th pick by the Detroit Pistons in 2005. He's the first UC player to be drafted since Lance Stephenson was taken with the 40th overall pick in the second round of the 2010 draft by the Indiana Pacers.
"Being able to come to one of the greatest organizations ever, probably the greatest team ever in NBA history and know I'm going to be a part of something that's legendary (is exciting)," Evans said Monday in Oakland.
"I'm going somewhere where they want me. Somewhere I can develop and just pick the minds, not just from my coaches but also from my teammates. You're playing alongside Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Klay (Thompson) and Draymond (Green). Just learning and trying to develop my game so I can contribute."
"He's already shown that he wants to get better," Myers said. "He's going to be put in an environment where when you are surrounded by people that are high achieving and hardworking you can't help but get caught up in that momentum. There's this culture that (head coach) Steve (Kerr) has helped cultivate. There's a pride in what we do here. All that Jacob has to do is be himself and don't be any different and he'll reach his ceiling, his potential."
"He's going to have every opportunity to be a part of their rotation," Cronin said of Evans. "A lot of rookies don't get that. He's going to get to play with four of the best players in the world. Because those four guys make so much money, they can't afford a lot of other guys, so they have to go young. You have to stay under the salary cap in the NBA."
Evans, a 6-foot-6, 210-pound swingman from Baton Rouge, La., was a first-team all-American Athletic Conference selection last season when he helped the Bearcats to a 31-5 season that included AAC regular season and conference tournament titles. He led UC with a 13.0-point average to go with 4.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists.
Evans finished his UC career with 1,233 points, which ranks 31st on the Bearcats' scoring list. His 37.7 percent 3-point accuracy is the seventh highest in school history.
Cronin flashed back Friday to the first time he saw Evans during the recruiting process.
"I thought, wow, could we really get this guy?" Cronin said. "He's got a chance to be an NBA player. He's 6-6, he's a guard, he jumps high. He does everything on the basketball floor. And then I got to meet him and his family and he's just a tremendous person. So I thought this day was coming. I just didn't know when. The fact that it's Golden State is awesome for him. How cool is that?"
That's not to say Evans was a finished product when he arrived at UC. He learned how to play defense at a high level and to play with more intensity. But even as a freshman he wasn't afraid to take a big shot in crucial situations. He practiced with the attitude of a player who wanted to get better and he never complained when he was asked at times to subjugate his own statistics for the good of the team. There's little question that he could have averaged more than 13 points last year on another team or that he would have averaged more had he returned for his senior year.
The Warriors' main concern about Evans was his ability to score consistently when they needed him to.
"Their biggest thing was about when he is asked to score with their second unit," Cronin said. "Here he didn't average 20 or 25 a game, but what I told them was I didn't ask him to. We had Gary (Clark) and Kyle (Washington) who scored in the low post and got doubled every time. (Evans) did everything we asked him to do here and if he would have stayed he would have been a top 15 pick and you wouldn't be able to get him."
Not having Evans to lead the way next season will leave a void for a UC team that will be looking for its ninth straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
"The beauty of college basketball is evolution," Cronin said. "I always enjoy it when our team is underrated. It's an opportunity for other guys."
Without Evans, Jarron Cumberland and Cane Broome will likely be the go-to players on offense, with Trevon Scott being counted on to develop into a consistent scorer up front. Sophomores Trevor Moore and Keith Williams will get a chance to assume bigger roles, as will newcomer Rashawn Fredericks, a 6-foot-6 guard and junior college transfer who seems perfectly suited to assume Evans' role.
Now, though, it's a time for the UC coaches to feel good about whatever role they played in Evans' development, and for the work that Evans put in to get where he wanted to go.
"It's a compliment to our program that Golden State thinks, because of what he did here, not just his talent, but because of the system he was in here, it will allow him to play for them," Cronin said. "It gives me a little bit of a smile."
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years – 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer – before joining the staff of GoBearcats.com in January 2015.