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The Utah Jazz WERE busy to end the 2nd round. They did not draft one, not two, but three players in the last 10 picks of the NBA Draft. With their third and final selection, they traded for Miye Oni from Yale with the 58th pick in the NBA Draft. Utah has looking hard for diamonds in the rough to fill out their roster after the Mike Conley trade, and Oni could fit that bill.
Here’s a look back at 6-6, 210 pound + 21-year-old #Yale SG prospect Miye Oni, the 58th pick who will end up with @utahjazz, scored a career-high 29 PTS on 10/15 FG’s vs. #Miami, which was impressive because he didn't look remotely phased by an #ACC opponent pic.twitter.com/ouARIum59t
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) June 21, 2019
He has good size for a shooting guard and put up big numbers when he played against high level opponents as Jonathan Givony pointed out above. He averaged 17.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.6 assists a game on 37.1% three point shooting. He even averaged 1.3 blocks a game as a guard.
Miye Oni was the best player in the Ivy League at Yale....Terrific athlete for a wing. Good scorer. Ball-in-hand guy. Has upside as a creator off the dribble....
— Tony Jones (@Tjonesonthenba) June 21, 2019
Utah Jazz general manager Justin Zanik admitted that it was “a little bit crazy in the second round trying to move into position,” but they came away with 3 selections in Charleston’s Jarrell Brantley (No. 50), Hofstra’s Justin Wright-Foreman (53) and Yale’s Miye Oni (58). pic.twitter.com/2wGl5QjmkI
— Eric Woodyard (@E_Woodyard) June 21, 2019
Miye Oni now becomes the first Ivy League player drafted into the NBA since 1995. Dom Amore of the Hartford Courant had this to say about Oni:
As Oni, 6-6, rose at Yale, more and more scouts came to games – 20 showed for the Ivy League tournament - trying envision how his skills would play against pro competition. Oni, after entering the draft, also impressed at the combine, continuing an improbable rise for a player who was originally committed to a Division III school, and he chose to forgo his senior season. Oni’s wingspan of nearly 6 feet, 11 inches, is intriguing for a potential backcourt player in the NBA, and could make him a defensive factor, and he shot reasonably well from the perimeter.
Utah’s Summer League team should now have some exciting pieces like Oni, Jarrell Brantley, and Justin Wright-Foreman.
WELCOME TO THE CITY OF UTAH, MIYE.