Nate Oats on Alabama Basketball's Draft Hopefuls: 'The More This Team Wins, The Higher Their Stock Goes'

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama basketball is set to honor five players before Saturday’s game against South Carolina as Jahvon Quinerly, Keon Ellis, James Rojas and walk-ons Britton Johnson and Tyler Barnes will all take part in the team’s senior-night presentation.

Those might not be the only players participating in their final few games with the Crimson Tide as the team could face a significant turnover this offseason.

During his Friday Zoom call with reporters, Nate Oats said that all four of his top guards — Quinerly, Ellis, Jaden Shackelford and J.D. Davison — have indicated that they plan to look at pursuing professional careers following the season. The head coach said he plans to sit down with all four players individually following the season to determine what makes the most sense in the future.

Until then, he has some advice for the quartet.

“The more this team wins, the higher their stock goes,” Oats said. “At that level, they’re paid a lot of money to find winners. If we didn’t win at the level we did last year, Josh Primo doesn’t go 12th in the draft. Right now the best thing they can be doing for their stock and their future is doing whatever they need to do to win games."

Oats example of Primo is a valid one. Last year, the freshman saw his stock rise rapidly late in the season as he propelled from a potential second-round selection into a lottery pick. As Oats pointed out, Primo gained notoriety while working his way into a starting role on an Alabama team that won both the SEC regular-season and tournament titles before advancing to the Sweet 16. The 6-foot-6, 190-pound wing earned SEC All-Freshman team honors averaging 8.1 points while shooting 38.1 from behind the arc and was ultimately selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the No. 12 pick in the NBA Draft.

Currently, none of Alabama’s draft hopefuls are projected to be anywhere near that range. Sports Illustrated’s Jeremy Woo released his NBA Draft Big Board this week, ranking the top 80 prospects in this year’s class. Ellis led the way for Alabama at No. 33 followed by Davison at No. 37 and Shackelford at No. 64. Quinerly was not included in the list.

Last month, Woo projected Davison as the No. 25 overall pick to the Miami Heat while tabbing Ellis at No. 35 to the Charlotte Hornets in the second round. No other Alabama players were included in the mock draft.

That being said, Primo’s late surge provides encouragement for Alabama’s stars moving forward.

“We love this time of the year,” Quinerly said. “Me and Keon, we’ve been in. We played for a really good team last year, and we kind of know what it’s about. It’s just that time of year where you have to give it 110%, and you just want to go out the right way.”

Added Ellis: “I think you go in not thinking about it. Just going in playing and letting that take care of itself. Just know if you take care of business everything will fall in place.”

It’s not a certainty that all four players leave for the draft either. Despite planning to take part in senior-night festivities, Quinerly did not rule out a return to the Crimson TIde moving forward.

“It’s not like 100 percent set in stone,” Quinerly said. “That’s a decision that’s going to be made at the end of the year after we finish up this year. My main focus is just to finish strong this year with this group.”

Earlier this week, Oats announced that forward Noah Gurley will return to the Crimson Tide for his sixth season of college basketball. Friday, the head coach didn’t rule out the return of any of his guards as well.

Even without any member of that quartet, Alabama is set to have a loaded backcourt next season. The Crimson Tide signed two McDonald’s All-American freshmen in Jaden Bradley and Brandon Miller and will also see the return of former McDonald’s All-American guard Nimari Burnett, who missed the season after suffering a season-ending knee injury in September.

In addition, Miller and Bradely, who rank No. 11 and No. 16 respectively in the SI99, Alabama also signed forward Noah Clowney (No. 55), guard Rylan Griffen (No. 58) and JUCO transfer Nick Pringle in this year’s class.

Even if Davison and Shackelford joined Ellis, Quinerly and Rojas as offseason departures, Alabama would be at the NCAA’s limit of 13 scholarship players following the arrival of its five-player freshman class. While the Crimson Tide could certainly shuffle its roster in the event any of its star guards elect to return, Oats said he is hoping to help all his players reach their professional aspirations.

“Our job as coaches is to put these guys in position to achieve their dreams and their goals,” Oats said. “Us putting them in a position to do what they want to do after they leave here is part of our job, and I think they’re all in a pretty good spot right now. They’ve just got to continue to get better, and we need to play better as a team and win as a team here moving forward at the end of February and March.”

Despite their draft projections, all four of Alabama’s draft-hopeful guards have performed well recently. During this week’s 74-72 win at Vanderbilt, Quinerly scored a team-high 19 points off the bench while Davison recorded his second career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds to go with five assists and three steals. Ellis scored a career-high 28 points during Alabama’s loss to Kentucky last weekend and followed that up with 10 points and eight rebounds against Vanderbilt. Shackelford ranks fourth in the SEC averaging 16.8 points per game and has recorded double-digit point totals in all but three of his 28 starts this season.

“I think they’re all in the right frame of mind,” Oats said. “I think Quinerly just had a great game at Vanderbilt. JD’s playing as hard as he’s played all year. Really, Shack’s been playing well. I mean he’s had a couple of down games over the past month and a half or so, but he’s been playing well for the last month and a half. And Keon, shoot, I saw a graph come out that he’s the most efficient wing in the country.

“So I think they’re all trending in the right direction. We just need this team to continue to trend in the right direction. I think it will help all of their stocks.”

No. 24 Alabama (18-10, 8-7) in the SEC will host South Carolina (17-10, 8-7) on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT inside Coleman Coliseum. The game will be televised on SEC Network.

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