For the first 18 years of Jeremiah Fears’ life, nobody could stay in front of him.
You learn this simply by watching the first few games of the Oklahoma Sooners’ 2024-25 season. Fears, a NBA Draft prospect the Brooklyn Nets must consider with the #8 overall pick in June, spent much of November and December realizing that some NCAA defenders could actually slide their feet with him.
This didn’t always change his approach, though. Sometimes that was a good thing. On the first clip below, the 6’3”* guard runs a pick-and-roll where the big man hedges out to him. Fears simply hits the outside, turns the corner, and deftly takes it to the end-zone.
Unfortunately, he tries the same move on the second clip, gets contained, and missed a wide open roll to the basket. But flash forward to the SEC tournament in March — the third clip — where Fears sees the aggressive coverage and simply hits his big-man, creating easy offense...
*Though OU listed Fears at 6’4”, he didn’t look it and ultimately measured a half-inch under 6’3” at the Draft Combine with a 6’5” wingspan. I think it’s fair to call him 6’3”.
Even Fears’ biggest skeptics would admit he improved his playmaking over time, but, his early-season growing pains went beyond pick-and-roll dissection.
In that November 27th game against Providence, he committed four traveling violations, and they all looked the same. Fears would make a couple moves against his matchup, but somehow, they’d still be in front of him; the unfamiliarity of this situation would cause him to pick up his dribble and lose balance.
And yet, in that game, Fears shot 12-of-14 from the free-throw line. There it is.
Jeremiah Fears, who won’t turn 19 years old until Opening Night, is a straightforward evaluation. If the Brooklyn Nets do select him in the 2025 NBA Draft, it evidences a belief that his ability to get into the paint is a bedrock skill for a true primary initiator. Everything else will work itself out; you draft Fears to put the ball in his hands.
With a hat tip to Matt Powers at Swish Theory, here is a quick sell in the form of a Bart Torvik query...
That is a list of every NCAA freshman since 2008 to:
play 15 games
post a true-shooting percentage of at least 55 (NBA average this season was 57.6%)
assist on a quarter of his team’s buckets while on the floor
make 150 free-throws
block a shot once every 400 possessions (demarcating a very low athleticism threshold)
Does this mean Fears is on the level of any of these prospects, outside of Collin Sexton? No. You’ll notice his BPM (box plus-minus) is easily the lowest on the list.
But this isn’t a (completely) shameless exercise in stat-manipulation either. Though this type of hyper-specific query can beautify any prospect, it does paint a nice picture of Fears’ upside.
As one of the youngest prospects in the class, the kid managed not to stink despite carrying an immense offensive load in the toughest conference in the NCAA. He did so on the back on foul-drawing, a valuable indicator of NBA-level athleticism, especially for a smaller guard. All the while, his playmaking reasonably improved throughout the season, and though he shot just 28% from three, there were blinding flashes within a tough shot diet...
If you’re looking for comforting numbers, Fears has those too: 85.1% on free-throw attempts, and 45.9% on long twos, per Bart Torvik.
These are the numbers and highlights you stare at until you can see them with your eyes closed to get over the disappointment of the Brooklyn Nets falling to #8 in the draft. Once again stressing Fears’ youth, it’s not too hard to talk yourself until his potential as a primary creator on a good team. If he hits a high-end outcome, he’ll be buying property somewhere in De’Aaron Fox or Kemba Walker’s neighborhood.
But just because Fears is straightforward prospect does not mean he is an uncomplicated evaluation. Even though some of the shooting indicators are promising, they are by no means definitive. And how many 6’3” NBA guards with mediocre shooting ability are truly viable in the playoffs? Not to mention Fears is mountain ranges away from becoming a positive defenders.
I also find him to be a subpar finishing prospect — he shot an uninspiring 53% on close twos — particularly for a guard whose game is predicated on getting into the paint. With space to play, his handle is a fireworks show, but in tight quarters, it’s less impressive. In the first clip here, Fears doesn’t take that extra dribble, and isn’t explosive enough to take off from the hash-mark on a contested layup. On the second, it’s just a weak move...
As a Sooner, Fears didn’t seem comfortable adventuring among the trees. Sometimes, the ball-skills weren’t quite there and he missed passing reads not because he didn’t see them, but because of a slow delivery. Other times, reading the floor in hectic situations just seemed a bit overwhelming for Fears.
On this play, the Illinois native sees the big man step up and subsequently benefits from a missed travel call. Instead of leaping to fire a skip pass over the top, or getting to the baseline to throw it to the corner, Fears drags his back foot when picking the ball up. He then slowly pivots around and lollipops a pass to a hypothetical 3-point shooter, except the closeout has already been made...
Despite averaging 3.4 turnovers a game, I didn’t find many funky, highly creative passes from him, especially while he was getting downhill.
That last part is key: Fears could hit a roll-man, or even read the skip pass while operating on the perimeter, but his improvisation skills weren’t eye-popping. During this postseason, we’ve seen NBA defenses apply ridiculous pressure to opposing ball-handlers, and though Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Brunson can separate in a shoebox, Fears is a different type of player. Not only does he have to bend NBA defenses with his driving, but break them with decision-making.
To be clear, he’s not going to do that as a rookie. Most 19-year-old NBA players are pretty bad, and Fears will be no exception. If he indeed becomes a Net, he'll have immense opportunity to grow, but will be inefficient and generally overwhelmed by another massive step up in competition.
That’s more than okay for Brooklyn, who both needs to develop blue-chip young talent and, in all likelihood, tank for real in 2026. Thanks to completely accidental franchise savior Mikal Bridges, the Nets do have control of their first-round pick in next year’s draft, too.
For what it’s worth, per Erik Slater of ClutchPoints, it seems Fears and Brooklyn have already talked about a potential union, and both sides seem to be open to it...
Jeremiah Fears said he had a “great” meeting and workout with the Nets:
“The conversations were great. They were just telling me how I could fit within their system and be an overall good piece for them.” pic.twitter.com/VWKjL6BaYA
— Erik Slater (@erikslater_) May 14, 2025
Of course, it’s far from a guarantee that Fears will even make it to the #8 pick on June 25. Some mock drafts have had him as high as #5, going to the Utah Jazz.
I am not an NBA Draft scout. I’m parachuting in at the end of the cycle, giving my brief thoughts on potential future Nets but ultimately trying to paint an unbiased picture of who these guys are. For hard-hitting draft analysis, I recommend my colleagues at Swish Theory, among many others.
That being said, it doesn’t take Jerry West’s basketball brain to analyze Jeremiah Fears.
The sell: Did I mention how young he is? This 18-year-old was a positive player carrying a huge load for an SEC team, and the many defenders that couldn’t stay in front of him often had to resort to fouling him. He's not going to lose that on-ball juice as an NBA player, and we’re only at the beginning of a steep incline as a passer and shooter. I have not have mentioned the defense, and he will struggle on that end early, but he used his burst and anticipation skills to place tenth in the SEC in steals. Guy is just a baller, plain and simple, and the Nets have plenty of reps to give him.
The short: Have you watched the playoffs? You really want to bet on a small guard that isn’t a sure thing as a shooter, and has a long way to go as a playmaker? I’m glad you think it’s 2013 again — I wish it was — but sadly, the Nets need to stock up on strong, long players with varied skills and physical tools. Versatility is the name of the game, and Fears can really only contribute in one role, a role that is damn-near impossible to excel at in today’s NBA (ball-pounder). I don’t doubt he’ll put up numbers, but won’t they be empty numbers?
There’s a ton of prospects in play for the Brooklyn Nets at #8, not to mention all the sleepers they could take with #19, #26, #27, #35, or in some trade that will break my brain. For now, we’re focusing on #8, and though some of the prospects we cover will inevitably be gone on draft night, these mini-scouts should be thorough. It’s the most consequential time of the season for Sean Marks and his front office!
Comment below if there’s a prospect you want to read about next.
For good measure, on Tuesday evening at 8:00 p.m. ET, I’ll be watching and discussing all the Jeremiah Fears clips I have saved on my laptop. (It’s a lot). Join the Playback stream here.