DaRon Holmes II 2024 NBA Draft Profile
We are nearly two weeks away from the start of the 2024 NBA Draft, which tips off on June 26. Today, we are continuing our draft profile series with DaRon Holmes II, a two-way big who was a consensus All-American last season. Without further ado, let’s hop right into it!
Height: 6’8.75″ (7’1″ wingspan, 9’0″ standing reach)
Weight: 236.2
Draft age: 21.9
Position: Center
DaRon Holmes, a graduate of Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla., was the No. 54-ranked player in the 2021 recruiting class as a four-star recruit, according to 247sports. He was the No. 10-ranked player in the state of Florida–ahead of the likes of Ryan Nembhard and Alex Karaban—choosing Dayton over offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Marquette, UCLA, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas Tech, among others.
He was an immediate impact player the moment he stepped foot at Dayton, averaging 12.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.3 blocks across 30.7 minutes as a freshman. He earned A-10 All-Defense and All-Freshman honors while winning the league’s Rookie of the Year and earning All-A-10 second team.
He continued to grow over the next two seasons, eventually pushing Dayton to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015-16 as a junior last season. Holmes earned consensus All-American honors, averaging 20.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.1 blocks on 54.4 percent shooting and 62.7 percent true-shooting.
Let’s explore some of his strengths and weaknesses, shall we?
Strengths:
Holmes was a difference-maker defensively for Dayton throughout his collegiate career. Last year, it was a top-70 defense, but they were a top-3 defense in defending without fouling, and Holmes was a huge reason why.
He placed top-4 in the A-10 in block percentage every season and used his 9-foot standing reach to deter shots around the rim while only committing 1.9 fouls per 30 minutes. He’s one of the better shot-blockers for that reason–even against “sub-par competition,” his timing around the rim was near-impeccable. He also did a good job making multiple efforts defensively and remained aware of his surroundings.
I think Holmes is an intelligent player and he showed it on both ends of the floor. He was effective as a roller in the pick-and-role and was always aware of where the tagging defender/low-man was so he could adjust his feet/body to put himself in good enough position if he was looking to score.
He also did a good job of pivoting/sealing smaller defenders on his hip and providing and creating easy angles for his teammates. He always had soft hands and did a good job opening himself up for his passers.
Anthony Grant’s offense was spaced for Holmes to operate; Dayton was one of the most potent 3-point shooting teams in the country. Thus, when Holmes posted around the two blocks, opponents oftentimes doubled from one or two passes away.
DaRon Holmes was pretty hyper-aware of where doubles came from and didn’t make the wrong reads often. Not every pass was directly to the player’s shooting pocket, but he didn’t rush passes and would give himself better angles to pass.
By the time his junior season rolled around, I was quite impressed with Holmes’ shooting mechanics. He was always on balance on spot-up attempts with good form. He improved to 38.6 percent from 3-point range on 4.8 3-point attempts (20.8 3-point rate) with a 71.3 free-throw percentage.
Weaknesses:
The competition he was going up against will always be a question for some evaluators.
As an example, double teams from players in the Atlantic-10 will always be different than doubles from NBA-caliber players, though he would have to develop into a player worth doubling.
I don’t think he will need to adjust too much to NBA spacing, but he–like most other prospects–will have to adapt to the speed of the NBA game.
I thought Holmes had very clean touch outside of the paint, but he will have to show that’s sustainable. Over his first two collegiate seasons, he shot 26.9 percent from deep with a 3.9 percent 3-point rate and 63.8 percent from the free-throw line.
He’s one of the few first-round bigs who’s shown he can space the floor, which makes him all the more intriguing outside of the lottery. But was his junior season a shooting aberration or not? I also want to see him continuing to improve as a passer out of the post and short-roll–where he showed definite flashes last year.
Holmes also not a great self-creator, so an offense with an established point guard/lead shot-creator would best suit him.
Projection: End of First Round
What we do know is that Holmes reportedly received a first-round promise. Depending on who falls, who knows if that promise will be true, but let’s assume it is for now. Holmes has developed into a more modern NBA big man relative to some of his counterparts and is very smart, even if he doesn’t always “wow” you on the court.
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