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Iowa basketball: Jarrod Uthoff is one of the top-25 players in LVSL

By Andrew Wade

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 20: Jarrod Uthoff #20 of the Iowa Hawkeyes and Daniel Ochefu #23 of the Villanova Wildcats vie for posession in the first half during the second round of the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 20, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 20: Jarrod Uthoff #20 of the Iowa Hawkeyes and Daniel Ochefu #23 of the Villanova Wildcats vie for posession in the first half during the second round of the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 20, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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The Las Vegas Summer League is winding down, and for some reason, former Iowa basketball player Jarrod Uthoff isn’t being considered a top-25 player.

Bleacher Report recently released a top-25 players list from the Las Vegas Summer League and considering how well former Iowa basketball player Jarrod Uthoff has been playing for the 4-0 Detroit Pistons, I fully expected to see his name on the list.

Yet, I didn’t, and that’s what is wrong with how people evaluate talent.

Jarrod Uthoff’s skill set cannot be measured in points per game (89th in the league) or rebounds per game (141st in rebounds). His talent cannot be quantified in a vacuum. Uthoff’s game is unique and for some reason, people haven’t caught on.

Looking at Uthoffs stats, he is one of nine players who is averaging 11 points or more while shooting better than 40% from the field, hauling in 4 or more rebounds per game, dishing out 1.5 assists or more, registering 1 or more steals, and blocking 1 or more shots per game.

Out of these nine guys, Uthoff is getting the second least amount of playing time by a pretty wide margin as he averages just 20.3 minutes per game.

In fact, most of these guys are being disrespected though, when looking at the initial list, only Uthoff’s Detroit teammate Bruce Brown is on the list as he checks in at 6th.

But back to Uthoff, it just doesn’t make sense to me. The guy was an All-American with the Iowa basketball team, and in a 9-game showcase with the Dallas Mavericks during his first year of professional basketball, he put on a solid show. In 12 minutes of action, he was averaging 4.4 points on 42% shooting while getting 2.4 rebounds per game. He even did enough to account for .2 win shares.

The following year in the G-League, Uthoff averaged 16.5 points on 46% shooting while hitting 38% of his three-point attempts and getting 8.4 rebounds and accumulating 2.5 assists and 1.1 blocks per game.

He is stretch forward who can play elite-level defense and shoot the three and despite the emphasis the NBA has placed on these guys, Uthoff continues to go unnoticed.

At the end of the day though, it doesn’t matter what a Bleacher Report analyst writes as long as he gets a shot, but this report is not a step in the right direction, and that’s what bugs me.

Next. Aaron White could be a Brooklyn Net in 2019. dark

Jarrod Uthoff and the Detroit Pistons are back in action tomorrow evening at 730 PM CST on ESPN.