Tennessee basketball: Ranking the top 5 Vols with 2020 NBA Draft potential

This should be a breakout year for Yves Pons. The departure of four key guys has opened things up in the post, and without the get of Kerry Blackshear, Rick Barnes’s best chance at success next year is to go small and use athleticism.

That means running Pons at the stretch-four. The guy was indeed a four-star player, and he is ridiculously athletic. He’s playing this summer in France, so that should help him fine-tune his skills along with Barnes’s development back home.

For the past two years, Pons has been a role player. But a 6’6″ guy with his athleticism is the type of player NBA scouts would drool over. He’s just got to show a certain level of fundamentals and finesse to take that next step. If he develops that in the offseason to live up to his once four-star Rivals rating, he could be a critical player for Tennessee basketball this year.

In the process, you could really see scouts taking a look at him. Pons is loaded with insane potential, which is why we are able to put him on this list. At some point, Barnes has to find a way to make it come out, and when it does, he’ll be showing the perfect build for an NBA wing player. This is his year to showcase that for NBA scouts.