If Ace Bailey were a movie about to be released June 25 – hey, if there can be an “Ace Ventura” there is no reason “Ace Bailey” wouldn’t work as a title – it would be Steve Pikiell whose review quotes are plastered all over the TV ads and theater poster.
“Easy guy to coach. I only wish I got the guy more than 9 months.”
“He’s an energy giver … an awesome kid, and a worker.”
“He’s going to be a great pro.”
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This is not the Ace Bailey we’ve been seeing for the past 10 days, as Wednesday’s official launch of the 2025 NBA Draft approaches. Somehow, he has been transformed from a pleasant if complex character, like Ray Kinsella from “Field of Dreams”, into a somewhat villainous mystery like Johnny Lawrence from “The Karate Kid”.
There already was plenty of doubt regarding Bailey’s worth as a high-end draft pick. To recognize this, one only needed to see the reaction to the release of official measurements from the NBA Scouting Combine. He’d been listed on the Rutgers roster at 6-10, but the league’s insistence on checking players’ height in bare feet – who plays in bare feet? – presented him as 6-7½. The response to this development was, in a media world searching for any smidge of controversy, not kind.
Bailey already was doubted by some analysts because the primary skill he took into his short college career at Rutgers was of limited value at the Division I level: He is elite at making difficult shots. Colleges don’t want too many difficult shots attempted, because they’re harder for teammates to rebound, and it throws off defensive balance.
Also there was the fact Rutgers finished 15-17 and nowhere near selection for the NCAA Tournament.
But after ESPN’s Jon Givony reported Bailey declined to work out for the Sixers, who hold the No. 3 overall pick, even Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro criticized him in a conversation with a fan that was recorded and published on social media.
“I am worried about that. If you’re not coming to work out, then you’ve got something wrong here,” Shapiro said, pointing to his temple. “He’s got great talent, great upside, but if you don’t want to be here, if you’re not dying to be here, I don’t want you to be here.”
The Ace Bailey being discussed on the eve of the draft is not the player Pikiell got to know since last summer.
“I think we have 26 managers on our staff. I’ve got to tell you: I know most of them, but do I know all 26? Some guys come on Tuesdays. Some guys just come on Thursdays. Ace knows every single manager’s name,” Pikiell told Sporting News. “He’s just that kind of kid.
“He’s 18 years old. He won’t be 19 until August. That’s what people don’t realize … He’s going to be a great pro. Ace is a playmaker, too. I needed him to score for me, but the guy can make plays. When I’m talking to these pro scouts, I’m like, ‘You guys have no idea.’ He handles the heck out of the ball, and he’s a good passer. And he just collects points. He can score in every way, can get his shot off at any time.”
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Bailey averaged 17.6 points and 7.2 rebounds and shot 46 percent from the field in his one college season. During an extended injury absence for point guard Dylan Harper, who is expected to be the No. 2 overall selection by the Spurs, Bailey produced games of 39 and 37 points. He is not fully developed as a 3-point shooter, but his 47 makes and 35 percent accuracy suggest there is room for progress.
“The ability to create a shot in the NBA, and to make tough shots in that league, is highly valued. And this kid proved this year in the Big Ten -- his ability to not be distracted by individual defenders is elite,” analyst Fran Fraschilla of ESPN told SN. “It’s no different than Tom Brady feeling a seven-man rush and getting rid of the ball. This kid has a unique ability to make tough shots under pressure from anywhere on the court. For the life of me, I’m surprised when people say he takes bad shots – because they usually go in.
“He’s an awfully talented shotmaker. I think he’s a work in progress. There’s a possibility he could fail, because he doesn’t have a complete game. But there also is a possibility he could turn into a Glen Rice-type NBA player – a guy that makes shots consistently that you go: There’s no way a human being should make those shots.”
In a 79-72 victory against Northwestern, Bailey was 13-of-20 from the floor, 5-of-8 from deep and 6-of-6 from the foul line for 39 points.
“He was hitting impossible shots,” Fraschilla said. “You have to be a tough shotmaker in the NBA, because you’re always in a low-clock situation.”
The decision to pass on the Sixers workout could be connected to an attempt by Bailey’s representation, Omar Cooper of Lifestyle Sports Agency, to direct him to a specific team: perhaps the Wizards at No. 6, or the Nets at No. 8.
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The difference in the rookie scale contracts between No. 3 overall and No. 6 overall is nearly $8 million assuming the third year option is picked up for each player. Effectively choosing to be selected by the lower team in the draft order is like signing up to play a full season for free.
“This is the one guy I want so badly to tell people is a slam dunk win for whoever drafts him,” analyst Matthew Maurer of The Draft Review told SN. “I watched as much Rutgers as I could, because how often does a team have two top-5 picks? Dylan Harper, I was impressed with from day one. Ace Bailey, I felt was kind of getting his feet underneath him, took him a little bit longer, but there’s so much there in potential.
“He kind of reminds me of like a Stacey Augmon; there are plays made that you’re like: I don’t know how he got that one up. And you’re impressed. He’s got so much of what tantalizes you as an evaluator, that you want to see at the next level. It wouldn’t shock me if he becomes a star. It wouldn’t shock me if he becomes a great role player. Either outcome could happen.”
The oddity of the current controversy is that evidence countering the notion that he’s somehow problematic was evident to anyone who saw Bailey this year, not just a coach like Pikiell who worked with him daily.
When Rutgers entered a road game against Nebraska at 9-8 and ended the Huskers’ 20-game homecourt winning streak, Bailey scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and after the game could be seen celebrating with his teammates and smiling through an on-court interview. He wasn’t just there for stats and his draft stock. He wanted to win.
“He plays with joy. He plays with a smile on his face,” Fraschilla said. “He has a love for the game that exudes from his pores and you can see it out there.
“The day after their St. John’s exhibition game, I called Steve and asked if I could come to practice the next day. We’re good friends, and he said, ‘Coach, we’re not going to do much because we’re playing, but come on over, we’re going to watch a little film, then we’ll get some shots up and you can meet the kids.
“So I get there, and he said, ‘I’m not letting anyone in the film room. It’s just going to be me and the kids. He said, ‘I’ve got to rip the guys,’ The night before, they got outrebounded by like 100. It was about an hour and half, and as they’re coming out, everybody’s taking shots and they’re warming up. They go out to midcourt and they’re laughing, and Ace puts him in a headlock – it was completely playful. And I was like: This is pretty cool. They probably just got screamed at for an hour and a half, and now he and Dylan are out here messing around with their head coach.
“It was my way of looking at is as this kid has a good disposition for the game.”
Pikiell was impressed that Bailey played so comfortably against a wide variety of defenses. Because the Big Ten has 18 teams, the Scarlet Knights only played a few teams more than once. So most every opponent had a different idea of how to cope with Bailey and a different set of players to implement those strategies.
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“They would have big guys on him, small guys, they would double-team him from the baseline, they would ice ball screens – he saw everything, and he would have to make real-time adjustments,” Pikiell said. “I think those guys navigated that landscape as well as you could navigate it.
“What I really learned is the criticism two great players could get as people are just nit-picking, really. Ace is a winner. I think it’s important to note: one high school, one AAU program. When I went to watch Ace one time in high school, he had three guys guarding him on one possession.
“If you put that Northwestern tape, they had all their guys at that point. No one was hurt. They guarded him with their best players, and you know the job Chris Collins does. Ace made jumpshots and alley-oops and mid-range fadeaway bombs and dunk-tips on the road. I said: This kid’s 18 years old and hasn’t shaved yet, and he’s doing this. Just incredible.”