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Height: 6'11" (211 cm)
Weight: 209 lbs (95 kg)
Position: C
High School: United Township High School (Illinois)
Hometown: Peoria, IL
Current Team: Northern Illinois
Win - Loss: 9 - 20

Articles

Orlando Pre-Draft Camp: Day Two

Jonathan Givony
Jonathan Givony
Mike Schmidt
Mike Schmidt
Joseph Treutlein
Joseph Treutlein
Jonathan Watters
Jonathan Watters
May 30, 2007, 05:12 pm
Hughes is a player that has intrigued many with his athletic upside over the past two seasons, but very little of that translated onto the court this afternoon in Orlando. Hughes clearly has NBA-caliber raw athleticism, but is quite slow laterally and really struggled to do anything offensively in this game. While he has put on weight since we last saw him and remains a shot blocking force, he tended to find himself off balance and out of position in this one. Hughes was able to block three shots and alter several others, but had at least that many sent back in attempting moves in the mid-post and on the low block that don’t seem very realistic for him at this point in time. Hughes certainly has the body and athleticism to make an impact here, so perhaps we will see a bit more out of him now that he’s had a chance to adjust to the Orlando setting.

Orlando Pre-Draft Camp: Day One

Jonathan Givony
Jonathan Givony
Mike Schmidt
Mike Schmidt
Joseph Treutlein
Joseph Treutlein
Jonathan Watters
Jonathan Watters
May 30, 2007, 02:37 am
Hughes showed some great flashes playing at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in early April, and seems to have come out on the right foot here at the Pre-Draft camp as well. He crashed the glass extremely hard showing off his outstanding length and excellent athletic ability in traffic. He also displayed some sparks of raw offense here and there, knocking down a simple baseline floater from right outside the paint, finishing with some authority and not looking completely lost on this end when forced to alter his shot or take contact. His physical attributes and the assertiveness he’s showing makes him possibly one of the more intriguing guys at this camp.

Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, Day Four (part two)

Jonathan Givony
Jonathan Givony
Joseph Treutlein
Joseph Treutlein
Eric Weiss
Eric Weiss
Apr 09, 2007, 03:53 am
There wasn’t much new to see from Hughes in this game, but he did make some solid contributions for his team, and his play here should make him a lock to get into the Orlando camp, where he can try to expand on the positives he’s shown here. Hughes makes most of his contributions in the rebounding and weak-side defense department, and even though he scored 10 points today, eight of them came on wide open jams around the rim that were created for him by his teammates. His other score was on an 8-foot jumper. He doesn’t have much in terms of offensive skills, and that’s something he should work on in the next month and a half, preparing himself to show a bit more at Orlando.

Defensively, Hughes did a good job again contesting and blocking shots around the rim, but his man-to-man defense is very raw, as he doesn’t have much of a fundamental base in the post, not getting leverage and not showing much in the footwork department. He was beat a few times in the post in this game, and just looked very questionable even when he wasn’t beat.

With his physical attributes, Hughes should get a few chances down the road to find a role in the NBA, and it’s up to him to make the necessary strides in the weaker areas of his game. His conditioning could also be improved, as he seems to get winded easy, but to his credit, whenever he was hunched over and taking deep breaths during dead ball and free-throw situations, he came back strong the next play and fought through it to still contribute for his team, showing motivation one wants to see from a player like him.

Portsmouth Invitational Tournament: Day Three

Jonathan Givony
Jonathan Givony
Joseph Treutlein
Joseph Treutlein
Eric Weiss
Eric Weiss
Apr 07, 2007, 04:44 am
Another nice showing for Northern Illinois big man James Hughes today. Standing a legit 6-10, with a nice frame and an excellent wingspan, he’s clearly one of the more intriguing big men we find here. Hughes was extremely active all game long, challenging shots around the rim and coming up with a number of nice blocks on the ball and from the weak-side, and going out of his area on a number of occasions for some strong rebounds, a few offensive that ended up in tip-ins or easy buckets.

Offensively, he’s a pretty raw guy, with a fairly limited assortment of post moves and just average touch around the basket. He got really winded early on due to the up and down style of play that we found here, and looked like he was going to collapse every time play stopped for a moment. To his credit, though, he did not let that stop him from playing hard when the ball was actually in play, and he did run the floor very hard and made lots of effort plays. Hughes has probably shown enough here to get an invite to Orlando, and if he continues to develop his fairly skinny body, he will at the very least have a chance to play in the NBA at some point in his career. We would like to see him develop a little bit more of a mean streak and try to maximize his tools even more.

Portsmouth Invitational Tournament: Day One

Jonathan Givony
Jonathan Givony
Joseph Treutlein
Joseph Treutlein
Eric Weiss
Eric Weiss
Apr 05, 2007, 03:30 am
Although he probably didn’t blow anyone away with his performance in day one ,there is a pretty good chance that James Hughes at least opened up some eyes with the way he played. Hughes is a 6-10 big man with solid athleticism, an excellent frame, and a very solid wingspan, which oftentimes is enough to draw some intrigue. Hughes ran the floor well, did a good job intimidating around the rim, and hit a few shots around the basket to keep scouts interested. He’s not necessarily the smartest or more polished senior here, but he does seem to have more upside than that the average player here. We’re looking forward to seeing what he can do in his next two games.