Briscoe vs JCL is an interesting comparison. They were RSCI #11 and #37 a year ago, so the idea was that Briscoe was the better prospect and probably the guy with the more likely NBA future.
Briscoe's big advantage is that he definitely has an NBA position. He can play the point on offense and guard it at the other end. Good size, good body, good strength, you have no worries that he can hold up at the 1 in the NBA. JCL on the other hand is a tweener combo guard who hasn't filled out his frame at all. He's still young but at his current level of strength it's tough to see any role for him on an NBA floor. Who is he gonna defend? Because against college players last year, the answer was "nobody". And beyond just the body concerns, we haven't seen much in the way of distribution from him. I think at best he's an E'Twaun Moore type where he's a very undersized two who you can maybe get away with giving some spot minutes at the one, though Moore has had to develop that over his pro career.
What JCL has is a clear NBA skill, which is that he's a knockdown shooter in multiple situations. Off the dribble, off of screens, off of curls, catch-and-shoot, he can really stroke it. And while he's not elite at putting the ball on the floor, he's good enough and athletic enough to make people respect him. He's not Jon Diebler.
Briscoe isn't an explosive athlete, but he's a decent one with a high motor and he uses that strong body well. He's a pugnacious player, which I always like, seems like most of the guys who aren't freakazoid pogo sticks who make it in the NBA play with that kind of attitude. His problem is that he can't shoot at all. The jump shot form is a mess, it's going to be a total rebuild for that part of his game. And while sometimes a broken jumpshot on an otherwise great player just stays broken (ask Michael Kidd-Gilchrist), NBA teams tend to have a lot of confidence that they can fix a shooter and are eager to take a flyer on someone if that's their only major problem.
I like both guys. They both have a feel for playing basketball and they both carry themselves like playmakers and winners. They're both assertive which can be half the battle for guys with fringey skillsets. But since Briscoe's issue is one that NBA teams tend to overlook, whereas with JCL it's more of a question of what you do with him in the first place, I would definitely say that Briscoe is the better NBA prospect at this point in time, and that the high school evaluators got that one right.
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