MORGANTOWN — If Kevin Jones’ career path were to be heading into the military rather than the National Basketball Association, there would be no question as to where he would wind up.

Surely, he would be a member of the U.S. Marine Corps, for he certainly qualifies as one of “a few good men.”

The NBA, however, has been known to recruit the likes of Metta World Peace and Dennis Rodman, for it is looking not for good men but good basketball players, and that leaves the former West Virginia University star’s destination very much in doubt heading into Thursday’s draft at the Prudential Center, just across town from his Newark, N.J., home.

We know his agent, Bill Neff, has said that he has been informed an NBA team plans on taking him in the first round, but you learn very early in your dealing with agents that it is dangerous to believe anything they say, for they will say anything to create a demand for their client.

The truth is that the NBA will draft only 60 players from throughout the world, about a third of them being power forwards, and while Jones’ senior season at WVU certainly was eye-opening, their collegiate past is relied upon far less than their professional potential.

Athleticism is key, and there is certainly some question about Jones’ athleticism, his vertical jump being said to have been just 31 inches, far less than, say, Joe Alexander or Jerry Porter, two Mountaineer athletes from the past who soared to 39 inches in pre-draft workouts.

Does that, along with at least one report saying Jones hardly measured 6-foot-6 in his bare feet after being advertised at 6-8, drop him out of the first round of the two-round draft? In fact, does he get drafted at all?

To figure this out, you sit back and wonder just what kind of professional player Jones can be. If he reminds you of anyone it is either Charles Barkley or Charles Oakley, although we are not meaning to say he is a future Hall of Famer the way Barkley was.

He does, however, have that kind of nose for the basketball and the best hands since I was once dealt a straight flush in a poker game. He puts that together with magnificent timing, great desire and hustle, and he will maximize whatever athletic ability he has.

Perhaps the man who knows Jones’ game best is Bob Huggins, who coached him the past four years. He is an expert on Jones, the player and the man, and on what an NBA player is, having sent a busload to the league in his Hall of Fame-bound career.

The Huggins’ brand is well known in the NBA.

“A lot of those teams that have had my guys previously say they come to play all the time. K.J.’s going to be a guy who will play in the dog days when a lot of other guys won’t want to play,” Huggins said.

This is an overlooked talent, for the NBA is an endless road trip, a string of meaningless games that send you from airport to airport, hotel to hotel, packing and unpacking so often you sometimes awaken unsure what city you went to bed in.

Getting up for the day is as hard as getting up for the games, but Jones will do that.

You ask Huggins for a comparison to Jones and he offers up one of his own.

“I had Fortson,” he said, referring to Danny Fortson of his best Cincinnati team. “They said Danny was undersized, and he ended up being a lottery pick. He ended up playing 10 years and they loved him. He rebounded the ball.”

Fortson’s NBA career was a good one, probably would have been a memorable one if he could have avoided injury. The only year he started more than 38 games he averaged 11.7 rebounds a game.

The previous year he played only six games before breaking a foot but was averaging 16.3 rebounds a game, and the previous season, a strike year, he led the league in offensive rebounds with 210.

“K.J.’s probably a little bit bigger than Danny,” Huggins said. “He’s as athletic as Fortson was. Danny wasn’t a big jumper. I saw somewhere they were concerned he has a 31-inch vertical jump. Well, Danny’s wasn’t much more than that.”

And as for measuring 6-6 ... well, Huggins just won’t buy that.

“He’s bigger than 6-6. I don’t know who measured him, but he’s not 6-6. Without shoes he’s probably a little over 6-7,” Huggins said.

Jones’ final year at WVU matches up well with Fortson’s last year at Cincinnati. Fortson scored 21.3 points per game,  Jones 19.9. Fortson averaged 9.1 rebounds, Jones 10.9.

They were, however, different kinds of scorers, Fortson doing most of his shooting close to the basket.

Jones, on the other hand, used different skills. Oh, he scored a lot off offensive rebounds, which was his forte, but he also ranged outside to shoot.

“He did a great job of doing what he could do. He’s a pick and pop guy. He’s good in the high post. He’s learned to make that shot,” Huggins noted.

So where does Jones go in Thursday’s draft?

You just are going to have to tune in to see, because there is no one who really knows, and that includes Jones and his agent.

Email Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com. Follow on Twitter @bhertzel.