Why do you say Uthoff is soft? I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, but "soft" is a vague term. I don't think he's comfortable being the go-to guy. He filled that role last year, but it sometimes appeared he was out of his comfort zone.
He also seemed to appear to have an issue when defenses placed particular focus on him with their rotations and playing physical with him to deny him even touching the ball.
With that said, in Jarrod's defense, he did have a number of big games and helped us in some big comebacks. He was brilliant in both of our wins against Purdue last year, which might have had the biggest and most physical defense we played last year (until Villanova). The win against Minnesota at home is another good example of him battling through adversity as he simply could not get a break on his shots in the first 17 minutes of the game. I think he opened the game 1-10 shooting, with many shots/layups just rolling out. He stayed aggressive and 24 points and 15 rebounds to help us avoid a big upset as we won by 4. He had 29 points and shot over 50% from the field in our season finale at Michigan when many were already counted us out after losing 5 of 6 games. He also had 23 points in our first round win over Temple. So to say he didn't play well in big games is unfair, in my opinion.
Thus, I might agree that Uthoff is "soft" in terms of being reluctant to be the go-to player and struggling to beat double teams and physical defense. With that said, in the NBA he would not be asked to be the go-to guy, and he wouldn't face double teams. He'd be asked to be a spot-up shooter/slasher as maybe the 3rd or 4th option when he is on the floor. I think he could thrive in that role. I just see very few things that he can't do on the court. He can shoot, handle the ball, block shots, get steals, and rebound.
Finally - I think your second post is spot-on. From the reports I saw, he did himself no favors at the draft combine.
