SOUL wrote:maybe i'm biased but so many "nba draft guys" will answer questions as to why da silva is graded badly and they'll just be like "just had him lower than others" and mock them as like the 56th best prospect or something random. it's not even like there's tons of terrible tape, the dude shot 50/40/80 for two years straight with functional athleticism and a game that doesn't look like it would take a lot to translate.
even if you mock him as kyle anderson AT BEST, which isn't a crazy high bar, that's probably a 9th to 15th best player in an okay draft, nevermind a terrible one. and is a connector who can shoot at all three levels, cuts well, hits shots in motion and standstill, has good percentages on floaters, has good team defense. like there are obvious athletic flaws and upside that won't be hit but.. yeah.
it's just weird to be like "terrible draft, also this dude that does everything at a pretty good level is my 80th prospect cause he's 23 and uh yeah just dont like him as much as others, btwthis dude who averaged 3 points on 28% shooting on a a B-league team in France is clearly 15 spots better because he's 18 and those shots that went in looked PURE"
I think it’s because Da Silva is seen as having a low ceiling, where the other options are way more boom or bust. These analysts largely think about what predictions will backfire on them and haunt their resumes, so they feel way more comfortable giving good grades to someone who has a 5% of being an All Star instead of another player who has a 90% of being a solid rotation player.
They also have no earthly idea of roster construction since they don’t know where they will go, so they need to evaluate players at face value regardless of who picks them.
Overall it leads to a super, super flawed system and analysis, but it’s the best they have for the public right now. These teams use analytics like baseball now and I think it’s only a matter of time until those metrics become more public and these analysts look even dumber than they already look.
For us fans, the best measure is “can you see a path to this player getting playing time on this squad”, and Da Silva has an obvious role from day 1. It’s a darn good pick in a weak draft because it will make our team better immediately.
