Golabki wrote:Novocaine wrote:Golabki wrote:I think there's a big difference between college basketball and u18 games... College is ugly but it's organized and has real schedules and coaches with long term interest in the quality of play... U18 is more like an exhibition or all star game.
Nah, you're wrong on all accounts -maybe you're confusing the FIBA competitions with those exhibition games and tournaments like the Europcamp and such- but that's beyond the point: someone has already posted the game there and people can watch for themselves if it was competitive or not and how the 18 year old Sabonics stacked up against the 16 years old Bender. Of course, some people will insist on having opinions without watching, but we agree we can safely discard those as silly.
I'd say two things in response to this.
1. If you think no one who hasn't watched years of U(whatever age) games in depth has a valid opinion... Okay, that's fine, but I would strongly recommend you never come on RealGM - Draft, because 90% of poster will admit to not having watched many of those games careful and of the remaining 10% that do claim to have watched those games, 90% are lying.
2. Here's my view. Proformance in U(whatever age) games isn't meaningless, but it's REALLY hard to interpret. I think what's MUCH more meaningful is that he cannot get on the floor for his ACTUAL basketball team.
Look, that's all good, but the point remains you were the one bringing up two years ago and then questioned the competitiveness or non-competitiveness of the game, the talent level, etc. My entire point is that there's no need to speculate about those things because, well, one can just watch it. So no need for guesses. I don't question opinions, just the validity of that particular guessing exercise. Sounds unnecessary to me, but to each their own, it's no big deal.
He's been getting on the floor, no? Sure, he isn't playing regular minutes, but who would out of the 18 years old in this class? Hard for me to put much stock in that either way. What players show or don't show on the court along a period of time is always what matters to me, I'm not sure I quite grasp what interpreting is in this context. Then one needs to project how they will fare in the NBA game, if and how will they develop, what limitations are likely to be overcome or not and how important they might be... but that's true for every draftee, it's what makes the draft an art and not a science.
And I come here mostly to read opinions, I rarely comment, because there are plenty and it's a good way of challenging one's priors, regardless of how informed they actually are.
