The-Power wrote:Marcus wrote:The-Power wrote:I guess so. I think he should look to get a larger role next year in Europe first as I don't think he's one of the guys with a lot of draft appeal when so unproven. But who knows who likes him come draft time.
Hayes has clearly separated himself in terms the French guards right?
For me (and I think most observers), yes. They really have moved into opposite directions since I started scouted them more extensively to start the season.
I didn't think they were that close to begin with. Hayes always seemed more fluent as a basketball player to me.
Since so many draft prospects are obviously far from making a positive impact in the NBA, a large part of identifying diamonds in the rough comes from figuring out who's on this sort of exponential curve of development in terms of their skillset (as opposed to someone who's simply a man among boys and will be much less effective against actual men). However, I think there can sometimes be an overcorrection where players who were severely underrated before get overrated for having 'burst onto the scene' or whatever.
In this draft, the players who I currently have as my top two prospects (Hayes and Wiseman) are more players with good tools for their positions who have consistently improved because I don't see anyone in the latter category. When comparing Hayes and LaMelo, I find a lot of this an overcorrection. Lamelo was certainly underrated by recruiting rankings due to not playing very much high school basketball and being a year younger than his classmates, but if you had considered him a lottery pick going into the season I don't think he's played so well as to totally obliterate any expectations. I'd consider Jaden McDaniels (who was looking like a potential top-10 recruit even during his junior season when he was still ranked in the 80s-90s) another such player who was looked at in a more positive light because his production relative to the top players in his class was almost a moot point.
Hayes is not too far off as a distributor from LaMelo and I'd consider him to be a lot better at playing off-ball and defending multiple positions (not to mention a much better shooting form and free throw percentage, which is certainly relevant considering how many people thought Lonzo to be a clear #1 pick despite those limitations). I think Cole Anthony is being trashed a little too much right now considering how bad UNC is without him, but when you're talking about age, size, playmaking, shooting, defense, and versatility, Hayes is at or near the top in all those categories without having any glaring weaknesses.
