Smart2Nesmith43 wrote:I appreciate Hal's optimism. It's a welcome change from the constant negativity on here. But where he loses me is when he starts comparing random future late second rounders/UDFAs to hall of fame players. Nothing against Small, I don't know the kid and I wish him all the best but let's be real. He'll be the same age on draft night than Holiday was when he made his first All Star team. Like those two things are not the same. I can understand the impulse to make stylistic comparisons to current players but at some point the gap in ability is so huge that it renders that comparison moot. Like Holiday's best attribute as an NBA player is his versatility, the odds Small develops even one NBA level skill (let alone enough to be a versatile NBA guy) are very low, so what does that comparison accomplish ?
You want to tell me that one of those prospects play like Tyler Zeller, Brandon Bass or Jordan Mickey fine, I'll bite. But I cringe every time I see someone say this dude here at the end of the first round is going to be an Al Horford or a Jrue Holiday replacement.
Relax. This is literally what I said, "Not saying he'd be as good as Jrue. But Small could potentially be Jrue-lite. Like a similar player - just not as good."
And I made sure to emphasize *kind of* when posting a couple of clips and saying that in those clips Small looked *kind of* like Jrue.
And I obviously meant Jrue, as in the player Jrue is today. Jrue, the player he is today is not a hall of famer. Neither is Al Horford..they're solid role players. Which is what we're looking for in the draft - some solid role players.
Derrick White is also a role player. He is better right now than Jrue is. Yet D-white was 23 when drafted. And he was the 29th pick..so it's not out of the realm of possibility that a guy (Javon Small) who was just went 33rd in a mock yesterday and is 22, could *possibly* be kind of like Jrue, but not as good, which is all I said..jeesh..
Lastly, age obviously does matter with evaluating draft prospects but I think we should be careful to not weigh it too heavily. These guys were all 22+ on draft night: Pascal Siakam, Sam Hauser, Pritchard, Kornet, Derrick White, Desmond Bane, Max Strus, Cam Johnson, Austin Reaves, Malcolm Brogdon, Caleb Martin, Fred Vanvleet, Alex Caruso, Kornet, Herb Jones, etc.
Meanwhile, these guys were all 18/19 on draft night: Juhann Begarin, Jaden Springer, Jordan Walsh, Georgios Papagiannis, Dzanan Musa, Mario Hezonja, Marvin Bagley, James Wiseman, Josh Primo, Josh Jackson, Romeo Langford, Dragan Bender, Greg Brown, etc.
