EvanZ wrote:BigGargamel wrote:The-Power wrote:That's the kind of reductive thinking that leads to poor draft decisions when it comes to older players.
Age should be a factor, but him not being a first round pick because "dude is a 22 year old as a junior" is just lazy reasoning. He reminds me a bit of Tristan da Silva, and I'm pretty sure Orlando is happy with taking the old dude in the first round a couple years ago.
Asking because I legitimately don't understand the hype this kid is getting. What specifically is it that you like about him in terms of NBA role?
as a Gator fan I can tell you what I've seen from him - Haugh's a really good athlete, very bouncy and fluid, and is an excellent defender at 6'9 with long arms who can guard multiple positions and plays with 110% effort at all times. He's a smart player who makes a lot of winning plays and doesn't try to do too much or get out of control often.
I think his size/athleticism and defensive ability are definitely NBA level. Offense has significantly improved from being awful as a freshman but is still a bit of a work in progress. Last year he improved his FT and 3pt shooting from 45%/25% as a FR to 79%/34% as a SO and became UF's best offensive big man by the end of the season.
in 24-25 he exclusively played PF, but this season he's playing mostly on the wing and has taken on a much bigger offensive role, doubling his PPG and shot attempts, and he's been UF's overall best player and scorer to date. He's only hitting 32% from deep so far on 5.6att/g this year, but his form looks good and he's obviously gotten way more comfortable as a shooter, so I think he'll continue to improve there.
his biggest issue, besides needing to continue to refine his shooting, is that he has to get better as a ballhandler to be a significant contributor in the league. His handle is not a strength right now.
I think there's plenty of potential there with his size/athleticism profile, defensive ability, toughness, competitive nature and the trend of continual offensive improvement that he's shown so far.