Post#167 » by BoutPractice » Sat Jun 14, 2014 2:39 pm
Some interesting things to keep in mind about Kyle Anderson: he used to be a top recruit. Was thought to be one of the best players in his HS class, even though athleticism and how good your dunks look on your AAU YouTube mixtape is usually what's being evaluated in young prospects.
None other than Kevin Durant thought he was the best player in his class. I have this weird theory that current (not former!) players could be underrated evaluators of draft talent: they recognize those who "belong". LeBron James, for example, saw a star in Stephen Curry when others saw just another shooting specialist. Anthony Davis got the highest marks from Olympic teammates, who saw his dominance coming from miles away, etc. (Contrast with Christian Laettner, who according to Magic didn't quite fit the Dream Team)
So you've got this 6'9 player who has the full offensive package, passes the eye test and then some as a pure basketball player, used to be considered one of the best players in his class, and averaged 18, 10 and 8 (!) per 40 to go along with 2 steals, 1 block and 48% 3P shooting in college.
Yet DraftExpress currently has him at number 25, more than 17 picks behind DougMcDermott.
So one of three possibilities:
- he secretly sucks for an as-yet-unidentified reason
- this draft is REALLY good
- he's possibly slightly underrated