JLei wrote:Doctor MJ wrote:It's so weird to me that he, or anyone else, would feel a temptation to do this given that Ford isn't supposed to be giving his opinion, he's supposed to be going by what teams actually think.
So, when MCW gets moved up from #9 on Ford's actual board to #7 on the fake version, he's actually getting further off the mark from what was actually thought at the time (#11). WTF?
I wonder if we'll ever know the story here. It won't shock me if it turns out to be someone other than Ford who is responsible for this. Regardless, it obviously make him look bad...but realistically, if Darko couldn't kill Ford's career, it's hard to imagine this would.
Thing is everyone got Darko wrong wasn't just him.
This is pretty sketch. He's a fool for thinking he could get away with this if it was him.
And his big board is reflective of his opinion of the top 100 prospects (with input from scouts). His mock draft is reflective of what the teams think/ where he thinks guys will have selected.
So MCW rising on his big board makes him look smarter which is why this was done.
The issue with Ford & Darko is that he was instrumental in pushing Darko's story. Read his words on Darko and you get the impression that Darko was Rambo-esque, having lived through live & death struggle and perplexed at the notion that playing a child's game was something remotely intimidating. Others ended up writing similar things, but Ford did it first so far as I know, and he did it repeatedly.
And yes, he did have quotes from scouts and executives that backed up this narrative, but articles like this don't just happen. The author decides to write like this, and even with the quotes: Those come from prompted questions by the author that the author typically doesn't include in the article.
Given what we now know of Darko. How rigid he was in his play. How he seemed overwhelmed by the NBA. It sure looks like a case where people made a conscious choice to craft a narrative for Darko based on what Americans would find believable and impressive about a kid from Serbia, and while it may not be clear who started that ball rolling, clearly the one who poured gasoline on the fire was Ford. You can't do that and merely be claiming to be reporting on what others say.
But with all that said, you're quite right that this is the wrinkle that allowed Ford to survive the debacle. His reputation was damaged, but not like it would be if he was marketing himself as a scouting guru.
