Dmcdani6 wrote:What are the stats people look at w/ college players to determine if they might be good in the NBA??
Its tough to just only look at stats. To me a lot of it is just watching the player and see if he has that "it" factor. Josh Jackson for example, solid rebounding and assist number horrible shooting numbers outside the paint. You look at that and you don't see stud prospect. But if you watch the dude, you will say damn the only thing missing from this guy is a consistent jumper. His numbers don't do justice for his ability to facilitate and get others involved. It doesn't show how well he moves and cuts off ball.
But if you don't get to watch or just don't want to watch these guys, ya I say FT% is a good way to project if they're going to be good shooters or not. Take Tatum for example, right now his shooting numbers are poor, but when you watch him, every time he shoots it looks like its going in, has great form and ridiculous shooting touch. You then see hes shooting 92% from the line and that kinda backs up the eye test of those shots look good just aren't falling yet. Also goes the other way, you guys know this first hand with Justise, he was a 40% knock down 3 point shooter at Duke, can't hit the broad side of a barn in the NBA, he had a poor FT% in college. People were questioning if DSJ jumper was a big red flag to start this season because his slow start, hes always been an 80 to mid 80% FT shooter and his shooting has caught up now. Fultz has been lightening it up from deep but hes never been a great shooter and a horrible FT shooter so I continue to say watch for his numbers to come crashing back to the norm.
College is tricky especially at the start of the year because so many teams play such trash opponents its hard to get a good gauge on them. The best thing I say is wait for conference play (which just started) and if you use sports-reference, just scroll down to conference stats, forget the rest. Thats your best way of seeing his stats against some legit college competition.
