cjbulls wrote:The opposite is true. If Reddish misses, everyone will say "You saw his numbers at Duke, how could you think he'd be better in the NBA." He is not a safe pick
And I didn't mention just GMs either, the media all have him ranked 7th or 8 on big boards (ESPN, Ringer, Athletic, Bleacher Report, CBS, Sporting News, Sports Illustrated).
Coldfish is right that early reputation creates quick and lasting narratives. Jonathan Givony talked about this last year, saying that elite ecruits, regardless if they perform poorly in college, set themselves up to make good money off their high school reputation. Andrew Wiggins was alright in college, but he was expected to have a season like Zion just did. He still went #1 overall and eventually signed a max contract. Michael Porter Jr. still went in the lottery after having two major back surgeries in a year. We saw it in the draft threads last year where plenty of fans were willing to look past the back issue because he was an elite HS recruit.
Reddish is going to cash out on high school reputation and measurements in a shallow draft. And yes, if he underperforms the red flags will look worse in hindsight, because they were obvious.