FarBeyondDriven wrote:hard to get too excited about a 6'1" scoring guard no matter how dynamic he looks playing weak teams while on a stacked team. I think this is an example of where people falter when evaluating prospects. They spend too much time worrying about college/Ignite/NBL production instead of whether their talent and physical gifts will translate to the NBA. Both of these guys will play in the league, likely off the bench, maybe a spot start or extended period due to injury, and they'll do well for themselves. Neither look to be future NBA starters for a variety of reasons. At least not on a good team and that's all that matters. Still worth drafting in the first
Ignoring production, basketball IQ, ability to read the game, make decisions, have good processing speed, maturity, work ethic and relying too much on physical gifts/athleticism is why we've seen so many terrible picks in recent years (Kevin Knox, James Bouknight, Kai Jones, JT Thor, BJ Boston, Ziaire Williams, Jonathan Kuminga, GG Jackson, Isaiah Todd, Noah Vonleh, Greg Brown, Marvin Bagley, Cam Reddish, Stanley Johnson, Josh Jackson, James Wiseman, Jalen Smith, Juhann Begarin, Darius Bazley, Josh Christopher, Jalen Green, Bol Bol, Keon Johnson, Blake Wesley, Josh Primo, Bryce Mcgowens, Ryan Rollins, Patrick Baldwin Jr, Peyton Watson, etc.) while guys like Jokic, Austin Reaves, Jaime Jaquez, Jalen Williams, Quentin Grimes, Sam Hauser, Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, De'anthony Melton, Gary Trent Jr, Gabe Vincent, Walker Kessler, Andrew Nembhard, Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson, Max Strus, Duncan Robinson, Bruce Brown, Kenrich Williams, Corey Kispert, Desmond Bane, Brandin Podziemski and Alex Caruso got drafted way later than they should've.
We need to learn our lessons from previous drafts. The guys who are 6'8" freak athletes but are raw and don't know how to actually play winning basketball, or team basketball, don't have the maturity, work ethic or fundamentals - they fail. The guys who might not have the greatest physical gifts but have really high basketball IQ, great work ethic, good maturity, good head on their shoulders, solid fundamentals, know how to process the game and do it quickly, who show strong production, play winning basketball, play team basketball - they have long, productive NBA careers.