[surveParticipant]

 So much Anthony Davis hype on this site and I said it over and over.  There is too much stock being placed on collegiate performance.

 

In most mocks before the season started, Drummond was the projected top pick.  Now its Davis by a landslide.    Had Barnes had a great year last year, he was projected to be #1, not Irving.  All of this is based on college play.

Some guys come in and have a single spectacular year and it catapults them.   Isnt that a double standard seeing that now the longer a player stays in college, the less potential he seems to have?  Essentially we are talking about 1-4 years.  I look at it as on the job training and learning on the job.

True, some players you can see just cant do certain things no matter how long they stay, others you can see they have a lot of room to grow.  There are examples that I will list a little later, where there were players on the same team, and one left earlier than the other, and the other became the better player despite playing longer in college and being less hyped and possibly a lower draft pick.

I think too much hype has been given to Davis and a couple others this year because of stellar play, while others have suffered in the face of criticism, due to play not as stellar.

Its hypocrisy but also a product of bandwagoning.  I get it…..I mean because Davis had a much better season than Drummond, that makes a GM hesitant to pick Drummond because if Drummond doesnt pan out….that will not only cost him his job, but follow that GM for the rest of his career.  At the same time, if Davis busts….any GM will get a pass on that because look at how awesome he was in college.

[omphalosParticipant]

I’m in complete agreeance, especially when factors limiting certain players like Drummond are unique to the college level and won’t be present in the NBA (i.e. no defensive 3 second, less space in general).

Personally, I still think Drummond is going to be a better NBA player than Davis, especially if he goes to a team with a decent coach and a mentor at the PF/C position.

That said, I’ll always concede that Davis will go 1st because it seems pointless to argue with it at this point, I just don’t see him being the best player in this draft class.

[surveParticipant]

 another question that goes along with this thread is….

This year in college, who will be the winners and losers?  What if Muhammad struggles, will he drop like Barnes?  What if UK wins it all, will Noel and Poythress both be in the top 5 like Davis and MKG are projected?  Its possible, because we dont know what can happen…but the reason that the good and the bad of a player’s season can determine has way too much emphasis on their draft position is the point of the discussion.

[aamir543Participant]

One thing that eats my mind is that Chris Wallace picked Hasheem Thabeet over Harden, Evans, Curry, Rubio, and Jennings, he picked Mayo over Love, he traded Gasol for what at the time was pennies on the dollar, and traded for Zach Randolph who at the time was being passed around like a hot pottato, yet he somehow put together a steller roster, amazing.

[mosdefParticipant]

I like to have some college production in any prospect I look at. Why? Its cuz just since a prospect has a ginormous wingspan and can jump out of the gym doesnt mean he can actually play basketball and in the end, thats what we all want; a guy that can play instead of a guy that we just throw around the potential word around alot. Its a different game now, but Chris Mullin, a HoF, wouldnt get a second look since he was slow and barely 6’7” in shoes but we all knew he had a skill that could translate into the NBA, shooting

[mosdefParticipant]

to go off the aamir post,

there are two different types of scouts: the people who are more wowed by combine/workouts and then there are the people that rely more on game film.  Neither is really wrong but if you take what Memphis did on their misses, they looked at Thabeet and probably said the dude can run and he 7’3” yet didnt see he had hands of stone.  Same thing with Mayo, tho Love had a better college career and took UCLA far, Mayo was the better athlete then the chubby, non jumping Love. It worked for them when they got Rudy Gay….tho I might add I think two different GMs drafted Gay compared to Mayo and Thabeet

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