That said i dont love the "heart" and "hard worker" type stuff. I mean its def good, but thats not why you draft a kid at #3.
I dunno. I think that's an underrated factor in whether talent turns into a successful career. There are examples of guys who had ability but fell short or washed out due to a work ethic or bad mindset across many sports. Surely it's not why you draft a guy at whatever slot, and we can debate whether Barrett actually had the talent to be taken where he did, but a driven player who wants to put the work in is more likely to maximize on his ability even without superior talent or athleticism than a guy who coasts on athletic gifts.
Fans & media undervalue the importance of what happens AFTER draft
tho it's clearly a ton more of an influence than the pick itself
For example the top 3 all have weaknesses. Even in a strong draft, all but a few are 'NBA ready' and still take time carve out an NBA role, aside from stardom. This is heavily based on work-ethic, motivation, bball IQ among other things. So while I agree, RJ's weaknesses from college were on display for 2 games, it's nonsense to make this into any real concern. If in 1-2 years he's still shown little improvement - and I do mean little as we're still not done w/ Knox - then it's time to worry. That too after we generally say year 3 tends to be the make or break moment. We also haven't seen his strengths fwiw - not like those just disappeared even if he adjusts slowly
And I am disappointed - Iggy played poorly game 1 but attacked, played hard w/ confidence - RJ the opposite. Still it's nothing to flip on yet
That said i dont love the "heart" and "hard worker" type stuff. I mean its def good, but thats not why you draft a kid at #3.
That said i dont love the "heart" and "hard worker" type stuff. I mean its def good, but thats not why you draft a kid at #3.
I dunno. I think that's an underrated factor in whether talent turns into a successful career. There are examples of guys who had ability but fell short or washed out due to a work ethic or bad mindset across many sports. Surely it's not why you draft a guy at whatever slot, and we can debate whether Barrett actually had the talent to be taken where he did, but a driven player who wants to put the work in is more likely to maximize on his ability even without superior talent or athleticism than a guy who coasts on athletic gifts.
For example the top 3 all have weaknesses. Even in a strong draft, all but a few are 'NBA ready' and still take time carve out an NBA role, aside from stardom. This is heavily based on work-ethic, motivation, bball IQ among other things. So while I agree, RJ's weaknesses from college were on display for 2 games, it's nonsense to make this into any real concern. If in 1-2 years he's still shown little improvement - and I do mean little as we're still not done w/ Knox - then it's time to worry. That too after we generally say year 3 tends to be the make or break moment. We also haven't seen his strengths fwiw - not like those just disappeared even if he adjusts slowly
And I am disappointed - Iggy played poorly game 1 but attacked, played hard w/ confidence - RJ the opposite. Still it's nothing to flip on yet