(06-28-2026, 10:33 PM)F Gump Wrote: Are we sure that's a reliable way to look at this comparison?
To me the question about Johnson becoming Siakam should not be about comparing Johnson when he's drafted to what Siakam is right now, but rather how Johnson looks compared to the player TOR drafted. I would wager that Rookie Siakam probably didn't bring those "underrated high-post iso skills" to the table either when drafted.
I don't really have a good way to assess exactly what Siakam was on his draft day, but I find this comment about him back then:
[When Siakam was drafted], "he was primarily an energy player who scored on put-backs, transition plays, and hustle. He lacked a polished jump shot and a diverse half-court offensive game."
I do think it's informative that PS was drafted 27th. To be sure, some of that draft slot flowed from him being 22 on draft day, but I have to think that if there was an expectation he had the potential to become anywhere near what he has become, he would have been drafted much higher.
Should it be? I mean for every Siakam there have been hundreds of guys drafted with a similar profile to the quote you posted who didn't develop into nearly the offensive player Siakam is. Can Morez develop into an elite offensive player like Siakam? Yes. Is it likely based on his 2 years of college data? No. I'm not sure we should be using an extreme development outlier as a blueprint for what we would expect another player to do.