11-17-2020, 01:44 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-17-2020, 01:53 PM by HanspardsShowerVoice.)
(11-17-2020, 01:09 PM)Davevoid Wrote: FWIW, the Ringer's Kevin O'Connor - who's quite connected around the league - has Hayes rated as the top prospect. So he'll be the fifth pick at least, propably even higher.
I mean, the T'Wolves and Hornets are pretty bad at this whole draft thing, but I can see the Warriors taking him at #2.
KOC's ratings are based all his own opinion, which I totally respect when people put their own opinions out there and don't just use groupthink, but he's not regurgitating consensus around the league. He's got Tyrell Terry #8 in his rankings.
To counter, Zach Lowe interviewed Mike Schmitz and Jonathan Givony on his podcast and neither are nearly as high as on Hayes. Both guys have him outside their top 5 guards, much less Top 5 overall. Givony said he has Hayes going #12 to Sacramento in his final mock draft, and when he talks to teams they have absolutely no idea where he is going to go. And he said it wouldn't shock him if he fell out of the lottery because it's hard to find a home for him.
Hayes team in Ulm basically built this gigantic $25 million basketball academy because they essentially want to be the Kentucky Wildcats of the Euros. They want to entice the elite global young talent to come to their team for 1 year to showcase their skills for a year before they go to the NBA. Hayes was a huge signing for them, so they basically showcased him all year and let him play Harden-ball and spread everyone out so he could do whatever he wanted to make him look as good as possible, get drafted highly and they can pitch it to the next crop of elite 17 year olds. He had 8 turnovers in his first game in a pretty bad German League, and they just let him play through it because he was the face of their Basketball Academy. That's not going to happen in the NBA. That's not to say he can't be an elite player one day, but this is definitely going to be a developmental work in process.
That's not to say Hayes can't go high. Its not a top heavy draft and it's all in the eye of the beholder. It just takes 1 team. He is a guy that teams will have to be very patient with and have a vision for, because he's going to make a lot of dumb mistakes and turn the ball over a lot until he develops. He has never had to share the ball with another good player. He is not a good outside shooter and he's not an elite athlete to blow by people off the dribble, so he's going to have to develop one of those.