I'd say that the trade worked out for both teams. Wiggins definitely hasn't panned out the way people hoped, but the ensuing tank got them KAT and the pieces for the Butler trade. All for a guy who was almost certainly leaving in FA eventually.
Because of KD, I watched Jeff Green every night at OKC. I'm not saying his physical tools and basketball skills were substandard, just mediocre. There was nothing he did really well. He gained a spotlight he didn't deserve by playing with KD & WB. If Green was a high energy guy that played harder than anyone else, his career would have been better.
I'm talking about his potential coming into the league ... before he even played with KD . He was a top 5 pick for a reason . He had a ton of tools.
Forget where he was drafted. That has nothing to do with it. There are plenty of top 5 guys that don't have much upside and they get exposed. You can't really tell until players actually compete in the NBA.
You don't draft a player top 5 UNLESS they have upside . Having talent and panning out in the NBA are two separate things
Well, duh. What applies to Jeff Green is this: Getting drafted high and having talent are two separate things.
Why ? A prerequisite to getting drafted highly is having lots of talent .... if you don't have some upside an NBA front office isn't going to draft you in the top 10 picks .
Is it possible NBA front offices are wrong sometimes? Think about it. Did Kwame Brown have lots of talent? He was drafted #1.
Yes kwame brown had talent . I consider physical tools talent . He did not develop . NBA front offices make mistakes for sure ... But guys bust out for a lot of reasons : injuries , mental game , lack of development and discipline. I understood what you are saying , but I don't think you are understanding me . Jeff green was generally thought of as a top 10 prospect in his draft class .... its not like Seattle was making a huge reach in selecting him top 5 . He had good physical tools ( size and athleticism and quickness ) and also had some skills that teams thought they could refine and develop . No one comes into the NBA a finished product . Most of a players growth occurs after they are drafted and they learn the NBA game and work on their skills . For whatever reason green didn't live up to his potential . But it wasn't from lack of talent. In fact I would say that green has managed to stick around in the NBA BECAUSE of his talent level ....
Some guys get exposed the minute they step on an NBA court. This is what happened to Jeff Green. Forget what people thought of him prior to the draft. That has nothing to do with anything at all once the action starts in the NBA. At Georgetown, his being decent at everything, weak at nothing worked fine enough to win Big East POY. Because of the talent at the NBA level, a guy like him is pretty much locked into mediocrity. Same for Corey Brewer, who was drafted a couple of spots later. His size, strength, athleticism and quickness are nothing special in the NBA. Same for his skill level. If you want to use the argument if he had developed more skills and worked harder..., that applies to everyone, not just Jeff Green, wherever they were drafted. Pre-draft opinions don't matter. The NBA grind brutally exposes the real truth.
