Just one thing to point out... Jalen's shot mechanics have changed since high school. I was watching a video specifically about this. First video is from high school, and the second video shows how he's changed his shot :
Yup and completely ignore the fact that 5 of the 7 were teams with a 20% win %, 1 game he started out on fire, and one solid legit win. We are marginally better without our 19 year old rookie who is not even close to a finished product.
Yes ... It's purely an evaluation at first to weed out those that cannot 'hack it' Later on some training is added to evaluate general skills Evaluation continues until graduation and contracting as active duty Then specific unit assignments are made, evaluation ends, and pure job-specific training begins Those that cannot 'hack it' in the early stages usually drop out due to attitude issues working within a unit, inability to think/execute under pressure, or lack of will power to grind thru very unpleasant and even painful circumstances ... Neatly summarized as physical and mental toughness Are you aware of what infantry do for a living? "Being tough is overrated" - a phrase never uttered by a team sports coach at any level "Get TOUGH, push thru, finish!!!" - a phrase repeated over and over by every coach to ever close a practice with gasers
Isn't that the job of every college recruiter, scout, and personnel exec in the game, even before the first game of the season, when every player is signed, drafted, traded for? How could you possibly give an accurate description of those 3 roles without including the ability to project a player's entire career? Draft boards are essentially a ranking of every prospects entire career contribution before they play a single minute on the court at that level In this case, we have actual results to evaluate, although a small sample so far What other purpose does scouting serve? I grew up in these circles , and I can assure you, the majority are not 'special stupid' In fact, I'd argue the most brilliant in pretty much any future forecasting industry are defined by their ability to project the future before any actual performance results are available Once substantial results data is available, projections start to become more consensus facts than varied opinions We got a steal in Sengun because 14 other teams projected another player to have a better career He's a lock top-10 now after the same small sample size, and possibly top-5 Are we all stupid for projecting great things for Sengun after only 20 games?
Really like this, if he's taken his jumper from broken to merely questionable, it shows he's aware of flaws and actively works to improve on them. So many dudes in league history were a jumper away from being really good, Stromile Swift, Ben Simmons, Josh Smith, Jeff Green. If Green continues to clean up his jumper, he may not be a superstar, but he won't be a bust. However, this dude is way to positive when talking about his jumper, that high-school jumpshot is utterly broken. Westbrook/D-Rose type "jump over everyone before shooting" motion that ensures you'll never hit 3s. Today, he still has a ton of flaws, but after seeing this, I expect him to improve on them and further refine his form. Getting rid of the dip, a release point around the forehead instead of the lips, and dropping the Kenny Smith knees will do wonders for him. All this is up to Jalen.
The purpose of a scout is to observe a prospect's strengths, weaknesses, potential, and intangibles and determine based on past data how much of that may translate into the NBA. It is very different from people calling a career designation less than halfway through the season. Case in point, ask any of those professional scouts who you consider are not stupid if any one of them would call Green a bust right now or make a strong opinion about his entire NBA career. In fact, all of them would probably tell you it is far, far too soon to be making that sort of judgement. I would guess that most of them would give you a very hard pass on that. If you can't see that very elementary difference, that is on you. Moving on to Sengun, he is actually a great example that ultimately scouting (much greater integrity than the arm chair idiots on CF that act like soothesayers) is ultimately just fancy guesswork. 14 teams passed on Sengun, despite some draft boards projecting him in the top 10. Kawhi went at 15 and Rashard Lewis went at 32. Altuve, who will go down as one of the greatest Astros players, was denied a chance to even be scouted initially by the Astros because he was deemed "too short". Scouts and personnel executives are wrong quite frequently and often comically so and these are professionals that actually do REAL RESEARCH as opposed to pull up box sheets and watch Youtube videos. Which leads us to your final point... Yes, I do think people calling Sengun things like the best current Rockets player or the next Jovic are stupid, just like I think the ones labeling Green a bust just as stupid. Both players have shown flashes of mind boggling greatness as well as having some ground shattering poor moments. Sengun has obviously been more consistent at making his strengths work, but he is still far from being a sure thing, especially once teams start seriously scouting him. Green is still in the same boat. Both of them are only 19 years old, so yes, projecting is completely stupid. At the end of the day, anyone who labels Green as a bust right now, they are either a special kind of stupid or they have a malicious agenda.
I have never called Green a bust, nor do I think he will be I have no clue why you associate that viewpoint with me I've called him disappointing to date I've questioned before, during and after the draft if he was the right pick I can't see how either of those opinions are special stupid I want this to be his team, but I want him to earn it Basically, I want him to jump into RoY race by season's end for year 1 And I want this team to be firmly, undeniably his going into the offseason If that never happens, for me, his first season would be a mild letdown As for scouting as guesswork ... I disagree in the sense that good organizations maintain that quality thru consistently assessing prospects accurately, and generally making good picks at their slots If it was all guesswork, how have the Knicks failed to draft a superstar since 1985? It's a garbage operation, and they have earned their embarrassing lack of relevancy It's not unlucky guesswork ... the Knicks consistently suck at identifying amateur talent, and that falls on the scouting department Nobody hits on everything, but good scouts don't have the coin flip 50/50 hit rate you seem to think is the league norm The good ones are right more often than not If the team follows their judgement, and develops the raw materials properly, you can get the type of extended excellence we saw from Pops Spurs I don't think 20 years of playoffs and 5 rings are a result of guesswork Their personnel people and coaches were consistently outstanding at their jobs for an extended period of time Why else would the league still be littered with disciples of the Spurs all over the place? Competitors hired all of those people for their talent in projecting teenagers, not lucky guesswork You're correct that underwhelming rookie seasons by no means condemn a player's career potential It's just not the way legends typically announce their arrival on the scene Special players usually don't have months of games where they play among the very worst players in the entire league The 2 guys picked right after him have performed among the best in the league, and done so from day one Perhaps Green will prove the exception to that rule I really, really hope so since we don't get any draft mulligans Sengun and Christopher look like hits, and potential home runs for their slots Green has plenty of time to make this a potentially fantastic draft haul, and Garuba could make it legendary If that happens, credit will be due to the people who projected those players as the best on the board 4 times in a row Guessing cannot be so consistent
Watching the Rockets without green is like watching the Jacksons without Michael or a guest appearance by Janet
Dude, Marine Corps boot camp has like a 95+% graduation rate and those who "drop out" are mostly just pushed down to another platoon with a later graduation date. Few actually "give up" and completely drop out. Jalen Green could absolutely destroy 99.9% of Marine recruits in a pft or cft. Jalen Green probably has stronger work ethic than the vast majority of Marine recruits also. You think the kid stumbled his way into the NBA? The amount of dedication in training it took for Green to reach where he is takes a lot more dedication than making it through a 3 month boot camp and ITB. Stop romanticizing the Marine Corps like it attracts the best and brightest America has to offer. Damn you sound like a ultra boot. Probably go around to your local Walmart with your high and tight and USMC sweatshirt and asking them if they have a military discount. You really need a dose of reality and perspective.
