Then, I started reading every article I could find on him. I looked at his stats, read some articles, watched some games, you know, all that good stuff. Some folks are super high on him, saying he's a first-round lock. Others are more like, "Nah, he's a solid second-rounder, maybe even undrafted." The range of opinions is honestly wild.
Next, I moved on to those mock drafts. Man, those things are all over the place. Some have him going in the late first round, others have him going way later. And of course, everyone in the comments section has a different opinion. It's enough to make your head spin!
After that, I decided to check out what the "experts" were saying. I watched some draft analysis videos and read some scouting reports from some big-name sites. Those were actually pretty helpful in getting a more detailed look at his strengths and weaknesses. What I've found was, basically, it's all over the place. I even heard one podcaster say he could be a first-round steal and another said he'd be lucky to be a 2nd rounder!
I even went down a rabbit hole of looking at team needs and trying to figure out which teams might be a good fit for him. That's a whole other can of worms. One team might love his playmaking, but another might be worried about his size. It's just so hard to predict! I watched some more videos. I watched some of his dad's highlights and then read some comments about how he could be better than his brother.
So, after all this digging, what's my conclusion? Honestly, I'm still not 100% sure. I definitely get the hype, I can see him turning into a decent backup guard in the league. But, I can also see why some people are hesitant. It’s a toss-up, for sure. He has some good days and some bad days, but he has improved a lot.
- Playmaking: Dude can dish the rock, no doubt about it. He improved his skills a lot, as I watched in the games.
- Defense: This seems to be a big question mark. I can't decide if he is good or not.
- Size: He's not the biggest guy, which could be a problem in the NBA, and I saw some comments about that.
- Shooting: It's okay, but not great. He will definitely need to improve in the NBA.
My key takeaways are:
Ultimately, I think it's going to come down to workouts and interviews. How he performs in those settings will probably determine his draft fate. It's going to be interesting to see how it all plays out. I'm keeping my eye on this kid. He seems to have that "it" factor. He had it at Creighton, but he really seems to have put it all together at Gonzaga. I'll be following his journey for sure!
