kekgeek1 wrote:My thing is why is Deni a lesser prospect the Edwards or Ball.
All 3 struggle with shooting (i am worried about Deni FT shooting and jump shot obviously), but Deni is an above average athlete, playmaker, big body, solid rebounder, great vision, reported great motor to get better and solid defender. Also played 3 different positions on a winner.
I'm am legit asking why he isn't in the conversation for the #1 pick. Why do those other 2 have more upside. I understand Wiseman having more upside (even though I worry about the value of bigs)
That's a legitimate question, kek. You're right that Ball and Edwards also has poor shooting stats this past season in their respective Leagues. Edwards' FG percentage of 40.2% was slightly worse than Deni's and his 3-point percentage was comparable. But he was a better free throw shooter. He also played far more minutes than Deni, so it's hard to compare. Ball hit a pathetic 37.5% of his FG attempts to go with a terrible 25% 3-point percentage, although he had a better free-throw percentage than Deni on more attempts.
But I agree that Ball and Edwards appear to have more upside than Deni - at least in the more obvious ways. Edwards appears to be significantly more athletic than Deni. In fact, his combination of speed and explosiveness in a 225 pound frame is freakishly impressive. And he put up much bigger numbers than Deni, although admittedly he played far more minutes than Deni. Ball is a virtuoso with the ball. While I like Deni's playmaking, the film I've seen of Ball suggests a higher level of playmaking/passing talent than Deni. Note also that Ball put up some impressive stats across the board with 7.6 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game. Of course, again, Ball had far more minutes than Deni. And it's also worth noting that the League Ball played in last season is not at the same level as the Euro League that Deni played in,
So why would I take Deni over Ball or Edwards? Because of the less obvious, but what I consider even more important, things that go into determining how a player will be when he gets to the NBA - namely competitiveness and basketball IQ. Deni is described universally as a fiery competitor with a very high basketball IQ. You won't see the term "fiery competitor" or anything close to it mentioned in connection with either Ball or Edwards. You might hear high basketball IQ used to describe Ball, but others will disagree and point to his terrible shot selection. You definitely won't hear high basketball IQ mentioned in connection with Edwards; in fact you'll hear the opposite. There's a long list of great players throughout NBA history. Some of them have been great athletes, but not all of them. What they all have in common are two things. They have all been fierce competitors and had high basketball IQs.
There's my case for Deni over Edwards or Ball. But then again, it's hard to get past his poor shooting, especially from the free throw line. I know most of us tend to talk about shooting as a skill that can improve after getting to the NBA. But when I look back, I don't see many examples of that. Donovan Mitchell's FG and 3-point percentages have improved slightly from his college stats. But we all know Ricky Rubio's FG and 3-point shooting didn't improve in the NBA and he was actually a good free throw shooter. Admittedly, you don't have to be a particularly good 3-point shooter to be a great NBA player. Dwayne Wade and Luka Doncic are two great examples of that. But I'm not aware of any great NBA players who had field goal percentages at or around 40%.
I just wish we had a more robust record of Deni's play. He didn't put up anything close to Luka numbers in rebounds, assists or steals. But his minutes were more limited than Luka's. I like Deni enough that he's one of my favorites to draft if we trade down. I still have Okongwu as my top choice. I see him as a Bam Adebayo.
