RealGM

I think we have a good level of knowledgeable folks around here that have a solid eye for prospects. This is the thread where some of those minds get a chance to shine. I'm sticking this thread for post regarding those longshot and or eerily accurate predictions that panned out just as someone here predicted they would. Post some of your own or some of your favorites.

Find the quote, post the quote, but it needs to be something substantial, we're not calling a kid a bust or the GOAT 2 months into his career and using that as your quote. I will reserve the right to delete whatever doesn't make the cut.

i wanted to boast myself how I was dead right on Hezonja, but I found all 2015 thread of his, and I am honestly was too generous, way way too generous, was just afraid to go all in and said how overrated I really thought he was. I said I dont see star potential unless he really develops into an elite shooter, which I guess was fair. But I did said that IMO Bellinelli and JR Smith were more talented.

UcanUwill wrote:i wanted to boast myself how I was dead right on Hezonja, but I found all 2015 thread of his, and I am honestly was too generous, way way too generous, was just afraid to go all in and said how overrated I really thought he was. I said I dont see star potential unless he really develops into an elite shooter, which I guess was fair. But I did said that IMO Bellinelli and JR Smith were more talented.

find those quotes and bring um through. lol. I have one in mind but the search function is down. Somebody pretty much accurately predicted Steph Curry's MVP type numbers before he got in the league. I would have thought whoever that was would have been first up to bat to take the credit on that one.

Marcus wrote:find those quotes and bring um through. lol. I have one in mind but the search function is down. Somebody pretty much accurately predicted Steph Curry's MVP type numbers before he got in the league. I would have thought whoever that was would have been first up to bat to take the credit on that one.

I find this quote on Raptors board, I take credit for Scrubzonja nickname, nickname that never caught on but it should have, trade mark

UcanUwill wrote:France is day *** Germany. That team is ridiculous, much better than anyone else. Magic fans should be excited about Fournier more, not Scrubzonja.

UcanUwill wrote:

pbj wrote:
What's your beef with Hezonja?

I just think hes overrated. He can't create his own shot, his handle is average at best, and his shot selection is JR Smiath esque. Hes just a good 3 point shooter who also has good vertical. He is glorified Davis Bertans is what I am saying. What has he proven exactly, he was a bench warmer in Spain, and hes a small role player on Croatian Team? Now he will come to superior NBA and set the world on fire? I don't know about that.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=1402656&start=340

I'm here because I was quoted so I will add that I always maintained that Hezonja sucks, regardless of what I may actually have said in the past. That is all.

Finding the post without a search function is a PITA, but I remember saying Jokic was very interesting. IIRC, I was also high on Gobert.

pad300 wrote:Finding the post without a search function is a PITA, but I remember saying Jokic was very interesting. IIRC, I was also high on Gobert.

I remember a lot of youtube commentators were very high on Gobert. Common comparison at the time for him was Javale, but I remember commentors were saying how gobert is 10 times the defender Javale is. I remember thinking, well, Javale is NBA player where Gobert is French league player, so I dont know about that, but Gobert turned out just as good as a lot of hs backers were saying.

Jokic exploded after the draft, the year he was drafted I had no idea who he was honestly.

Not HOF caliber, but this is a post from when Jahlil Okafor was a HS senior and people (including legendary Manram) were saying if he was eligible, he should be considered for first pick in that year's NBA draft. Okafor was so hyped up that ESPN aired 2 of his HS games.:

Ruzious wrote:
I'm not an Okafor fan. Granted, he's enormous and has good low post moves, but I don't see him being any more than adequate on defense and rebounding (below average there), from what I've seen he's a black hole on offense who takes too long to start his moves making it easy to double him, lacks explosiveness, and excess weight will likely be something you have to monitor with him. But I think he'd go top 7 in this year's draft.

And Jay Bilas can eat his shorts - not to mention the NBA executives who were absurdly wrong on Okafor.

mattg wrote:He's a junior SF/PF for Marquette. He's listed at 6'6'' 225 but he looks and plays much bigger than that. He was the JUCO player of the year last year and lead his team to the national title before transferring to Marquette. I've been real impressed with him and think he could be a decent prospect down the road. He really gets after it on defense and has a really smooth jumper on offense. He also looks to be a pretty heady player overall.

He's averaging 13 points, 6.6 boards, 1.5 steals, .7 blocks, 1.3 assists, and .8 turnovers per game in 26 minutes of action while shooting 54.1 fg%, 45.3 3pt%, and 58.7 ft%

Anyone else like this guy's potential down the road?

This was the first time Crowder was mentioned on this site, and it was also very early into his college career.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1083125

mattg wrote:

mattg wrote:He's a junior SF/PF for Marquette. He's listed at 6'6'' 225 but he looks and plays much bigger than that. He was the JUCO player of the year last year and lead his team to the national title before transferring to Marquette. I've been real impressed with him and think he could be a decent prospect down the road. He really gets after it on defense and has a really smooth jumper on offense. He also looks to be a pretty heady player overall.

He's averaging 13 points, 6.6 boards, 1.5 steals, .7 blocks, 1.3 assists, and .8 turnovers per game in 26 minutes of action while shooting 54.1 fg%, 45.3 3pt%, and 58.7 ft%

Anyone else like this guy's potential down the road?

This was the first time Crowder was mentioned on this site, and it was also very early into his college career.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1083125

Yup, and that reminds me of one I gotta give CCJ (longtime poster in the Wizards board) credit for. He was all over Paul Millsap when nobody thought he was worth anything more than a mid 2nd rounder. if not for Millsap's success, I probably wouldn't have paid much attention to Crowder - both being supposedly oddly-shaped under-sized players.

I can't say that I knew Milicic would be a bust - I knew nothing about him. But despite most people arguing Darko vs. Melo, I wanted the Pistons to take Wade 2nd. Watching him shred defenses at Marquette, I knew he'd be special and I thought Chauncey/Rip/Wade would make a great 3-man guard rotation.

Also, as a Spartan fan, I thought Draymond had a good shot to be a successful role player for championship teams. I also thought that there was an equal chance that he would end up in the wrong fit with a coach that didn't know how to use him and he wouldn't last past his first contract. Still, watching him for 4 years at State, I knew he had it in him.

Giannis
Oladipo - I called him very early into the season.

Hard to say, I been accurate on guys but I feel like others like those guys too. I don't have someone who was just an OMG steal. Giannis was someone I was extremely high on for the range he was in. I wasn't one of those, he needs to be a top 5 pick. I do feel like the NBA does a good job and finding guys and even though I was high on Mitchell Robinson, I felt at the time, a lot of people were to a degree. I just don't have a true steal who was underrated. I did want to draft Kurucs in the draft with our 2nd rounder but I didn't think he was going to go late as he did. Same for Brunson.

I've hit on a number of guys I thought were going to be busts or not live up to their potential like Marvin Williams, Sheldon Williams, Adreian Payne, etc.

Can I call this a hit?

Im fine with shabazz considering what was left.. but man it wouldve been intruiging to draft Giannis Anetokounbo.

Thats maybe the only guy I would've taken instead of Muhammad at 14.

UcanUwill wrote:

pad300 wrote:Finding the post without a search function is a PITA, but I remember saying Jokic was very interesting. IIRC, I was also high on Gobert.

I remember a lot of youtube commentators were very high on Gobert. Common comparison at the time for him was Javale, but I remember commentors were saying how gobert is 10 times the defender Javale is. I remember thinking, well, Javale is NBA player where Gobert is French league player, so I dont know about that, but Gobert turned out just as good as a lot of hs backers were saying.

Jokic exploded after the draft, the year he was drafted I had no idea who he was honestly.

Yeah I remember being fairly shocked at how far Gobert fell, didn't make sense to me then, doesn't now

I've called a lot of busts, I'm pretty sure. Some guys just look shady/iffy the second you see them off the court. But a lot of them were in like the 10-20 range, so not necessarily HoF worthy.

I think my favorite prediction, though not necessarily the most impressive, was calling Embiid a future MVP while he was still in high school. I also said he was a no-brainer number one pick even after he was injured. I didn't know Wiggins and Parker would be this bad, but I was right that Embiid was talented enough that he was worth the risk of totally busting due to injury.

I had Doncic on his own tier above his class. I actually had a spreadsheet for 2018, and I gave him a 10/10 in every metric other than physical gifts. Nothing HoF there, but I wanted to give myself a shout out anyway.

I also saw Giannis as a mutant from the first time I saw his footage predraft. I wasn't all-in on the draft at that point, so I can't really claim much - can't say where I thought he should've been drafted - but it was clear he was especially gifted.

Was all aboard the Porzingis train like a year and a half before he even got drafted due to the unique combo of massive size and shooting touch. I was hyping up Gobert by the end of his rookie season where he played <10 MPG

Marcus wrote:

UcanUwill wrote:i wanted to boast myself how I was dead right on Hezonja, but I found all 2015 thread of his, and I am honestly was too generous, way way too generous, was just afraid to go all in and said how overrated I really thought he was. I said I dont see star potential unless he really develops into an elite shooter, which I guess was fair. But I did said that IMO Bellinelli and JR Smith were more talented.

find those quotes and bring um through. lol. I have one in mind but the search function is down. Somebody pretty much accurately predicted Steph Curry's MVP type numbers before he got in the league. I would have thought whoever that was would have been first up to bat to take the credit on that one.

absolutely! lol

Ruzious wrote:

mattg wrote:

mattg wrote:He's a junior SF/PF for Marquette. He's listed at 6'6'' 225 but he looks and plays much bigger than that. He was the JUCO player of the year last year and lead his team to the national title before transferring to Marquette. I've been real impressed with him and think he could be a decent prospect down the road. He really gets after it on defense and has a really smooth jumper on offense. He also looks to be a pretty heady player overall.

He's averaging 13 points, 6.6 boards, 1.5 steals, .7 blocks, 1.3 assists, and .8 turnovers per game in 26 minutes of action while shooting 54.1 fg%, 45.3 3pt%, and 58.7 ft%

Anyone else like this guy's potential down the road?

This was the first time Crowder was mentioned on this site, and it was also very early into his college career.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1083125

Yup, and that reminds me of one I gotta give CCJ (longtime poster in the Wizards board) credit for. He was all over Paul Millsap when nobody thought he was worth anything more than a mid 2nd rounder. if not for Millsap's success, I probably wouldn't have paid much attention to Crowder - both being supposedly oddly-shaped under-sized players.

Thanks, Ruz.

Today, I was a little down in the dumps. The acknowledgement is gratifying.

Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:

Ruzious wrote:

mattg wrote:This was the first time Crowder was mentioned on this site, and it was also very early into his college career.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1083125

Yup, and that reminds me of one I gotta give CCJ (longtime poster in the Wizards board) credit for. He was all over Paul Millsap when nobody thought he was worth anything more than a mid 2nd rounder. if not for Millsap's success, I probably wouldn't have paid much attention to Crowder - both being supposedly oddly-shaped under-sized players.

Thanks, Ruz.

Today, I was a little down in the dumps. The acknowledgement is gratifying.

Man... you're the coolest guy here (apologies to everyone else, but he is). Keep that head up.

Like this?