bajaden
Hall of Famer
Yeah, I agree that age is overblown when evaluating prospects. I don't really care if a guy is young for his class or vice versa cause I don't see how it makes a difference. Maybe if you're really concerned that a player is undersized and they're still a teenager that works in their favor as they could still be growing but I try not to penalize prospects for being 21 or 22 if they're dominating. The only thing I do look at age-related is that I try to compare players at the same point in their development. So I'll compare everybody's Freshman year for instance not just look at what they did this season. I think you have to account for the fact that prospects tend to get better with age and allow for a certain degree of expected improvement in your evaluation. That doesn't mean it's a given that everybody is going to improve dramatically though and if a guy makes a huge jump in his Sophomore/Junior/Senior season you've got to trust what you see and remember that they're still very young compared to the average NBA vet.
I agree, which was my point when I stated that how much a player improved between college seasons was an important part of the equation. If a player improves greatly between his freshman and sophomore year, he's obviously putting in the work, and has the physical ability to absorb that work and improve. When I played baseball I got passed over by my highschool coach because I was 5'11" tall and weighed 135 pounds. He didn't think I was strong enough. He made a huge mistake because I went on to play ball at a much higher level. Although I played at a weight of 165 lb's, I still hit with power. It's all about bat speed.
So using myself as an example, I'm always more interested in skill level than I am athleticism. Don't get me wrong, I love if a player has both, but if I have to choose, I'll go with skill level 90% of the time.