How Buddy Pedraza Got Here
Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 2:16 pm
My final player profile post is another rags-to-riches star, Buddy Pedraza. Buddy is a little bit different though. He did turn some heads heading into the draft. He had A's on inside scoring and post defense. Coupled with a 90 in strength, Buddy looked promising from the start. I know for a fact that at least one team (read as the Blazers) made efforts to trade up to draft him. It is also worth noting that he also had potential to become a great passer.
His prolific defensive potential combined with mediocre rebounding, great free throw shooting, and good passing made him a unique player. His closest comparable was Yao Ming and the comparison wasn't that close. That being said, setting Buddy's ceiling at Yao Ming seemed reasonable at the time of the draft. And then TC happened.
Buddy got a nice little boost in defensive rebounding and all of the sudden he was looking like a legitimate star. The next year his offensive rebounding went up to a B and the next year his defensive rebounding potential was trained to an A. All of this added up to 5 All-star appearances and 4 All-league selections in his first seven years in the league. He doesn't block shots though so the computer will probably never pick him for All-defense.
Buddy has, of course, had a wildly successful career. He scored 19 points a game AS A ROOKIE and has averaged 24 points a game throughout his career. The biggest area concern for him as a rookie, rebounding, is obviously a non-issue. He has average 10 rebounds a game each of the last three years. He has fulfilled his potential to become a great passer, averaging 4 assists per game each of the last two years. Finally, as was expected at the time of the draft, Buddy has been wildly efficient, averaging 1.33 points per shot over the course of his career.
Buddy just broke his leg so maybe this isn't the right time to discuss his future but I'm going to anyway. Buddy played 4 years of college ball so he turns 30 in the next sim week. Buddy has had a terrific career but his window is closing.
- Buddy rookie.PNG (22.13 KiB) Viewed 681 times
- Buddy progress.PNG (7.46 KiB) Viewed 681 times
- Buddy stats.PNG (27.77 KiB) Viewed 681 times
Buddy just broke his leg so maybe this isn't the right time to discuss his future but I'm going to anyway. Buddy played 4 years of college ball so he turns 30 in the next sim week. Buddy has had a terrific career but his window is closing.