With pretty much the entire league salivating over the upcoming draft file, I thought it might be a good time to take a peak into the future of these players by doing one of my favorite things, looking at which past and present players these future players most resemble. I'm just going to look at the blue potential players and one bonus green player because, with a class this deep, ain't nobody got time for doing all the greens. The method to my madness is this, I look at what makes a player unique and see if we've seen players like that before. Simple enough.
Andrew McCulley
McCulley checks a lot of the boxes we want for a point guard: handles, defense, steals, 3 point shooting. The thing that worries me most about him is his strength so I looked at all players with A's in 3ps, PRD, and STL but with strength less than 50. There are some good names on this list: Kyle Lowry, one Chris Paul year, Tony Delk, Mark Macon, one year of Iman Shumpert. In short, Kyle Lowry is probably the ceiling here but that ceiling requires a little bit of training or TC luck.
John Bono
There are three things that really stick out to me with Bono, quickness, jumping, and inside scoring. Only a handful of players have ever had this kind of combination of athleticism and scoring. Here is the complete list: Westbrook, Kevin Johnson, James Harden, Dwyane Wade, Allen Iverson. So this guy is going to be able to score a lot. The huge difference between this guy and those guys is that he is a MUCH WORSE defender than them. Get those points ready for paid training and this guy will be a star.
Trenton Williams
When I look at Trenton, I see a whole lot of B's. That's not a bad thing, especially for a glue guy wing. How many players have had an A in 3ps and B's in both rebounding, post D, blocks, and steals? One. His name? T-Max. Obviously, Williams can, pass, handle, defend the perimeter, or score in other ways like T-Mac, nor is he anywhere near as athletic, but wow, I mean, that is excellent company.
Clifford Paugh
Cliff's scoring and defense ratings are very very close to Kevin Van Horn's. The most interesting thing by far with Paugh is his size and quickenss. No player taller than 6'4" has ever had 99 quickness. Paugh is 6'8"! I guess this is what happens when we mess with the height file.
Dennis Dinh
There has been some buzz around Dinh and rightfully so. How many players have had A potential in INS, JPS, FT, and at least a B in PSD? Four. Dirk, PG13, AD23, and Beau Agustin. How many of them had at least B's in blocking and steals? One. Anthony Davis, destroyer of worlds. Of course, Dinh isn't near as athletic as any of those guys and he can't shoot the three or rebound like them but he has some good core skills.
Roland Pettit
Pettit has the defensive credentials that get you excited. Guys that have had A potential in PRD and a B in PSD include Ron Artest, Bryon Russell, Scottie Pippin, Donovan Mitchell. Guys that had that plus A potential in offense rebounding? Zero. Of course the huge drawback here is athleticism. His combination of defense and lack of athleticism compare favorably to Luc Richard Mbah a Moute but he can score much better than LRMAM. So he is somewhere between Mitchell and him.
Kevin Marek
Marek's combination of handles, passing, perimeter defense, and strength is fascinating. The only guys with B's in all of those categories plus strength over 80 are T-Mac, Tyreke, and Chad Marsh. The overall picture makes him out to look a lot like Tyreke.
Raymond Partridge
At first, when I looked at Partridge I was like, meh. But Raymond's combination of inside scoring, rebounding, post defense, perimeter defense, and stealing make him look like KAT, except he blocks shots instead of hitting jump shots. Not bad at all. He has more hops than KAT too. With a little strength training, this guy could turn into a really good player.
Rocco Farmer
BONUS GREEN GUY! Why? Well, obviously that name is enough to merit inclusion but the reason I'm including this guy is because I think he could make a real run at rookie of the year. His combination of inside scoring, jumping, and quickness will make him an immediate scoring threat. The only guy with all three ratings in the ranges of Rocco was Kyle Lowry for two season. In those two seasons, he scored 1.26 and 1.28 point per shot but he could make threes and Farmer can't. Either way, I think this guy can have an immediate impact.