The decision front offices at the top of the NBA Draft will have to make with regards to LaMelo Ball will be an interesting and potentially franchise-altering one, for better or worse. Many scouts view Ball as a high-variance prospect that can either take a team to the next level or set the franchise back multiple years.
For some scouts, that variance is too much to take a risk on him with a top pick. In a recent piece for The San Francisco Chronicle, Connor Letourneau got a scout’s take on Ball.
“Ball is the ultimate boom-or-bust proposition. You watch him play, and it’s easy to see why folks love him. His creativity and feel are off the charts. But for me, he’s too risky to use a super early pick on. There’s just too many things he’s deficient in right now.”
Inherently, top guard prospects typically have a higher variance due to how much a team must be shaped around them. When it goes wrong, the whole team suffers. That explains why some franchises may view Ball as too much of a risk, particularly with the Warriors who are in a win-now mentality.
