David Roddy is one of those guys who everyone knows will be a second round pick. If he is lucky.
But, what should also be as obvious is that he’s going to be an NBA player. Period.
What kind of player? What level of player? Hard to say. Fifth starter on a good, playoff team? Seventh man on a title-contending team? The P.J. Tucker on a team that wins the title? Any of those outcomes would make sense. But with his frame and skills, it is tough to imagine him failing to make someone’s roster and rotation within a year or two.
He looks like a more athletic Jae Crowder/Adrian Dantley hybrid with A. D.’s post game and Draymond’s versatility. Apparently, he was a football star in high school and that background shows in his rugged, physical play. His body and his mentality will get him into a place where he will get a look in the NBA and his basketball skills will keep him there.
There will be lots of guys taken in front of him in the late first and early second round, because of their alleged upside. Roddy will slip down the draft rankings and lists because more intriguing and interesting athletes will be taken before he’s grabbed. The draft is really a gambling event and players are bets. Like rolling the dice. Roddy does not look like the typical player who will pay off big, like a mega-lotto winner, so his allure is iffy. But I would be shocked if Roddy did not turn into a player who will have a better career than several lottery picks and almost all of the players who will be drafted before him in the late first and second round.
Watching Roddy play basketball is funny, cause it is easy to see a path to a professional career in front of him, but it is also easy to see how teams will pass on him - Who is he going to guard?! - until someone finally steps up and takes the plunge. That brave - and smart - team will probably be richly awarded for thinking out of the box and having the imagination to visualize the NBA player in that football player’s body.