1997 Rookie Draft Peak Grades

Name Pos INS OUT HAN DEF REB
Adonal Foyle C C D+ D- B C+
Alvin Sims SG C C C- C D+
Alvin Williams PG C C+ B- B C-
Anthony Johnson PG C B C+ C+ C-
Anthony Parker SG C+ B+ C C+ C-
Antonio Daniels PG C+ B- C+ C+ D+
Austin Croshere PF C+ B D+ C+ C+
Bobby Jackson PG C B C C+ C
Brevin Knight PG C C B+ B+ C-
Bubba Wells SG C C- C- C C-
Cedric Henderson SF C+ C C- C+ C-
Charles O'Bannon SG C C D+ C C
Charles Smith SG C C+ C- C+ C-
Chauncey Billups PG C+ B+ B+ B+ C-
Chris Anstey C C C- D C C
Chris Crawford PF C C+ D+ C C-
Chris Garner PG C C C- C D
Damon Jones PG C B+ C+ C D+
Danny Fortson PF C+ C- D C- B+
Dedric Willoughby SG C C+ C- C D+
DeJuan Wheat PG C B C C D
Derek Anderson SG C+ B C C+ C-
Derek Grimm SF C C D+ C- C-
Ed Gray SG C B- C- C D+
Eddie Robinson SF B- C D+ C+ C
Eric Washington SG C B- D+ C D+
Etdrick Bohannon PF C D+ D C C+
Fabricio Oberto C C D+ D C+ C+
God Shammgod PG C C- C+ C D
Ira Newble SF C C+ D+ C+ C-
Jacque Vaughn PG C C+ C+ C+ D+
Jamal Robinson SF C C- D C C-
James Collins SG C C+ D+ C C-
James Cotton SG C C C- C C
Jason Lawson C C C- D C C
Jerald Honeycutt PF C C+ D+ C- C
John Thomas C C D+ D- C C
Johnny Taylor SF C+ B D C C-
Jonathan Kerner C C C- D- D+ C
Kebu Stewart PF C D+ D C C+
Keith Booth SF C C- C- C+ C
Keith Closs C C D+ F+ C C
Keith Van Horn PF C+ B C- C C+
Kelvin Cato C C D+ D- B- B-
Kiwane Garris SG C C+ C- C- D
Marc Jackson C C+ C D C C+
Mark Blount C C C- D C C
Marko Milic SF C C C- C C-
Marlon Garnett SG C C+ C- C- D+
Maurice Taylor PF B- C- C- C C
Mengke Bateer C C C D C- C
Michael Stewart C C D+ D- C+ C+
Mikki Moore C C C- D C+ C+
Nate Huffman C C D+ D- C- C+
Pat Burke C C C D C C
Paul Grant C C D+ D C- C
Peter Aluma C C D+ F+ C- C
Predrag Drobnjak C C C D- C C
Rodrick Rhodes SF C+ C- C C D+
Ron Mercer SG B- C C C C-
Scot Pollard C C C- D- B- B-
Shea Seals SG C C D+ C- D+
Stephen Jackson SF B- B C+ B- C-
Tariq Abdul-Wahad SG C+ C- C- C+ C
Tim Duncan PF A- C- C A- B+
Tim Thomas SF C+ B C- C+ C
Tony Battie C C+ C D- B- B-
Tracy McGrady SG A- B B- B C
Trevor Winter C C- C- F D+ C
Troy Hudson PG C B C+ C D+

Here's the 1997 Rookie Draft class, in full. Just as before, these are the estimated peak ratings for these prospects, not how they will come into the league. The ratings are here to be griped; not providing input won't make the league move on any faster.

Feel like SJax could be B defense
Maybe a bump to TMac's handles, but that might make him OP
KVH could use a scoring bump maybe. He's got the same Inside/Outside as Johnny Taylor rn

Apr 3, 2022 18:48:51 GMT -5 Teagz said:

Feel like SJax could be B defense
Maybe a bump to TMac's handles, but that might make him OP
KVH could use a scoring bump maybe. He's got the same Inside/Outside as Johnny Taylor rn

- Leaving Jackson's defense at a B-; feel like his effort was too inconsistent on that end.
- I think you're right that T-Mac would be too OP with that.
- Upped KVH's inside to a B-

Thanks for the gripes!

Also lowered Johnny Taylor's inside to a C lol.

Besides some of the points raised above.. this looks good to me...top 3 are legit Studs

I don’t see many gripes honestly, I guess if I’m being picky

Keith Closs’ defense maybe slightly higher? Anthony Parker’s scoring ratings seem a lil OP too

Nitpicking
Billups handle good but could be bumped even slightly higher (career 2 tpg).

Maybe lower Anthony Parker’s inside? Right now he has the same inside/outside as Billups and that just doesn’t seem right lol

Mark Blount C+ inside and C outside? Shot 50% from field for his career and 73% free throw shooter. Was a pretty solid jump shooter throughout career

Troy Hudson Could probably be B- handles

Apr 8, 2022 22:37:27 GMT -5 dez said:

I don’t see many gripes honestly, I guess if I’m being picky

Keith Closs’ defense maybe slightly higher? Anthony Parker’s scoring ratings seem a lil OP too

Gave Closs a modest boost defensively but left him at a high-C. His shot blocking rating is very high.

Anthony Parker is one I will revisit. I do think he was a good enough shooter in his second NBA stint to warrant B+ outside but I understand that he looks a lot better than he perhaps should.

Apr 9, 2022 16:11:19 GMT -5 kdogg said:

Maybe lower Anthony Parker’s inside? Right now he has the same inside/outside as Billups and that just doesn’t seem right lol

He's one point away from being a C outside, I'll think about it, but already mentioned above that I do think the B+ outside is warranted.

Apr 9, 2022 10:11:20 GMT -5 snipe said:

Nitpicking
Billups handle good but could be bumped even slightly higher (career 2 tpg).

Upped his handle to a low A-

Apr 9, 2022 17:20:23 GMT -5 brads4president said:

Mark Blount C+ inside and C outside? Shot 50% from field for his career and 73% free throw shooter. Was a pretty solid jump shooter throughout career

Upped his outside to a C and also his handle to a D+, and moved him up to a fringe-C inside.

Apr 9, 2022 17:23:02 GMT -5 brads4president said:

Troy Hudson Could probably be B- handles

Upped him ever so slightly but left him at fringe C+

(for the sake of participation) i'd give Austin Croshere a Handle bump to C- and a Defense knock to C

I feel like Tim could get a solid "A" inside

KVH should probably peak at a B + outside imo. Cato has an argument for being a B rebounder and defender imo. TD should peak at A inside. He was too dominant not to have that. T-Mac should have a higher handle. He was a underrated passer and one of the better ball handlers his size in nba history.

Shamgod should at least be a B - in handle.

Apr 10, 2022 18:58:45 GMT -5 s6x said:

(for the sake of participation) i'd give Austin Croshere a Handle bump to C- and a Defense knock to C

Upped his handle a tad but it remains at D+. Leaving his defense as a C+, I don't think he was a complete liability on that end.

Apr 10, 2022 19:02:55 GMT -5 stunna said:

I feel like Tim could get a solid "A" inside

I'm going to leave him at A-, I understand the argument but it's really hard to get him up to an A without completely over-extending how good he was as a scorer.

Apr 11, 2022 2:04:26 GMT -5 tyo said:

KVH should probably peak at a B + outside imo. Cato has an argument for being a B rebounder and defender imo. TD should peak at A inside. He was too dominant not to have that. T-Mac should have a higher handle. He was a underrated passer and one of the better ball handlers his size in nba history.

Shamgod should at least be a B - in handle.

- Already upped KVH's inside since the initial post; I'm going to leave his outside at a B. A good shooter from distance in the second half of his career but was never an elite marksman.
- I'm good with upping Cato's defense to a B, going to leave his rebounding at a B- though.
- Already addressed Duncan's inside above.
- Gave T-Mac a handle boost, still leaves him at B- though.

Thanks everybody for the gripes, feel free to add more.

Apr 11, 2022 10:26:49 GMT -5 CC06 said:

Apr 10, 2022 18:58:45 GMT -5 s6x said:

(for the sake of participation) i'd give Austin Croshere a Handle bump to C- and a Defense knock to C

Upped his handle a tad but it remains at D+. Leaving his defense as a C+, I don't think he was a complete liability on that end.

Ok cool but if a C is a "complete liability" on defense, wouldn't a D+ be "worse than a complete liability" for handles? maybe can you post a rubric chart about the vitals and letter grades and what they mean. For new ppl. I downloaded the program but it wont run on my OS, so i havent read the Help/User Manual yet

(i also didnt know that you had sub-levels of grading within each letter!)

Apr 15, 2022 13:32:50 GMT -5 s6x said:

Apr 11, 2022 10:26:49 GMT -5 CC06 said:

Upped his handle a tad but it remains at D+. Leaving his defense as a C+, I don't think he was a complete liability on that end.

Ok cool but if a C is a "complete liability" on defense, wouldn't a D+ be "worse than a complete liability" for handles? maybe can you post a rubric chart about the vitals and letter grades and what they mean. For new ppl. I downloaded the program but it wont run on my OS, so i havent read the Help/User Manual yet

(i also didnt know that you had sub-levels of grading within each letter!)

The handling rating is a weird one because, while there are three ratings that factor into it, it's almost completely weighted by how good or bad a player's passing rating is. It's also probably the grade that has the widest range, simply because that passing rating can go all the way from 5 to 100 and it's probably the most influential rating towards one grade. His actually ball handling rating is above average (peak-wise) among all PF's I've built to this point. Quickness, the third rating that factors in, is above average for PF's too. It's just a passing rating which is just slightly below average, that has him at a D+ right now.