Young players are glass half-full or half-empty propositions, and evaluating them can never be wholly objective; even the most even-keeled have their own vision of how a player can develop. The best prospects make it obvious–it’s easy to be objective about Paolo Banchero. To assess a young player who needs development is to try and see what a player can become while watching success and failure.
Jaden Hardy is a test case for the Dallas Mavericks. He flashes the kind of self-creation skills we associate with star scoring guards, but is clearly raw. What makes him interesting is he’s always been this way.