Looking back at the 2014 NBA Draft, the best players from the second round could give the first five picks of the draft a fit. Part of the reason that’s possible is Jabari Parker and Dante Exum never lived up to expectations. But a starting group featuring of Nikola Jokic (No. 41 overall), Jerami Grant (39), Joe Harris (33), Spencer Dinwiddie (38) and a healthy Dwight Powell (45) with Jordan Clarkson (46) and Glenn Robinson (40) coming off the bench is nothing to sneeze at.
Suffice it to say, if there was a re-draft with the Class of 2014 now, those seven players wouldn’t be second-round picks.
So, comparing a projected 2020 lottery pick to a 2014 second-rounder wouldn’t be farfetched. Because that’s exactly what happened with RJ Hampton.
An NBA talent evaluator told Marc Berman of the New York Post that the 19-year-old projects as “an athletic Spencer Dinwiddie.” (Maybe the talent evaluator missed when Dinwiddie put Tobias Harris on a poster?)
Of course, Dinwiddie had a response to the comparison:
Ain’t he a lottery pick? Glad I earned the right to get those guys compared to me 🤙🏾 https://t.co/3pQgKkZurD
— Spencer Dinwiddie (@SDinwiddie_25) May 6, 2020
Dinwiddie has previously expressed he received the only compliment he’ll ever need when the late Kobe Bryant visited Brooklyn and told the Nets guard he was playing like an All-Star.
Still, this comparison is another example of how much talent slipped through the cracks in the 2014 NBA Draft.