Sin #5: "Hype-nitis"
How many times do fans get duped into a draft story

It happens all the time and the best (or shall I say, ridiculous) part of these articles is the anonymous source. For example, the writer may say, “An NBA scout that I found at the game told me this player is as good as anyone in the draft.” It's beyond me why these media outlets attach anonymous sources to their articles as if it gives their story more validity. Their sources usually turn out to be as reliable as a Nigerian email scam.

Hype-nitis was in full swing a few years back when a certain Canadian named Ivan Chiraev impressed a few high school observers, such as Clark Francis from Hoop Scoop.

Peter John Ramos

That same year the Hype-nitis train traveled south due to the huge media attention given to Peter John Ramos from Puerto Rico. As part of the hype, Puerto Rican basketball was suddenly viewed by some as on par with Spain competition, when in reality it held no comparison. It was as if people were trying to force reasons to like Ramos because of his size.

The Ramos name rang a bell, so I checked with a couple of friends and was reminded of why he was so familiar to me. Peter Ramos, as he was called in New York, played AAU basketball and was widely viewed as an average player with good height. But if anything, the best center in the AAU circuit at the time was Shagari Alleyne, not Ramos.

In 2004, with Ramos billed as the next great center, the Washington Wizards foolishly drafted him. He was then assigned to the NBDL for the next three years with hopes that the project would develop. In the end the Wizards washed their hands of Ramos after only six NBA games. He's now overseas playing decently.

But Hype-nitis isn’t just relegated to international ballers and high schoolers. College players can also be over-hyped, especially when their particular skills are given more credit than deserved.

J.J. Redick

Ronnie Brewer and Thabo Sefolosha were taken after Redick and would have been much more productive at the guard position. Some teams apparently don’t consider draft history when making their selections. They should have remembered Duke player Trajan Langdon, who had an almost identical skill set as Redick and was also taken too early. Three years later Langdon was out of the league.