Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 reasons Keita Bates-Diop was a good pick
3. Experience
There are always a good amount of draft prospects that stay longer than one year in college. Typically those guys tend to fall into the late first round or even the second round. That’s what we saw with Jalen Brunson this year or even Frank Mason III coming out of Kansas. You could argue those guys were some of the best in college and the best on their respective teams, but where they got drafted tells a different story.
Teams see young one-and-done type players as a potential to blossom into stars. That’s not to say that players who stay longer than one year don’t end up the same way, but that’s usually what we see.
The players that do stay are usually more mature and further along in their development process. Bates-Diop is entering the NBA at 22 years old, and yes he’s still very young with potential still to be made, but that’s old compared to some of the 18- and 19-year-olds.
Bates Diop has learned a lot in his four years at Ohio State and his stats show it. It wasn’t until his senior year that we saw big production.
| Season | School | FG | FGA | FG% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-15 | Ohio State | 1.3 | 2.8 | .473 | 0.5 | 1.2 | .462 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 3.8 | |
| 2015-16 | Ohio State | 4.3 | 9.4 | .453 | 1.1 | 3.4 | .324 | 6.4 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 11.8 | |
| 2016-17 | Ohio State | 4.1 | 8.2 | .500 | 0.3 | 1.7 | .200 | 5.2 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 9.7 | |
| 2017-18 | Ohio State | 7.3 | 15.1 | .480 | 1.9 | 5.4 | .359 | 8.7 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 19.8 | Big Ten POY |
| Career | Ohio State | 4.3 | 9.1 | .472 | 1.1 | 3.2 | .352 | 5.7 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 11.7 |
Provided by CBB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 6/27/2018.
You can clearly see that he made he made over a 10-point jump from year three- to year four. Not only that, but he almost averaged nine rebounds per game compared to 5.2. He also upped his steals per game and learned how to shoot the ball from 3.
Over his four years, KBD what it took to become a complete player and that helped his team win more, as well as improved his draft stock tremendously.