Former Iona point guard Scott Machado might be the most interesting players in the NBA Draft. No one seems to know where the Gaels’ former maestro is going to go. The consensus is somewhere in the second round, but draft evaluators are all over the place about the impact the think he’ll have at the next level.
There are five Top 100 rankings out from writers and sites across the country. Every single one has St. John’s small forward Moe Harkless between 10 and 20 (four of the five have him at 17 or 18). There’s a great consensus. On the other hand, Machado appears anywhere from 25 to 80 in those same rankings.
The five rankings are:
- Doug Gottlieb’s Top 30 — #25
- Chad Ford’s Top 100 — #37
- Jeff Goodman’s Top 100 — #47
- NBADraft.net’s Top 100 — #66
- DraftExpress’ Top 100 — #80
It seems that the college writers are more positive on Machado than the sites that look at players like NBA scouts. Except for Ford’s ratings. The “NBA Draft Insider” for ESPN you’d think that he’d be on top of what people are saying about Machado and his chances at the next level. So what is creating this big disconnect? It seems like it’s directly attributable to what you think Iona’s system – and Machado’s play in it – says about his future.
One of the biggest things is that Machado continued to improve throughout his senior season. That can be looked at as a positive or a negative. Was it the case of a player just “getting it” during his senior season, or a senior – at the age of 22 – having a big physical advantage against a lower level of competition. That’s a big question. As someone who is on the record as thinking Machado will succeed at the next level, I believe it’s more of the former. Machado put up strong assists numbers against every type of competition during the 2012 season. He had 11 assists against Purdue, 15 against Maryland, 15 against Nevada and 10 in the NCAA tournament against BYU. Only twice all season did he has fewer than six assists. It’s obvious that his passing and playmaking abilities are excellent.
Machado’s workouts with NBA teams are important. If you’ve followed his Twitter feed you know he’s been on the road working out for a number of NBA teams, including Atlanta, New York, Portland and Utah. Hawks’ GM Jeff Pendergraft had some nice things to say after Machado’s workout on Saturday.
“He is the best at getting the rebound, turning, surveying the court and passing ahead,” said Pendergraft. “He’s as good as anyone collegiately I can remember ever seeing. … He’s good in the half court, but he’s great in the full court. He’s one of the best, if not the best passer in college basketball.”
If he gets into the right situation, Machado will certainly contribute at the NBA level. No matter what happens though he’s going to make a few people look really smart and some others really silly. It’s just going to take quite a bit of time for that to happen.
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