NBA Draft 2024: Why did Isaiah Collier and Kyle Filipowski fall in the draft?

If you just arrived in a time machine from June 2023, you'd probably be surprised at the Utah Jazz's 2024 NBA Draft acquisitions. Three players who will call Utah home for the foreseeable future — Cody Williams, Isaiah Collier and Kyle Filipowski — were all projected to be top-10 picks in this year's draft class.

Even those unaware of today's time travel technology (which I think most people are), will have been impressed with the incredible 2024 NBA Draft that Utah enjoyed. Danny Ainge and company acquired top prospects with incredible potential with three picks, each at a draft position that was previously thought to be impossible.

And yet, here we are: all three players are on the roster, and Utah acquired players without moving up in the draft.

For the Jazz, this draft was a dream come true, but for Collier and Filipowski in particular, falling in the draft position derailed their NBA prospects. For one reason or another, both players experienced significant declines before landing in Utah. So how did this come about?

Great Expectations

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Both Collier and Filipowski entered the 2023-24 college basketball season as potential lottery picks. Collier was the top-graded player in his high school class when he enrolled at USC and arguably attracted more attention than a teammate named LeBron James, literally.

Standing 6'5″, with broad shoulders and a stocky build, Collier has the build of a football player but also the grace and mobility of a road runner. In his freshman season, Collier showed incredible body control on drives to the rim and a soft touch to make difficult layups over and around taller defenders.

Watching Collier twist and turn to find the perfect angle to take a layup off the backboard is reminiscent of Zach Galifianakis. the hangover Do calculations in your head He is trying to decide his next move.

“But if Collier is so good at shooting at the basket, why don't defenses collapse on him?” I can almost hear you from across the basketball world. When the situation allows, he's ready for a dangerous passing game. With the Trojans, Collier flashed his passing ability and court awareness, making plays that made me mutter “wow” from my couch. Collier is a better cutter than most. Clone troopers carrying out Order 66.

Filipowski was no slouch in college either. Projected as a top-10 prospect early in his sophomore season, the 7-footer saw his draft rating drop slightly during last season's campaign, but not nearly as much as he ended up landing in the second round.

The player they call “Flip” has been compared to former Jazzman (and likely Ainge favorite) Kelly Olynyk. He's the quintessential player who can do anything for his team, but most importantly, plays when his team needs him most. Check out this play to see Jon Scheyer's confidence in Filipovski's playmaking ability:

Filipovski was his brightest link as a scorer and was extremely efficient at Duke, shooting over 50 percent from the field. NBA Draft Profile He expressed great confidence in the big man's transition to the NBA game.

Like Collier, Filipowski's selection by the Jazz with the 32nd pick came as a complete surprise to NBA analysts, as if the basketball gods had intervened and paid off a lifetime of seemingly endless suffering for Jazz fans.

Untapped potential?

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It doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes to know Collier wasn't thrilled to be the 29th pick in the draft. It's easy to look at his blank face and conclude he wasn't happy to be in Utah, but for a young man who expected more as a potential top pick, it's easy to sympathize with his disappointment.

For Filipovski, it was even more heartbreaking to watch him miss pick after pick after pick after pick after pick before finally being selected in the second round.

Each of these players fell in the draft for different reasons, but both came to Utah. Flawed players can plummet in draft value, but in the case of these two, do their flaws merit such dislike from teams across the league?

Collier's lack of focus was evident as scouts evaluated his play: During his freshman season as the spearhead of USC's offense, Collier committed more turnovers and lost the ball on average than a desperate baker. 3.3 times per game— 19th most in college basketball.

Collier showed no interest when he didn't have the ball, either offensively or defensively. Tunnel vision could be an issue for Collier, and his attitude rubbed off on the entire USC roster, resulting in an incredibly disappointing year. Perhaps the most glaring of his shortcomings was his shaky jump shot. While he shot a respectable 33% from three-point range, he struggled at the free throw line, raising alarms about his development in that area. For 29 teams, Collier's potential felt like too much of a gamble to trust his development.

Off-court chaos

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Kyle Filipowski's personal life has hindered his NBA debut, but there's not much more to say about his situation. Already said.

The big man from West Town, New York's prospects have little to do with his performance on the court, so when the Jazz drafted the 7-foot-tall player from Duke, they issued a statement saying his personal life wouldn't affect their plans to make the roster.

Building a young core of players through the draft has been a top priority since the Danny Ainge era began in Utah. Similar to Billy Beane's philosophy of building baseball teams, Utah is rethinking what a player's value is for a young, promising team. For the Oakland Athletics, a player's value was their on-field production. For the Jazz, a player's skill set and track record reveal potential. In Collier and Filipowski, they found their people.

With the draft over and free agent rumor season in full swing, the Jazz will continue to rebuild. On paper, Collier and Filipowski offer very good value relative to their draft position. Time will tell if they can live up to the potential Zanik and the Jazz front office expect them to be.

Did the Jazz get a bargain in the draft? Probably. There's a reason these guys went low in the draft, but if they perform in Utah, many teams around the league will be regretting missing out on players with such immense potential.