Guard prospect has green in almost every category and blue in the few that aren't green. Except work ethic, where he's a black 25.

His overall is still very low right now, I'm hoping to land him on my D3 team. Assuming I land him, will his relatively low WE keep him from reaching his potential?

25 isn't so bad. just guessing offhand, I think if you start him right away he'll get pretty far along development wise, close if not maxed out. if you don't start him for a season or two, probably not.

Work ethic is always black, and it moves fastest around the middle. As a four year starter, he'll gain 25-30 points of work ethic over his career (it moves up noticeably slower under 20, but at 25, you should get 6-7 per year, as long as he starts all year). You should be able to max his cores. A non-core or two may have to wait until his junior/senior year, and then may not max, but should be able to get well into the black.

I don't think you'd max a guy with mostly green/ blue.
WE is more important in players who need to improve in core areas. If you hope he maxes out in 3-4 currently green categories, you're going to be disappointed. A 25 WE might max out a few key currently blue/ green areas IMO & if you're counting on him improving considerably before he's good enough to play, I'd pass on that WE. If he's playable immediately thats a different story.

Posted by bad_luck on 8/7/2017 12:54:00 PM (view original):
Guard prospect has green in almost every category and blue in the few that aren't green. Except work ethic, where he's a black 25.

His overall is still very low right now, I'm hoping to land him on my D3 team. Assuming I land him, will his relatively low WE keep him from reaching his potential?

You won't max him, but you'll get decent growth. A WE of 25 isn't a game killer for me -- I just admit that in non-core categories I"m going to be sacrificing his top performance. The key will be starting him as a freshman (preferably all 4 years) and getting him a decent amount of playing time throughout his career...if he has a decent GPA out of high school, that'll help as you won't need to suck as many minutes into study hall and can devote that to development as well.

I flat out wouldn't sign anyone with a WE that low.

I'm fine w a guy with a low WE. But he needs to be good in key categories. He needs to be able to play immediately.
If you're looking at a player who "could be good" but has a crappy WE, stay away as 1- he'll hurt your team while you're trying to increase the WE; 2- He will NEVER hit close to his max if he's currently green in more than one category.

Posted by kcsundevil on 8/7/2017 2:13:00 PM (view original):
I flat out wouldn't sign anyone with a WE that low.

I think you're severely limiting yourself on useful players that would help your team win if you totally disregard players with low or "lowish" WE.

Posted by Benis on 8/7/2017 3:56:00 PM (view original):

Posted by kcsundevil on 8/7/2017 2:13:00 PM (view original):
I flat out wouldn't sign anyone with a WE that low.

I think you're severely limiting yourself on useful players that would help your team win if you totally disregard players with low or "lowish" WE.

totally agree that looking at WE with a hard cap towards who you'll sign is an unnecessary limit.

25 isn't horrible at all. I've signed guys in the teens and 20s for rebuilds that better programs passed on. they started right away. by year 3 they were impact players carrying a team back to the NT and some maxed out by senior year. of course your mileage may vary. i wouldn't sign a total project on an established contending squad where he won't play, but in other situations, I've signed guys with single-digit WE to be backups if they were playable from day 1.

Agree that you shouldn't limit yourself to not signing anybody with a WE below "x". You're just spiting yourself when you impose limiting rules upon yourself.

Three things to understand: (1) he won't progress at the same level as a higher WE guy, but he will progress, especially if he's getting ample practice time and playing time; (2) since he's green and blue in most categories, you'll have to pick and choose where to allocate his practice minutes. Concentrate on the cores and conditioning until they turn black, and then worry about the non-core categories; and (3) I've seen low WE guys experience some minor regression (a point or two in some categories) in the offseason. So expect a little of that.

I'll disagree with a caveat. There are a lot of players to recruit. If there's one that has a rating you don't like, find another. If you can't find a better option, go after the first guy if uncontested. If contested, move on. All you're gonna do is hate the guy for 4 seasons if you fight for him.

If contested move on? Why?

If he's the best player that's available why not battle for him? Doesn't make sense to me why you'd only take him if he's easy to get. Either he's going to help your team or not.

"All you're gonna do is hate the guy for 4 seasons if you fight for him."

Did you stop reading before that? Or just desperate to argue?

I read that. And don't understand it. Why would you hate him if he's good enough to be on your team and will help you win?

Either he's good enough or not.

Because we're an irrational group. See the "just venting...." thread.