Inspired by the Washington Wizards record of draft day futility, about a decade ago I wondered whether I could build a stat-based prospect evaluation tool that could analyze potential draft picks. I developed the first version largely in public — I posted about it regularly on the Wizards message board at RealGM. Along the way, I referred to it as Ye Olde Draft Analyzer, someone trimmed that to YODA, and the name stuck. The basics are still in place. YODA uses only publicly available information in the form of in-game stats and measurements/times from the NBA combines or other similar events. In the case of prospects who don’t get measured or timed, I’ll sometimes review game footage to see if I can discern size and athletic tools by comparing them to prospects with measurements/times.
King's Herald