I believe the word "upside" has now become just being young and athletic, and we've gone away from holding true feel, IQ, and situational context to a higher precedent.
I believe in betting on feel, IQ, and production more than anything. Then factoring in whatever else you believe in — that may be advanced stats, athleticism, or whatever else.
For me, I start with outside the film.
Height matters. Arm length matters, especially defensively.
When I look at the numbers, what true production and impact do you bring? BPM and RAPM.
Do you shoot it at a high level and rate? When projecting a player's shooting and outcome, how often they shoot it matters for how they'll be guarded against next-level size and athleticism.
Do you put pressure on the rim at a high level and finish around the rim? This is why Dylan Harper was able to be elite immediately — because of his elite rim finishing ability.
Do you rebound at a high level and bring impact in that aspect?
Are you a defensive playmaker and generate turnovers? It's 2026 and it's too hard to consistently stop people. But if you can generate a couple turnovers a game without maybe having elite tools, you can still bring impact and production on that end.
FLAW is an analytic I created to be used for scouting specifically in draft spaces. It is a collective of many advanced stats that I believe can be used to project a player's true impact on winning, production, and a way of seeing how complete a player may be.
It is not perfect. Just because a player is 5th or 50th in FLAW doesn't make them a top ten player in the class. It's a way to measure the totality of a player's game and their projection, and can be useful in comparing 2 or 5 players at a time to see their overall impact. Context is still important. Film is still important.
When I think a player is good, I like to say they have no flaws. Kon Knueppel was my guy in the draft — a no-flaws guy to me. So I thought a rating describing the totality of a player's game and the impact they have being called FLAW was appropriate.
Cam Boozer is the perfect NO FLAWS guy.
Age-Adjusted FLAW takes into account the age of a player on draft day and combines their metrics with predicting their outcome. You will usually see the top prospects near the top of Age-Adjusted.
Raw FLAW may be used strictly to measure a player's current impact, without factoring in the developmental runway that age provides.
Raw FLAW is the sum of every weighted component below.
| Component | Weight |
|---|---|
| BPM | × 0.23 |
| RAPM | × 0.16 |
| Stocks | × 0.13 |
| DREB% | × 0.04 |
| OREB% | × 0.04 |
| AST% | × 0.04 |
| PPG | × 0.03 |
| eFG% | × 0.06 |
| FT Rate | × 0.07 |
| 3P Rate | × 0.11 |
| C:TOV | × −0.10 |
| Physical Bonus | (Wingspan − Height) ÷ 10 |
Age-Adjusted FLAW = Raw FLAW × Age Multiplier
| # | Player | Age | Raw FLAW | Age-Adj FLAW | BPM | RAPM | Stocks | eFG% | PPG | AST% |
|---|