It shocked everyone when Kyle Filipowski not only fell out of the mid-first round but also fell out of the round period in 2024. When the Utah Jazz got him in the second round, many wondered if the NBA had made a mistake letting him fall that far. Over a year later, it's clear that it did. With Filipowski's future looking bright, it's only fair to conclude that whatever hangups there were about him in the draft were very much mistaken.
Sam Vecenie talked about how, despite some of the ill-conceived notions about Filipowski leading up to the 2024 NBA Draft, nothing he had heard about him signaled that there was anything wrong with his character. With how much Filipowski has proven since then, it's clear to Vecenie that teams judged him incorrectly.
"Filipowski's like a whole intel conversation where I think people just got that kid wrong at the end of the day. I ended up with him in the top 20 because I did the intel research and I understood... There was the whole Mormon girlfriend thing. Most teams I talked to didn't care about that.
"There was some team dynamics there that kind of came up for sure... but everything I got told was 'Worker, goes in, does his work, goes home and he's with his girlfriend all the time and it's fine.'"
The controversy surrounding Filipowski primarily came down to the girlfriend situation, but it's clear that after his rookie season that not only is the talent there, but he does not have bad character at all. Now, he's one of the most promising players on Utah's roster. Going into Year 2, there's a considerable amount of hype for the second-year Jazzman.
It's why taking those swings in the second round is smart
For a team like Utah, they are wise to take any talented player whose draft stock went into a freefall. Filipowski's did to the point that Utah picked two players before they picked him in last year's draft. Regardless, a rebuilding team should always roll the dice on talented players like him regardless of potential character issues because it won't hurt even if he doesn't work out.
Utah did just that, and they are reaping the rewards from it. Even if Filipowski doesn't turn into a star - never say never after that Summer League performance - he projects to be a very useful rotation big for years to come, which is a massive return on investment for a second-round pick.
Even if his character issues were a problem, as long as Filipowski let his play do the talking, that's still a risk worth taking. Supposed issues have never been a conflict, which is why Utah made the smart move. Sure, it's bizarre how they got Filipowski, but they gladly took their chances on him, and they look very smart because of it.