It seems Aday Maray's stock since being selected 12 overall by the OKC Thunder in this past June's draft has dropped significantly.
Once pegged as a potential solution to their latest playoff hardships, over the past several months, the big man has plummeted down to being branded as the "most disappointing rookie."
Now, the folks at Bleacher Report are boldly predicting that Mara won't even be a rotation player until this next calendar year, citing their belief that the Thunder "don't have an obvious place" to slot him in and the fact that he "hardly appeared rotation-ready" during Summer League.
While this recent prophecy may seem to add to the growing doom-and-gloom narrative surrounding Mara's arrival in the Sooner State, in actuality, it's essentially writer Zach Buckley sharing his expectation that the 7-footer is bound to follow the same trajectory as virtually every prospect at the beginning of their first go-around in the association.
In other words, all youngsters should expect to kick things off slow. Mara is no exception.
Latest Thunder prediction a reminder that Aday Mara is a normal rookie
Over the years, there have certainly been success stories where players have come into the NBA and quickly learned the ropes right out of the gates.
The Thunder currently have two such players on their roster in the likes of Ajay Mitchell and Jared McCain.
However, this is by no means the norm for first-year players, especially not for older-school pivots like Mara.
Remember, former All-Stars the 21-year-old has often been compared to, such as Marc Gasol and Nikola Vucevic, definitely didn't kick off their NBA careers lighting things up. It took them time to get acclimated to the pace of the league.
Why should anyone expect things to be any different for Mara?
Also, it's important to remember that the prediction says "until 2027," not 2027-28. We're talking about roughly two-and-a-half months of trial runs for the big man before Buckley projects him to earn himself a consistent spot in coach Mark Daigneault's rotation. And, even with this projected slow start, Buckley still believes Mara will end up ranking top three among rookies in blocks.
Fortunately, it seems the Thunder are already looking to get a head start on getting Mara right before even training camp starts, as new Athletic Performance Director, Maral Javadifar, was recently spotted out in Spain working with the former Michigan standout to get his conditioning to a place that meshes with the quicker style of play the NBA sports.
So even though he may be a recent lottery selection, it musn't be forgotten that even highly touted young talents still often need time to adjust to the league. Mara should not be seen as an exception.
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