Anyway , since RJ has remained in the draft , I think it’s possible he’s had some positive feedback from some NBA teams .
Not sure what preseason team votes have to do player evaluations - one happens BEFORE the games are played and the other is AFTER you have seen the player extensively.
You are entirely right that he may have gotten some positive feedback.
However it is also possible that now is his best chance at the NBA so he is taking that swing at the most propitious moment for himself.
RJ is currently 22.5, if he waited until next year he would be 23.5.
For context, there are only four players in the top 38 who are over 19: Queen, Wolf, Clifford, Raynaud. Of those the only one who is in the top 20 is Queen (who is also the youngest at 20) and there is only one who is older than RJ would be next year (Raynaud, 24).
If you look at the rest of the draft from 38-59, there are only 6 players who are at or above what RJ's age would be next year (Watkins, #38, Tonje #42, Dixon #45, Goldin #50, Lahkin #53, Peavy #58).
Bottom line is that RJ at 23.5 is unlikely to be a better draft prospect than RJ at 22.5 because he is already older than 52 of the 59 players in the draft and with two exceptions coming in at #24 and #39 everyone else that age is basically where he is now - bottom half of the second round.
Understand it seems counterintuitive to old dogs (or old foxes) that 22.5 or 23.5 is "old" but from an NBA perspective once you pass 20 they lose interest pretty quickly.
But completely agree (as I said previously) that they don't always get it right.