Some kids will come in with internal drive and work ethic. I think the ones where this is obvious tend to be the guys who are drafted very, very high-- or guys who are picked unexpectedly high, considering their current talent level. That sort of deal.

But then you also have guys that just didn't fuck with college who figure it out. Or you have guys who kind of loaf for much of their rookie contract while they're young, until they realize, "oh shit, this might fuck with my money," so then they crank up the focus. Or you have the guys who just won't ever figure it out fully.

And you'll have the opposite too: you'll have guys who are high-character dudes where you think, "they're hard workers, at minimum they'll be really good role players as pros," who then just... don't figure it out regardless of their work ethic. Some dudes can work their asses off, be great in the locker room, be phenomenal in college, and still just never adjust to the pro game.

That's the part of a scout's job I envy the least. You can make very reasonable educated guesses on their range of outcomes due to skills, game IQ, athleticism, productivity at lower levels, etc... but you can never truly know what's gonna happen with the mind of a young man getting to such a competitive level of the sport.