Not really news...the perceived "value" of top picks isn't as high as the "value chart" wants to make you believe, but while not a science it's still important you have a good GM....those guys probably didn't tell you that 1st rounders still are much better players than mid rounders....a monkey throwing darts would pick mid/late rounders in the 1st every 2nd throw....this work only shows that among the PROs evaluating it's a close call...it's like saying "on any given sunday" when 2 NFL teams match up
It's not really news that the 1st guy at a position isn't much better than the next guy, or the 10 than the 11th....the most iportant part is that the 1st/2nd guy is regularly better than the 10th/11th...and you have to identify who is in which tier
Also, if anything, this math work goes to show how important it is to find those difference makers...that after 256x 20+ drafts they revisited the math tends to even out shouldn't be shocking for any math guy, it's like saying the combined record for all NFL teams after any given week is .500
... there are deviations (call em "plus values")...and you have to find those to stay above par...that's teh whole point of a draft and why it is NOT a crapshoot