I actually read that post, but it didn't say if the 5 balls were the star rating or the potential. So that's why I had to ask.
But if I understand you correctly, the 5 balls is potential and not start rating in that post?
If you haven't scouted yet, the ball rating you see is a "star rating" in grey balls, but that will be entirely random.
If you scout, you'll see the "star rating" in orange balls and it'll be correct.
If you do an interview, you'll also see the potential rating as a second set of orange balls - the first is star rating, the second is potential rating
I actually went ahead and used a few scouting points for the first time in seasons to do this. I ended up scouting and interviewing a random player, and he had 4 star rating balls and 3 potential (which will usually be written here as a 4/3 player).