Do y'all think this guy is ready to give us regular season minutes? For those who may not know, our G-league affiliate won the finals this year, and this guy was finals MVP. In the regular season he averaged 19/15 on 66% TS, which is great. He can also shoot the 3, even though he only shot 27% during the regular season, it's a shot he's comfortable taking and somewhere he's improving. He really picked that up and shot 47% through the playoffs, though that's a small sample, since their playoff run was only 5 games total. Still, though, I think it's important that this is a guy who CAN shoot the 3. He averaged 24/15 throughout the playoffs. I compared Hart's g-league season to Clint's season in 2014-15, and he blows him out of the water. His numbers are a lot better than Clint's across the board, not just production but especially in WS/BMP/VORP. If you look at Clint's stats in the following year, that was the year he moved up to the NBA, he played in 77 NBA games. He only averaged 7 points and 6 rebounds that year, but he also only played 19 minutes per game. I'd be pleased if Hart could do something similar for us this year. Again, from stats alone, Hart seems to be a better rebounder than Clint, more efficient on 2s, a much better free throw shooter, and he can shoot the 3. This could be huge for us...assuming he can play at an NBA level. In the small amount of NBA basketball I've seen him play his two biggest problems are that he is slow, which is noticeable defensively, and that he can't play defense without fouling. The numbers back up my eye test here, in his limited playing time last year he averaged over 9 fouls per 36 minutes. Yikes. Anyway, just wondering what the rest here think. Specifically people who have watched him play, and consider themselves good talent evaluators. I expect we'll have a lot more to say and add to this discussion as we watch him play in the summer league.
I think he is. He's going to make some mistakes because he's young but he has some talent and he plays hard.
I sure hope he is. His effort level is off the charts. His hustle alone should garner him some playing time this year. It looks like he has a good 3 point stroke. His form is pretty good, which tells me that he can improve on his 3 point shooting. I agree that he can shoot the 3. I think the 27% was just youthful nerves and somewhat of a fluke. He can definitely rebound on an nba level. My concerns offensively are his hands and his ability to finish around the basket. He missed quite a few easy buckets last year. He seems rushed when he goes against athletic length in the paint. Hopefully he can improve in that area. Defensively he is foul prone. I love his hustle and effort but he has to stay under control. My overall outlook for him is pretty bright. With our cap situation, I think both he and Gary Clark could prove to be very important pieces this year. If Hart can take a big enough leap forward this year, he may be good enough to help us get over the hump this year. At least that’s what I am hoping for.
Is Mike D'Antoni ready to play him and Gary Clark & Danuel House? Is Mike D'Antoni willing to go through the growing pains and ups and downs? No? OK then...
Yes, but FFS can he please learn to play standing tall instead of hunched over? He'd be a good 2 inches taller.
I'm eager to see him in summer league play. I'd like to see him head and shoulders above the other guys on the court if we're going to be trusting him -- not looking like just another guy, like Onuaku did.
I didn't watch him in the G-League but i liked what i saw from him during the summer league considering he was so young and coming from EU, i like his upside and i just hope Mike gives him minutes and doesn't bench him as soon as he makes a couple of turnovers or misses a couple of shots, same thing with Clark.
Only if he could catch the ball, it help cover up for some of his other issues. He just drops too many easy passes in my opinion to really be a contributor on this caliber of a team.
Hes a promising player ,his defensive numbers were better than pjs in 2018 reg season.Nene just retired ,he could see minutes.
Thanks for the detailed, comprehensive analysis. I wish I was someone that could match it in kind to contribute in the way you asked, but I'm just more of a gut feel and analogy kind of guy. First, I will say that while the fouls per 36 is high, I think as you've already noted, it does suffer from a low sample size. Looking at his G-League stats, he averaged 3.8 personal fouls per 36 minutes, and that was much improved from his first season down there. He needs time in games at the highest level to actually settle into the game and start seeing subtleties and patterns and learning how to not foul. Spot minutes in spaced-out games aren't going to do that. He's not even in games long enough for his adrenaline to wear off; of course he's going to foul experienced players challenging him. I guess this leads fairly easily into my main point: yes, play him. He's proved himself at the G-League level. The only way you're going to find out if he do it at the top level is to get him in there with some real and consistent minutes. (Skippable analogy) This reminds me of hiring people at work. You can weed out the posers by their resumes and interviews (it's amazing what liars people are), but even the ones that seem promising, the ONLY way to really tell if it's true is to actually bring them on board and see what they can really do in the real environment. It's an annoying and expensive process, but it's the only real way. Also, the number one fault in that process is not being engaged enough with it as the boss. If you bring someone on, give them a cursory list, and tell them to get going, you'll get no good data. If you expect big things too early, you'll get no good data. If you don't spend actual time with them trying to help them and figure them out, you'll get no good data. If you don't give them something challenging enough to make it possible to assess their potential, yadda, yadda, yadda. And lack of engagement actually strings the evaluation process much longer than it needs to be as well. I have very serious doubts about MDA's willingness to do this, but it's got to be done, and with a whole 82-game season ahead of the team, they might as well start immediately. TL;DR: He's earned the chance with his G-League play, and if you don't play him with some real minutes, you'll never be able to actually know what his potential is. So, play him, but play him realistically, and work with him.
Players have to absolutely dominate the G-League if they hope to ever be a rotational NBA player. He did that this past year. He certainly deserves an opportunity to play 14mpg this season.
