In honor of April 1st, April fools, I thought I'd start a thread on fool's gold players. That is to say players that look good but they ain't. They make big $$ and they cost their team wins by making losing plays even though they may have some gaudy stats and/or highlight reel plays Here's a couple that come to mind. This first guy is a rookie and this board has raved about him, how athletic he is, how much potential he has, etc. Here's my prediction. If he doesn't learn to do this one very simple, basic part of the game, he will never be a winning player. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DnT0UH_Erjg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> This is crazy stupid. He is currently shooting around 35% from the free throw line. I don't care how many monster dunks he throws up and how many great post up moves he has...won't amount to a hill of beans if he can't learn to shoot the freebies. Here's the next one: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OSwpqBPxVtc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Both of these fat cats are shooting less than 40% from the free throw line. That's garbage. You can't pay guys big money and have them as your main rotation players and expect to win anything like this. What about Shaq you say?? These guys are nothing close to Shaq. They do not score like Shaq did to overcome this tidal wave of clanks. Too many possessions chewed up missing freebies. And I could make the argument that Shaq's refusal to improve his free throw shooting cost him at least one ring. I'm confident it did. Here's another one: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-DFL6EiLz9Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> This boy wants a max contract, he never wins, and he does stupid stuff like this all the time that costs his team GAMES. All the while shooting less than 40% from the field this season and for his career. Total loser. Fools gold. Who are your fools gold players?
there's more than just dunks, post moves and free throws to a big man's game. A dominant rebounder and defender can have none of that and still be insanely valuable for a championship team, as shown by Ben Wallace. And Drummond looks like he might become a dominant rebounder and defender WITH some offense. So, lol at free throws preventing him from being a "winning player."
Please don't be such an obvious hater on Drummond when everybody knows he's been absolutely balling so far. Contrary to popular belief...rookies need time to get better at weaknesses.
His team has won 34% of their games he has played in. He has lost 2 games for them from the free throw line since February. You can talk all that win share nonsense all you want. Detroit will never win anything by running out Drummond in the rotation shooting freebies at under 40%. You simply can't do that in today's NBA and win anything.
It is fools gold. Not a Drummond hater. Not a Deandre hater. Deandre is from Houston. Saw him ball in HS here. Likable guy. But he's fools gold with that stroke.
Using the team's record and directly correlating that with a player is some seriously flawed logic... Not to mention you act as if Drummond can't improve...dude is 19 freaking years old...
Soooo.. you're placing the low win % of the entire team solely on a rookie big man's shoulders. Got it. (Leaves thread)
Ben Wallace would have a difficult time surviving in today's NBA. The rules have changed. The way the game is called has changed. The strategies have changed. Wallace would have to come out of the game twice as much as he had to come out before to avoid the hack-a-Ben strategy. There's more to the game then dunks, post moves, and free throw shooting. However, in today's NBA bigs that can't shoot freebies are a much bigger liability to their teams than ever before. You need to understand that.
I didn't say nor do I believe he can't improve. But....the evidence shows he hasn't improved yet. He shot the same crap at UConn. Oh, I'm sorry. He has improved. Went from 29.5% all the way up to 35%. Let me ask you how difficult would it be to throw up 500-1000 shots a day in the off season and get some coaching to improve that stroke? We both know he didn't do that. He's clueless on the free throw line, totally clueless. And he's already demonstrated (just like Deandre has) that he doesn't really care about it. Bigs know they gonna get paid big $$$$. Look at Javale McGee. When they demonstrate that they don't really care about being great by working on their games then the bust factor goes up exponentially and the "just another player" factor goes up substantially. I don't think Drummond will bust. But I think he still could bust. I question his mentality. I think this off season is crucial for him. If he comes back next year the same player then the bust factor will have increased substantially. I do think Drummond has a much high probability of being just another pedestrian big instead of being a superstar. But enough of him. This thread is about fools gold players. Name yours instead of just criticizing mine.
Oh, directly correlating win shares and superstar potential for a rookie player playing on a lottery team....is the real serious flawed logic.
I wish the OP were a GM so he could assemble the big men Brandon Bass (86%) and Ryan Anderson (85%) on one super-mega-team for the ages!
Brandon Bass is fools gold. A mediocre jump shooter that takes the worst shot in basketball and shoots a ton of them. I would never have him on my team.
Kevin Martin is an interesting case. IMHO to consider him a superstar would be fools gold. But a good complementary player....yes. I think he will be good value if he continues to maintain his offensive efficiency and signs a new deal for $5 mill or less per season.
Clippers have the best point guard in the NBA and he's also one of the 5 best players in the NBA. So, no, they can rattle through the regular season ok. But come playoff time, when it is actually time to win something that means something...they'll lose unless Deandre does an about face or unless Hollins or Turiaf play off the charts for them.
