Chad Ford's Re-drafting the Lottery Picks from the 2021 NBA Draft

That's too spicy man.

 

The first step is definitely there and it’s one of the 5 best in the league. He is fast down the court, but his first step is about as good as anyone. He just hasn’t figured out what to do with it. Historically players with that type of first step eventually figure it out.

As for the vertical he has flashed it a lot. His head was almost even with the rim on a play a few weeks ago. I am less concerned about the vertical but it is something he does very well.

Who do I compare him to? It’s hard to have a direct 100% on point comparison but his fist step and raw ball handling reminds me a lot of Shai Alexander. Now Alexander is longer but also doesn’t work as hard as Green and doesn’t have the dexterity in his hands like Green.

Green is better than Lavine at the same age. Lavine had terrible court vision and was worse defensively.

 

That's what I'm here for baby, bring some spice in yah life. Can't handle the heat stay out the kitchen.

 

Neither of the guys you mentioned, Beal or Young, are 2 way players.

And are extremely likely to ever be 2 way players.

 

right now? Gerald Green.

he's got a very high ceiling because of his athleticism and positional size, but he's got a very low floor based on how he's looked early on. the Zach Lavine comp seems right as a best case outcome. Jordan Clarkson as a median outcome. and unfortunately the low-end Gerald green outcome is still on the table.

 

Kinda like Baby Jordan amirite?

 

agree

i think green gives effort on D. If his shot goes up , thats who he reminds me of on offense. I cant tell about his D yet.

 

First step is WAY overated.

If you can't finish, or create beyond that.

Tons of FIRST STEP guys are out of the league because they can't change speeds or directions.

DD

 

So, I'm guessing no one would still take Green at #2.

 

as a sole tool, yes.
But a blow-by puts the D out of balance. If a second line defender commits, then there is an open man.
The first-step guys who fail are those who (1) have tunnel vision and just ram into the help defender, without punishing the defensive misalignment or (2) are such poor shooters that defenders just give them space and only guard the drive.

With his talents JG should not be the worst player in the league, yet he is. So figuring out what to do and how to harness the talent is the big question that the advanced stats can’t answer. Lots of opinions, but which ones work and which ones don’t?

Rockets strategy of just throwing him out there night after night ‘to figure things out’ hasn’t worked so far, I don’t see tangible progress. Maybe it will eventually work. I don’t know the answers , just making observations.

 

I do not even view Lavine as great, he is very good at times.

Lavine had to change scenery, next up Green?

 

LaVine is a great second banana at this point. If Green develop his talents he could also be a great second banana. ("if")
To be a TopDog, he’d need more personal development: toughness and assertiveness

 

I don't think he has a great 1st step, but maybe that's because he has not done anything with it.

Most NBA guards can blow by people, so that means very little in the grand scheme of things.

 

I hate to say it, but that's not a terrible take.

 

If everything goes right for him in development, I see Green maxing out as a Dominique Wilkins type of talent, or at least the early 90's version of Nique I got to see

I know Nique was a much bigger, more powerful scorer, but I think Green arrived with a better jumper

I'm not really making a stylistic comparison either
Nique was as impressive an athletic marvel as MJ, but his contributions only came by getting buckets
Never much of a playmaker, defender, and without a second HoF star next to him, he never even made the Finals

That's how I see Jalen at his peak
An athletic wonder capable of plays few others would even attempt, but will need a lot of help to have defining career moments beyond dunk contests or scoring titles

Did anyone see a lot of Nique at Georgia and early NBA years?
That was a little before my time
Am I way off in saying max Green contributes about as much to winning as peak Wilkins?

 

Yeah I keep coming back to Lavine but I seem to remember Lavine being able to finish around the basket better as a rookie and being much more explosive.

I think Green is a better playmaker and has a better IQ but he is not the freak Lavine is.

I guess my biggest disappointment is him not being able to finish around the rim or having consistent oh **** plays like Edwards, Morant and Lavine did as rookies, I just don't see these great physical gifts.

I had been thinking about a all NBA guard about the same size and the only guy I could think is Kyrie and Green has none of those skills in his bag.

Anyway I am gonna stop pickig his game apart and will revisit it during the offseason, good to be able to have a frank discussion and not catch feelings.

 

The numbers thus far do not support that interpretation though.

While it's true, LaVine was pretty terrible as a rookie, his numbers weren't as bad as Green's.

Perhaps we can argue that Green is ahead of where LaVine was from a skill standpoint and it just hasn't shown up in the numbers, I'd still disagree, but that would be a valid argument.

It's hard to overstate just how pathetic Jalen Green has been on both sides of the ball thus far. He currently has a 94 offensive rating and a 119 defensive rating, his WS/48 are -0.052, if you look at RAPTOR Green is at a stunning -9.1

All of these are worse than rookie Zach LaVine who was terrible in his own right.

Now that said, even though Green is worse across the board, the comparison is fairly close which should give some hope that Green can turn things around like LaVine did.

 

Although I disagree about his first step, I can respect your opinion

 

Positional size?

JG is average to small and GG was tall for his position.

Clarkson is a good comp, JG seems to have a much higher IQ but Clarkson could always get buckets and always had a NBA body.