There have been some great point guards in the league that weren't great shooters (hell even good shooters) when they entered the league... Jason Kidd Penny Hardaway Magic Johnson Gary Payton Russell Westbrook Just because the shot is not great now, doesn't mean it can't be and he appears to do other things so well with that size that I can see the potential. I would agree with others though that let's wait until we see him in a few regular season games before we get too hyped.
This is going to be really controversial, but: 1) Sengun/Green/Thompson/Eason/Whitmore/Smith/Porter Jr 2) Sengun/Green/Thompson/Eason/Whitmore/Smith/Porter Jr 3) Sengun/Green/Thompson/Eason/Whitmore/Smith/Porter Jr 4) Sengun/Green/Thompson/Eason/Whitmore/Smith/Porter Jr 5) Sengun/Green/Thompson/Eason/Whitmore/Smith/Porter Jr 6) Sengun/Green/Thompson/Eason/Whitmore/Smith/Porter Jr 7) Sengun/Green/Thompson/Eason/Whitmore/Smith/Porter Jr Also, why are we talking about these lists when a championship is on the line. If you're not talking about the Jazz/Rocket matchup, what are you even doing? Most likely to lead the team in points against the Jazz on the 16th: 1) Mayer 2) Magee 3) Hudgins 4) Whitmore (will be the top assist man no poll needed) 5) Hinton 6) Samuels 7) Jabari Smith Jr's ghost
I don't care about the old game. Look at the elite pg's now and tell me which ones can't make 3s.. Not just the elites almost every pg is at least 36% from behind the perimeter. Sure he might improve but ifs and whens mean nothing because he might not get there.
Highest floor: 1.Sengun 2.Tari Highest ceiling: 1.Sengun 2.Tari All other rankings biased/wishfull thinking.
Sengün was easily coming into the league as one of the most underrated prospects (maybe in history even)....stressing prospects and not grown player. Nobody came into the league as a 18 year old MVP of a decent professional league other than Wemby who was 19. I view the Turkish league a tad better than the French one, on par with Greece......inferior to Spain, Italy probably. Turkey has been a good BB nation. The thread is about prospects, once they play a couple of years IMHO they are not really prospects no more but young players on their way.
i have sengun/green at the top as well, might end up green/sengun nook contends that thompson is actually #1, but i need to see a lot more than just 1 summer league game to decide on that the wild card imo is smith. his game is truly a mystery b/c he's shown incredible flashes and has also at times looked like a bust. even the first summer league game, he was horrible missing everything in the first half. on offense he's shown ball handling and passing acuity but only slight glimpses. on defense he's locked down alphabet but then also gotten lit up by nobody's. he could really end up anywhere from #1 to #6 lol
Elite vision and athleticism but not elite scoring and shooting for Thompson. Good defensive chops. (Everyone has a favorite player and it was good to see Nook selected Amen)
Below is the order in which I have ranked the upside of our prospects: 1) Jabari Smith Jr. 2) Alperen Sengun 3) Amen Thompson 4) Tari Eason 5) Cam Whitmore 6) Jalen Green
I need to see Smith perform against real NBA players. He was absolute trash 95% of the time last year. If he can turn the corner and become anywhere close to the player he just was against G-leaguers and kids fresh out of college then this team will take a HUGE jump this year.
Cam needs to rise and Green needs to drop. I hope I see a better Green this season when driving to the basket.
I don't really care how it ends up because they're all Rockets, but I have a feeling it will be Jalen. He's the only one capable of putting up 30+ point games with relative ease and he's about to be coached by a guy who's strict about defense, ball movement and player movement. That's going to help Jalen a lot and put a lot less pressure on his iso game. The spacing and offensive execution is undoubtedly going to be a lot better next season. We forget sometimes that scoring is the most important single skill in the NBA. So much so that historically the league has allowed 30 point scorers to hide/rest on defense more often than anyone else. Jalen's path is just easiest right now. He just has to polish his existing game a little, make better choices in his head and he is not a lazy kid. Just severely lacked fundamentals like any teenager drafted his age. Sengun has to become a 3pt shooter. Amen has to build a 3pt shot from scratch. Jabari can shoot but not good at iso or dribble penetration yet. Those things are riskier and take longer. Any of them could catch up.
This feels like DeJa'Vu. It's crazy to me when people make assumptions and state them as fact. Just to humor you, I checked https://www.basketball-reference.com and keeping it simple, of the 93 players that the NBA categorizes as a PG (I even included combo's categorized as PG-SG) 59 of them shot BELOW 36% from the 3pt line in 2022-2023. I don't have the time nor inclination to look up career numbers (took me less than 5 minutes to do a season search), but just wanted to give a sample to put down this misnomer that to be an elite point guard you have to be a great shooter. It helps sure, but not necessarily mandatory. I mean, wouldn't you consider Ja and Luka elite? Again, he hasn't played a single NBA game yet, but if this kid can be a bigger, and scary thought - more explosive version of Ja Morant (without the guns of course ) then he is elite and probably our top prospect.
I think if we’re factoring each players absolute best possible outcome or comp it would go. Amen-Athletic Luka Alp-smaller Jokic, Pau Jabari-stiffer less handles KD Green-More athletic Beal Cam-tunnel vision Jaylen Brown KPJ-bone headed Manu Would be the order for me if they reach their potential. If I’m ranking them as who I think reaches their bests, it would be: Amen Alp Green Jabari KPJ Cam
I just can't rate Amen or Cam higher than the other players until I see them in some regular season games when the defense and player quality is better. I would rate: Green Alp\Bari Eason (I really feel like this kids ceiling is Kawhi if he gets the opportunity) KPJ Amen and then Cam as super high potential but need to see more.
I think that’s fair too, I actually wasn’t a fan of Amen at first. But seeing him play (one game I know) and hearing him talk I have a good feeling about him. But you’re right, need to see more
What happens if you say more athletic Booker? As their stats much more closely align than Beal's first two years. Booker already has made a all-nba first team. So a more physically gifted version of Booker is what? A multiple times all-star? I mean a more athletic Luka is definitely a high ceiling. That's actually goat ceiling. That's really high on Amen. I'm not sure Amen had anywhere the ball skills Luka had entering the league. I still believe Amen could have the highest ceiling but it's still way too undetermined. I need to see him in a NBA game first to see if he has a higher ceiling than Green or Sengun.
I could definitely see that too, probably should have used him. I still have the other archetypes higher, but I think Green has a better chance of reaching that level than the others
