No, Cade looked really bad his first 2 seasons and pretty bad his 3rd season before looking pretty good in his 4th season.
Thats too much like right! He said he wanted the best player in the 24' draft, Reed Sheppard. Im curious to see if Stone picks up the team option on Reed's contract next yr
He looked slow and dumbfounded most of the time. But he was playing the hardest position in basketball and wouldn't you know it....slowly improved. Now he's looking like an All NBAer.
Spoiler, he will pick up Reed's option. If he was willing to give a near max to a guy who looked like a bust for 3 years you think he won't pick up a rookie option?
If Reed shoots 45% from 3 and isn't awful defensively he may be the best player in that draft. Looks like a weak draft though.
I really liked Castle, but we had no shooting, so I understood the pick. balzellis is a surprise to me, I didn’t think highly of him. props to @BimaThug he called it on bazellis
I would settle for 4 time allstar and 4 top 10 MVP finishes. Price was smaller and a better passer. He also wasn't the defender at same age. Reed does have issues with his feet at times, but he has shown potential on that end. Price was also 3 years older his rookie year and didn't start a game.
Plus the Rockets already had two better versions of Castle in Amen and Tari. They filled a need with Reed’s shooting.
Yeah, none of Reed's comps did much their first year and out of Stockton, Price, and Nash, Price was the only one starting his second year.
Sheppard report card from the Raptors game: 1. I like what he's doing in the offense, especially the plays they're running for him, giving him opportunities to create from the middle of the court, plus the pick-and-pop 3's. He missed them in this game, but his stroke is fine, and he's just got to keep doing them till he gets the right range and feel. Much better than his usual routine of spotting up and waiting. The coaches are clearly working on ways to mix him in. As the season goes on, this will pay off. 2. I don't like what he's doing on defense. It's fundamentally flawed. Watch how Okogie moves quickly and aggressively with his feet to take space from the ball handler. He gets his steals through speed, crowding, and harassment. Sheppard still thinks like he did last year, that he's going to get the ball by choosing his moment to attack and swipe. He's not that good. He doesn't have Thompson's or Eason's reach. Some small percentage of the time, he'll get the ball, but mostly he gets beaten and flails as his man goes to the basket. Sheppard seems to like bouncing around the court. Maybe he thinks he'll make up for his shortness with leaping ability. It doesn't work that way. Good perimeter defenders don't leave their feet. They maintain contact with the floor and take quick steps — think PJ Tucker or Dillon Brooks — to react, keep their balance, and cut off the attacker's angles. You're not gonna get taller, Reed. And over the course of a game, you're not gonna come out ahead by playing for steals instead of stops. Watch Okogie. Watch tape of Dillon and Fred. Stay down, and work on moving those feet.
I don’t get the logic behind those comps. Are we saying he plays like them, or are we just comparing white players to other white players by default? If that’s the case, you could add Jimmer Fredette or Adam Morrison too. same lazy comparison
Thats why I always say: draft best available player and not what you need. Most of the times you'll always make the right draft choice. Castle was the best player on UCONN national championship team and Reed was like a freshman 6th man who did well in the NBA combine. Portland made this mistake drafting Oden over Durant...they had Brandon Roy so they chose a big man whereas Durant was by far the best collegiate player in 06. Pistons drafted Darko over Melo whereas Melo was the best collegiate player and won the national championship.
Stone is on record saying that they felt Reed was "the best player in the draft by quite a bit." They weren't drafting for need, at least they never said that publicly. He even said that if Reed was gone, they "would've traded down or out of the draft."
