Yes Wemby is slow to move horizontally and especially if you have the angle on him he can’t recover quickly. He gets by with long ass arms but as we saw how KAT and OG hit him in the chest and drive past him he is not invulnerable. Giannis is an underrated mid range shooter and in the past 5 years he’s avg more shots from beyond 15 ft than Sengun and hitting so above 40% for couple years including 24-25. Had a down season this year but he hits around 35-36% mid range similar to Sengun. Sengun just doesn’t shoot as much. I think we need to absolutely get Giannis before Thunder or some other sneaky team gets him. He is also a playmaker that will open up this offense. Trade Sengun, Sheppard, DFS. Time to get it done
Not with the current iteration but with another star like Kawhi or Giannis that feat isn’t unattainable. Fred’s role is simplified. Play 51 or 31 screen and roll and wait for kickouts. Amen and Giannis/Kawhi would handle the playmaking duties
KD didn’t always play 4 as you even said. Just that specific hampton lineup. OG is way bigger than Amen. Amen can’t guard those big post players as we saw him struggle with Lebron and Hachimura to an extent. Williams isn’t a 4 he only plays that in certain lineups. They start Chet at 4 and Hartenstein at 5 in most lineups. You still need a bigger guy at the 4. Spurs have the luxury of Wemby and I think they start Barnes at the 4 according to reg season matchups. They’ve gone small for the playoffs though
Fair, there are some holes to be filled and issues to work out no matter what we do. Jabari can’t guard LeBron in the post either. Im looking at what good teams are closing with in high leverage games. I’ll concede that Jabari provides steady health and a good history of regular season success that may be a drop off if you trade him for a new starting guard. I made no mention of Steven Adams or Tari Eason and some of these Jabari/DFS/Capela for a guard ideas actually clear up some salary. The double big Adams and Sengun could go back to being a viable counter and short term solution to getting bullied if we actually had the guards that could play at the top of the 2-3 zone.
This version of KD can shoot, but he can't move like the GSW version. He's best played at the 4 imo. I don't recall Rui dominating Amen in the paint. I recall him raining threes. And sure, LeBron is still a special player with size and quickness you have to scheme for, fair enough. There are a few matchups like that.
I've already explained Jabari is a bust because he was hyped as the #1 pick. If wemby played like Bari people would be calling him a bust.
So your take is that KAT is the superior player? mmmkay . Your main point is KAT is a better shooter. Let's look at that. For 2025-26, here's the 3-point comparison: KAT: 37.7% Giannis: 33.3% Jokic: 38.0% (elite benchmark) Wembanyama: 34.9% (generally considered a good shooter for his position) So we're talking about a difference of roughly 4 percentage points. Is that really enough to prefer a 20 PPG player over a 28 PPG player? KAT deserves credit for this playoff run—it's arguably the best stretch of his career. But when evaluating their entire body of work, Giannis has been the more impactful player by a wide margin. KAT's career, up to now, has been defined by his lack of competitiveness and inability to elevate a team. Things nobody has EVER said about Giannis. If your argument is that you'd rather have KAT because he's a somewhat better shooter, ok. I just think recency bias is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here.
Giannis takes one three a game and his career percentage is much lower. He's not respected as a three point shooter. That's the difference.
If you are considering ALL career stats, 3P% is the one you are cherry picking? Why don't we discuss all career stats? Spoiler alert, it'll be a short convo.
I love these kind of discussions because Giannis is absolutely the better player or more impactful player than KAT... At the same time, it's a lot harder to build a championship team around Giannis. KAT literally is a plug and play player, he's a lot more talented than Giannis is. That's the frustrating thing about KAT is that we've been waiting for years to show this passion and will to dominate. So yeah, I think the answer is Giannis has the better resume. KAT needs this FMVP otherwise he's a very weak choice for the HOF...meanwhile Giannis is locked in there already. But KAT IS more talented than Giannis. He's only 30, he very well could start playing with more passion and put up an MVP season, he has that kind of talent obviously, maybe this post season run is making him realize it. I remember when KAT was on the trading block and people here were like 'nah, too soft' this board has really high standards for a franchise that hasn't won a championship in 31 years.
I was only saying that to illustrate that you are understating the difference in their 3pt abilities. Giannis is, of course, a better player.
And as I said those expectations aren’t necessarily fair or realistic. Players don’t care what fans or the media think and they shouldn’t. If fans didn’t have these crazy expectations then they wouldn’t feel any hard letdown or have any backlash towards players. It depends on who you ask in terms of what a bust means. I just don’t think it’s right or fair to label a player a bust if he’s a productive rotation player. Wemby would not be a bust to me if he avg 17pts 7 reb 1block. And besides they’re different players with different roles. Rockets aren’t running their offense through Jabari. In the end these players that made it on an NBA team and have been consistent rotation pieces are success stories in themselves despite what fans and media people who never played professionally at this level think
Its not crazy expectations for a top pick to be atleast an allstar. THAT IS WHY THEY ARE A TOP PICK. Apparently you dont understand how the draft works lol Not my fault, my friend. "Most top 3 picks do become NBA All-Stars at some point in their careers. The likelihood generally scales with how high a player is selected in the draft, though historically, the 3rd pick actually boasts a slightly higher All-Star conversion rate than the 2nd pick. [1, 2]"
Labeling someone a bust has nothing to do with how the draft works. Nothing wrong with disagreeing with me but do not be condescending. Not every player gets to be a star or get to that level for various reasons. To assume a lottey pick will be one is unrealistic and unfair especially when the player is productive and a solid professional. And what defines a “star”? Is making the All Star game (which is a subjective process and often popularity contest) a definitive marker of what a star is or should be? Jrue holliday only made 2 all star games, yet one of the best pg’s for a long time. As I said that term is used loosely in my opinion and it’s not fair or right. Jabari’s career hasn’t even ended yet. So what are your judgement is not only problematic but premature. Im sure you wouldn’t call yourself or your son a bust or failure if you ir they didn’t live up to your expectations. That’s a very unhealthy way to look at life.
I love when you guys get proven wrong then you change the subject and start going off on something else its funny. Im not so sure why youre so emotionally affected by me calling him a bust but it follows the technical term of it. Im not being condescending you challenged me to prove you wrong and I did. He was billed as the number 1 pick and he isnt anywhere close to an allstar. Most guys picked there are allstars. not only is he not one but he's not even close. So he's a bust. We suck because he is a disapointment. All our top picks were disapointments. Its ok to tell the truth.
I expressed no emotion in terms of your opinion. That’s simply your opinion. Let’s not make things up here. I called you condescending since you attempted to insult me by saying I did not understand the draft, which is independent of the discussion. The discussion is about what the term bust means. There is nothing written in the laws or regulations of the NBA that describes what a bust is. There is no clear definition as it’s a relative term. Your argument is the draft defines the term “bust” due to expectations that are set prior to the draft by (I am assuming fans, media, ownership) since you did not make this point clear. Again that’s an opinion and conjecture not a fact and not substantiated by any facts. And you cite 2 articles that presented data for lottery picks and the % of stars from certain lottery pick groupings as your main point in what a bust is. Defining a bust from these numbers is mere opinon since there’s no mandatory requirement that players become “stars” and nothing that states that a player is a failure if he isn’t a “star”. Besides the hoops hype article states num 3 picks have a 45% chance of being a star. That’s not “most” players in that grouping. The hoops hype article you used proved that not all players get to be stars. i asked you how you define “star” which you had no answer. Does the number of all star game appearances define what a bust is? Or is it how they have contributed and impacted their team’s success? How many all stars games did guys like S Battier or A Gordon have? Both those guys are within top 6 picks. They have had great careers and have been impactful players. Are they considered busts? How many good players or lottery players never make it to the all star game? Are we just talking lottery picks or an arbitrary 1-3 pick that you chose. I mentioned Jrue who only made it twice in 17 years. Is he a bust? Is it total number of all star games or simply just making one? What makes your argument even more problematic is Jabari’s career isn’t even over. He’s only played 4 years. His game is very similar to Rashard Lewis and it took Lewis 7 years to become a star. But again why is being on the all star team an end all be all? Does this discount every lottery player in the NBA that didn’t make the roster despite being good solid contributors? The term is relative and for some it’s based on extremely high and unrealistic expectations instead of understanding that not all players are generational players or one of ones or perennial all stars and that they should be evaluated holistically based on their impact and contributions to the team.
Im not reading all of this. I have already explained that most top 3 picks become allstars. THAT IS A FACT. Im sorry that hurts your feelings but its true. And frankly Im tired of arguing fact on this site. You dont pick 3rd in hopes of getting a mid shooter. Youre hoping for a star and most become allstars.
Ain’t no hurt feelings here. You shouldn’t respond if you’re too lazy to read and simply rehashing what you wrote previously. I stated my point and you stated yours. I asked several questions which you never answered. In your mind that term is a definite fact. I simply disagree and said it’s not and merely your opinion. No need to further discuss. Just amazes me how people like you can’t have a discussion on here without it turning negative. Crazy.
Jabari isn’t a bust, Josh Giddey isn’t a bust either. Those are 12 year NBA starters. They just happen to be better as trade chips than they are as 25 million per year 2nd contract starters for the teams that drafted them with the goal of winning a championship.
