Agree with your point, but I wouldn't call Parsons a "defensive specialist". Come on buddy, that is selling him short. At Florida, he shot well, ran the offense, and had a lot of assists for a forward. You can see that he has more to his offensive game, but he's a little "scared" to put it on display. At this point, it may be beneficial to just get some experience and try it out little by little. In the summer, he should work on just shooting.
Parsons going 2nd round is more of people not knowing how good he will be rather than his actual draft position. Right now if you offered Parsons in a trade some teams will offer top 10 draftees in last year's draft. Regarding Leonard, I think his play this season justifies lottery pick. He'll never be a star, but 14 guys get drafted every year and majority of them don't become any better than average players. Or they do, but they take like 6-7 years to reach that. Someone like Leonard will be effective from Day 1 until he retires. Unless you're burning top 3 picks for him, I think "sure-thing" guys like him are pretty good picks. And I think DM agrees with me, we were going to spend the 8th pick on Thabo Sefalosha (another role-player ceiling guy) if we didn't trade for Battier.
Yeah, the Spurs could have just taken Parsons with their 29th pick rather than moving up for Kawhi. But I see Kawhi as having more upside than Parsons due to having better physical tools. I think Kawhi has the ability to be a lockdown defender at both wing positions, and a decent offensive player through blue collar scrapping the way Wallace does.
The question is, would you take a less athletic, cheap man version of Gerald Wallace, or would you take Shane Battier with Mike Miller's offense. This is the potential of Leonard and Parsons. People are SEVERELY overrating Leonard's physical attributes and athleticism. For comparison sakes, Leonard has a 25.5 no step vert, 32 max vert, 11.45 lane agility, and 3.15 3/4 sprint. Parsons has a 25.5 no step vert, 31.5 max vert, 11.05 lane agility, 3.29 3/4 sprint. What this says is that they're both very similar, and while Leonard is faster end to end, Parsons is quicker. With Parsons understanding of the game, it is extremely naive at this point to say that Leonard has more "potential" than Parsons defensively. Leonard is NOT on Gerald Wallace's level and will never be. Wallace is a freak athlete. If Chandler Parsons was black, everybody would be drooling a lot more about his potential. He can absolutely get to Battier's level defensively and I think he may just end up being Mike Miller on offense.
I am still grieving over the fact that we chose Marcus Morris over Kahwi Leonard. I think when deciding who is lottery material or not, you decide where he ranks compared to all the other draft entries in the overall draft. Speaking hypothetically (strictly) - if there are 29 other guys who are worse then Ryan Bowen, then Ryan Bowen should be the number 1 pick. If there are 14 other guys who are better then Lebron James then he shouldnt be a lottery pick. If Klay Thompson and Alek Burks were lottery picks, then Kawhi Leonard easily deserves to be a pick and picked higher then them. And Im not just saying that now in hindsight because he is playing so well. I was high on Kahwi before the draft and never looked twice at Burks or Klay. According to the talent available in last years draft - Kahwi Leonard should have been a top 14 pick. He can become much more then a garbage man.
Homerism to the extreme in this thread. Parsons = shane battier + mike miller? LOL my god. Calm down.
Maybe it's time that you improve your reading comprehension skills. I said that Parsons definitely has the potential to reach Shane Battier's level defensively. He is already at an elite level on defensive rotations. He contests shots, gets stls, and block shots as well. Look at what he did against Durant and some of the other great players. As far as having the potential to be Mike Miller offensively, why not? He can dribble, can pass, can rebound, and can shoot the ball [good% in college, with good form]. So how does he not have the potential to be Mike Miller offensively? We can talking about POTENTIAL here. Not the fact that he is already Shane Battier with Miller's offense. Leonard's potential tops out at a cheap man's Gerald Wallace. This is why I provided the physical numbers.
I agree with most of your description, based on what I've seen so far, but you could have left this bit out. -
No he can't shoot. Have you watched him? He is shooting like 20% from NBA 3pt range and he can only shoots like 60% from the free throw line. He doesn't have a great stroke either. Mike Miller came into league and shot 40% from 3pt land. Mike Miller is one of the most accurate 3pt shooters in the history of the NBA. Just because Chandler and Mike are white and went to Florida doesn't mean they are going to have the same shooting ability. That said....I have confidence that he can improve his spot up 3pt shooting to something at least serviceable with a full offseason.
Dude, he capitalized POTENTIAL for a reason. Kyle Lowry couldn't shoot either. I think he's a little too jazzed up about Parsons, but what he's saying could certainly possibly be true. Anyways, I know it's not the best comparison, but I can actually kind of see Parsons as an AK47 light. Just a great all around player, but not really good at anything. Again, I'm saying a lesser version of him, but similar in that regard.
First off, I absolutely love Parsons and I’ve praised him a lot. But what makes you so sure that Parsons is going to be the better offensive player? Parsons is the better passer, but they’re scoring at the same rate so far. Kawhi is great at finishing around the rim (according to hoopdata he’s converting at 75% from that range), and while he’s a poor outside shooter, his short range jumper is not that bad. Parsons is great at cutting to the basket and cleaning up around the rim too, but shooting the way Mike Miller could is a very tall order because this has never been his forte. I think the 14 ppg you’ve predicted for Parsons isn’t out of the question for Kawhi either. As far as defensively, from what I’ve seen from Kawhi he can guard starting 2's and 3’s no problem, and I think it’s very valuable to have a perimeter player who can guard the strongest opposing wing on every given night. I’ve even seen Pop put him on PF’s like Lamar Odom. While Parsons is a really good defender at the 3, I don’t know if he has the ability to guard multiple positions on any given night like Kawhi, so I’m not sure he’s quite as versatile. As for your combine drill measurements, Chad Ford offers the following explanation: One theory on Kawhi Leonard's subpar testing. He did not warm up before the test. Most players had played 45 min. He was cold. If people that have scouted him extensively were surprised at how poorly he tested, I think those results are probably skewed some. No, he’s not a Gerald Wallace A+ athlete, but I do think he’s more athletic than Parsons. Also, the way you’re praising Parsons’ defensive awareness and how this leads to blocks, steals, and deflections, Kawhi is a high IQ, high motor player who’s doing the same things – with the possibility of becoming an even bigger menace in this regard due to his nasty 7’3’’ wingspan. All this is not to say Parsons isn’t amazing, because I love him and he is. I just thought I should explain what I said about upside since you came up with the brilliant conclusion that I based it on skin color.
I don't see why you'd be grieving right now, Leonard would be a bench player for us bc of Parsons but Morris has the upside to develop into something more.
I see your point about Leonard's offensive potential, but it depends on how you're getting the 14 points. Leonard, to me at least, will always be a garbage man offensively. He'll get his scraps being a high energy player, which isn't bad at all for all of his defensive prowess. Parsons on the other hand, has the potential to set up the offense and let plays run through him. This is the difference between having Gerald Wallace's offensive potential vs. Mike Miller's offensive potential. I think my point was noted by a fellow poster by using the word "POTENTIAL" in caps. I have watched every Rockets game this season, and yes he CAN shoot...just not at the 3 point NBA line yet. He shot 48% in college and 37% from the 3pt line last year at Florida. I didn't compare him to Mike Miller because both are white. I have watched every single minute this year and this is the conclusion that I came up with, especially offensively. 1) Both play with high basketball IQ offensively 2) Both can pass 3) Both can grab offensive rebounds [Parsons is a little better] 4) Both can penetrate [although Miller is better] 5) Both are around 6'9 [Parsons is a little bit taller] The only thing missing is Parsons' shooting so far. He was known as a good shooter in Florida, but confidence can affect his shot <<< opinion of Gator, who watched many Florida games last year.
