Houstone had it right on, a more athletic version of Mark Jackson. Tinsley is good, period. It is not all because Tinsley plays with some good shooters. As a rookie he beat out a less than scrub veteran player in Best, that should have told you something. Tinsley is reasonably physical for a PG, and does a lot of things well. Plenty of teams blew it by not taking him. He was equally tough with 3x the skills of Cleaves, who went mid-1st round the year before if I believe. Lots of teams should have known he was going to be a producer. Tinsley certainly would have really helped Miami, Boston, Orlando, Atlanta, LAC, SA, GSW, Blazers, Chic, Mem, or Wash, just to mention a few. It will be interesting to see if the Spurs made the right choice in Parker over him. I suspect Tinsley would be the better player for them now, but Parker may have a higher ceiling. On the other hand maybe the Spurs should have gone with the player who could better help them in the playoffs this year and the next, and I think that would be Tinsley because of his physical maturity and mental toughness relative to Parker.
Comparing the Top Rookies: PPG APG RPG FG% SPG Tinsley 11.2 8.8 3.9 38.0 1.81 Gasol 14.8 1.9 6.4 52.1 .54 Battier 13.8 1.8 4.7 43.4 1.77 Parkers; here's the guy that the Spurs broadcasters made out to look like a good. Parker 12.1 4.6 3.2 39.8 1.42 LOL. They even said that Parker was better at finding teammates then the Franchise is and Parker averages only 4.6 assists per game. Gasol averages more points than Tinsley but Tinsley averages almost 9 dimes per game. I think that Tinsley will end the year averaging 14 points, 8 dimes, and 4 boards per game and win the Rookie of the Year Award.
Not to discredit Tinsley (he's on my fantasy team. Im familiar with his stats each night), but the Wiz game I think went to 2ot
I heard or read someone compare Parker and Tinsley to Travis Knight. Knight prospered his rookie year next to Shaquille Oneal and has been quiet ever since. IOW...they are talented, but their situation has a lot to do with their current production. Not my opinion...but certainly a worthy one.
getting branded, I assume you are talking about Brevin Knight, point guard out of stanford and not Travis Knight, the 7 foot 4 center out of Uconn. Correct me if i am wrong!
