Just remember - Charles Barkley is only 6'4". Now, he's no where near Charles Barkley but the point is Barkley was only 6'4" in arguably the most physical era of the league and still dominated. I say he's this Rocket eras Mario Elie junkyard dog player. Now, you still need a bunch more talent to get competitive. There won't be another Hakeem we lost that player when Harden left.
I think hes a keeper. He can start on many teams and he is one of those guys you don't have to run one play for but he will find a way to contribute. I can see why he got overlooekd at his size, but he is strong, plays physical, gets those boards. He has shown advanced court awareness and keep the ball moving and is a threat from the 3 so you can't help off of him. I see hints of Pj and Draymond in him. More so I think his style will help any star talent play better like those two. Great find for the rockets and we got him at the bare minimum for 3 more years.
If Wood had not got injured and missed so much of the year I would say he would have been a prime candidate for MIP (Most Improved Player). Would have been some nice recognition for the players during the rebuild.
He just needs to work on his 3-point and free throw shooting in the offseason. No one's expecting him to be an elite knock down shooter, but if he could even just something like 34% from 3 and 72-75% from the foul line, that would be huge given how efficient he already is on 2s. Tate is already an efficient player despite being a below average shooter, and he defends multiple positions at a near elite level. He's never going to be a 25/5/5 guy, but I could see him being a 15/7/4/2 guy. Like a hybrid version of Draymond Green and Denver Iguodala: a player who does a little of everything well but is aggressive enough offensively you wouldn't call him a role player. That feels like his ceiling. And I wouldn't be shocked to see him crack some All-Defensive teams at some point in his career.
Tate is probably 2nd unit on championship team material. If he was 19 yrs old doing the things he does then yeah you can def project Charles Barkley or Draymond Green but he is about to be 26 the same age as Cwood. He is a decent player but I don't think he will be a star or even close to one. The hype Tate has RN should be going to Kmart Jr instead. This kid is like Tate but actually young and a lot more athletic too.
Andre Iguolada is the closest comparison I can come with. He is a big part of why the GSW had so much success. Tate does A LOT of the same things that Iggy does that don’t show up in the box scores. Like Iggy, Tate will take on the hardest defensive assignments, keeps the ball moving by making the right decision, and can score if needed, too. Also like Iggy it’s hard to place a label on him other than winning team basketball player.
Eventually, Sengun/Garuba/Tate will form a monstrous defensive frontline for Green and KPJ. Christopher and KJ show promise too. Wood has an outside chance of getting better I suppose. Who cares if we’re a disaster this season, just develop the young guys.
We dont have to be disaster, Silas needs to work harder and be more dedicated to details..Hes a coach of 20 years, his team needs to play like a well oiled machine... dont give me no excuses.. excuses are for losers
i honestly don’t ever care if Silas is a good coach as long as he knows how to develop stars - and his history suggests he is good at it.
I had to scroll back 7 pages to find a thread about Tate.... How can you not love his game? dude's a swiss army knife. Can post-up, shoot the 3, playmake, and defend. 29 teams in the NBA would love to have this man on the roster.
Great player. Game will age well too, has shown he can improve his range. I really don’t understand why people want to play him at the 4 when he’s just as good guarding a 2/3 and we actually need that? Wood and KJ can man the 4, soon Garuba is going to quickly climb the ranks (as he’s done on every team he’s ever been on). If anything, it would be great to have one more Tate at the 2/3. Too bad his brother didn’t pan out haha but if we can find another defensive ace in the wing with a huge wingspan, we’ll be perfectly set up for the rebuild.
