I’ve heard this comp numerous times now. How is he even remotely similar to Jahil Okafor? Okafor is closer to to Sengun than Paolo.
PG - 6'5 KPJ SG - 6'5 Green SF - 6'7 Eason PF - 6'10 Banchero C - 6'8 Garuba Put 2 guys with +7'2 wingspan around Banchero in starting 5. Sengun & Wood first off the bench.
What do the last 4 teams in the NBA playoffs have in common? 1. No need for traditional "rim protectors" who cant be played in critical moments. 2. An abundance of playmakers and bucket getters. 3. CHEMISTRY 4. High IQ collectively - fast processors 5. TEAM DEFENSE What stands out is just how well they play together even when recently constructed. Staff your team with smart guys who can play position-less and stay on the court and can share the load of facilitating and scoring. Days of predefined roles are gone. People who keep using the dog whistle "one dimensional" are not properly applying logic. When looking at these 3 prospects today you have two high level 3&D players (Chet/Jabari) and one offensive fulcrum (Paolo). Somehow people misapply the comparisons when they look at the 3&D guys and apply their ceiling and expect them to reach it, but somehow Paolo gets shafted and the expectation is that he will never get better? Doesnt make any sense. There is even new data out there to support the argument that Paolo IS NOT a liability on defense, but yet still you have a group who will not let that soak in - rather keep pushing a false narrative and smirk at any new data once their mind was made up. Same thing with the "Paolo is a bad shooter" bit. So just for clarity 34% is "Bad" yeah? Ok cool. 39% is "Good". Pretty simple there. Somehow now for the implanting of the negative Alperen Sengun gets lumped in with his 25% shooting alongside Paolo? So 25%-34% is the range of "bad"? Some psy ops stuff going on, but its not hard to spot. For me it means Paolo just needs to improve a percentage point or two which would be completely reasonable to most, but apparently some just dont feel its possible and start pointing to red herrings like his free throw shooting?? If someone were so inclined they could look up the 3 point attempt rate of these guys and zero in on some context. For example Paolo only attempts 25% of his total shots as 3 pointers. 37% of Chets shots are 3 pointers and for Jabari Smith its 44%!!! What can you deduce from that? SELF AWARENESS. Paolo is getting pigeon holed as a chucker who is not a reliable 3 point shooter, but is that really accurate? Why is it so easy to discount the NCAA Tournament shooting? At the same time easy to ignore Chets alarmingly bad outside shooting during the NCAA big dance (Chet was 1-8 for anyone interested .. flip side Paolo was 10-19 from 3 during the dance with some HUGE shots sprinkled in). Crunch time stats are a thing too for those who value players who thrive in pressure situations, but lets just look a the big picture at large for some of the guys and apply very selective markers for others - makes complete sense. It was just a matter of time before the DEEP DIVES came out and now that they are some of the lazy analysis from amateurs is being shot down.
I’ve heard the Julius Randle but better comp for Paolo. Well… that’s potentially amazingly good. It’s also why so many have pointed out his 3point %. I have no clue why or how Randle went from a mostly 30% three shooter to the 40% he was season before last. But it fully unlocked his game. 24, 10 and 6? Leading the Knicks to the 4 seed in the West? On an otherwise pretty crappy roster. I don’t think it’s teams defending him differently. It’s just Randle himself and his mindset and work ethic - seemingly. is it insane to use the Knicks as a model for anything? Yes absolutely. Lol. But JG is better than RJ (potential to be WAY WAY better) and Paolo as a better Randle can be incredibly good.
Would it be better to swap Banchero and Garuba in that lineup? Let Banchero muscle up on the opposing center. Small sample, but Garuba seemed very switch happy in his limited Rockets minutes. It really wasn't a problem for him guarding the smaller player, but letting a small get switched onto a center was a big problem.
Really silly to send Sengun to the bench and starting Garuba. I like Garuba and hope he improves, but when Sengun finally got to play 30-35 mins he immediately became better in every aspect of the game. He, reportedly, has been working his ass off in the off-season (as has Garuba). It really makes the argument against drafting Banchero that much stronger. Why draft him and give up on your 20 year old center right when he is showing that he belongs. If it’s Banchero at the draft, which I’m ok with if he Smith is not there, you have to be a good enough coach to make it work and a good enough GM to find a SF or PF that can lessen their collective weaknesses. Sengun wasn’t the problem with our defense last year, Wood and Silas were the problem, plus a six foot four PF.
I agree with most of this, with the exception that Sengun has ANYTHING to do with drafting or not drafting Banchero. They play different positions. You wouldn't be drafting Banchero to play the 5, and Sengun is better at the 5 than the 4. Garuba hasn't shown that he's an NBA player yet, so I'm not sure why we're even talking about him honestly. I certainly hope that he'll improve his game to where he can be productive off the bench in the coming years, but there's just no way anyone should be talking about him as a starter. If we draft Banchero, we should look to dump EG, Wood, and Tate for whatever we can get for them and move forward with KPJ Green Martin? Banchero Sengun
What is the Rockets drafted Ivey and you could complain about it for several months? Doesn’t that sound enticing?!?
Agree except the Martin part. I am hopeful if we take Banchero we find a really long defensive wing that has a passable outside shot via trade or draft. Trade up for Daniels would be really solid from a fit standpoint, although he still needs work on his outside shot. Eason would be great, but I think he is a PF so Banchero would need to lose a few pounds and improve his foot speed, same if you trade for Turner.
God forbid that Chet is there at 3 and Stone trades down for Ivey! Can you imagine the scorched earth posts that would ensue!
I'm all for it, I think that would be a hilarious outcome. Hell, why not have them draft Blake Wesley with the #3 pick instead? That would be even more hilarious.
Yeah, I put the question mark there for a reason, I very much like Martin, but that spot is ripe for an upgrade. Right now we have Martin and Mathews and that's serviceable, but you'd hope for better.
I'm not one of the biggest Paolo fans. If Paolo is drafted by the Rockets, I don't think Sengun and Paolo will be a good fit, but I would definitely not give up on Sengun if the Rockets drafted Paolo. I preferred Sengun earlier in the season. Last half of the season looked like he hit the rookie wall and just did not have the same energy most nights excluding a few games late in the season. On problems with the defense, I would not say Sengun wasn't a problem. That roster was not built to play defense. I don't know if Silas will be a good defensive coach, but I don't judge him based on how well that roster played defense. If the Rockets draft Paolo, the roster will likely not be built for defense without some major changes.
Ehh... I don't really see how we are any further along than OKC and possibly Orlando too. They both have some really nice pieces, but they also started before us. In fact I would put OKC solidly ahead of us because of future assets. I would rather pick #1 or #2. It's foolish to say you wouldn't because you have more options. Having said that, if the Rockets are sitting at #3 and the Rockets end up with Banchero that is still a pretty good outcome. If halfway through the season you had told me the Rockets would have gotten Banchero I would have taken it, and even when the season ended I likely would have taken that outcome over the more statistical probability of picking 4/5. I have serious reservations over the Rockets defensive ceiling adding Banchero. He is never going to be an impact defender, which just means going forward the Rockets needs to find the right type of 5 and 3.... having said that, Banchero is a very talented offensive player in a lot of different ways. His shooting isn't great but I think he will continue to get better at it and become solid. He is a very good play maker for a 4, and he has the reputation as a hard worker. He is also an under rated athlete (although that means less to me than some). So my concern is fit, but from an overall prospect perspective he is an elite one. Having said that, I don't think it is a foregone conclusion that he ends up on the Rockets. He could end up on OKC or Orlando and there is also a slight chance the Rockets fall in love with Sharpe and trade down a spot or two.
There should be a parody thread like this for all the top 5 prospects to gauge how and why it could work without sh*tt*ng on players just because people don't like said player.
