It doesn't compute though, because if he's able to put up this many monster games in comparison to his peers whilst "not taking it seriously" then how could he possibly be anything other than one of the best prospects in the league? Like seriously, I'm not sure y'all even realise how above and beyond everybody his age and younger he is in terms of monster performances. And y'all think he got there by just screwing around a little and not taking it seriously? It's mental.
Its because, unlike the greats of the game, he doesn't do it consistently. He has the potential to be right up there with the best if he were more consistent. Right now a consistent Jalen Green would be McGrady like.
I agree, but here's the kicker: 99.9% of players aren't EVER going to be close to being able to be McGrady like, including pretty much everybody else on our roster. This is why the "Amen/Sengun/Anybody is our best prospect" posts are nonsense. None of those guys has ever tangibly achieved superstar results, Jalen has, several times, he just isn't consistent. Clearly the best prospect, highest ceiling AND closest to hitting that ceiling of all of our players considering he has actually played at that level. And yet, CF is actively rooting for the one guy who ACTUALLY has superstar potential to fail in favour of people who haven't even dreamed of achieving the heights Jalen's ALREADY achieved in his career so far...
Does anybody have any footage/links for the Drew league (is that even a thing?) Apparently Tari balled tf out and I'd love to watch if possible.
Based on your belief in a players love of the game and desire to win a championship, who are your top four of the seven in three years. mine: Sengun - his growth at his age is crazy Amen - already good enough to play for a chip Tari - you have to have a guy like Tari on a championship team Shepard-premature but I believe I hated to leave off Jabari but four was the line.and I think there’s more like him… same with Green
I agree with your four. I'm still not there on Bari, but am hopeful. Jalen I'm down on. I'm optimistic on Cam.
Genuinely though, what do you base this belief on? If Amen was so dedicated/passionate, why did he go to OTE to play with children? Seems like this is just another way to reframe "pick your 4 guys that aren't Jalen" more than anything else. However, to answer the question: Sengun Jalen Tari Amen Jabari Cam That's how I'd rank them based on where they are in their careers so far. If Jalen comes in consistent then he's so far above and beyond the #1 though so it can easily change in a couple months. Sheppard we have literally 0 data on how well he can play in the NBA, so I'm not ranking him.
Let’s start by saying that I have nothing against Jalen and in fact I think he is the most talented of the bunch. This is evidenced by his elite performances. I don’t see the love and commitment from him in the variety of effort and focus he shows, as evidenced by his inconsistency. the players I picked show up every gave and are improving, Amen is crazy to watch because you can almost watch him improve before your eyes. OTE worked for Amen, I don’t think it reflects focus or drive but his game does. all vey subjective so bash away… I didn’t mention Cam before, I love watching him play but he seems angry. I did see some attitude softening in summer league that was promising. Cam is either going to be the best player of the bunch or is going to implode, I don’t know which.
I mean, Jordan, Kobe, even LeBron, and Curry were angry at times on the court. It's competition, anyone who has played a true competitive sport can relate, you want the controlled rage on the court. But a good person off the court. Jordan wanted to destroy everyone on the court but wanted to be just like all the other players off, LeBron as well. You want a good person who is logical but definitely not soft to destroy an opponent the right way in a competitive sport. Cam is doing great and showed excellent potential his rookie year, highest points per 36 minutes for a rookie I believe with decent efficiency for a first-year swingman.
Whew! Man, that dude is EVERYWHERE! Can't wait to see a defensive lineup of Sheppard, Eason, Thompson, Smith and Adams. Good luck scoring whoever y'all are.
I just don't see it. He has all this focus and drive but he got to the nba without even learning a basic jumpshot? It doesn't compute at all, unless his family/him are complete idiots so he's this super hard worker who thought he never actually needed one? I feel like if you're super focused and driven, you'd do every thing you could to get the best development possible. Having no jumpshot at his age and choosing to play children instead of going to an actual program with legit coaches (this is something I think Jalen definitely ****ed up on also but to a lesser degree with the G league) does not inspire me that this is some super focused, superstar in the making. I'll struggle to consider him anywhere near the prospect that Jalen and Sengun are until he at least has the basic requisite skills a pro baller should have. People complain about Jalen's 33%, Amen's is literally 18% and y'all think he's a superstar and best prospect we have, it's ridiculous.
I think people complain about Jalen's 33% because coming into the league Jalen was expected to be a scorer, and, by reasonable expectations, an efficient one. No one thought he could be a rebounder, no one thought he was an incredible defender, no one thought he was a savant passer. He was supposed to be an elite scorer. That one thing, he's still struggling to be. He's improved on the other things, but the one thing he was expected to be is elusive (all but for 1/3 of seasons, apparently) He's a scorer, and on his on nights, a crazy good one. He's even shown signs of being an efficient one, but not for an entire season. I'm still a supporter and every year I hope he's packed on a few pounds and gets a reliable jumper as well as a 38% 3-pt. shot, but it's all over the place. I hope this is the year. Amen, on the other hand - no one expected him to be a shooter. No one really expected him to be a scorer. No one expected him to be a great rebounder. Lots of people expected him to be a good defender. Lots of people expected him to be a wizard with the ball. Lots of people expected him to put pressure on the rim in a myriad of ways. He was basically a savant basketball player with a horrible long ball. What did we get? He is a legit top defender in the NBA from what we've seen. He can guard 4 and, on some nights, 5 positions on the court. His handle isn't as good as we thought, but he's gotten better and can play PG (hopefully this improves this year). He can rebound. He can score in the paint in various ways and give you 15-18 points a night given the time. He is everything that was expected, and then some. About the only weakness he's shown that wasn't expected is a looser handle than expected. And the best thing about it is, if he never improves his handle, not only can he defend multiple positions on the court, he can still play multiple positions/roles on the court. So you may see him as a PF, a SF, off the ball, etc. He is probably the most versatile player on the team despite the fact he can't shoot a jumper. So, it's an issue of expectations. One has yet to achieve what was expected, for the most part, and the other has achieved almost everything expected save maybe one thing. One can't shoot a jumper, but is arguably on his way to becoming one of the 3 most important players on the team. The other has a shaky jumper, and you wonder what you'll do with him if he can't be the efficient scorer he was expected to be.
