6'9.5 is not 6'8 And he also has huge long wingspan, because nobody plays defence with the top of their head.
What's criteria for a SF? Is he too tall? Is he too slow? Is his handle not good enough? Interesting compare his attributes with Parson... What's so different between them?
Seriously? Questions like this are so annoying. can'tshootcan'tshootcan'tshootcan'tshootcan'tshootcan'tshootcan'tshootcan'tshoot. Oh......and he can't shoot. Talk about annoying. Nothing like posters asking why a guy that can't shoot won't be a good SF. MKG was drafted #2 and was widely heralded as a superstar in waiting a couple years ago. Guess what?? Dude can't shoot. Where's he at now? He's one step above being a flop. And most likely on course to be a one-dimensional Bruce Bowen type defensive stopper (WITHOUT THE ABILITY TO SHOOT) at best. Know why? Because dude can't shoot. Annoying.
Shawn Marion and Kirilenko, both known as great shooters. Normally what sets your natural position is that spot where you can defend more efficiently. If Jones is more a PF than a SF it is mainly cause he lacks the lateral speed, quickness and defensive habits to defend wings, to haunt players after screens, to defend a p&r ballhandler... He's also a bad shooter, but players like Kirilenko or Marion have made a career playing as SFs (well, Marion only at the Mavs) being such a mediocre shooters. So shooting is not everything, aside from being an improvable attribute. Of course shooting is everything if you're an SF and your coach is Kevin McHale, but that's another thing. And I'm not defending TJ as SF. I think his natural position it is the PF. But not exclusively -or above everything- because of his lack of shooting.
Jones is a great ball handler for his size, but his skills won't quite allow him to consistently create. He doesn't have the vision and his release is a little slow. I believed that he could be a small forward when I was hoping for Morey to draft him. To be honest, between him and Parsons, I believe that we'll see that Jones is the better player. He has more explosiveness than Parsons and perhaps as much of an ability to create, but the problem is that it just isn't quite enough for a small forward. Sure he'd be a better small forward than some of the bottom tier small forwards, but his awkwardness with the ball, his slow release and a question in terms of his abilities as a small forward defensively are where I see issues. If he can become a slightly quicker and better shooter, he'll have more opportunities to create off of his shot, but it's something that we don't know for now. Perhaps if we're out of contention this year we'll get an opportunity to see it, but as things stand now, I'm not sure it's a gamble Mchale feels he can afford.
The SF is basically a tweener position and is more predicated on the team's style of play. There's always exceptions to the rules, for example Lebron James and Kevin Durant, but basically SFs should be able to be stopped pretty easily, either with a bigger/stronger player or a shorter/quicker player. On your point, MKG is a SF, he won't be a superstar cause he can't shoot, but that doesn't mean he's not a SF. You basically default to a SF by saying well he's not a SG and he's a PF, so then he's a SF.
