I think maybe it depends on your definition of "superstar." I think we all want to compare Green to other guards and combo guards, but I might draw a different comparison: Carmelo Anthony. A guy who was never a very good playmaker or defender, but could score at all three levels and became more efficient over the course of his career. Personally, I was never a huge Melo guy. I didn't love that his game was one-dimensional and I'm not sure he was ever a top 5 player in the league at any point in his career. But he was a perennial All-Star and competitor for the scoring title, and he was the best player on some pretty darn good teams in Denver and New York. If Green developed into a mini, poor man's Melo, I think I could live with that, and I still think his playmaking potential is greater than Melo's. I realize the comparison is totally unfair right now given that Melo looked like a stud in his 19-year-old rookie season. But if we're trying to talk about Green's trajectory and where he could realistically still be labeled as a "superstar" given the holes in his game, I could see Melo as a decent modern comparison.
The difference is that the "superstar" take is speculative, it's in the future, it's a prediction on his development. The Darko take isn't speculative or about the future, I think most people think it's a line that's already been crossed. It's an event that's already occurred. It's like saying "Jalen will never score 30 points in a game". We've already seen him do it, so we can move that one to 0%. I personally have seen enough from him to say that he is already out of the "Darko zone" or whatever you want to call it. This just comes down to personal opinion, of course. The way you design your bust tier system is probably different than mine, and everyone's is probably slightly different. But the worst case scenario for Jalen is probably one tier up from "Darko zone", call it, I don't know, the "Dion Waiters zone" or the "Okafor zone".
OK, but that’s ridiculous. If it was Frederic Weiss, yes, but Darko had a 9-year career and rose to some low-level mediocrity. He was a semi-decent rim protector some years. His 3rd or 4th year’s BLK% would be #3 in the NBA today. He had some years with a positive BPM score. JG has not reached any of that level of NBA "stature". Just to make sure: I think Darko-outcome is a very, very low probability. It’s a very different era. Darko came in as a teenager, got doghoused by L.Brown and became the butt of all kinds of vicious jokes and narratives. He spiraled down, became an alcoholic even before he could legally drink. Would rage and destroy the walls in his house… Weiss was similarly treated and developed clinical depression, tried to kill himself… Times are very different now, players are much better supported; even if they struggle they’re not likely to be let to spiral down… Anyway, sorry about the tangent…
Never gave up on al p, never said he was a superstar, still love him. Never gave up on Green, never wanted him on the team, never was high on him. As for Morris, serious answer, in all honesty I didn’t even know who Morris was before we drafted him, saw some highlights, got excited as a kid, wrote a thread. I’m not sure when I hopped off that train, was never really even on it, that may be one of the only posts I wrote about Morris. But Internet sure remembers!
Hopefully you get to say the same about Green in a few years but in reverse. Let's hope. Because as a Rocket fan I'm sure you hope you are wrong about your prediction for Green in the future. Trust me everyone here is uncertain about the future of Green. We can only.hopenfor the best
Are we sure he’s not wearing platforms here? 6’4 1/2, so we are arguing over 1/2? Any legit source? Every source prior the draft had him listed at 6’6.
probably just the angles, that was a screen shot from a video, you can see the whole video of them sitting and standing. It's hard to be exact with pictures without measurement, but you can see Green is taller than Christopher, and Christopher was measured at the combine.
Zach Lavine, one of the better players on a good team. Can’t build your team around him but can be a cog. That was my best case comp for Green from the start. He has not lived up to that, but definitely not too late. Except Lavine is not a superstar. And Lavine is certainly not worthy of #2 pick if a Duncan/kg was available.
You said he was 6'3, which is literally impossible because even Christopher barefoot is taller than 6'3. That's because "official height" is with shoes for some reason. that's why Kobe is listed at 6'6 even thought he's really 6'4 3/4. Jalen Green with shoes is very close to 6'6 considering shoes can give you 1.5 inches. It just becomes confusing because some places lists his barefoot height and some places lists his with shoes height. so technically they are all correct. I have never seen any source list him as 6'6 barefoot.
yes, that’s the whole draft right there; 1. You take MJ/Kobe over Pau/Bosh 2. You take KG/TD over LaVine Rockets bet (1.). but it looks a bit like (2.) was the bet.
This is the point I'm trying to get across. Sure, he could improve, but the chances of him ever living up to what is expected from a #2 pick is probably not going to happen given what he's already shown us.
"If a Duncan/KG was available" is a pretty big if. Mobley has been great; getting closer and closer to RoY by the day. If I'd had the pick, I would have taken him as well. But we're pretty far from "top 20 all-time player" status here. I still see him being closer to Bosh than those two in terms of peak trajectory, but who knows? Again, I get being a little upset watching one guy thrive while the other guy struggles, and we could have had the former. But I also don't think it's productive to consistently crap on Green given the tiny sample size. There's still a decent chance that Green could have the better career. As a scorer, I think his potential is still far greater and bigs, historically, are the far greater long-term injury threat than guards. Another thing to consider: both guys could end up really good. No one would argue that Hakeem was better than Jordan, and the Rockets could have drafted the GOAT. And yet you never hear any Rockets fan complain about Hakeem's career. If Green keeps growing, reaches All-Star level and brings success to the franchise, I'll be happy as will most Rockets fans.
WoRsT sEaSoN eVer. So was Zack Lavine's rookie season the worst season ever? Was Gainnis' rookie year the worst season ever in terms of scoring? Because those guys had worse scoring numbers. Same efficiency as Green but on less output which means if you increased their attempts to Green's level this year their efficiency would drop significantly below Green. More volume, lower your efficiency. There are so many rookies I can show you that had similar production to Green and turned out to be stars to superstars. So ",worst season ever" just must be a term for many different seasons and not literally "the worst season ever".
