Douchebag K
Well-Known Member
lol Gobert in his rookie year ?? ok
All time wasted NBA talents ?
- Thread starter Douchebag K
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lol Gobert in his rookie year ?? ok
He was another player whose career was destroyed by injury. He was a good player when healthy.
Keefe
Well-Known Member
lmfao.
PattBattMann
Well-Known Member
I actually thought that Ben McLemore could have been really good. What about Hasheem Thabeet? Wasn't he going to be the next Mutombo? Also, I was a huge fan of both Derrick Williams (Arizona) & Michael Beasely (KState) in college. I thought that they would have better pro careers.
Jack Strop
Well-Known Member
I imagine the same spacing problems we had with Favors. Except Derrick was able to play backup 5 and have the great P&R chemistry with Ingles. AK wanted touches; he wouldn't have those with Donovan hogging the ball. AK was just unable to accept his limitations - or work on improving them. It was so comical hearing he had worked on his shooting and put on 15 lbs of muscle during the off-season.
Thee Idiotic Minivan K
Well-Known Member
you make it sound like AK wasn’t any better a shooter than favors. If AK had played during the hight of the three ball era and highbred 4’s he would’ve shot way more threes and had a much better overall 3pt %. He had several respectable 3pt % shooting year between 33% to 37% on 2 attempts per game. In today’s game he would’ve shot more and made more.
in what world was Mitchell ever a ball hog? This teams strength is passing and sharing the ball, and as much as I love Sloan, Quin is much better at tayloring his system to the strengths of his players. I think Quin would’ve used AK better than Sloan ever did.
The Thriller
Well-Known Member
by riding a motorcycle he was contractually prohibited from riding.
The Thriller
Well-Known Member
lol no
The Thriller
Well-Known Member
Kirk Snyder. I remember him being talented athletically but awful.
Thee Idiotic Minivan K
Well-Known Member
Op said players that played at least seven years, idiot.
Keefe
Well-Known Member
lmfao at the assumption that if AK played now he’d have “a much better overall 3 pt %.” There’s no reason to assume that.
Yes, there is. He would be asked to improve his shot and he would work on it if he was a prospect coming to the NBA in this era. 3pt is vastly more important than it was then.
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Stats wise: 2003-2004 - 1.9 steals, 2.8 blocks; 2004-2005 -- 1.6 steals, 3.3 blocks; 2005-2006 - 1.5 steals, 3.2 blocks. And remember he was playing the forward position so you don't get as many opportunities for blocks as a center. Can you name any other small forwards, even power forwards who led the league in blocks? AK was a supreme shot blocker. But like one poster suggested, just imagine putting AK in his prime on this team with Rudy. Definitely would be challenging for the finals. He was also one of the most adept at picking the pocket of a dribbler if you might recall. His one flaw was he depended too much on his athleticism rather than positioning when defending, which used to drive Jerry nuts. But that was something he could've corrected.
If he had just concentrated on defending instead of worrying about his touches, he could've been the greatest defensive player since Bill Russell -- who was without question the greatest defensive player in NBA history.
Of course, the bias on this site for how AK ended up clouds their vision of what he was like during his best years and before his injuries. Remember he was All-Defense First Team multiple times, and I think one year, runner-up, when he probably should've won it.
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Total blocks and steals the not the best way to measure defense. His blocks mostly came from the weak side and he wasn’t disrupting people’s offensive plan due to his threat to block like Rudy is, even if he has less blocks. I do agree that if you had a motivated AK he would be a good pair with Gobert because he’d roam more on defense, and played terrible perimeter D and had a hard time staying in front of his man. But if he occasionally recovered after being burned on the perimeter and blocked the guys shot, it makes people forget about all the times they scored because he got burned on the perimeter.
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I wouldn't say he played terrible perimeter D. How many times in crucial situations did he pick the pocket of players on the perimeter? Yes, he let guys go by him because of his poor positioning but that was something he could've corrected if he had more motivation, which was his downfall, his lack of commitment and intensity, which is something Rudy has and he didn't.
And that commitment is precisely the reason people are/were as angry as they were. It’s as if people think you should look at raw talent by itself.
Getting Traded
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I totally agree with that. It's why I became so disappointed in him myself. But I really do think a different coach, like Quin for instance, might've been able to motivate him. I doubt though he ever would've become a good shooter, maybe adequate, which he was earlier in his career.
Keefe
Well-Known Member
Yeah, you’re right, I’m sure he was never asked to improve his shot before. I’m sure he TOTALLY would’ve put down the joystick, avoided WoW, and dedicated his time to improving himself as a player. Because there’s such an extensive track record of him doing so.