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share your current thoughts about whether Taylor Hendricks is an NBA player

If we've reached the point where we're using the metaphor of "buying real estate on Hendricks island", then I'm a buyer. (Especially since I get the sense that the price is low right now.)
 
He needs to get minutes in the NBA (he needs to play off other, better players and be lower on the court pecking order) and it is criminal what is happening right now. He will learn nothing useful in the G League and he will either get better in the NBA or he will help us lose games is what I know.

Not very promising at this point but still way, way more promising than Cody.
 
I've already committed to not making judgements until after the mid-way point of the season.

I'm currently doing better on this goal than I have been on my goal to not eat desserts between Thanksgiving and New Years.
 
He is imo. This was always a rehab year. He has made improvements to parts of his game. He needs to get his legs back and shake some rust off. This is a conversation to have next year... but we won't have that conversation because it will be obvious.

To me he may end up like Jalen Smith... which isn't ideal but he's a good, versatile, third big. I would not judge Taylor this year at all and I saw enough his rookie year to believe.

TLDR - I will buy all your Hendricks stock.
 
my gut says he's probably not. he doesn't look big enough, quick enough, skilled enough or athletic enough to make it if he can't shoot say 37%+ from three. his rookie season, on his biggest sample, he shot 38% which is encouraging. if he can get back to that, maybe he'll make it. but without it, i don't see him having a big enough impact on either end to make it.

just answering the question as honest as possible. ultimately dude is 22 coming off a broken leg so to unequivocally count him out would be dumb.
 
It all depends on his motor. He took a step back not just on his injury per se, but he isn't *trying* or hustling as much as he was previously. He isn't good/talented enough to coast, he has to add an edge/desperation to his game and want it more. If his internal dog has been tamed by his time off, he won't be a long timer. If its a pure conditioning issue I still have hope.
 
I've always been extremely anti-Hendricks, but with the injury I just can't really know. The injury seems to have zapped any potential he had as a highly switchable perimeter defender and he's never been an active off ball defender. And I think that was basically his only avenue to real success as he's too soft to be a full time 5.

I just hope he ends the season when nearly the entire league is playing easy/tank mode looking decent.

That being said, he's never been good at basketball. We over drafted a guy who played small ball 5 and didn't have any actual NBA level talent. I respect the shot because there wasn't any clear high upside guy to bet on at 10 (outside of Whitmore who apparently had enough red flags to pass on and that hasnt really bitten any of those teams in the ***), but it was pretty clear watching him he wasn't going to amount to much if he didn't have significant skill improvements.
 
Handlogten's Heros said:
He is imo. This was always a rehab year. He has made improvements to parts of his game. He needs to get his legs back and shake some rust off. This is a conversation to have next year... but we won't have that conversation because it will be obvious.

To me he may end up like Jalen Smith... which isn't ideal but he's a good, versatile, third big. I would not judge Taylor this year at all and I saw enough his rookie year to believe.

TLDR - I will buy all your Hendricks stock.
Click to expand...
Jalen Smith has actual talent and feel for offense tho. He might end up being the inverse of Smith. A stretch big with no feel and decent defense.
 
What is he really even good at? Is there an area he excels at? He's pretty sub par in everything he does. I think he can find a role but we're too busy letting other guys who have no future help us win games to really know.
 
I hope the guy stays healthy to make this a very bumpable thread. Keep the hate flowing.
 
If you weren’t glazing TH around draft time you were a hater. I thought I was pretty neutral on him and liked him because of his safeness and likelihood of delivering on highly valued skills. A lot has happened since then and I’ve also adjusted the way I think about prospects.

- His defense is less of a guarantee, mostly due to the injury but also because I didn’t consider bbiq enough.
- His shot is not as sure of a thing as I believed before.
- BBIQ is more important than ever on both ends.
- His motor runs hot and cold.

Overall I still think a lot of why I believed in him for remains true. He may not have a lot of attributes, but where he does have potential is of high value. Defense and shooting will always be of value and I think he has a chance to be decent a both. But the rule of thumb is”be good at basketball” applies. Unfortunately he’s on the wrong side of this.

I’d say it’s likely he gets another contract in the league, but I’ve learned that there’s really no such thing as safe.
 
I'm really rooting for him, but he has no handle which means he has to sit in the corner and shoot a stand still three. Unfortunately, he isn't that great of a shooter. The Jazz picked up his opinion until the end of 27, let's hope he improves or this will be another high pick miss.
 
I've always compared his role to that of Dorian Finney-Smith, a big 3D wing who guards and shoots 3s, but is limited with the ball. Hendricks' size gave him more presence at the rim on both ends than DFS. Right now, he's still in the process of recovering his movement. I think he'll get there, but it might take the rest of the season and the summer.

In other words, my expectations were never super high for him, and I think he can get his career back on track.
 
AK47 said:
What is he really even good at? Is there an area he excels at? He's pretty sub par in everything he does.
Click to expand...
This. Taylor is not a smart player. He is not a skilled player. He is not an athletically gifted player. So what is his special thing that he and coaches can build upon?

Hendricks is tall but that's about it. And there are many tall guys who have been playing organized basketball since middle school and are not in the NBA.
 
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