The idea here is to gauge what players this board thinks members of the Core 4 (or 5) should be emulating. In essence what is a realistic target for them to hit given their skill sets or developing skill sets.
I'll start:
Alec Burks: Jamal Crawford. Both are somewhat low efficiency scorers who have middling outside games but serve a useful purpose as a bench energizer. Jamal is more useful because he's had better secondary contributions besides scoring. If Burks can follow the Crawford path he'll have a long and useful career.
Gordon Hayward: Matt Harpring. I'm not kidding. I'm talking about pre-injury Harp of course. Harpring took advantage of increased offensive opportunities when he first came to Utah and blossomed before destroying his legs. Hayward is, believe it or not, about the same size and could scrap for rebounds as well as Harp while retaining his playmaking abilities on the wing. Harp had the skill set (before his MLA days) that would complement Hayward's current game to push him to be a 20+ PER player and in the conversation to be an all-star.
Derrick Favors: Moses Malone. His defense is fine and is coming along so well that no one can say he won't get there. But Moses is the gold standard for this kind of broad shouldered bull-of-a-man kind of player on the other side. Favors should resist people telling him to become something he's not an embrace what he is: a beast that must be fouled every time he gets up a head of steam. I don't believe Favors will ever be as good as Moses, but that's the tape he should be watching.
Enes Kanter: Godzilla. Self-explanatory.
I'll start:
Alec Burks: Jamal Crawford. Both are somewhat low efficiency scorers who have middling outside games but serve a useful purpose as a bench energizer. Jamal is more useful because he's had better secondary contributions besides scoring. If Burks can follow the Crawford path he'll have a long and useful career.
Gordon Hayward: Matt Harpring. I'm not kidding. I'm talking about pre-injury Harp of course. Harpring took advantage of increased offensive opportunities when he first came to Utah and blossomed before destroying his legs. Hayward is, believe it or not, about the same size and could scrap for rebounds as well as Harp while retaining his playmaking abilities on the wing. Harp had the skill set (before his MLA days) that would complement Hayward's current game to push him to be a 20+ PER player and in the conversation to be an all-star.
Derrick Favors: Moses Malone. His defense is fine and is coming along so well that no one can say he won't get there. But Moses is the gold standard for this kind of broad shouldered bull-of-a-man kind of player on the other side. Favors should resist people telling him to become something he's not an embrace what he is: a beast that must be fouled every time he gets up a head of steam. I don't believe Favors will ever be as good as Moses, but that's the tape he should be watching.
Enes Kanter: Godzilla. Self-explanatory.