Eurobasket 2025
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Thee Jazz Fan
Well-Known Member
I guess we live in an era of I need results now. Dude was raw as could be when drafted at 19. He is 20 years old. We also thought Kessler was done after a bad sophomore year then exploded last year, and Bilal was less ready than Kessler coming in.
“We gave up on Kessler”. Who is we? Totally different situations regardless.
I live in a world where we can intake new information and adjust our expectations. It’s no secret I was a Bilal fan, but if he was going to hit on the higher outcomes we’d likely see more progress than he’s shown. He’s trending towards bad offense/great defense type wing.
Agreed, but I also think Bilal is an example of development not being linear. He made a ton of progress pre draft and came in his rookie year and looked even better than I expected to start off, and now it's been a year and a half and hasn't made any real progress that a casual observer can see.
He could still put it together at some point, we'll see.
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Sure, that’s fair. I guess what I’m saying is that a high outcome is unlikely for him atm. While I thought this outcome was most likely, he had potential to be much more if that development took off and accelerated. He had just gone through a growth spurt and was a late bloomer so he had better odds than most of that happening. But it doesn’t seem like that has materialized. He didn’t just need a linear progression to become a star, he needed to go to the moon.
It really does come down to the jumper. He, like most bad shooting prospects, hasn’t developed into a good NBA shooter and that’s really limiting his offensive game.
I think his defensive/athletic talent is enough that he’ll stick around for awhile and have a long career. But offensively he’s probably going to struggle. I had him between McDaniels/Herb predraft and now I have him between Okoro/McDaniels. So not too much difference but the high outcome, star player dream is dying.
Or maybe it’s just and couple of weeks….Bilal island til I die!
I think @KqWIN made this point before they were drafted but if I look at Bilal and Ausar can I really say one is (or was) a better prospect than the other? Their pre-draft hype meters were on different levels but in hindsight that does not make a lot of sense. Right now they both look like their ceiling is to become high level role players who excel on defense/hustle but hurt you a bit on offense at least in terms of spacing.
The hindsight analysis should not be about Bilal it should be more about "how and why did Ausar fool us to think he was somehow clearly superior".
The hindsight analysis should not be about Bilal it should be more about "how and why did Ausar fool us to think he was somehow clearly superior".
Finland dominating early
Ausar is significantly better at the moment and it would take a lot for Bilal to get there.
Lauri foul trouble making the game interesting
Step-Back Lauri
Well-Known Member
Elias Valtonen sank AGAIN two massive threes on 4th, just like against Serbia (they were even bigger). I dare him to do the same against GER/SLO on Friday.
If we match up again Germany, I think our best bet is letting them take threes and try close the interior,and hope they have a bad shooting day. But yeah,can't see anyone stopping Germany.
If we match up again Germany, I think our best bet is letting them take threes and try close the interior,and hope they have a bad shooting day. But yeah,can't see anyone stopping Germany.