The public doesn't know why Porter was suspended in college, but I'm betting NBA teams did. A teenager can grow beyond being a knucklehead, but if a guy of comparable upside is available, why bother taking the gamble?
The thing about Little he can be momentum changer with one the high flying dunks. Kind like Zach with one of his chase down behind Dunks. Little beside Zion the only players in the draft that can bring that momentum changer in a game.
Pet peeve # 2000000000........ people who question a young players motor (or heart). This drives me crazy. ( I know you didn't say it) I can see doing it after years of watching a player, but a 18-19 year old kid who is learning a new system? I agree with you, the highlights seem to counter that remark. Now if he didn't put the time in to get better, than that would be concerning, but I think people go too far when critiquing players. Stick to what is visible from the outside and not try to guess what's going on in the inside of these kids. It could have been the simple case of a young player thinking too much on the court and not reacting quick enough. Which is why I never expect too much from a first year player. His motor could be elite for all we know.
I disagree with you on this so much, Im not even sure where to start. Respect your opinion, but I think Im gonna have to just agree to disagree lol.
No problem. But I would be interested in knowing how we as fans should judge a young player's motor. What are you looking for? Beyond the obvious of someone not trying or running hard. Because those examples are very seldom seen at that level. People who generally question a young players motor are not at practice or in the weight room. They are basing it on 20 minutes on the court when other factors are involved.
been a while since i posted but the draft got me a Little excited... my thoughts on nas is that i love the fact that we sat back and got lucky enough to have a guy with his physical gifts and potential fall to us. for a team in our position, ostensibly determined to make the finals, drafts like this are a godsend. for as long as dame is our guy, we’ll probably never have a high draft pick again. teams with lasting success and dominance have a keen eye/luck acquiring talent late in the draft, and with neil at the helm we have a guy who pretty much became a millionaire off his ability to find those diamonds in the rough. thats a beautiful thing. if you listen to neil talk post-draft, its clear that while he used to be a draft first kinda guy, right now that is not remotely where his head is at and im so so so happy to see that. our wcf berth was no fluke despite the fact that we got mollywhopped by the warriors, and the team knows that were oh so close to the top of the mountain. thus, my thoughts on nas is the same as neil - stoked we got some talent for our less than optimal draft spot but its still a small pick up with a bigger picture in mind. in other words, whether nas is dope or not is kinda irrelevant right now. only thing im concerned with right now is what the team has in mind for july... are we gonna try to find a way to keep kanter/hood, or are we gonna trade for somebody... those are the only two options that can keep us at our current position and there is absolutely no way we should ever fall back to where we were in the lillard era again.
This isn't aimed at little, as I think his “motor” isn't his problem. Overall I think how much “Motor” one has is one of the easier things to tell. Are they aggressive, are they hustling, do they crash the glass, are they “watching”, or are they moving, do they seem interested. Of course we can take it to far and try to psychoanalyze a guy from 15-20 minutes of a game and say their motor is bad, but even in low level sports like Middle School you can kind of tell the kids who are leaving it out on the court and those who arent. Eventually over I don't know, lets say 5+ games (that was an arbitrary number I grabbed), you can identify patterns, does this player keep getting beat down the court, does the player keep getting boards, is he standing a lot, does winning and losing seem to matter, etc. Also how much time a player spends in the weight room, or working out is important, but a lot of guys work out really hard and check out in between the lines.
Your last line was a little different from what I said. But it is a huge difference in my point. I said practice and the weight room. We don't see them every day in practice. If the coach says a guy has no motor then that is one thing because he sees a player for hours and hours every week. A fans sees a young player less than 1 hour each week. Again I am being specific to young players not old vets. As for how it relates to Little...it sounds like early on he was struggling with where to be on defense, which is common with young players. Just like football, when a player has to think too much on D vs just reacting to the ball, he struggles. The Blazers don't have much of a defensive game plan so it should not be a factor. (kidding)
That's an interesting question. Let me offer a real world example. Remember when we had both Leonard and TRob? To be kind, the game was too fast for both of them. One responded by standing around like a statue, watching the other 9 guys on the court play. The other charged around the floor with reckless, clueless abandon. As bad a player as TRob was, he sometimes made good things happen through sheer hustle. TRob never did learn how to play basketball at an NBA level, but lack of effort was never the problem. Leonard learned - but to this day is prone to bouts of passivity. You could make a similar comparison between Aminu and Hark. From the begining, Hark was a talented kid with inconsistent energy level and focus. (which is why we got him dirt cheap) That is still true. Aminu was (and is) the guy who plays hard even when he is having a bad night. Unlike TRob, he also improved his game enough that he also has good nights. The point I am trying to make, is that other things changed, but those traits were there from the begining.
I cant really speak to Little, though of the handful of games I saw, I never considered his “motor” as an issue. I can accept that sometimes a guy is just trying to figure it out still, but somethings are simple, get back on defense, move your feet, are you passing up shots, I mean a lot of “small” factors go into what people talk about when they talk about a players motor, but overall I think with a decent sample size the patterns will show up on what kind of energy and intensity they bring to the game, part of that is consistency too. Some guys seem mentally checked out half the time, I think every player ever has had the games they “bring it” and the games they dont, but the real problem is when you cant consistently rely on a guy to leave it all on the court.
This I completely agree with. Mistakes and uncertainty are not the signs of having a bad motor. In Little's case, it seems this particular commentator was confusing effort with results.
Good stuff there. I agree with you 100%. So why have you been slacking here??? Lol. You should be posting more often. Seriously....
I don't disagree with any of this, I am just not really talking about the obvious examples. My point was more about the draft websites that all too often say something like "some question his motor". (or his "love of the game" or "his heart) Those comments bug me when said about YOUNG players, because I think they are all too often baseless.
Huh? I thought we were supposed to be a Blue State hellhole where no decent, gawd fearing Amuricun would want to live?
I think you are making a really good point here. And it fits in with what I think. I think Little had a confidence crisis at North Carolina. Things were a little too fast for him and he never had a chance to catch up. I heard something besides politeness in he and his parent's comments after he got drafted by Portland. Thank you so much for taking a chance on me? I think that is a confidence problem. One of my favorite posters on here has suggested we should trade Harkless and start Nassir right away. I think he needs to be coddled and brought along slowly to build up his confidence.
