<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BrewCityBuck @ Jul 10 2007, 04:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Nobody said anything that his alright shotblocking makes him a great defender, we just pointed that out as something that he does well, thats it. Bargnani was putting up close to 17ppg for a long portion of the season, he's pretty close to Dirk statisticly when Dirk first started out, and they both are very compariable skills wise.</div><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RaptorFan#1 @ Jul 10 2007, 04:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>No bargnani doesn't just shoot. he drives alot too, something hes improved on. Bargnani is also a very clutch player, one of the best in the draft, numerous times hes proven that. Andrea Bargnani has shown signs that he will be the next Dirk, and if all Dirk does is shoot, than your mistaken. Lamarcus Aldridge this season did not play better than Andrea Bargnani at all, he first off has no outside shot, and he only plays near the basket. Tyrus Thomas is proven to be one of the most inconsistent players you will ever see, avergaing a whopping 5 points in the reg. season, 1 ppg in the first round and 5 again in the 2nd round. Inconsistency does not help teams at all. Your also overrating Tyrus Thomas because hes such a freak athlete, but Bargnani can do everything else better than him. Ronnie brewer are you kidding me?? Theres a reason he only gets 12 minutes a game, Andrea Bargnani averages in every single stat better than this guy except field goal percentage, thing is, Brewer attempted only 193 shots this season. Ronnie brewer is an overrated 2 who has no range and cant shoot from 3. If hes better than Bargnani, im the next Jordan. Ive already told you why about Rudy Gay, and Randy Foye is a point gaurd who still needs to learn to pass. He also shoots worse from three than Bargs, and because hes so small hes inside game is worse than Bargnani's. Bargnani compares to all these players while coming off the bench, these guys are regulars in the starting rotation, thats something you miss, he can do what these guys can do an better, and we saw it in the playoffs. Sure you cant compare gaurds, but when you measure who made the most impact on a team, besides Roy, Bargnani did the most. He was our 6th man and now will be in the starting lineup. I gaurantee you he will averaging at least 6 rebounds next year, just because hes always improving.</div>Bargnani had a good rookie season but when we look back on this draft he will be a good player potentially a few allstar teams but he wont be as good as you make him seem. He is a typically case of ''you know what you're getting'' and your saying he's better then aldridge who toward the end of the season was nearly putting up 19/8 a game as a rookie? if anyone will be on a level much past bargnani of that draft it will be aldridge.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (PrimeTime @ Jul 10 2007, 03:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>and your saying he's better then aldridge who toward the end of the season was nearly putting up 19/8 a game as a rookie? if anyone will be on a level much past bargnani of that draft it will be aldridge.</div> Aldridge's best month statisticly was 14/8, other than that month he put up 7/4 a game the other three months.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BrewCityBuck @ Jul 10 2007, 04:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Aldridge's best month statisticly was 14/8, other than that month he put up 8/4 a game the other three months.</div>excuse me all great stat whore bcb. point is Aldridge>Bargnanithe rest are questionable but that ones pretty damn clear. another thing aldridge can do? play defense.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (PrimeTime @ Jul 10 2007, 04:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>excuse me all great stat whore bcb. point is Aldridge>Bargnanithe rest are questionable but that ones pretty damn clear. another thing aldridge can do? play defense.</div>Well if your comparing shotblocking, he only averaged .3 more than Andrea, so hes not totally better.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (PrimeTime @ Jul 10 2007, 03:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>excuse me all great stat whore bcb. point is Aldridge>Bargnanithe rest are questionable but that ones pretty damn clear. another thing aldridge can do? play defense.</div> I'm not going to disagree, Aldridge may very well become the better player. I wouldn't say Aldridge is a very good defender, he's not the toughest guy, not as bad as Channing Frye but it's not far off. I watched a lot of Aldridge late last year, I think Andrew Bogut is just as good a defender as Aldridge is at this point. Overall, I think the Raptors got a guy that fits them better in Bargnani.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BrewCityBuck @ Jul 10 2007, 04:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I'm not going to disagree, Aldridge may very well become the better player. I wouldn't say Aldridge is a very good defender, he's not the toughest guy, not as bad as Channing Frye but it's not far off. I watched a lot of Aldridge late last year, I think Andrew Bogut is just as good a defender as Aldridge is at this point. Overall, I think the Raptors got a guy that fits them better in Bargnani.</div>Me and you agree on this one for the most part(which is a change) but I still think aldridge would have been a better pick for the raptors. Bosh and Bargnani are both PFs at heart and not versatile enough to be a center but if they drafted aldridge, I think he could excel as a C in the coming years.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (PrimeTime @ Jul 10 2007, 04:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Me and you agree on this one for the most part(which is a change) but I still think aldridge would have been a better pick for the raptors. Bosh and Bargnani are both PFs at heart and not versatile enough to be a center but if they drafted aldridge, I think he could excel as a C in the coming years.</div>Now that Bargnani has shown he can play Center, he will be the better pick. Next season should be close between these two, but since I didnt watch Lamarcus as much as I should have, ill give Bargs the edge, but however I still think hell have the better career.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (PrimeTime @ Jul 10 2007, 05:19 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Even your post further proved that he is just an offensive player. Just because a player puts up 12 ppg as a rookie doesn't make him the next dirk. By that standard adam morrison should be the next rashard lewis. His rebounding is still lacking for a 7 foot player regardless of what you say 4 rpg is 4 rpg and sad for any center who gets 30 mpg especially with how weak the raptors frontcourt is. As far as defensively blocking is not a standard of hwo great a defensive player is, I saw several games where bargnani got lit up despite having height and reach. If blocking makes a player a great defensive player darko should be on the defensive team. Bargnani isnt a bad guy, but at the same time he isnt a compete player nor will he ever be more then a shooter/shot blocker but maybe he'll develop decent rebounding eventually.Brewer is going to be getting more minutes next season and we'll see alot more from him, not only can he shoot efficently but he also is a better defender then barg. As far as foye, foye is the complete package. He could potentially be a d-wade like pg-sg who can rebound, pass, and score and penetrate at a very high level. Tyrus thomas played a limited role last season as PJ brown came off a rejuvenated season and played well but he is also already a better defensive player, rebounder, and has an increasing knack for taking it hard inside.</div>Yeah, okay. Can you really tell if a player is a defensive player or not in his first season? I mean, all rookies get schooled by the vets in their rookie years. I dare you to name 10 current players who were dominant defenders in their rookie seasons. So how are you going to write Bargnani off as an offensive player already? And blocks show that big men do have some defensive ability. Guys who get 2+ blocks in the NBA are usually good defenders unless they are guys like Samuel Dalembert who try to block literally every shot. Andrea gets beat on the perimiter, but for a rookie his post defense did look good towards the end of the season. And have you even watched him play? Like, seriously. You're probably just calling him a soft scorer just because he's from Europe. And just so you know, he's already almost as good as Dirk at defense, and for his career he's going to be clearly better. Dirk was absolutely miserable at defense in his rookie year. Bargnani's nothing to write home about, but he was atleast decent defensively, for a rookie that is.That's different, man. There are a ton of adequate guard/swing men scorers in the NBA. How many 7 footers in the NBA can get over 15-17 ppg? Not many would be the answer to that question. And how many big men get 12 ppg in their rookie seasons? Not many. Again, that is pretty dang good, and it shows his offensive capabilities especially since he was coming from Europe, and he wasn't at all used to the North American style of play. Yeah, and how many European big men come in and average 12+ in their rookie seasons? You could probably count that on one hand; maybe two. Oh, and Adam Morrison was pretty terrible offensive actually. He took almost 3 more shots per game than Bargnani, so his scoring average is not impressive at all. He shot about 37%, which is a laughing stock in today's NBA. And he was inconsistent to the point that it was just ridiculous.Yeah, okay. Andrea can't rebound right now. But his rookie rebounding totals were actually higher than Dirk's. And Dirk got 9 last season, which is solid. And in his prime Dirk got 10 rpg. We already have our rebounder in Chris Bosh, who will probably get 11 or 11.5 in his prime. If Andrea can get 8 at the least (and I'm almost positive that he will be able to get that amount), then we'll be fine rebounding wise. Consider that Andrea is a lanky 7 footer that is used to the perimiter game in Europe. He was a soft player over there too. There's no denying that. How in the hell do you expect him to come out and be a rebounding force right off the bat when he's going against players that are much stronger than him, and much more used to rebounding? He will learn, and he will get better in that area. I guarentee that he'll get 8-9 in his prime ATLEAST.I already talked about this so far in my post, but blocks do show defensive ability for a big men. It means that they are willing and able to contest shots. And for a rookie, Andrea was solid atleast. We aren't expecting him to be a defensive force anyway. But from watching him as a rookie, I know that he'll be atleast solid. His inside D was pretty good for a rookie big man, actually. He did get lit up on the perimiter, but hey; all rookies take their licks, right? He'll improve there also. Again, you don't watch Bargnani, and you have no clue what he can do offensively. He's not Just a shooter. Again, you could use that argument on Dirk if you're saying it about Bargnani. And Dirk is the best PF scorer in the League. Being a shooter as a 7 footer is obviously a great advantage, but there's more to Bargnani's offensive game than just that. He is exceptionally quick for a 7 footer. He can drive, he can run the floor and catch fast break passes for easy points, he can create shots for himself like Dirk, and he can shoot turnaround jumpers also. His offensive game is not one dimensional. Being a player like that is the opposite as one dimensional. It's called versatile. And hey, who knows? he might even turn into a post player too. He's got so much offensive talent, it's just unbelievable.Brewer didn't do jack last season. I don't care if he's going to get minutes. He will need experience before he does anything. And if you think hell be more of a scorer than Andrea, you're crazy. I don't think he can even get 10 ppg next season. I think that woiuld be a longshot for him, actually. Yeah, I realize Foye's offensive talent. But I don't think he will have a huge season next year. I just don't see that for him right now. Tyrus blocked shots, and he's definitely versatile offensively, but the dude's still raw. I don't see him doing alot next season to tell you the truth.Actually, to tell you the truth, this is all ridiculous. Predicting how player's will do is dumb. We don't know how they'll do. We can speculate, but we can't tell the future. That's why they play the games instead of imagining them. We don't know what's going to happen. I'm just going to argue from now on that Andrea will be a DAMN good player in the NBA. A future all star for sure imo. The sky's the limit for him, offensively.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CB4AllStar @ Jul 10 2007, 04:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Yeah, okay. Can you really tell if a player is a defensive player or not in his first season? I mean, all rookies get schooled by the vets in their rookie years. I dare you to name 10 current players who were dominant defenders in their rookie seasons. So how are you going to write Bargnani off as an offensive player already? And blocks show that big men do have some defensive ability. Guys who get 2+ blocks in the NBA are usually good defenders unless they are guys like Samuel Dalembert who try to block literally every shot. Andrea gets beat on the perimiter, but for a rookie his post defense did look good towards the end of the season. And have you even watched him play? Like, seriously. You're probably just calling him a soft scorer just because he's from Europe. And just so you know, he's already almost as good as Dirk at defense, and for his career he's going to be clearly better. Dirk was absolutely miserable at defense in his rookie year. Bargnani's nothing to write home about, but he was atleast decent defensively, for a rookie that is.That's different, man. There are a ton of adequate guard/swing men scorers in the NBA. How many 7 footers in the NBA can get over 15-17 ppg? Not many would be the answer to that question. And how many big men get 12 ppg in their rookie seasons? Not many. Again, that is pretty dang good, and it shows his offensive capabilities especially since he was coming from Europe, and he wasn't at all used to the North American style of play. Yeah, and how many European big men come in and average 12+ in their rookie seasons? You could probably count that on one hand; maybe two. Oh, and Adam Morrison was pretty terrible offensive actually. He took almost 3 more shots per game than Bargnani, so his scoring average is not impressive at all. He shot about 37%, which is a laughing stock in today's NBA. And he was inconsistent to the point that it was just ridiculous.Yeah, okay. Andrea can't rebound right now. But his rookie rebounding totals were actually higher than Dirk's. And Dirk got 9 last season, which is solid. And in his prime Dirk got 10 rpg. We already have our rebounder in Chris Bosh, who will probably get 11 or 11.5 in his prime. If Andrea can get 8 at the least (and I'm almost positive that he will be able to get that amount), then we'll be fine rebounding wise. Consider that Andrea is a lanky 7 footer that is used to the perimiter game in Europe. He was a soft player over there too. There's no denying that. How in the hell do you expect him to come out and be a rebounding force right off the bat when he's going against players that are much stronger than him, and much more used to rebounding? He will learn, and he will get better in that area. I guarentee that he'll get 8-9 in his prime ATLEAST.I already talked about this so far in my post, but blocks do show defensive ability for a big men. It means that they are willing and able to contest shots. And for a rookie, Andrea was solid atleast. We aren't expecting him to be a defensive force anyway. But from watching him as a rookie, I know that he'll be atleast solid. His inside D was pretty good for a rookie big man, actually. He did get lit up on the perimiter, but hey; all rookies take their licks, right? He'll improve there also. Again, you don't watch Bargnani, and you have no clue what he can do offensively. He's not Just a shooter. Again, you could use that argument on Dirk if you're saying it about Bargnani. And Dirk is the best PF scorer in the League. Being a shooter as a 7 footer is obviously a great advantage, but there's more to Bargnani's offensive game than just that. He is exceptionally quick for a 7 footer. He can drive, he can run the floor and catch fast break passes for easy points, he can create shots for himself like Dirk, and he can shoot turnaround jumpers also. His offensive game is not one dimensional. Being a player like that is the opposite as one dimensional. It's called versatile. And hey, who knows? he might even turn into a post player too. He's got so much offensive talent, it's just unbelievable.Brewer didn't do jack last season. I don't care if he's going to get minutes. He will need experience before he does anything. And if you think hell be more of a scorer than Andrea, you're crazy. I don't think he can even get 10 ppg next season. I think that woiuld be a longshot for him, actually. Yeah, I realize Foye's offensive talent. But I don't think he will have a huge season next year. I just don't see that for him right now. Tyrus blocked shots, and he's definitely versatile offensively, but the dude's still raw. I don't see him doing alot next season to tell you the truth.Actually, to tell you the truth, this is all ridiculous. Predicting how player's will do is dumb. We don't know how they'll do. We can speculate, but we can't tell the future. That's why they play the games instead of imagining them. We don't know what's going to happen. I'm just going to argue from now on that Andrea will be a DAMN good player in the NBA. A future all star for sure imo. The sky's the limit for him, offensively.</div>Even you said ''offensively'' im not debating he isnt a good offensive player. I even said he may make several allstar teams but some players you can tell do not have the knack for defense. Just because his stats are better then dirks when dirk was a rookie is meaningless. Dirk had a terrible rookie season. Why dont we compare Anderson Varejo's rookie season to jermaine o'neal? By that varejo is going to be better then JO! wow. Also dirk is not the best pf in the nba by a longshot, I cant think of one big shot hes made in his entire career in the playoffs and does nothing but shoot and rebound. He will likely never win a title or do anything but make allstar teams. Bargnani isnt a bad player but he'll never anchor a team or lead a team anywhere as a staple piece. He is an offensive threat to be weary of that's it. He may eventually get some boards but guys like Thomas,Aldridge,Roy(brewer is a possibility but not a definite but he will accel from deron williams) and foye will be centerpieces of their teams and valuable aspects to their teams future. The raptors will continue to win games in the regular season and lose in the post-season because they are a piss-poor defensive team(kobe bryant alone scored 81 on them last year) If the ultimate goal of the raptors is to win alot of games in the regular season and lose in the postseason then yeah bargnani was a better pick then aldridge.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (PrimeTime @ Jul 10 2007, 09:18 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Even you said ''offensively'' im not debating he isnt a good offensive player. I even said he may make several allstar teams but some players you can tell do not have the knack for defense. Just because his stats are better then dirks when dirk was a rookie is meaningless. Dirk had a terrible rookie season. Why dont we compare Anderson Varejo's rookie season to jermaine o'neal? By that varejo is going to be better then JO! wow. Also dirk is not the best pf in the nba by a longshot, I cant think of one big shot hes made in his entire career in the playoffs and does nothing but shoot and rebound. He will likely never win a title or do anything but make allstar teams. Bargnani isnt a bad player but he'll never anchor a team or lead a team anywhere as a staple piece. He is an offensive threat to be weary of that's it. He may eventually get some boards but guys like Thomas,Aldridge,Roy(brewer is a possibility but not a definite but he will accel from deron williams) and foye will be centerpieces of their teams and valuable aspects to their teams future. The raptors will continue to win games in the regular season and lose in the post-season because they are a piss-poor defensive team(kobe bryant alone scored 81 on them last year) If the ultimate goal of the raptors is to win alot of games in the regular season and lose in the postseason then yeah bargnani was a better pick then aldridge.</div>Ive compared him to Dirk because their games at their respected ages are eerily similar, and they both came from Europe, and everyone knows that Euro players take more time to develop in the NBA than guys who came out of US colleges. And have you even watched him play? I'm guessing you're just saying he doesn't have a knack for defense because of his European descent <_<And as a rookie, you can't really tell good defenders from bad defenders, primarily because they're all sh*t when they're rookies. I never said Dirk was the best PF. To tell you the truth, I think he is 3rd behind KG and Tim Duncan. I said that he's the best scoring Power Forward in the League, and I do stand by that. Hmm...how about that shot to beat the Spurs last season? I think he did something inside...I can't remember exactly what it was, but I remember that he was very clutch in that game.And how do you know that those guys will be centerpieces of their teams? Can you predict the future, or can you predict if teams will bring in other superstars or not? Seriously, youve gotta stop telling the future. You aren't Ms. Cleo. Bosh will clearly be the star of this team, but really it will be the big 3 of TJ, Andrea, and Chris that will anchor this team for years to come; not solely Bosh. And really, what does that have to do with him being a good player. So if a team already has a superstar, and gets another great player that doesn't neccisarily lead that team, he isn't as good as a player? Come on....That was our first post season series with this team, dude. We lost, not because we couldn't play D, but because Chris Bosh was getting shut down by Jason Collins. It's as simple as that. Chris struggled that whole series. It was our offense that was the problem. And just to tell you, we aren't a piss poor defensive team anymore. We gotta work on rebounding, but defensively we aren't bad anymore. We gave up 1.22 Points per possession last season, which is a 5 team tie for 10th in the League.Anyway, I reall don't see where you're taking this now...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CB4AllStar @ Jul 10 2007, 08:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Ive compared him to Dirk because their games at their respected ages are eerily similar, and they both came from Europe, and everyone knows that Euro players take more time to develop in the NBA than guys who came out of US colleges. And have you even watched him play? I'm guessing you're just saying he doesn't have a knack for defense because of his European descent <_<And as a rookie, you can't really tell good defenders from bad defenders, primarily because they're all sh*t when they're rookies. I never said Dirk was the best PF. To tell you the truth, I think he is 3rd behind KG and Tim Duncan. I said that he's the best scoring Power Forward in the League, and I do stand by that. Hmm...how about that shot to beat the Spurs last season? I think he did something inside...I can't remember exactly what it was, but I remember that he was very clutch in that game.And how do you know that those guys will be centerpieces of their teams? Can you predict the future, or can you predict if teams will bring in other superstars or not? Seriously, youve gotta stop telling the future. You aren't Ms. Cleo. Bosh will clearly be the star of this team, but really it will be the big 3 of TJ, Andrea, and Chris that will anchor this team for years to come; not solely Bosh. And really, what does that have to do with him being a good player. So if a team already has a superstar, and gets another great player that doesn't neccisarily lead that team, he isn't as good as a player? Come on....That was our first post season series with this team, dude. We lost, not because we couldn't play D, but because Chris Bosh was getting shut down by Jason Collins. It's as simple as that. Chris struggled that whole series. It was our offense that was the problem. And just to tell you, we aren't a piss poor defensive team anymore. We gotta work on rebounding, but defensively we aren't bad anymore. We gave up 1.22 Points per possession last season, which is a 5 team tie for 10th in the League.Anyway, I reall don't see where you're taking this now...</div>You also play in a very weak atlantic conference. last season was an alltime low for that division. I cant predict the future of players but great players show signs. Aldridge,Tyrus,foye,gay, and roy have all shown glimpses that they can be a difference maker in changing their teams. Bargnani will just put up points which brings me back to ''you know what you're getting''.I gurantee if the Raptors played in the pacific division they would probably be somewhere around 25 in team defensive stats not anywhere close to 10. Last season the atlantica division was inept though and anyone could have won it.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (PrimeTime @ Jul 10 2007, 09:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>You also play in a very weak atlantic conference. last season was an alltime low for that division. I cant predict the future of players but great players show signs. Aldridge,Tyrus,foye,gay, and roy have all shown glimpses that they can be a difference maker in changing their teams. Bargnani will just put up points which brings me back to ''you know what you're getting''.I gurantee if the Raptors played in the pacific division they would probably be somewhere around 25 in team defensive stats not anywhere close to 10. Last season the atlantica division was inept though and anyone could have won it.</div>Putting up 22+ does make a difference, so I have no clue what you're trying to say here. And you can't judge his defense already man...Youre just saying hes a bad defender because he's from Europe. His rebounding will improve, and he'll be an amazing overall big man.We also play every team 2 times in the season, so it wouldn't make a big difference.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CB4AllStar @ Jul 10 2007, 08:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Putting up 22+ does make a difference, so I have no clue what you're trying to say here. And you can't judge his defense already man...Youre just saying hes a bad defender because he's from Europe. His rebounding will improve, and he'll be an amazing overall big man.We also play every team 2 times in the season, so it wouldn't make a big difference.</div>Im not calling him a bad defensive player because hes from europe(AK47 is a good defensive player from europe) im calling him a bad defensive player because he was burned more then most rookies who averaged decent minutes. Im not saying he can never improve but he will not be a great defensive player. 2 teams X 4 = 8. that's about 9% of the season. 9% is at least the difference between the 10th best defensive team and the 25th worst defensive team.On 82 games.com it says he gave up 3383 points. check-mate.
Alot of you guys are really arrogant about Bargnani. He is a really an average post defender, and I laugh at you when you guys take LaMarcus "I got heart problems" Aldridge. Have any of you guys even seen him play before the playoffs? He was hot in the playoffs and he just came off an Appendectomy! Bargnani is special, he has the ability to take his defender to the the Perimeter or take it to the rack hard. I sense there's an extreme prejudice against Toronto. Oh well, I guees all you American folk will see him more in prime time. :no3:
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Im not calling him a bad defensive player because hes from europe(AK47 is a good defensive player from europe) im calling him a bad defensive player because he was burned more then most rookies who averaged decent minutes. Im not saying he can never improve but he will not be a great defensive player.2 teams X 4 = 8. that's about 9% of the season. 9% is at least the difference between the 10th best defensive team and the 25th worst defensive team.On 82 games.com it says he gave up 3383 points. check-mate.</div>Have you ACTUALLY seen the Kid play, he was a ROOKIE! What do you expect to be a really good defender coming in? He was a stick coming into training Camp last year and he's bulking up considerably. Stats don't say everything.
I think Shelden williams also has a good chance to breakout next year. If he plays well he will greatly impact atlantas chance of making the playoffs and down the road hes going to be a nasty defensive player.
I think we will see much improvement from LaMarcus Aldridge. He has alot of upside and showed it late last year. Not to be a homer, but Randy Foye has so much talent and I expect a jump in his stats next year. I hope we see more minutes for JJ Reddick also.
Being from Louisiana and picking my home town guy for this topic, many might think I'm homering on this, but oh well. Here's my honest opinion. I think Tyrus will certainly step it up a notch next season and be the best sophomore. I bet he's working harder than any sophomore in basketball right now to improve his game. We saw many spurts from Tyrus throughout his rookie season that really were jaw-dropping. He's going to block more shots, have more dunks on the highlight reel, be more consistent, and with the added mid range jumper, I definitely think it's possible for him to reach double digits in PPG next season. He's going to have the best all around performance next season. I'm tempted to say 'mark my words on that'.
I'm going to a little biased here and give Rudy Gay a mention. He may be the 2nd option behind Gasol this season, and in the Grizzlies new up-tempo offense, he could really flourish with his style of play. I look for his scoring numbers to increase a lot and I think he'll be a valuable defensive player as well.
