Watching the last couple games, it's occurred to me that John Salmons has some striking similarities to Jalen Rose. Let's get the dissimilarities out of the way first. Rose always styled himself a PG, and even though he was never the PG he thought he was, he did have a way above average handle and vision for a wing player. Salmons is not trying to convince anyone he's a PG. Also, I think it's fair to say that in the grand scheme of things, Rose was a better player, and was obviously highly touted right out of his big time college days. But I see some similarities. 1. Like Salmons, Rose really didn't come into his own for quite a while. Until his sixth season, Rose was really sort of a bust as a scorer, averaging only 9ppg. 2. Like Salmons, Rose is kinda big for a 2 guard, and kinda small for a 3. He's got decent athleticism, but probably a bit below that of his peers at his positions. 3. Like Salmons, Rose was a guy who could score in a variety of ways, but was a little bit of a jack of all trades and a master of none. Good but not great shooter. Could create his own shot, but generally does so in a somewhat unorthodox and below the rim looking series of moves dribbling and swinging the ball around. 4. Like Salmons, Rose was a guy who always felt comfortable with big minutes and a starting role.
I don't see Salmons trying to dominate the ball the way Jalen did. Salmons also is a lot more reticent about letting you know how good he thinks he is. I see them as being a lot more dissimilar in how they play the game. And number 4 probably applies to any guy in the nba, if you ask them.
I had never really thought about it but the comparison is pretty apt. I've always viewed Salmons as more of a SF than a SG, but we don't have anyone else to play the position. I agree that the biggest difference between the two on offense is that Salmons is a gunner who just looks to get his shot while Jalen dominated the ball more in an attempt to run the offense through him, usually to the team's detriment. I've always been lukewarm on Salmons, and before his last two games, had doubts about depending on him as a starter for the entire season. On a better team he could just be a role player but I've never been comfortable as having him as one of your main guns, which seems to be the case with us.
