Never understood the people that have the best player on the team as their favorite, seems so boring to me. Give me the Kerseys, Bucks, BGrants, Harts of the world over the top guys. To each their own though.
Since Mathurin was drafted first, the only reason to compare the two would be if Sharpe significantly outplays him. So yes, I would say it's too early to initiate that discussion.
With all due respect, no. Only about half of those dunks were really semi-impressive for a 6-7 wing. Several of them he basically just dropped the ball over the rim. The Blazers have had A LOT of players who were more explosive athletes and better leapers than Brandon. The only respect I'd say he was a much higher than average athlete for an NBA player was in coordination/body control. That's not meant to be a knock, but I'd much rather see Travis Outlaw, Ruben Patterson or even Quintel Woods getting loose around midcourt and going in for a dunk than Brandon Roy.
What made Roy so tough to guard is that he played at his own pace, had an amazing first step, but most importantly was just as good at going to his left as he was his right. His touch off the glass was also something he could do clinics on.
Despite my opinion of Roy as a person, I have nothing but respect for his on court ability. Sharpie is a promising raw talent. Roy was a well honed player. He had game. In that respect, he was like Dame.
Sheesh, the conversation in this thread has been derailed by some of the usual buffoons with nothing good to say about others. Setting aside that Roy never got a chance to even play during his prime and that it's still early in Sharpe's young career..... I will say, between Roy vs. Sharpe (of whom, had some comparisons to Roy entering the draft) - I think Sharpe is a more natural basketball talent than Roy (and that's a guy they called The Natural!). Like Roy, Sharpe seems to be overly unselfish at times. But whereas Roy made up for this by moving with the ball, Sharpe moves well off ball. Off ball movement is something Roy didn't showcase much. While I think Roy could've played off ball given his own natural athleticism, his game was, again, predicated on being the team's offensive engine. He was more like Lebron and CP3 where he had natural point guard skills and could excel in isolation situations (even in today's modern game, iso-Lebron and iso-CP3 are still forces to be reckoned with). In which case, Sharpe seems to have watched Devin Booker and Zach Lavine more growing up and has heavily focused on that aspect of the game despite possessing some of the traits that a Wade/Kobe/Roy possesses. Time will tell but I think Sharpe needs to develop that aspect where he is comfortable handling the ball. Without that, his game can't truly become superstar caliber. On defense, Sharpe is already committing far more on that end than Roy. Roy could play defense well when he tried but as his whole, his defense was slightly below average, at best. I think Roy would've improved here had he stayed healthy but Sharpe is playing like he wants to win a DPOY award someday. He's already making steals, nicking the ball, and making defensive stops during close games. Even I'm surprised here because defense wasn't something Sharpe was noted to possess. Now, Roy had one major trait that I think could've set his career above everyone else. I personally think Roy had potential to become the most clutch player of all time. Even moreso than Dame. That's not a knock on Dame, who is quite famous here and is already likely Top 10 All Time in this category. It's just that Roy had clutch skills similar to Michael Jordan. That's not a hyperbole. Roy's clutch FG% was #2 behind prime Lebron and like CP3, he didn't need to be assisted as often as Lebron, Pierce, Kobe, Melo, KD, etc. This means, you give him the ball and he made miracles at a high percentage rate. His shots up close were extremely difficult to defend (him having one of the lowest shots blocked stats near the rim during his era), he had a killer mid-range and the moves to create space to get said mid-range shot, and his three point percentage was increasing just about every year. There's a reason prime Kobe and prime Artest said Roy was the hardest player they ever guarded. And I don't know that Sharpe will ever have the complete set of offensive tools that Roy had. Roy was quite special in that regard. Of course, Roy's scoring instinct didn't kick in until the Rockets series and after he adjusted to Andre Miller. Unfortunately, Blazer fans got to see so little of it before he broke down for good. However, with the way the game is played today and with Sharpe being mentored by a flat out scorer like Dame, I think Sharpe can tap into his scoring instinct earlier than Roy did. If Sharpe utilizes his skills together, this could mean a multiple 30ppg type guy at his peak. Again, if defense is truly a natural part of his game, Sharpe could be one of the few players who can win a scoring title and DPOY. At the least, if he figures out his scoring instinct, he could be a regular for All-NBA 1st Team and All-Defensive team.
I don't think Roy fucked us. He may have fucked Paul Allen... But it didn't hurt the Blazers. We got the cap relief.
Good point about Sharpe's defense. He is making plays that usually only a crafty veteran can get away with without committing a foul. Reaching around a guy dribbling by him is almost always a bad idea. Or jabbing at a ball on the other teams end of the court often is a stupid unnecessary foul but somehow Sharpe was able to do that in today's game.
Off rip, Sharpe is much more talented than Roy. Right after getting drafted, Roy and Aldridge were both asked why they decided to withdraw from the draft at 18 and go to college, and BRoy said going to Washington really helped him develop his game. BRoy was much better scoring on offense than Sharpe is right now, but he was also 3-4 years older at the time. This dude Sharpe is 19 and is showing flashes of BRoy game already! Alot of the things you’ve noticed made me come to the conclusion that being a role player first on his way to becoming a star will ultimately help him in the long run. Kawhi had about 5-6 solid years of lockdown defense before the injury, and now a lot of his defense is based on his reputation and he doesn’t try as hard on that end anymore. But if we mapped out a career trajectory (in terms of role on the team) for Sharpe similar to how the Spurs developed Kawhi, we could squeeze out that first few years of elite level defense out of Sharpe in Dame’s twilight elite-level years. I think there’s enough offensive firepower to win a chip here, but we need to unlock that defensive potential from Sharpe. Then once Dame is in his mid 30’s, we can let him become that elite scorer (at which point we know he’s going to have to conserve energy on defense), but it’ll be good for him to know he can turn it up defensively whenever he needs. I don’t ever expect Sharpe to be DPOY, but if he does win one, it’ll be in the first 6 seasons if I had to guess. Then it’s a matter of drafting a Scottie to become Sharpe’s MJ.
Sharpe hasn’t even had a full summer running open gym with NBA players yet. All he needs is some experience playing against NBA stars. At the end of the day, NBA players do play against each other to win, whether or not it counts. I mean, they were doubling Booker in open gyms lol. It would be good for him to get mistakes out of the way in games that don’t matter. He looks so poised 6 games in, once he starts really killing these guys over the summer, I have confidence he’s going to carry it over to the real game. I’m excited to see him after one full offseason.
