The Coin Flip should've been for who got Hakeem and who Got Jordan, instead, we made it who got Hakeem and who got Bowie. It was an attempt at a joke, a bad joke I admit .
What if he only turns out to be a Chris Webber/Elton Brand-level star? Is he a major disappointment then because of the enormous hype? God forbid he turns out to be only Derrick Coleman level ...
Arenas echoed a lot of my questions ... although I might have called it "Kevin Love-ing." There is such a thing as empty stats, and the context of how they are put up is important.
Well, I think Webber was a lot better than Brand. Either level would be "disappointing" relative to his expectations, but Webber would still be a generally good outcome--he was a pretty special player. I'd say Brand would be a pretty disappointing outcome, but at least the team that got him would still get quite a bit of value. That's the nice thing about such great prospects--they can fall short of expectations and still have room to provide a ton of value. Unless injuries wash them out entirely, like Oden.
Funny thing about perceptions. Elton Brand averaged 20 ppg six of his first eight years with a high of 24.7. Shot better than 50 percent from the field five of his first eight years. Averaged a double-double his first five years. Averaged more assists than turnovers six of his first seven years, which I find pretty impressive for a guy 6-8, 275. Then injuries derailed him. But look at those dimensions and numbers and man, who else who played college ball at Duke do they remind you of ...?
I'm not saying Brand wasn't a really good player--but I don't think he was a Hall of Fame caliber talent. While Brand was a competent passer, Webber was one of the best passing big men ever, in addition to being a great scorer. Brand scored a decent amount, but he largely didn't command double-teams while Webber did. If Williamson was merely a very good player, like Brand, I think that would be undershooting his expectations a ton. But even then, he'd be giving his drafting team a lot of value. Again, the value of such a good prospect is that even a lot of their below median projections are valuable.
I think if Brand came out today, he'd be a surefire HoF player. Just he came out at a time where the league was rolling in top generational talent at the 4 position. Made it hard to stand out when the best 4 of all time is in the league. Along with KG/Dirk. It didn't help that he was on the worst franchise of that decade. If Brand was coming out this year I think you'd see his game develop into a better Aldridge. I haven't watched Zion play, so I can't say if he's elton brand or not.
I think Brand commanded double-teams just as much if not more than Webber. He was, like Zion, a load in the post. He was a more efficient scorer and a better rebounder than Webber when he was healthy. And Webber was terrific, don't get me wrong, but he was a four who shot well under 50 percent from the floor for his career, IIRC.
Phoenix or NYK will get him and he would be permanent due to his skills and the greedy organization that markets him.
God damn attention whore. Not a "personal insult" because I didn't mention anyone by name. Had I you would Know who I was talking about I'd mention their name No sense hiding it Get it out there Send the message Proceed with the name Everyone would know Each would find out Did I say too much
I don't think I've seen anyone mention the player Zion most reminds me of: Shawn Kemp. Kemp was a couple inches taller, but came into the league with a similar [limited] skill set. Once he developed a reliable mid-range game, he was one of the more dominant players. Not generational, but capable of carrying a team to pretty good heights. In terms of Zion's trade value, the question would be, how much do you give up for someone of Kemp's caliber?
I don't see it. Barkley was much more skilled, and less physically dominant. I know some people will question that second part, but look at how he fared against Karl Malone. Barkley couldn't bully someone Malone's (aka Zion's) size.
Malone was 6-10. Zion's 6-6. Barkley was about 6-5, probably 250, 260. If you watched Barkley at Auburn, getting rebounds and dribbling coast-to-coast and dunking over guys like Sam Bowie and Mel Turpin, I think you'd be very much reminded of Zion.
