The Zach LaVine Thread

[LaViggins]

I really like both picks. Lavine/Klay/Barnes ceiling much higher than Loves

[Maefteda]

I wouldn't really want LaVine at the PG spot anyway. Rubio is our future and we'll probably bring in a decent backup PG in free agency now as well, unless Shved comes back to the form he had before he hit the rookie wall.

I don't like the pick, because I don't think LaVine will reach his potential. That doesn't mean that I disagree with picking an upside pick, it's just that I don't really like the player. I'd still really like to have Smart and I certainly wouldn't feel that he'd have a lot less value here now, just because we picked LaVine.

I still prefer Smart over Randle and Vonleh, even with LaVine already here, but the Boston proposal was already a bit worse once Gordon was off the board at #4. I don't really have that much faith in James Young, so I think the #17 value has gone down more, but that was never the most enticing pick from that deal. I still think they have a good offer, which I prefer over Klay/Lee.

[Ashwinz.]

Stealth post deletions and censoring and bullying anything negative.

You can argue my wanting to keep this from being a 24/7 Debbie Downerville, but I have never censored any posts, nor have I deleted any posts.

I used to enjoy coming here to read intelligent discussions taking place. Now, no matter what the franchise does, people complain.

-Don't trade Kevin to GS because we'll be a treadmill team.
-Don't draft LaVine because he won't be able to contribute this seasons.

Two contradicting statements coming from the same group of people. If people were consistent with their arguments and able to back them up, I'd be okay. But as of now, people seem to argue for the sake of arguing.

When I joined the moderator team almost five years ago, I was proud of what the forum was. Now, there are many days I'm embarrassed to say I moderate the board. Maybe I'm partly to blame. If enough of you think that's the case, I'll put in my "retirement" papers for the betterment of the board. After all, people seem to prefer having the inmates running the asylum, judging by your comment about RubeChat.

Again, I ask: What do you want us to do about it? You're indirectly slanting this into shame towards your boardmates. The people that used to be here, aren't here anymore. Either take it, or leave it.

I know very little behind the scenes. I know even less about contracts and the financial nuances that exist.
I love this team, and love routing for the underdog to succeed. I love watching young bloods grow up into something we'd never expect. I love the foreign influence and expansion our board has seen in recent years.

I am an infrequent poster here, but I bet 99% can share the exact opinion, and some with more wealth of knowledge.


The **** are we supposed to do? Passion exists on both sides.

[Ashwinz.]

Okay, as someone who does not watch much college basketball and did not watch and UCLA, I feel like the more I hear about LaVine the less I understand.

How does every other person alternatingly praise him for his versatility and possible PG skills and then bash him for his lack of handles and poor decision making?

i am a bruin. zl is the poster boy for overhype. your incredulity is well-founded. if you had watched the nbaTV draft preview the night before, zach was one of two players who got a "bust" tag....(it was a "boom/blah/bust" segment of the program) zach got 3 "busts" and one guy who said he needs 3yrs.

remember this, when you watch the draft, they're not going to be critical of a pick. they are there only to point out reasons why a player is draftable. zach has NO versatility. he never used his athleticism in any other aspect of the game except dunking. and btw, he has small hands, which maybe accounts for why he fumbled 95% of his alley oops ( no hyperbole btw, he only finished one alley oop), and he got stuffed every thime he tried to go to the rim in traffic.. he is a limited player who has great athleticism. he does not play point. he was an astonishing 59%/54% in his first 8games against cupcake teams. he simply blew everyone away and it was then that the "westbrook with a shot" tag was given, and that started the hype. and as the draft promo stated "the hype never stops".

from the 9th game on vs. missouri, zach was 39%/31% through to the end of the season. he missed open dunks, never challenged anyone, bricked all his shots when guarded, and spent the rest of the season playing soft. forget the weight issue...zach played with a soft frame of mind. basically, he is a practice player and that's why he blew everyone away in the workouts. he's very addictive to watch because he's stylish,,,,but he didn't produce numbers.

so the good things you hear,,,that's all from projections and ceilings and his practice tapes. the bad things you hear are all about the numbers he couldn't produce in games against good teams. so the choice is what you prefer to believe. that's why a lot of people think he'll spend some time in d-league

Thanks for the analysis. I learned quite a bit from reading this. from all the hype, I saw a G.Green replica, and it appears that I am not far off.

[miltk]

.

re: small hands.....he's a two handed player https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdGEVrwu314
watch his shooting form from about 3:00. but he has a glib, easy style that's very seductive. also he literally failed to get lift twice in the half court set when he slipped by his man to dunk,,,like he tried to dunk and he hit the front of the rim.

and in traffic he just didn't seem to get rise. we'd actually be surprised if he finished in a crowd. i would not be surprised if he was under 10% around the rim not including his dunks. we didn't feel we lost anything when he left...it was adams' leaving we all brooded over.

[slicedbread2]

Okay, as someone who does not watch much college basketball and did not watch and UCLA, I feel like the more I hear about LaVine the less I understand.

How does every other person alternatingly praise him for his versatility and possible PG skills and then bash him for his lack of handles and poor decision making?

i am a bruin. zl is the poster boy for overhype. your incredulity is well-founded. if you had watched the nbaTV draft preview the night before, zach was one of two players who got a "bust" tag....(it was a "boom/blah/bust" segment of the program) zach got 3 "busts" and one guy who said he needs 3yrs.

remember this, when you watch the draft, they're not going to be critical of a pick. they are there only to point out reasons why a player is draftable. zach has NO versatility. he never used his athleticism in any other aspect of the game except dunking. and btw, he has small hands, which maybe accounts for why he fumbled 95% of his alley oops ( no hyperbole btw, he only finished one alley oop), and he got stuffed every thime he tried to go to the rim in traffic.. he is a limited player who has great athleticism. he does not play point. he was an astonishing 59%/54% in his first 8games against cupcake teams. he simply blew everyone away and it was then that the "westbrook with a shot" tag was given, and that started the hype. and as the draft promo stated "the hype never stops".

from the 9th game on vs. missouri, zach was 39%/31% through to the end of the season. he missed open dunks, never challenged anyone, bricked all his shots when guarded, and spent the rest of the season playing soft. forget the weight issue...zach played with a soft frame of mind. basically, he is a practice player and that's why he blew everyone away in the workouts. he's very addictive to watch because he's stylish,,,,but he didn't produce numbers.

so the good things you hear,,,that's all from projections and ceilings and his practice tapes. the bad things you hear are all about the numbers he couldn't produce in games against good teams. so the choice is what you prefer to believe. that's why a lot of people think he'll spend some time in d-league

Thanks for the analysis. I learned quite a bit from reading this. from all the hype, I saw a G.Green replica, and it appears that I am not far off.

Based on Lavine's interview and his skill set, the dude makes Jayson Williams look like Einstein. I'd be pretty worried about him. He could do really well, but I feel that the bust potential is high and I wouldn't be surprised if he were in the d-league for a bit.

[Foye]

I can't really warm up to this pick at all.
From his reaction, to the fact he wasn't even a starter at UCLA & is supposed to have low BBIQ. Stats look mediocre as well.

Not to mention that our franchise is relatively pathetic at developing raw talents.



On the bright side. Less minutes for Jose Jordan Barea. Yay.

[minimus]

Raw talent, high risk, high upside. We shouldn't blame him at all. Give him clear role in offense/defense, make him work and I'm sure he will get a lot better. The problem is that we have GR3, Shabazz, LaVine, Shved, Dieng, Rubio. They are young players who need to be in good situation. Love situation hurts our team, no commitment, no loyalty. No Sikma. Is Flip known for developing young players? I'd trade Love, clear air before summer league, work hard in preseason.

[_AIJ_]

Go Zach! I know he'll be good for us. I'll be rooting for him 110%.

[Tirion]

Is Flip known for developing young players?

Nope. Got canned in Washington because he couldn't handle their youth. Couldn't recognize the talent Billups had, cause he wanted veteran Terrell Brandon to run the point.

[shangrila]

Is Flip known for developing young players?

Nope. Got canned in Washington because he couldn't handle their youth. Couldn't recognize the talent Billups had, cause he wanted veteran Terrell Brandon to run the point.

I'm not going to argue whether he can develop talent but I don't think many coaches could have done anything with what he had in Washington. You can't blame him for Nick Young and Javale McGee

[Worm Guts]

Is Flip known for developing young players?

Nope. Got canned in Washington because he couldn't handle their youth. Couldn't recognize the talent Billups had, cause he wanted veteran Terrell Brandon to run the point.

I'm not going to argue whether he can develop talent but I don't think many coaches could have done anything with what he had in Washington. You can't blame him for Nick Young and Javale McGee

I don't know if either of those assessments are completely fair. Saunders wouldn't promise Billups the starting job, but Billups was flop at his previous stops and began to emerge in Minnesota.

[Worm Guts]

I'm not thrilled with the pick, but it helps that I really hadn't identified anyone specific. For a supposedly loaded draft, I wasn't in love with anyone at 13.

[Narf]

I was saying I was pleasantly surprised that Bazz wasn't a complete disaster. It turned out that Shabazz wasn't much worse than many other picks in what turned out to be a horrible draft. Should have been able to do much better in this draft, however. Of course we all hope Bazzy and LeVine will become great players (I have more hope for Bazz), but hope is a poor substitute for rational analysis.

Being negative all the time is the opposite of rational analysis. Of course Shabazz isn't a sure thing, but clearly he's a great pick with a ton of potential and a great work ethic. Even now you can't admit that.

[Worm Guts]

I was saying I was pleasantly surprised that Bazz wasn't a complete disaster. It turned out that Shabazz wasn't much worse than many other picks in what turned out to be a horrible draft. Should have been able to do much better in this draft, however. Of course we all hope Bazzy and LeVine will become great players (I have more hope for Bazz), but hope is a poor substitute for rational analysis.

Being negative all the time is the opposite of rational analysis. Of course Shabazz isn't a sure thing, but clearly he's a good pick with a ton of potential and a great work ethic. Even now you can't admit that.

Saying Shabazz was a good pick isn't rational analysis at this point, at best the jury is still out.

[Biff Cooper]

I'm not thrilled with the pick, but it helps that I really hadn't identified anyone specific. For a supposedly loaded draft, I wasn't in love with anyone at 13.

Yeah - I'm in the same boat. The more the draft process went on, the less stacked it seemed. It may turn out that it was stacked with players who will have NBA careers, but not players who have the chance to be stars.

[wildvikeswolves]

safe to say that Flip likes to swing for the fences with his first picks in the draft (Shabazz and Lavine) and then go safe with the 2nd pick (Gorgui and GR3). Would you consider Gorgui a safe pick?

[Narf]

Saying Shabazz was a good pick isn't rational analysis at this point, at best the jury is still out.

Said he's not a sure thing but is clearly a good pick is. I already said the jury is still out, that doesn't mean he hasn't proven to be a talented player with high potential and work ethic.

It's not "at best the jury is still out". It's "at WORST the jury is still out". He was very solid on the court in the 2nd half.

[kmgarnett21]

Harris would've been the safer pick. LaVine is the bigger risk/bigger reward pick.

[TMo519]

Yeah, I was sure Flip was going Harris here. I'll go with it, hopefully he's truly a gym rat, cause he'll need to be. And I think it'll help a ton if he puts on some weight, help him with the physical part of the game, cause right now, it's no surprise he can't finish in the paint and get to the line, he's quite thin. Similar to Rubio, I think as his body matures, that part of his game will grow.