JoRain wrote:JMac1 wrote:rsavaj wrote:It was a good pick, solid B grade from me. I don't think he's the next Klay Thompson,
At 18 Booker has all of the necessary attributes to be just as good as Klay or Reggie or Ray Allen or Allen Houston...... He is 18. Hell he could grow another inch or two. Wait until he loses that baby fat.
Booker only needs so so handles because he shoots so well, which he will develop because he is a student of the game. You don't need the Kobe Bryant, DWade, MJ ball stoppers anymore in this league. All you need with the new rules and play is a Klay Thompson or Mitch Richmong or bigger John Paxson or Craig Elho, because the game favor GS style. Good pick up.
.
Actually Booker doesn't have the attributes. He has very small standing reach and tiny wingspan. There are only 7 players in the league currently with so small reach and wingspan - J.J.Redick O.J.Mayo and Gary Harris being the best of them. And Booker is taller than all of them.
Huh? He has a 6'8.25" wingspan which is at least average for an NBA shooting guard. More than Caldwell-Pope, Beal, Waiters, Ross, Hayward, Jimmy Butler and a ton of other guys. Even Bledsoe, although he's obviously way shorter too. Heck, his standing reach is better than Harrison Barnes' or Goodwin's who everyone here agrees has pretty decent physical tools.
I'm not sure either if Klay Thompson is his best comparison, because what makes Klay Thompson Klay Thompson is his absolutely ridiculous spot-up shooting. Everything else he does offensively - which to me isn't that much actually - is based off of his threat of shooting. Obviously Booker should become a pretty great shooter too, but projecting someone to have the stroke of an arguably top-5 shooter in the league isn't very realistic. To me it's whether he can add some workable passing chops to his game and ability to put it on the floor even a little bit against a defender closing out that determines if he becomes just an Anthony Morrow or a really useful player kind of like a JJ Redick. And defense obviously. The shooting will be there.
He's actually looked surprisingly athletic/explosive in some of the workout videos that I've watched, which might be decieving but also allows for some optimism that maybe he actually could have more to his game than what he showed at Kentucky.
Also, just with his overall demeanor and charisma as well as his social media posts since being drafted he's already become one of the more likable players on the team to me, which pretty cool.
