HiJiNX wrote:Dalek wrote:
He also has like 30 charges on the year. Podz is a top rebounding guard as well as being a pretty good shooter.
Gradey does not have much if any defensive IQ. He just knows how to shoot from the corners and the occasional slick pass.
Gradey is in the right place at the right time a lot. But yeah he’s looked bad since he’s playing with a bunch of guys worse than him and he doesn’t have the ability to handle the ball that Podz has.
It’s interesting that you bring up charges because when I was at the Raptors open practice one of the things the coaches brought up was how frequently Gradey was in the right position and his potential to be a guy who draws a lot of charges once he starts to get more respect from NBA refs and develops his strength. I think Gradey also leads the Raptors in charges taken but I could be wrong about that.
Ultimately, it’s hard to see where Podz gets better as a player because of his physical limitations. He’s not special athletically, not particularly explosive, not tall, and not long. He’s already a great ball handler, smart, plays hard, and a good shooter. Well, his shot could improve from inside and outside the arc, so maybe it’s not fair to say he doesn’t have a lot of room to improve. Maybe what I should be saying is I expect incremental improvements that come with experience and offseason work but I certainly don’t expect a leap of any kind.
Gradey on the other hand is 6’8 with a quick first step, great midair body control and the ability to see the floor and make the right play. His body is underdeveloped, as is his handle and his ability to hit from the midrange, and he’s currently quick enough to guard his position but not strong enough, yet while off ball he finds a way to get his hand in on deflections or tap outs etc. Gradey is also far worse than Podz as a pnr ball handler at this stage of the game.
So you’re not totally wrong in saying Podz is a better defender, rebounder, charge taker, ball handler, and pnr player than Gradey right now—all those things are true. What I’m saying is that Gradey has far superior physical tools to Podz and a level of IQ/court awareness that you rarely see from rookies. He also has a great motor. So we’re looking at a guy who has all the intangible pieces of being a great player (starter on a contender type potential) and just needs to add the skills and experience. Podz on the other hand is a guy I see as a very reliable and effective backup guard for his career, able to play on good teams, but not a needle mover or a ceiling raiser.
In essence Podz is a high floor low ceiling guy. Dick is a low floor high ceiling guy, in my opinion.
Said another way, teams aren’t really worried about stopping Podz, whereas for Gradey, even at this stage of his career, his one true NBA skill is so good that although he’s very flawed in a lot of areas, he still creates a lot of gravity simply because he’s a very good shooter. Podz will never have that sort of gravity.
