DCsOwn wrote:
Anyway, my first question to ManualRam is where is this foolishness about Lamb being a better athlete than Beal derived from? I didn't think that was the case before the combine just based on the viewings of the two I had, and their athletic metrics taken at the combine are virtually identical iirc. To my mind there is virtually no athletic area that Lamb holds an appreciable advantage over Beal, and I personally think that Beal has the quicker first step (although neither is Derrick Rose in that dept obviously), gets off of the ground more easily and has the better lateral agility between the two (although that advantage is slight and negated by the length advantage of Lamb.)
imo, lamb covers more ground more quickly than beal, both laterally and in straight lines. watching beal he doesnt look as fluid. he moves like he has heavy feet, planting hard to change direction, which is why he was beat off the dribble regularly when he was matched up vs guards (he mostly guarded forwards in college) and why he doesnt change directions quickly with the ball. just watch him change directions, watch his recovery speed, watch when he has the ball and tries to change direction. he has no wiggle in his game and moves fairly deliberately. to me, lamb is the rangier athlete (just look at how much ground he covers with each move), with better straight line speed and lighter feet which aid in his ability to change direction.
DCsOwn wrote:I personally predicted on the Wizards board that Beal would post very strong athletic numbers in Chicago because his style of game sorta masks his physical ability. He glides and is efficient but he's routinely just quick enough to get by a guy or jumps just high enough to get a rebound or block a shot. That's because he's actually a strong, underrated athlete and his objective metrics bear that out.
"just enough" when the player has average to below average size and explosiveness, isnt just enough. imo, a player like that has to have a physical quality that helps them compensate for that, otherwise he's another oj mayo. if the combine results were all that mattered when evaluating a player's athleticism, then you'd figure that jimmer would have enough athleticism to play his game at the NBA level or that mayo's athleticism would be enough to make up for his size at the 2. how they look in games matters and to me. beal looks like an average athlete with very little wiggle to his game and not enough explosiveness to be a factor in 1 on 1 situations or when finishing at the rim. even if you were to argue that beal and lamb were equal athletes (which i don't agree with) lamb would still have those extra inches of range and reach.
DCsOwn wrote:I also don't understand why people insist on comparing Beal's efficiency numbers from last season to Lamb or Ross. He's a full development year behind both of those two and that's actually HUGE at their respective ages. You said it yourself Manual that Lamb improved a significant portion of his game from his freshman season to his sophomore year, and that's the type of development that happens after an individual gains experience at a given level and has time to make adjustments to his game to increase his effectiveness at said level. Beal showed tremendous improvement IN season as a freshman, and once he acclimated himself to the college game had very strong SEC and NCAA tournaments.
you can go ahead and compare their freshmen yr's statistically. my skepticism when it comes to the upside of beal has more to do with his physical attributes. even if he becomes a better ball-handler will it be enough for him to be a factor 1 on 1? if he speeds up his shot release, will he be able gain enough separation to get a clean look on the move? will he somehow be able to become a more explosive athlete so he won't be as reliant on ball screens and will finish better in traffic? i have reservations about all that and i think those issues would still exist in a yr's time.
this is not to say that i think beal is gonna be a bad player. despite all the criticisms i have of him i still think he's gonna be a solid player because he's so smart and is fundamentally sound. i just don't think he's as good as lamb is now and i don't think he has the upside of lamb either.