How bout that AB!

[Skybox]

I'd be really scared to trade him

But, I'm also really scared to rely on him on the court.

Man, if he'd just take that confident next step...this injury riddled season is like a red carpet rolled out and he just hasn't Carpe'd the Diem out of it. He's shooting very few threes and making very few at 27%. He seems to be a good cutter and big and strong enough around the rim, but his shooting pct is still very low...seems like he's built to be a 'mini-Giannis', ripping rebounds and going coast to coast and right around and over defenders before they get set...I don't know what it'll take to get his mind right. That's what it is...he's getting the reps, there comes a time where the mentality catches up with the (apparent) skills & physical profile (or doesn't). I'm loving the vision of what he could be...but I don't feel like he's showing much growth on a reliable basis.

[three3d]

I'd be really scared to trade him

But, I'm also really scared to rely on him on the court.

Man, if he'd just take that confident next step...this injury riddled season is like a red carpet rolled out and he just hasn't Carpe'd the Diem out of it. He's shooting very few threes and making very few at 27%. He seems to be a good cutter and big and strong enough around the rim, but his shooting pct is still very low...seems like he's built to be a 'mini-Giannis', ripping rebounds and going coast to coast and right around and over defenders before they get set...I don't know what it'll take to get his mind right. That's what it is...he's getting the reps, there comes a time where the mentality catches up with the (apparent) skills & physical profile (or doesn't). I'm loving the vision of what he could be...but I don't feel like he's showing much growth on a reliable basis.

To me this is a baseball scenario where he’s not ready for the Big Leagues just yet, he needs to develop in Triple A ball for a season. He’s got the tools to be a 3 level player but lacks the experience and his frame hasn’t caught up to his body just yet. Seriously what’s the worst case outcome of him going down to Osceola till next year? He can get in the weight room daily and find his game and confidence. He needs to be able to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes and practice what is going to work for him.

[pepe1991]

I'd be really scared to trade him

But, I'm also really scared to rely on him on the court.

Man, if he'd just take that confident next step...this injury riddled season is like a red carpet rolled out and he just hasn't Carpe'd the Diem out of it. He's shooting very few threes and making very few at 27%. He seems to be a good cutter and big and strong enough around the rim, but his shooting pct is still very low...seems like he's built to be a 'mini-Giannis', ripping rebounds and going coast to coast and right around and over defenders before they get set...I don't know what it'll take to get his mind right. That's what it is...he's getting the reps, there comes a time where the mentality catches up with the (apparent) skills & physical profile (or doesn't). I'm loving the vision of what he could be...but I don't feel like he's showing much growth on a reliable basis.

Giannis is built like greek God. Guy is so much bigger , more muscular than majority of nba, including almost all Cs that pretty much nobody can guard him 1 on 1 because he just overpowers you , and in same time he is so damn long that guarding space around him is impossible task.

This is how his dunking actually looks like, he pretty much can dunk with slight jump without gathering.




Black is averaged size nba player with very mediocre foot speed ( especially for guard) and chubby stiff legs that don't allow him much burst off first step. Unlike some ultra elite end player Luka, who is also slowfooted, he simply isn't talented enough to create space for himself to score from impossible angles.

Black is simply okey player. He isn't player that will break or make your tragjectory of future. If he is on Houston in spot of Amen, he would have been stripped from that "PG" myth long time ago and nobody would , from Magic fanbase POV, blink eye on it. But since he is our player, he turned into most over analyzed role player since i joined forum 9 years ago.

[JF5]

I'd be really scared to trade him

But, I'm also really scared to rely on him on the court.

Man, if he'd just take that confident next step...this injury riddled season is like a red carpet rolled out and he just hasn't Carpe'd the Diem out of it. He's shooting very few threes and making very few at 27%. He seems to be a good cutter and big and strong enough around the rim, but his shooting pct is still very low...seems like he's built to be a 'mini-Giannis', ripping rebounds and going coast to coast and right around and over defenders before they get set...I don't know what it'll take to get his mind right. That's what it is...he's getting the reps, there comes a time where the mentality catches up with the (apparent) skills & physical profile (or doesn't). I'm loving the vision of what he could be...but I don't feel like he's showing much growth on a reliable basis.

Hes a decent player who will turn into a good one. He's not a starting caliber player and I think there is a legit question if he'll ever be one. But for what this team does it's dumb to trade him.

People are too enamored with trading people. They just need a playmaking scorer and a 3 point point specialist in the swing spots off the bench to cover for his deficiencies.

[three3d]

I'd be really scared to trade him

But, I'm also really scared to rely on him on the court.

Man, if he'd just take that confident next step...this injury riddled season is like a red carpet rolled out and he just hasn't Carpe'd the Diem out of it. He's shooting very few threes and making very few at 27%. He seems to be a good cutter and big and strong enough around the rim, but his shooting pct is still very low...seems like he's built to be a 'mini-Giannis', ripping rebounds and going coast to coast and right around and over defenders before they get set...I don't know what it'll take to get his mind right. That's what it is...he's getting the reps, there comes a time where the mentality catches up with the (apparent) skills & physical profile (or doesn't). I'm loving the vision of what he could be...but I don't feel like he's showing much growth on a reliable basis.

Giannis is built like greek God. Guy is so much bigger , more muscular than majority of nba, including almost all Cs that pretty much nobody can guard him 1 on 1 because he just overpowers you , and in same time he is so damn long that guarding space around him is impossible task.

This is how his dunking actually looks like, he pretty much can dunk with slight jump without gathering.




Black is averaged size nba player with very mediocre foot speed ( especially for guard) and chubby stiff legs that don't allow him much burst off first step. Unlike some ultra elite end player Luka, who is also slowfooted, he simply isn't talented enough to create space for himself to score from impossible angles.

Black is simply okey player. He isn't player that will break or make your tragjectory of future. If he is on Houston in spot of Amen, he would have been stripped from that "PG" myth long time ago and nobody would , from Magic fanbase POV, blink eye on it. But since he is our player, he turned into most over analyzed role player since i joined forum 9 years ago.

AB does not have one physical attribute that gives him an advantage in the NBA like you’ve said. But to be fair I think you should include a rookie photo of Giannis heck you could even do with with Dwight. Both Giannis and D12 transformed their body in the weight room ridiculously. AB needs the weight room but not to that extent. I don’t want Dwight on the court with the Magic but I’d be all for him being part of strength and conditioning roll with the team.

[Skybox]

I did say "MINI" ...he IS oversized for his position - I guess the question might still be "what is his position?". He's a big PG without "developed" PG skills or is he an undersized tweener defensive specialist who happens to be pretty good with the ball?

PS: I don't want Dwight Howard anywhere near this young team or anyone I like for that matter.

[eyriq]

We've had a few guard prospects over the years. Looking back twenty plus years the guards we've had that were 21 or younger have been:

Tracy, Cole, Oladipo, Elfrid, Fultz, Ariza, Suggs, AB, and Hampton.

If you asked me to rank them purely on productivity I'd probably list them in exactly that order. Tracy was clearly the only superstar prospect.

That said, I think we can and should be excited about AB's ability to draw fouls and play defense.

He is 2nd in FTr, behind Ariza and ahead of McGrady.
He is 2nd in DBPM, behind Ariza and ahead of Suggs.

Ariza is a standout in both areas. The main advantage that AB has over Ariza is his playmaking. Ariza transitioned to a SF and his free throw rate dropped off significantly while AB's playmaking will allow him to develop as a PG and stay on-ball.

[basketballRob]

Black came into the season saying he worked on keeping his dribble and being more aggressive. His problem this season is keeping his dribble and being more aggressive. He's still young, but at some point, he needs to step up offensively. It's trending towards him not playing in the playoffs again if we make the playoffs.

His offensive epm is one of the worst in the league for the second season in a row and has held steady. I was hoping to see it trending up.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

[eyriq]

Black came into the season saying he worked on keeping his dribble and being more aggressive. His problem this season is keeping his dribble and being more aggressive. He's still young, but at some point, he needs to step up offensively. It's trending towards him not playing in the playoffs again if we make the playoffs.

His offensive epm is one of the worst in the league for the second season in a row and has held steady. I was hoping to see it trending up.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

I don't really see this trend at all. Here is a look at his average minutes played over 5 game segments:

Games 1-5: 25:27
Games 6-10: 24:16
Games 11-15: 23:37
Games 16-20: 26:00
Games 21-25: 20:23
Games 26-30: 24:26
Games 31-32: 22:48

It is relatively stable, maybe he is getting 2-3 minutes less per game than we'd expect just looking at the first 20 games

Measuring the rate of change per game there is a slightly negative trend of -7 seconds per game, which would puts his minutes at around the 15 minutes in game 82. For this to happen he'd have to lose his spot as the #3 guard in the rotation. Cole, TQ, Jett, or CoJo aren't good enough to displace him.

[byeganyo]

For this to happen he'd have to lose his spot as the #3 guard in the rotation. Cole, TQ, Jett, or CoJo aren't good enough to displace him.

So he is playing by the virtue of being better than some guys that are not nba level? That's a pretty good arguement for upgrading this position, isnt it?

[Bergmaniac]

I did say "MINI" ...he IS oversized for his position - I guess the question might still be "what is his position?". He's a big PG without "developed" PG skills or is he an undersized tweener defensive specialist who happens to be pretty good with the ball.

He is taller than the average for a PG, sure, but you also need to be much stronger than the average for your position to play in a Giannis-like style or anything close to it and he is not that at all.

Right now he is quite far from a good offensive player in terms of skills and that would be the case no matter what style he plays. Sure, it would be nice if he was more assertive more often, especially when we are so short-handed, but that won't make him a better shooter or better at finishing around the basket.

[eyriq]

For this to happen he'd have to lose his spot as the #3 guard in the rotation. Cole, TQ, Jett, or CoJo aren't good enough to displace him.

So he is playing by the virtue of being better than some guys that are not nba level? That's a pretty good arguement for upgrading this position, isnt it?

Are you forgetting that he's 20 and a lottery talent?

[byeganyo]

Being a lottery "talent" means absolutley nothing. Jett is a lottery talent too.
The question is - do you think he should play cause he deserves it or cause he is young and the competition is ****?
And he is 21 in a couple of weeks. Which is also young of course, but being only 20 excuse will have to be upgraded soon.

[OrlandoDream]

I dont understand the fascination with AB. Plays good defense.....and that's as big as his upside goes. Doesnt have the ball handling for a PG, cannot sink a jumpshot to save his life, and turns it over at an alarming high rate. Im sure he will improve as just 20yo but if the opportunity came to upgrade the roster, would not hesitate to include him. He will likely end up a solid rotation player but nothing we will regret trading Imo

[The-Stallion70]

Shot 3-15 since his nice game against the Thunder

Not encouraging

Teams dont have forever to wait to see if a guy develops, there are 30 new guaranteed rookie contracts every year.

And tbh I don't really see why we as fans become attached or feel too bad for the kid, kid is a millionaire.

[The-Stallion70]

For this to happen he'd have to lose his spot as the #3 guard in the rotation. Cole, TQ, Jett, or CoJo aren't good enough to displace him.

So he is playing by the virtue of being better than some guys that are not nba level? That's a pretty good arguement for upgrading this position, isnt it?

Are you forgetting that he's 20 and a lottery talent?

Except that he's not and you're delusional

[eyriq]

So he is playing by the virtue of being better than some guys that are not nba level? That's a pretty good arguement for upgrading this position, isnt it?

Are you forgetting that he's 20 and a lottery talent?

Except that he's not and you're delusional

His 21st birthday is January 20th. He was drafted 6th in the 2023 draft. Basic facts.

[Blue_and_Whte]

Are you forgetting that he's 20 and a lottery talent?

Except that he's not and you're delusional

His 21st birthday is January 20th. He was drafted 6th in the 2023 draft. Basic facts.

Ehhhh I don’t think he’s even on the board in a re-draft….Jett Howard is DEFINITELY not a lottery pick. The FO effed that one up bad. I’m not advocating to trade AB but if we traded AB for a roster upgrade I wouldn’t be mad.

[The-Stallion70]

Are you forgetting that he's 20 and a lottery talent?

Except that he's not and you're delusional

His 21st birthday is January 20th. He was drafted 6th in the 2023 draft. Basic facts.

These are basic facts. They still dont necessarily make a point.

Another basic fact is the sky is blue.

[CarraT]

Been saying that since his draft and still see it. He is basically like MCW. Good on defense, but like really really bad on offense. He has an 98 (!) Offensive Rating. Thats unplayable in playoffs.