eyriq wrote:VFX wrote:eyriq wrote:
You're framing it like they’re forcing AB into something he’s not, but that’s just not true. He isn’t being converted into a point guard. He’s been one from the start. That’s the foundation he came in with, and it’s the role the team continues to develop him in. The whole argument falls apart right out of the gate.
My brother in Christ what are you talking about?
AB was drafted specifically as a point guard to do point guard things. He has not displayed that “from the start” he was expected to be that guy and absolutely hasn’t.
Here is his pre-draft profile.
It says his best skill is playmaking followed by defense. His “vision” “pace setting” and “ball handling” here are markers as his best attributes. We should be seeing a guy that is heavily contributing to that at a top lotto pick shouldn’t we?
Probably somewhere in the ballpark of someone that can get 5 - 5.5 assists per game even off the bench would be a relatively low expectation for a younger guy with a specific skillset. Hes off by 2.5 assists per game, which is crazy. I’m not even going to mention the self creation. It’s predominantly based on drawing fouls and low % attempts at the rim. Sounds familiar.
Well… the other problem with that is that Orlando is dead last in every category regarding assist numbers, possessions, pace, and efficiency. That’s pretty damning when you are chosen to alleviate those realities as a “pass first guard”.
Not only that, but Mosely elected to start Cojo over him when Suggs went down last season. A guy that is no longer on the team.
I’ll say that a guy like AB off the bench similar to Thabo Sefolosha is a good bench guy to have. It’s a player profile that can limit the scoring from other teams and muck up their possessions.
He has not shown once that he is a point guard though and I’ll be happy if he did. Because that would come to mean that Orlando wouldn’t need to look extensively for guard depth, which they are. I would move him for a player with a real offensively minded skillset while he still has value.
I don’t understand how you can live in a reality where Paolo and Franz are the “hubs” of an offense while believing Anthony Black was selected to be an off the bench role player to do the same thing as a top 10 pick when he fails to meet expectations. That Cope is just unbelievable honestly.
To me, the biggest knock on him is that his is more than duplicative of Paolo and Franz on a much much lesser level. This team does not need low assist defensive wings that cannot generate offense for anyone but themselves at the free throw line. They need the opposite.
You’re describing a player the Magic didn’t draft. AB was picked for his size, feel, and fit in a system where Paolo and Franz handle the heavy creation. He’s not a high-usage floor general, but he keeps the offense organized and guards the toughest matchups.
The offense being bad isn’t on a 21-year-old. If you’re still expecting a traditional PG, that’s on you.
You continue to use terminology that doesn’t mean what you think it means in order to explain away very basic skillsets.
Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner are scorers.
Jayson Tatum is a scorer. Jimmy Butler is a scorer. Pascal Siakam is a scorer.
None of those guys are “distributors” they aren’t “creators” for anyone on the floor but themselves. They “create” offense for themselves as a priority because that’s their role. Their role is to score the basketball.
Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner are not Luka Doncic, Shai or Devin Booker. They are not averaging 6.5-10 assists per game involving others in offense. That isn’t their game.
You for some reason are unable to understand that in an attempt to protect AB from labels he does not fit so that Paolo and Franz can wear those distinctions instead as a shield.
Then when that doesn’t work or make sense you will say “he’s young still”… yeah ok? Like there aren’t players at 21-22 that have shown obvious skillsets and growth toward specific traits?
“AB was picked for his size, feel, and fit in a system where Paolo and Franz handle the heavy creation.”
This is the most loaded statement you can make. They already had an elite defender in Suggs. They already knew this prior to drafting AB. He was drafted to create easier looks for Franz and Paolo, but couldn’t.
You don’t spend a top lotto pick for a utility player that does exactly the same thing 3 guys in your starting lineup already do on a way lesser level. He was heralded as a playmaking point guard in the draft process. You are gaslighting people into thinking he wasn’t now for some reason like nobody here listened to podcasts or read anything about the guy leading up to the draft. That was his entire appeal as a player for his size.
Like what? Are we going to move the goalposts further next season and say we always knew Anthony Black was meant to be an elite defender off the bench and we shouldn’t be looking at his terrible assist numbers because those were meant for Desmond Bane as “part of the blueprint?”
