Post#419 » by stormi » Sun Jul 4, 2021 8:33 pm
The only way in this world Ben should be traded before Tobias is if he's able to bring back a star caliber lead guard. If a Ben package can bring you Shai/Fox/Dame. Do it, bye Ben.
If Ben's value toils around Brogdon + 1st and Tobias is about worth ~CJ, I'm personally trading Tobias and keeping Ben. I think Ben is flat out better, is younger and is still a better investment.
We know what Tobias is at this point. He's not someone that can elevate his game come playoff time at all, and for a soon to be 30 year old on a team with moderately high expectations, he's failed to step up in three consecutive years. I think it's easier to turn Ben into a Draymond type than it is to rework Tobias' game into someone that can contribute come playoff time. He has a bunch flaws that are just wired into his coding.
1) His inability to get to the free throw line. The thing about Tobias is he runs extremely hot/cold, and when he's hot - regular season / against Washington Wizard tier teams - he's doing so on the back of his exotic back to the basket game. Exploiting defenders in transition, bullying small guards, hitting Melo-esque turnarounds etc. It's just not a sustainable method of generating offense because as the playoffs progress and he starts getting stuck on lengthier defenders just as tall and fast, he gets shook and he can't make anything. He also has no burst so he can't get all the way to the rim and draw contact so he usually resorts to jumpers from the midrange or his weird push floaters that just turn to construction bricks. He's very poor as an isolation scorer and for someone that is relied upon to provide offense when the game slows down, he sucks at it. When Tobias has to be the best player on the floor for any modicum of time, it's just an awful viewing experience.
2) So if he isn't providing consistent half court scoring / slashing - he's at least gotta be spacing the floor, right? Wrong... He shoots ~3.5 three's per game. That's pretty abysmal for a teams go to wing scorer. That's 5th on the team per game and for context, slightly ahead of Matisse Thybulle who shoots about 3 per game. I don't think it's by design though, his release point is clunky and twisted and he needs a decent amount of separation to get it off.
3) A minor one, but no playmaking whatsoever. Tobias is a straight shooter, tunnel vision. He doesn't make anyone around him better, but he also isn't elite enough of a scorer for this to make sense.
I think Tobias is okay, but as of today he's the Sixer I need out the most, and before Ben. He's like how I felt about Josh Richardson. His style isn't conducive to winning basketball. Turning Ben into Shai or Fox or Dame is a get out of jail free card. Turning Tobias into a CJ or even a Brogdon is a get out of jail free card. He's not a difference maker.
