Zach LaVine

[No-Man]

why does he have to prove whether he can or cant play the point? he looks like a really good sg prospect. the league needs more of those.

THIS

Is beyond me why people want him to chuck more shots and paly 101 all the time.

Even if he were to be just what he is now, he will be completely worthy of a top10 pick this year.

HE IS NOT A PG
EXUM IS NOT A PG EITHER

Try to memorize that people, please.

[Ruzious]

why does he have to prove whether he can or cant play the point? he looks like a really good sg prospect. the league needs more of those.

THIS

Is beyond me why people want him to chuck more shots and paly 101 all the time.

Even if he were to be just what he is now, he will be completely worthy of a top10 pick this year.

HE IS NOT A PG
EXUM IS NOT A PG EITHER

Try to memorize that people, please.

You can make your point without being an ass about it.

I should say the player that the offense is run through - rather than the point guard. It's easy to find people who can catch and shoot - what else have McLemore and Beal shown? People look at them as future stars - personally, I don't see it. If LaVine's role in the NBA is just to catch and shoot, I don't see him being particularly impactful. If he'd be used as a Harden type, I'd be happy, but that's not going to happen at UCLA. Harden had 2 years in college to be the man and develop those skills. I doubt he'd be the player he is now if he was used as a 3rd or 4th option in college.

[ManualRam]

i don't think lavine projects to be just a catch and shoot shooter. he actually has the things that beal and mclemore lack. he has the ball control and ability to create his own shot that mclemore lacks. he also has the quickness and explosiveness that beal lacks. if he can be the type of shooter that can:

1. have sets designed around his ability to shoot, like single/double action (he has shown the ability to come off of screens or wheel action for shots). there is actually a lot of action that can come off of that type of offense since it takes a coordinated effort of 2-3 defenders to properly defend.
2. can create his own shot, which he has shown signs of being able to do
3. be the type of shooter that defenders have to close out hard on, which opens up driving opps of which he has the quickness to take advantage of.

combine all that with his potential to be disruptive defensively and his open court play and yes, i think he does have star potential.
i'm kind of sick of players who need the ball to be effective. for as prolific as harden is, he's kind of a crap player when he's not able to play with the ball as much as he wants to. i'd like to see less players like that, not more. give me prime ray allen or reggie miller over current james harden any day. i hope lavine strives to be more like the former.

[Ruzious]

On LaVine, I agree he can do that - but he's gotta actually be used. You gotta develop those skills. It's use it or lose it.

What shooting guard plays like Harden and is even remotely as effective as him? If a player plays like him and isn't effective, then I'd understand not liking the way he plays. I enjoy watching great players with great skills used to their maximum effectiveness - especially if it helps their team win, and considering he's got far and away the best +/- on Houston and has a 59% TS% on that high usage, I wouldn't change a thing.

What I'm sick of watching is teams that rely so heavily on jump shots - particularly long and mid-range 2's. I want to see players take it to the rim.

As for Beal and McLemore, it'd be one thing if they could shoot like Ray Allen, but they don't. There aren't Ray Allens that come along every year. He's maybe the best pure shooter ever. The chances of Beal or McLemore becoming like that are real small. And even at penetrating, Allen could do that fairly well. These guys haven't shown that ability with any consistency. They're young and they'll likely improve, but they haven't even shown anything to make at least me believe they're going to get there. Just look at how few FT's they attempt. You lose by taking a lot of long and mid-range 2's and by not getting to the foul line.

[The Prodigy]

Draft Express has him going in the second round. What are they smoking over there?

[doordoor123]

Draft Express has him going in the second round. What are they smoking over there?

Weed.

[Gilles]

Draft Express has him going in the second round. What are they smoking over there?

That makes absolutely no sense!
If he's not a first-rounder, why would a freshman enter the draft. Wait for next season, when he will get the ball into his hands.

[BlackOutBuzz]

They have 0 info of him on DX, in contrast to most of these other freshmen whom they've been following for years.

I'm guessing they don't wanna slide a guy up the board who really doesn't even have a page on their site. I suspect he'll magically jump into the lottery once Givony makes a blog post on him.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using RealGM Forums mobile app

[miltk]

all the big time elites have been followed for years. relatively speaking, lavine is an unknown. it's harder to climb up because you're always having to prove yourself, than fall wherein people still believe in you and believe in their yrs long evaluation of you. i think there are still people who are waiting for zl to have bad games because they don't believe in him. conversely, they're all waiting for the 4 frosh to live up to the enormous hype.

nba scout, upon watching jrue excel in the combines: "that's the jrue holiday i remember from high school". in other words, he was waiting for jrue to validate the hype.

[No-Man]

LaVine is not an unknown he was a 5 star prospect and a top30 player in his class.

[ManualRam]

LaVine is not an unknown he was a 5 star prospect and a top30 player in his class.

he was actually a late rising 4 star player who's composite ranking was closer to 50th in his class. if i recall correctly, before his senior yr he was ranked in the 100s and was a 3 star prospect. i think that's one of the reasons why dx has him buried in their mock. they're not quick to boost a prospect who wasn't initially very highly touted coming out of HS and not on their big board.

[No-Man]

LaVine was ranked 27# in scouthoops by the end of his senior year as a 5 star.

[ManualRam]

LaVine was ranked 27# in scouthoops by the end of his senior year as a 5 star.

they were the only major scouting service who had him higher than 44.
his composite ranking was 49

[Jazzfan12]

Can we refer to LaVine as a "potential athlete" instead of an "athlete" right now?

Because he can't do anything that looks remotely athletic with guys around him. He just might not understand his body right now, but he is one of the worst finishers at the rim in this draft and "athletes" don't have those issues.

[ManualRam]

nah, he's definitely an athlete. he just needs to learn the nuances of finishing, like footwork in the paint. getting stronger will help finishing too.
it's not like he gets into the paint and gets a flat tire. he's still quick and still explodes.

[EricAnderson]

He had some nice floaters in the paint off drives so hes capable..I just think theyres too much upside to pass on him after the top 5 or so main guys..

[MellowRose]

Why is LaVine so damn unassertive? Show us what you can do LaVine, and stop deferring to Anderson.

GROW SOME BALLS. I know he has a **** load of talent, but if he's not aggressive enough, then wtf is the point?

damnit...im mad at you, LaVine...

[ManualRam]

Why is LaVine so damn unassertive? Show us what you can do LaVine, and stop deferring to Anderson.

GROW SOME BALLS. I know he has a **** load of talent, but if he's not aggressive enough, then wtf is the point?

damnit...im mad at you, LaVine...

be assertive and do what? take bad shots? he didn't catch the ball in a position to shoot. he's often found weakside and if the ball doesn't hit the 2nd side then he doesn't touch it unless he comes out and gets it 35 feet away from the hoop. UCLA is full of shooters and the ball doesn't whip around like it should because kyle monopolizes it and everyone looks to catch and shoot. with his role on the team, he has to maximize minimal touches. they called maybe 1 play for him and that was a baseline out of bounds play. it's not like he's passing up good shots.

[miltk]

Why is LaVine so damn unassertive? Show us what you can do LaVine, and stop deferring to Anderson.

GROW SOME BALLS. I know he has a **** load of talent, but if he's not aggressive enough, then wtf is the point?

damnit...im mad at you, LaVine...

zach doesn't force a shot. never has, won't start now.
anderson runs the show, he's got the team to worry about, not just zach.
if you're referring to the cal game in particular, zl came down with the same flu bug that hit the twins.
zach STILL does not finish over anyone...if you saw the cal game, you know what i mean. it's always the same, sick or not.

the team only has 2 perimeter shooters, 3 if you include kyle. jordan is undependable this year. bryce is okay. then you have kyle and zach. personally, i would only want kyle and zack taking the 3,,,bryce if he's feeling it. the twins should never take the 3, only a midrange

[MellowRose]

Why is LaVine so damn unassertive? Show us what you can do LaVine, and stop deferring to Anderson.

GROW SOME BALLS. I know he has a **** load of talent, but if he's not aggressive enough, then wtf is the point?

damnit...im mad at you, LaVine...

zach doesn't force a shot. never has, won't start now.
anderson runs the show, he's got the team to worry about, not just zach.
if you're referring to the cal game in particular, zl came down with the same flu bug that hit the twins.
zach STILL does not finish over anyone...if you saw the cal game, you know what i mean. it's always the same, sick or not.

the team only has 2 perimeter shooters, 3 if you include kyle. jordan is undependable this year. bryce is okay. then you have kyle and zach. personally, i would only want kyle and zack taking the 3,,,bryce if he's feeling it. the twins should never take the 3, only a midrange

I only remember one LaVine drive. He took it down the lane, with a beautiful move and finished at the rim with an And 1, but Cal was called for a blocking foul iirc.

I think if he took it to the basket, he'd either get to the ft line or make the layup/dunk at least 6/10 times. Not bad for a guy who still needs to learn how to adjust his shot once he gets to the paint, and for someone who needs to get stronger.

Yea, my post was a kneee jerk reaction, and one of the reasons I love LaVine is that he doesn't jack up shots no matter what. He can do whatever he wants to, but he elect to play team first basketball, which I respect. No JR BS from him.

One of the reasons he's not in position to make a play often is because he catches it so far out from the 3 point land, that he takes 2 dribbled and then hands it off to Anderson or Bryce Alford. He needs to learn how to get in better position to make a play either for himself or for other.

Last point: He has the quickness, vision, and speed to get into the lane whenever he wants. If he doesn't see a lane to the hoop, attract the defense and kick it out. I know he has the passing skills to do that.
As much of a LaVine homer I am, I still think it's completely wrong of Alford to be placing scrub Kyle Anderson as the center piece of this team.