Klay Thompson Is The Most Underrated Prospect On The Planet

[Gil]

OP is a genius.

[theGreatRC]

I'm talking about how he'll go in the NBA. He might have played like Joe Johnson in college, but he doesn't have the quickness to translate those skills to the pros.

THAT's why I compared him to James Anderson, because they're likely to end up with the same roles in the NBA: shooters who struggle defensively. Maybe Thompson moves the ball a little better but there won't be a huge difference between the two.

James Anderson didn't even play much at all, so trying to claim you were comparing Thompson to a NBA Anderson doesn't seem on the up and up, and if you were, I don't even know where to begin...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd4AUUmB66U[/youtube]
I'm sorry, but this guy doesn't remind me of James Anderson.

Klay is just water from outside, so why not just say his shooting will likely translate to the NBA and chances are he won't have a much larger role at first if that's where you're going instead of continuing with this bad comparison for no reason?

I mean are we going to compare Alec Burks to Anthony Morrow next?

Props to u for sticking to your guns the whole time

[j-ragg]

Always hated RealGMs policy on bringing up old threads. It's fun to look back and see people's opinions. Props to OP

[Frank Dux]

I love the Landry Fields comparisons in the first page. They have a similar skin tone, but they play nothing alike, and Thompson has way more athleticism.

Why do people always compare players based on skin color?

[doordoor123]

I'm starting to think about this a lot and it's making me think twice about players like Bobby Portis. I think "average" athleticism is often looked past, but athleticism can be improved to a point. Players get better verts and get better speed, of course at some point they max-out. Klay, Steph, Korver, Butler, etc. a lot of guys that come in with average athleticism and do great in the league. Probably because they are more drafted for their skills rather than their athleticism and their athleticism comes along when they start to take care of their bodies or focus more on athleticism. Some guys just don't know how to use their athleticism (Pat Connaughton). I'm just thinking guys like Bobby Portis and Rashad Vaughn might be getting overlooked.

[DowNY]

I am still not a fan. I'm not sold on what DX is seeing with him.

You know I had to.

[oneseven]

OP is a banned genius.

Fix

This was an interesting read though.

[Illmatic12]

I'm starting to think about this a lot and it's making me think twice about players like Bobby Portis. I think "average" athleticism is often looked past, but athleticism can be improved to a point. Players get better verts and get better speed, of course at some point they max-out. Klay, Steph, Korver, Butler, etc. a lot of guys that come in with average athleticism and do great in the league. Probably because they are more drafted for their skills rather than their athleticism and their athleticism comes along when they start to take care of their bodies or focus more on athleticism. Some guys just don't know how to use their athleticism (Pat Connaughton). I'm just thinking guys like Bobby Portis and Rashad Vaughn might be getting overlooked.

I've said this for a while.. athleticism concerns about incoming draftees are usually overstated, in the NBA these guys will have elite level training year round - players have high paid trainers, expensive equipment to analyze their running/jumping mechanics, put them through all sorts of plyometrics and resistance training, etc.

The first player I really noticed it with was Kevin Durant, after his 3rd year or so I realized that he had made a huge improvement in athleticism from his freshman year at Texas. Never in a million years would I think that he'd improve his speed and lateral quickness to that level.

James Harden is another example, I remember him being this chubby dude at ASU and now he's a freaking tank with explosive speed. Or using players I've watched the most often, John Wall looks more or less about as athletic as he did coming into the league (because he was already starting out as an elite athlete) but Bradley Beal, to my eyes he's clearly gotten a lot more athletic since being drafted.

Agreed about Portis (who I'm praying falls to the Wiz), but I generally just chuckle when I've read stuff like "D'Angelo Russell's athleticism is subpar for the NBA" etc like give me a break.. he enters the league at 18, by the time he is 23-24 years old and grown his athletic abilities will have significantly improved.