Paolo Banchero

[Upperclass]

They traded Aaron Gordon, to draft a slower, less athletic aaron gordon

[FrightCoward]

They traded Aaron Gordon, to draft a slower, less athletic aaron gordon

I mean, that’s a bit much. Paolo is infinitely more skilled than Gordon at the same age, with sublime footwork and a deadly mid range game. Aaron Gordon was a complete project and raw as hell coming out, and still isn’t nearly as polished as Banchero is now.

[SelfishPlayer]

They traded Aaron Gordon, to draft a slower, less athletic aaron gordon

LOL! Now all they have to do is totally play him out of position.

[NO-KG-AI]

Aaron Gordon jumps higher and that's about it. Awful comparison.

[FrightCoward]

Aaron Gordon jumps higher and that's about it. Awful comparison.

Absolutely. Banchero is so much more skilled and talented, it’s laughable.

[Big J]

Banchero is more like a better passing Carmelo. Magic made the right choice.

[Duke4life831]

They traded Aaron Gordon, to draft a slower, less athletic aaron gordon

Not to pile on, but ya this is a pretty rough comparison. They really are nothing alike.

Gordon: 6'8 in shoes, was drafted off of freakish athleticism alone pretty much.
Paolo: 6'10, isnt known to be a freak athlete (not a bad one), is very skilled (especially 18ft and in).

The first step Paolo takes on a NBA court, he will already be a drastically more skilled player than Gordon is today.

[clyde21]

Redick raises a good point and it's the same thing I've been saying about Paolo, right now he's positionally locked as a 4, and positionally locked players in today's NBA have a hard ceiling on their potential

only way that potential is unlocked if Paolo develops as a guy who can legitimately scale as a 5 in some matchups and in high leverage games, if that happens then the Magic are cookin with grease...otherwise he's Julius Randle.

[babyjax13]

Redick raises a good point and it's the same thing I've been saying about Paolo, right now he's positionally locked as a 4, and positionally locked players in today's NBA have a hard ceiling on their potential

only way that potential is unlocked if Paolo develops as a guy who can legitimately scale as a 5 in some matchups and in high leverage games, if that happens then the Magic are cookin with grease...otherwise he's Julius Randle.

Blake Griffin was positionally locked and he flirted with being a top 10 player for his prime. I don't think that would change now, if you transported prime Griffin to the modern NBA. I think Paolo will be quite a bit better than Randle.

[clyde21]

Redick raises a good point and it's the same thing I've been saying about Paolo, right now he's positionally locked as a 4, and positionally locked players in today's NBA have a hard ceiling on their potential

only way that potential is unlocked if Paolo develops as a guy who can legitimately scale as a 5 in some matchups and in high leverage games, if that happens then the Magic are cookin with grease...otherwise he's Julius Randle.

Blake Griffin was positionally locked and he flirted with being a top 10 player for his prime. I don't think that would change now, if you transported prime Griffin to the modern NBA. I think Paolo will be quite a bit better than Randle.

Blake was an elite athlete, and even with that, he wasn't necessarily the most impactful guy despite nice stats across the board, and again, potential/impact limited because he was positionally locked.

also, that was like 10 years ago, being positionally locked today is even more of a detriment.

[Big J]

Paolo doesn’t need to be great on defense. Is Luka great on that end? How does Luka do guarding the perimeter? The entire team is going to be filled out with defense first guys to surround Paolo and he will be the hub on offense and kill it in that role.

[CptCrunch]

Paolo doesn’t need to be great on defense. Is Luka great on that end? How does Luka do guarding the perimeter? The entire team is going to be filled out with defense first guys to surround Paolo and he will be the hub on offense and kill it in that role.

Also see Wardell Curry.

[Upperclass]

They traded Aaron Gordon, to draft a slower, less athletic aaron gordon

Not to pile on, but ya this is a pretty rough comparison. They really are nothing alike.

Gordon: 6'8 in shoes, was drafted off of freakish athleticism alone pretty much.
Paolo: 6'10, isnt known to be a freak athlete (not a bad one), is very skilled (especially 18ft and in).

The first step Paolo takes on a NBA court, he will already be a drastically more skilled player than Gordon is today.

But what makes him skilled other than people that keep saying he's skilled?

He didn't finish amazingly well inside in college, didn't shoot the 3 well, doesn't shoot free throws well.. He is a good mid-range shooter, is a good handler (who also turned it over alot in big games), with solid vision.. but with zero quickness and isn't a great perimeter defender (he had Mark inside so who knows about post D) or perimeter shooter (not the fastest release).

He just seems like a big dude, who had immense H.S. hype, in a weak draft. And yes, he has guard skills.. but in a slow 6'10 250 pound package, does that matter much? He isnt Chris Webber who had a 7'3+ wingspan.
You have to take him in the top 3 no doubt, but just an odd choice over a 7-footer with length and another 6'10 dude who's one of the best shooters his age in the country. He also would've fit better with a running team in the Rockets, next to a good passing big in Sengun, vs Carter who hes really redundant with.. and he will.. most likely.. play on the ball for the Magic (him and Carter wont be in the post).. similar to Aaron Gordon, as was my orginal point.

FWIW Gordon shot better all of the floor in college as well

[clyde21]

yea, if Paolo is a generational offensive player like Steph and Luka he doesn't need to be great on defense. you guys got it.

[Duke4life831]

Paolo doesn’t need to be great on defense. Is Luka great on that end? How does Luka do guarding the perimeter? The entire team is going to be filled out with defense first guys to surround Paolo and he will be the hub on offense and kill it in that role.

Also see Wardell Curry.

Im a fan of Paolo, but using guys like Luka and Curry as examples of not having to be good on defense to be an elite player isnt a strong argument.

If anything youre proving Clyde's point (one that I dont even necessarily agree with). So far it seems like all Paolo needs to do is to become an all time great offensive player and that should be good enough to overcome his defense.

[clyde21]

Paolo doesn’t need to be great on defense. Is Luka great on that end? How does Luka do guarding the perimeter? The entire team is going to be filled out with defense first guys to surround Paolo and he will be the hub on offense and kill it in that role.

Also see Wardell Curry.

Im a fan of Paolo, but using guys like Luka and Curry as examples of not having to be good on defense to be an elite player isnt a strong argument.

If anything youre proving Clyde's point (one that I dont even necessarily agree with). So far it seems like all Paolo needs to do is to become an all time great offensive player and that should be good enough to overcome his defense.

also - it's way less important for a perimeter player to be great on defense than a big to be great on defense. Towns is one of the best shooting/scoring bigs in the entire NBA, may be the best shooting big ever, and it's still questionable just how scalable he in the POs in terms of carrying his teams because he's in no mans land defensively.

so, unless Paolo develops into either an elite generational scorer (like Luka) or playmaker (like Joker), he's gonna need to find a role defensively. otherwise again, he's Julius Randle.

[clyde21]

and im not comping him to Julius Randle as a dig, Randle averaged 24/10/6 two years ago and was All-NBA, so yea. it's more a question of upside and ceiling and PO scalability.

[Duke4life831]

They traded Aaron Gordon, to draft a slower, less athletic aaron gordon

Not to pile on, but ya this is a pretty rough comparison. They really are nothing alike.

Gordon: 6'8 in shoes, was drafted off of freakish athleticism alone pretty much.
Paolo: 6'10, isnt known to be a freak athlete (not a bad one), is very skilled (especially 18ft and in).

The first step Paolo takes on a NBA court, he will already be a drastically more skilled player than Gordon is today.

But what makes him skilled other than people that keep saying he's skilled?

He didn't finish amazingly well inside in college, didn't shoot the 3 well, doesn't shoot free throws well.. He is a good mid-range shooter, is a good handler (who also turned it over alot in big games), with solid vision.. but with zero quickness and isn't a great perimeter defender (he had Mark inside so who knows about post D) or perimeter shooter (not the fastest release).

He just seems like a big dude, who had immense H.S. hype, in a weak draft. And yes, he has guard skills.. but in a slow 6'10 250 pound package, does that matter much? He isnt Chris Webber who had a 7'3+ wingspan.
You have to take him in the top 3 no doubt, but just an odd choice over a 7-footer with length and another 6'10 dude who's one of the best shooters his age in the country. He also would've fit better with a running team in the Rockets, next to a good passing big in Sengun, vs Carter who hes really redundant with.. and he will.. most likely.. play on the ball for the Magic (him and Carter wont be in the post).. similar to Aaron Gordon, as was my orginal point.

FWIW Gordon shot better all of the floor in college as well

There is a ton of middle ground that youre avoiding with this.

Is Paolo a freak athlete? Nope. Is he slow for a 6'10 player? Also nope. Also dont get the he doesnt shoot FTs well thing. He shot 73% as a freshman big. Is that great? No, but is that bad? No. When people like myself say he is skilled, its the fact that he can score in a multitude of ways. He can face you up and pull up. He can face you up and attack going left or right, he can finish with either hand as well. He has a good post game as well, to go with a good mid range game. Out of the guys taken in the lotto, he is the second best passer behind Daniels (hell probably no worse than 3rd best passer out of the entire 1st round).

Also he actually was a pretty good finisher at the rim. 1.33 points per shot at the rim which was 81st percentile. And he was in the 75th percentile when it came to points per shot with his jump shot. And the biggest issue with Paolo on the defensive end wasn't him being too slow and not being able to stay in front of his man. He was actually a solid on ball defender (89th percentile when it came to one on one defending). His issue defensively was the lack of rim protection and bad awareness when it came to rotations and team defense (which in today's NBA is more important, but again this wasn't from a lack of quickness).

Also have no clue where you get Gordon shot better all of the floor in college compared to Paolo.

FT%:
Paolo: 73%
Gordon: 42%

2pt%:
Paolo: 52%
Gordon: 50%

3pt%:
Paolo: 33%
Gordon: 35%
There was also a massive difference in volume. Paolo had 1 less made 3, than Gordon had attempts (44 vs 45). Conference play Gordon shot 17% from 3 and only made 3 total 3s the entire conference play. So hard to say Gordon was the better 3pt shooter than Paolo in college.

eFG%:
Paolo: 52%
Gordon: 51%

TS%:
Paolo: 55%
Gordon: 50%

Then add into the fact that Paolo scored at a much higher volume and created for more of his shots compared to what Gordon did. Ya there is a significant skill difference between Paolo and Gordon entering the NBA.

[Duke4life831]

Also see Wardell Curry.

Im a fan of Paolo, but using guys like Luka and Curry as examples of not having to be good on defense to be an elite player isnt a strong argument.

If anything youre proving Clyde's point (one that I dont even necessarily agree with). So far it seems like all Paolo needs to do is to become an all time great offensive player and that should be good enough to overcome his defense.

also - it's way less important for a perimeter player to be great on defense than a big to be great on defense. Towns is one of the best shooting/scoring bigs in the entire NBA, may be the best shooting big ever, and it's still questionable just how scalable he in the POs in terms of carrying his teams because he's in no mans land defensively.

so, unless Paolo develops into either an elite generational scorer (like Luka) or playmaker (like Joker), he's gonna need to find a role defensively. otherwise again, he's Julius Randle.

Yup. The thing is, if Paolo didnt have the big question mark about his defensive role and defensive versatility, he would've been the runaway 1st pick. Like it wouldnt have been a discussion on who might go first.

Even as someone who is a big Paolo fan and has had him #1 multiple times throughout the year, the defense is a legit question mark about him. And one of the key reasons he wasn't viewed as this runaway #1 pick and not viewed as a higher tiered prospect.

[CptCrunch]

I mean there is so much agenda in this thread by the Jabari-stans, who I might add have been proven wrong at least pre-draft by the front office.

It is fact that Orlando and OKC both had Jabari below Paolo and Chet respectively (along with Twitter consensus) at the objection of Jabari loving nephews like Clyde.