bbms wrote:i'm hyped on topic not on his expected performance in 25-26. i'm high on his potential delivery from 2026-27 and 2027-28 on a rookie deal after big contracts are handed.
even if mitchell is a better player now (i doubt it, btw) the situation is not comparable at all when you factor everything together (age, long term projection, contract situation, timeline of thunder's payroll).
topic is a player you hope can put you some day in that situation james harden put the thunder in 2012 - do you max him? do you cash on him?
he's got that kind of upside.
Mitchell's age is a positive thing, it means he already has some experience. He had a solid rookie year with a lot of positive signs, if he's going to have a good summer, then I believe next season he'll be able to contribute for us even in playoffs. Young man has fundamentals.
Yes, next summer he'll be FA, but I think we'll be able to offer him Kenrich type of deal or even Wiggins.
When we spoke about Topic, he's from Balkan region, I'm also from there. Historically speaking young athletes from Balkan who had serious injury, typically don't develop into a good players. I know mentality, they need a lot of ball in their hands and they need a lot of minutes to feel comfortable.
When they can't do their thing, they struggle to adjust. And they typically are a bad defenders, so it's tough for coaches to give them more time.
Coming young from Europe and coming young from US colleges is very different thing. American( Canadian and Australian) athletes were taught from the beginning to rely on working hard in gym and develop their bodies. So they struggle a lot less with speed and physicality of the game.
It's important to say that most of good European NBA players are bigs or big forwards. Almost none of the guards.
We had Pokusevski and Dieng. I predict the same thing with this guy.
But I respect your opinion and others. I hope I'll be wrong, that means we would get a third creator.
Time will tell.
dlughie wrote:MPJ was supposed to go 1st and fell to 14th because of injury. Injury makes or breaks a prospect.
Yes, but that was pretty strong draft year and MPJ had back injury which is historically very risky injury.