nate33 wrote:Man, that's some pretty cold water being thrown onto the Ace hype.
With Ace, it's obviously going to boil down to his character. Most of his flaws on the basketball court don't concern me too much. Teams will have to guard him so close that he should be able to develop effective ways to get to the rim. The playmaking may never be good enough to be a number 1 option, but he could be a rich man's Klay Thompson and that's still an All-Star.
The real question about him is whether or not to attribute his inconsistency and lack of focus and drive to his youth; or is it likely to be a persistent character trait? If the Wizards do draft him, I hope they've interviewed him and done their research.
No doubt, and I was/am? a Bailey trade up guy, but, ----, ouch.
It's also what you care about. The defense thing hits you, hits me, that's a HUGE NEGATIVE.
Similarly I read the Tre Johnson piece and I am OUT OUT OUT. After 36-37 years of watching drafts, everything I read about Tre screams that he'll be a guy people are disappointed with because he is NOT GOING TO CHANGE. Is that true? Can he grow? Can he use his attributes to be a great defensive player? Can he learn to more aggressively go inside, but also be much much more of a team player? You read that write up and he sound so so so much better for Philly, for San Antonio, for Houston, for Portland, teams that are farther along, have some veteran leadership in place, he sounds absolutely horrific for a team of 20 and 21 year olds like us, lacking a true alpha dog. He sounds like he'd be a chucker idiot who'd develop an insane amount of bad habits.
I can picture future success, but I also just think he'd hit the floor of his potential in DC, he needs to land on a team that's just closer to contending or already contending. I'm not looking at rosters when I say Philly, San Antonio, Houston or whatever, I'm talking about teams ready to win, with the people in place that will hold him accountable and not tolerate his bull----. With us he'd run wild in all the wrong ways.
Fears sounds good, and exiting, but also a bit of a disappointment, unlikely to ever be a star. The more I read the more I feel like Maluach or Bailey should be the pick, or a trade out and down, I don't think Tre or Fears move the needle close to enough (and man would they be disappointing! after all these trade up rumors).
