RealGM

1st I am surprised going back 10 pages and there is no Gafford thread that I could find.
Maybe my vision is bad. Mods feel free to merge if warranted. But considering he's gotta
be one of our top 3 players, it's interesting there is no Gaff thread.

My thought or question after watching the playoffs to this point -

Can Gaff be as good as or even maybe better than BOS' Robert Williams?

IIRC, Gaff is a little younger. Maybe he has more untapped potential at this stage.

Your thoughts?

What other young players on the Zards might grow into roles filled by notable players on
other playoff teams. Kispert - Tyler Herro?

Deni - Grant Williams?

for the record - I'm just throwing these out for discussion not saying I think they
have any particular validity.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2130000

I like Gafford, but I think he'll be one of those guys that are starters on bad teams and role players on good teams. At the moment he's a bit overpaid (though the next season is cheap) but luckily the cap should keep on rising and he can definitely improve quite a bit. I hope he can share the floor with Porzingis and learns to foul less.

Eli Babak wrote:https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2130000

I like Gafford, but I think he'll be one of those guys that are starters on bad teams and role players on good teams. At the moment he's a bit overpaid (though the next season is cheap) but luckily the cap should keep on rising and he can definitely improve quite a bit. I hope he can share the floor with Porzingis and learns to foul less.

I agree that the salary looks a tiny bit high, but I don't think it's too bad with the way the cap's going (and to lock in whatever upside we think Gafford may have still). I guess you could think of it as a slight bump since we'll probably be starting him 20-25 games a season while Porzingis is here, too.

I like the guy, as any Zards fan does, but the love for him on this board is a little baffling to me. He's a rim-runner on offense and effective rim protector with limited mobility on defense, i.e. the exact archetype shared by, I don't know, probably 20 or more players around the league? I don't think he's bad at all, just not particularly irreplaceable - the real value for these guys comes from when they're signed way below their value, and diminishes to roughly replacement level once they get the money they're worth.

He can't guard the perimeter particular well, nor space the floor - those, in addition to efficient rim-running, are the real value-adds for modern centers, and having n + 1 of those skills is immensely more valuable than having n. Robert Williams can do two - rim-running and perimeter defense - and is on an entirely separate plane of value from Gafford.

I think that's a very astute analysis w_g. But, I'd say the biggest problem with Gafford is that he seems unable to play more than @20 minutes a game.

Robert Williams is a far better player. Still, Gafford is dxmn good. When he's on the floor he produces at a high level.

dobrojim wrote:1st I am surprised going back 10 pages and there is no Gafford thread that I could find.
Maybe my vision is bad. Mods feel free to merge if warranted. But considering he's gotta
be one of our top 3 players, it's interesting there is no Gaff thread.

My thought or question after watching the playoffs to this point -

Can Gaff be as good as or even maybe better than BOS' Robert Williams?

IIRC, Gaff is a little younger. Maybe he has more untapped potential at this stage.

Your thoughts?

What other young players on the Zards might grow into roles filled by notable players on
other playoff teams. Kispert - Tyler Herro?

Deni - Grant Williams?

for the record - I'm just throwing these out for discussion not saying I think they
have any particular validity.

jim,

I think perhaps it's best to trade Gafford.