Eye of the Tiger: The Tidjane Salaun Thread

[luciano-davidwesley]

Is James Bouknight employed?

He's currently stealing a living on the Blazer's G League team. I'm sure they will figure him out soon enough though.

[Walt Cronkite]

‘Bouknought” has saved the thread.

[yosemiteben]

Massively outperforming Thor in what lol

Tell me you haven't looked up Thor's stats without telling me you haven't looked up Thor's stats.

Thors stats were better than Salauns, you just said they don’t count because they were fewer minutes. Salaun playing worse to in more gifted time because this roster was not built to operate as a real basketball team doesn’t do much for me.

Again, very clear you haven't looked up his stats. Thor averaged 2 pts and 1 bd in 33 games his rookie season. You cannot be serious by saying that Thor as a rookie has better stats, that's assinine.

Again, all I've learned from this discussion is that Salaun is massively outperforming Thor's rookie season.

[Diop]

this is the most animated I've seen Walt Cronkite in years. I'm loving it

[KembaWalker]

Tell me you haven't looked up Thor's stats without telling me you haven't looked up Thor's stats.

Thors stats were better than Salauns, you just said they don’t count because they were fewer minutes. Salaun playing worse to in more gifted time because this roster was not built to operate as a real basketball team doesn’t do much for me.

Again, very clear you haven't looked up his stats. Thor averaged 2 pts and 1 bd in 33 games his rookie season. You cannot be serious by saying that Thor as a rookie has better stats, that's assinine.

Again, all I've learned from this discussion is that Salaun is massively outperforming Thor's rookie season.

Oh, I thought you had an actual argument but yeah, it’s actually just counting total stats in terrible minutes that he shouldn’t be playing

[yosemiteben]

Thors stats were better than Salauns, you just said they don’t count because they were fewer minutes. Salaun playing worse to in more gifted time because this roster was not built to operate as a real basketball team doesn’t do much for me.

Again, very clear you haven't looked up his stats. Thor averaged 2 pts and 1 bd in 33 games his rookie season. You cannot be serious by saying that Thor as a rookie has better stats, that's assinine.

Again, all I've learned from this discussion is that Salaun is massively outperforming Thor's rookie season.

Oh, I thought you had an actual argument but yeah, it’s actually just counting total stats in terrible minutes that he shouldn’t be playing

I don't know what this means. If you are going to argue that JT Thor, who played a total of 260 minutes in a season and scored a total 67 points and had a total of 43 rebounds in that season, statistically outperformed Salaun, then that seems like a completely asinine argument. I have to laugh at your reference to "just counting total stats in terrible minutes" because that is such a disingenuous framing of this comparison.

But whatever, keep backing the guy who literally did almost nothing for an entire season as a statistically superior performer.

[KembaWalker]

Again, very clear you haven't looked up his stats. Thor averaged 2 pts and 1 bd in 33 games his rookie season. You cannot be serious by saying that Thor as a rookie has better stats, that's assinine.

Again, all I've learned from this discussion is that Salaun is massively outperforming Thor's rookie season.

Oh, I thought you had an actual argument but yeah, it’s actually just counting total stats in terrible minutes that he shouldn’t be playing

I don't know what this means. If you are going to argue that JT Thor, who played a total of 260 minutes in a season and scored a total 67 points and had a total of 43 rebounds in that season, statistically outperformed Salaun, then that seems like a completely asinine argument. I have to laugh at your reference to "just counting total stats in terrible minutes" because that is such a disingenuous framing of this comparison.

But whatever, keep backing the guy who literally did almost nothing for an entire season as a statistically superior performer.

19 year old JT Thor would also be putting up 20+ minutes and racking up (generous term when we're talking about Thor/Salaun here) meaningless counting stats at terrible efficiency and performance levels if he was the only healthy PF on a roster of a lottery bound team. If we're looking at box score numbers then you can just look at PER as a box summary where Salaun is putting up an absolutely disgusting 7 lol. Noah Vonleh, Kai Jones, Vernon Carey Jr, JT Thor, Jalen McDaniels would blush at that number. rookie Frank Kaminsky is closer to 2024 Brandon Miller than he is to Salaun. hell, all of those guys are

[GoBobs]

Speaking of JT Thor, who knew that he was shooting 87% from the floor and 100% from 3 this year, rocking a 45.3 Per over 4 games. Maybe we gave up to early lol.

Thor's 2nd year with us, he played a few more minutes and had a 7 Per. I guess in that sense you could say Salaun is ahead of schedule in that he is doing this year what Thor did in year 2. Problem is even if he is ahead of schedule he is still on pace to be a bust.

The selection of Salaun and the trades for Green and also Grant Williams seem to indicate that we will swing for the fences in the draft and aquire role players through trades. It was a terrible pick though because there are just too many areas where he is either so far behind where he should be (like making layups) or it rare to see players improve that much (blocking shots). His ceiling is Grant Williams or Josh Green type of role player who hits 3s at a high rate.

Any time you see a guy in the draft that is raw and going to take a few years before he is ready to contribute, that is a horrible value most of the time. You get two less years of production on that rookie scale deal and then you have a lot less time to decide what to pay the guy if he is good (not really a problem with any of the development projects around here). The Salaun pick indicates the guy making our picks is terrible.

[yosemiteben]

Oh, I thought you had an actual argument but yeah, it’s actually just counting total stats in terrible minutes that he shouldn’t be playing

I don't know what this means. If you are going to argue that JT Thor, who played a total of 260 minutes in a season and scored a total 67 points and had a total of 43 rebounds in that season, statistically outperformed Salaun, then that seems like a completely asinine argument. I have to laugh at your reference to "just counting total stats in terrible minutes" because that is such a disingenuous framing of this comparison.

But whatever, keep backing the guy who literally did almost nothing for an entire season as a statistically superior performer.

19 year old JT Thor would also be putting up 20+ minutes and racking up (generous term when we're talking about Thor/Salaun here) meaningless counting stats at terrible efficiency and performance levels if he was the only healthy PF on a roster of a lottery bound team.

So you're just creating the stats for him then?

Not sure why you're bringing up a bunch of guys we're not talking about, but I think you're winning the argument against whoever you're arguing with about that.

[fatlever]

Outside of the stats my eyeballs tell me that TS is a better prospect than Thor ever was. Doesn't mean I'm super excited about him as a draft pick, but I'm not terribly worried about him being a complete and total bust. The size and the shooting and the hustle at least creates a solid rotational floor. I just don't see a pathway for a high ceiling for him as a player because of his lack of handles, lack of shot blocking, and inability to create offense for himself and others, and just all around average at best court awareness.

[amcoolio]

I honestly think the GM/coach saw Salaun in the draft workouts and his tape in France and said "he has Giannis potential". Just like in Cho's mind Biyombo was the next Serge Ibaka with more athleticism, he just knew it and he locked in on him.

I think you guys underestimate how totally wrong and how cocky a lot of these decision makers are, when in reality their track record isn't any better than the fans. The NFL is different, it requires a lot of scouting and data, smart people to consistently find good players in the draft and undrafted free agents. The NBA, it can be as simple as "this guy works hard and looks like Giannis, we have to take this chance"

To be clear I'm not saying its bad or anything. But its not like Peterson has some sort of superbrain and made a big thought provoking move. It's way more likely he took a lottery ticket knowing he had a few seasons of being here as a newly minted GM of new owners. Same with Cho. I think a Peterson that had 3 seasons of losing under his belt never takes Salaun

[wilson115]

It was clear long before the draft Salaun was going to be a project. That said, I don't know if I could call the pick the "swing for the fences" type. Shooting, defense, rebounding, with exceptional size and length, that says his floor is at least a solid rotation player, even for a contender. Granting Salaun's mentally up to the inevitable lows along the way, but I'm willing to give the FO that rescued Diabate, Wong, and Jeffries from the scrap heap the benefit of the doubt on sniffing out winners.

[amcoolio]

Diabate has been a pleasant surprise and why I'm a little bit hopeful for this new regime.... maybe we should just pretend he was the 7th pick and Salaun a 2nd rounder (Like the Panthers should probably pretend Coker was the 1st round pick and Legette the undrafted)

[Braggins]

His defense passes the eye test for me and hes nearly at a neutral defensive +/-, which is actually a pretty decent indicator for someone his age. He doesn't have much vertical pop for sure, but his physical tools are still good. He moves his feet very well laterally and has a 9'2" standing reach, which is great for a PF (4" better than Cody Zeller and 3.5" better than PJ). This is the reason to be somewhat hopeful for his career. He really doesn't need to do much besides be an above average 3pt shooter and he'll be a useful player. A PJ Washington level player could end up being a good outcome for how bad his draft class has been.

[SWedd523]

I think simply watching Salaun and Thor on the floor is enough evidence that they aren't remotely similar as products


which is separate from the fact that Salaun has generally played like ass all season

which is separate from the fact that this draft was historically ass from top to bottom so I don't know why anyone is complaining like he's the only guy playing bad.

There's been maybe one guy who looks like he has the potential to make an ASG and he went 16th

I just view it as one more reason why we shouldn't be so deathly afraid of losing a draft pick

[JMAC3]

Haven't heard anyone complaining we missed on Knecht for a while? Wonder why. Goes check game logs, oh that is why he is no longer the flavor of the month. In 7 games in month of December he is playing 23 mpg, shooting 37% from field, 11% from three and averaging 6.4 ppg all while being a 23 year old Rookie with a 5% Def EPM. Imagine a starting backcourt on defense of Knecht and LaMelo for the next 4 years, but nah he shot the ball good for a week so let's just ignore the obvious terrible fit.

You just have to laugh at the Grass is always greener on other side takes that consistently hit this board. Salaun is bad because you watch him every night and we are quoting his shooting as terrible and trying to compare him to bum JT Thor.

EFG% for Rookies starting Tidjane
Tidjane 42.3%
Castle 43.3%
Sarr 44.3%
Sheppard 44.4%
Risacher 45.6%
Kyshawn 41.6%
Cody W 32.1%

So the #1, #2, #3, #4 picks are virtually just as inefficient as Tidjane but hey let's only act like Tidjane is bad because I have seen the other guys play 4 times altogether all year. lol

[JMAC3]

More fun with numbers. Def EPM for the top 10 picks. Plus the two guys everyone foamed at mouth for 3 weeks ago.

Risacher 47%
Sarr 2%
Reed 54%
Castle 34%
Holland 51%
Salaun 47%
Clingan 29%
Dillingham 23%
Edey 59%
Cody W 28%
McCain 11%
Knecht 5%

So Salaun has the 4th best DEF EPM of this group, but yeah we only watch him and just don't really care about the others defense because we don't watch them, yay fun.

[wilson115]

Hit two in the clutch tonight, this was the second.

Read on Twitter

[Diop]

More fun with numbers. Def EPM for the top 10 picks. Plus the two guys everyone foamed at mouth for 3 weeks ago.

Risacher 47%
Sarr 2%
Reed 54%
Castle 34%
Holland 51%
Salaun 47%
Clingan 29%
Dillingham 23%
Edey 59%
Cody W 28%
McCain 11%
Knecht 5%

So Salaun has the 4th best DEF EPM of this group, but yeah we only watch him and just don't really care about the others defense because we don't watch them, yay fun.

I wasnt as rabbid as the other poster on here (sorry i forgot who), but i did sneakily want Edey. I love giant players and seeing how hard he worked on his mobility, i thought he would at least be solid.

no rookie was going to change how this season is going, its been very disappointing but i would have enjoyed watching the giant in the middle. He did sit out a chunk because of games because of injury so he would have fit perfectly

[Chapelchilla]

I was watching TS closely during the Houston debacle and his foot speed defensively was impressive. Twice the Rockets rotated a very hot Fred VF onto him 1 vs 1 and both times he shut Fred down. So, between the hustling, size, 3 pt shooting and defensive work ethic I think he ends up as a useful player. Will he be good? I don't know, dude is 19.