bbms wrote:jowglenn wrote:cupcakesnake wrote:
Ya to me a lot of the J.Dub criticism is just fans not understanding defensive value.
He's the opposite of Baker/Coleman/Randle in that those are classic guys who are talented offensive players who's impact on winning was questionable looking back. J.Dub is the opposite. We're not sure how far his scoring game might go, but we know for a fact that he's an absolutely elite defender and a master of the little things.
He's closer to Scottie Pippen than he is Coleman. Not saying he's on Pippen's level at this point, but this is kind of like what Pippen was: a productive but non-resilient scoring threat who dominated on defense and as a playmaker. Scottie was a much much better athlete, to be real about the comp.
I'm not comparing him to those guys to say they are similar in playing style; I'm saying that their impact on the game, the zeitgeist, stardom are all similar. All those guys I listed made multiple All-NBA teams but nobody remembers them as star players or as ever having a real important impact on the game, and I think the same will be the case for Jalen Williams. The first two guys I mentioned earlier were Luol Deng and Danny Granger; neither made any All-NBA teams but both are more similar to the Jalen Williams archetype as strong defensive minded forwards.
I just think the guy is a bit overrated because he's on a team with the MVP that won a lot of games.
point is "star" is a trash category bro, give it up
all it matters is impact and you as a pacers fan should know about that the most since you have haliburton, a high impact player (top 6 xrapm in 2025) that you would never know because he's not enough of a nuclear scoring force to warrant "star" label if he's team is not winning enough.
I can’t even engage with people who use that term too tough, especially pertaining to basketball players.
First and last time I open this thread, it’s gotten way too much traction. If Jalen didn’t pass your eyes even as a rookie you need LASIK
and them thick ass aquarium lenses.
), but it's a list of pretty elite players obviously:
