Could Byron Mullens Possibly Be A Future Star?

[og15]

Well,

1. Dwight Howard can't do anything other than dunk, really, even though he's really, really good at it.
2. Mullens isn't just a center, he plays both 4 and 5 and looks like more of a natural 4.
3. I'm only posting this b/c I don't think advanced can't defend himself right now due to a GB ban but me personally I think 18 ppg is very reachable if he's at least a 2nd option on offense and can learn to get fouled often. Besides, he didn't say that Mullens is a 20 ppg scorer, he said he has the "skillset" to be one and that's a pretty big difference.

Why? Why would you do this? Too many people won't even read the rest of a post starting with something as inaccurate as this

[Part-time Lover]

I won't be one of those "mullens is not a star lol" type of people.

He's by no means a star but he's got a potential to be a very good player. He's shown that he can put 20 points a night, 10 boards, couple of blocks and not to mention he's got a 3 pt shot and better athleticism than 3 pt shooting bigs like Novak, Dirk, Love and Okur. All he needs is to put it together AND better bball IQ.

Haven't seen him doing work in the post last season but I've seen him hooking up with Kemba on alley-oops, stroking the three and draining mid-range jumpers that would get him 16-18 points a night. Imagine him developing a proper post game (Olajuwon training recommended IMO), defensive fundamentals and a better shot selection to pair with his height, athleticism, range, skill and physical potential (the guy has long arms). That would be scary.

I'm not saying he would be the next Dirk or Love but he's got the potential to be something special.

[locus7]

A 20 ppg scorer? At Center?

Just wanted to point out that he's not playing as a Center, but as a stretch 4 with Hayward/Biyombo at the 5. From what I've seen he's a taller Ryan Anderson of 2/3 years ago. He's not Bargnani, as Bargs can fake, put the ball on the floor and drive which I haven't seen Mullens do much of.

Like Anderson of 3 years past, he's not at his full potential yet & whether he reaches it will depend a lot on the team setup, coaching and his own drive & determination. Once Anderson was in Orlando his situation was pretty ideal - a coach who made him learn to defend before he'd play him, an aging star in Shard to learn from & compete with, and Howard in the middle to draw double teams and leave him open. With Mullens I'm less sure, the teams obviously a mess right now & it looks more like he's just being thrown in at the deep end, sink or swim.

All that said, I was very happy to grab him in fantasy with my 11th pick

[Zedders]

[Johnlac1]

Mullen's last preseason game illustrated some of the strengths and weaknesses of Mullens. He grabbed 19 rebounds ( a lot of Bobcat fans were shocked, I wasn't) but shot 8-25 from the floor missing all his 3-point attempts... his 3-point shooting had been excellent up to that game. So what does that mean If past numbers and preseason games mean anything? It means for one thing Mullens will get close to 30 minutes or more a game this year. To accumulate numbers, you have to get the minutes. Last year adjusted for 36 minutes, Mullens was 15 and 8. Of course his awful defense meant he only got about 20 minutes per. So we can say Mullens is a better player on both ends of the floor. His offense should be more efficient ...especially if he takes more shots closer to the basket. And as for last year when he was mostly a second or third option, this year he might be option number one over Henderson. Even though his 3-ball improvement will make him more productive, Mullens still has the potential to be an excellent inside scorer. His defense has to be better than last year's... because it had to go up. His onball defense was dreadful. And he had a number of 10+ board games last year hitting 14 twice and 19 in the last preseason game as I previously mentioned. That was against a Dallas team which figures to be in top ten. So what's the realistic output for Mullens this year? If he gets his 30+ minutes, probably about 15-17 ppg and 8-10 rebounds. And a blocked shot or two. He's still finding his way around....he'll still force some shots and he won't be an all-star on defense. But his career trajectory is still going up.