Tyrese Haliburton is a basketball genius

scrabbarista · Post #1 » by **scrabbarista** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 9:52 pm

I don't know how sustainable his numbers are - probably not super so - but it took watching him for about 30 seconds in the first game of the season to see that he's a BBIQ genius.

He doesn't appear to have any special physical gifts or eye-popping skills, though he's certainly accurate catching and shooting from three. He's not necessarily ever going to make the kind of highlight plays that the everyday fan usually associates with "basketball genius."

His genius amounts to one particular gift that has leaped off of the screen in the moments I've caught over a few games so far: he has an extraordinary ability to almost always be "in position," whether on offense or defense. He plays the game in real time in a way that almost no rookies ever do. Few players, never mind rookies, can sustain a few minutes of play without ever being a step out of position, but I've seen Haliburton do it.

Here are his numbers in 108 minutes over four games:

10.5/2.0/5.3/0.8/0.5 on .560/.500/1.000 splits. He's +3.1 on the court and has a +8.3 On-Off.

He's dropping 5.3 assists in 25 minutes per game with just 0.8 turnovers.

Obviously, his shooting numbers are likely to drop, so that's the main area for caution in projecting forward for the season.

I have no idea what his ceiling is. Could he a become a Chauncey Billups for this skinny, no-contact era? I really don't know. I just wanted to give him a shout out for his positioning. It's been a delight to watch.

I will add that his poise, vision, and the aforementioned catch-and-shoot three all seem to be decided strengths of his game.

Barnzy · Post #2 » by **Barnzy** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:00 pm

Basketball genius after 4 games. Quite impressive.

Collymore · Post #3 » by **Collymore** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:02 pm

Meanwhile Hayes is looking pretty darn good in Detroit.

CIN-C-STAR · Post #4 » by **CIN-C-STAR** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:02 pm

His BBIQ for a rookie coming in off of a condensed training camp & preseason has been a revelation.
Took me about 5 minutes of watching him to predict he'll be ROY if he stays healthy.

scrabbarista · Post #5 » by **scrabbarista** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:03 pm

Barnzy wrote:Basketball genius after 4 games. Quite impressive.

I'm just trying to fit in.

Scuall · Post #6 » by **Scuall** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:06 pm

Can you imagine him and Julius Randle teaming up on the Suns? They'd be unstoppable.

SNPA · Post #7 » by **SNPA** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:06 pm

Nah OP. Don’t back down. Hali is a basketball genius. The guy is extremely well rounded and sees the floor better than all but a small handful of players.

Hali is better than most of the guys taken in front of him. And it’s odd because this was obvious. How GM’s talked themselves out of this guy is beyond me.

JonHeist · Post #8 » by **JonHeist** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:07 pm

scrabbarista wrote:but it took watching him for about 30 seconds in the first game of the season to see that he's a BBIQ genius

Yeah, not that anyone cares, but it took me like 5 minutes of watching an ISU game last year to be like, WTF, why do they have Magic Johnson on their team?

The dude just passes the eye test in a unique way. It's like everyone else is only moving at 75% speed for him.

Pelon chingon · Post #9 » by **Pelon chingon** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:07 pm

Hes doing the damn thing out there. He fits perfectly with Fox both taking turns on/off the rock really couldn't be happier with him.

Pelon chingon · Post #10 » by **Pelon chingon** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:08 pm

Collymore wrote:Meanwhile Hayes is looking pretty darn good in Detroit.

Start a Hayes thread then and tell us all about it.

Loneshot · Post #11 » by **Loneshot** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:10 pm

I haven't watched the Kings much yet this season, but they always have some of my favorite rookies. I'm looking forward to checking Haliburton out.

Coxy · Post #12 » by **Coxy** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:10 pm

That Ass/TO rate is amazing for a rookie. He will earn the trust of coaches and in turn big minutes for teams with championship aspirations for his entire career if he keeps that up. Especially with his frame and size.

JimmyPlopper · Post #13 » by **JimmyPlopper** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:13 pm

Great player already and to the point of the OP - his understanding of the game seems like it would lend itself to being a great coach when his playing career is over.

scrabbarista · Post #14 » by **scrabbarista** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:14 pm

SNPA wrote:Nah OP. Don’t back down. Hali is a basketball genius. The guy is extremely well rounded and sees the floor better than all but a small handful of players.

Hali is better than most of the guys taken in front of him. And it’s odd because this was obvious. How GM’s talked themselves out of this guy is beyond me.

Yeah, I was more trying to be funny than backing down. Backing down would be taking down or editing my post: when I back down, I go all out. (That was me trying to be funny again.)

scrabbarista · Post #15 » by **scrabbarista** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:16 pm

JimmyPlopper wrote:Great player already and to the point of the OP - his understanding of the game seems like it would lend itself to being a great coach when his playing career is over.

I have no idea whether he'd make a good coach or not. There's a lot more to coaching than just understanding the game.

The most striking thing about his play is that his decisions are instantaneous. In other words, it's not necessarily "how well" he understands the game, so much as "how fast."

LightTheBeam · Post #16 » by **LightTheBeam** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:17 pm

Regardless if this winning keeps up or not, this team is giving me more enjoyment that we've had in 15+ years. They play hard and are super exciting to watch. The Haliburton - Fox duo is going to be a joy to watch the next 10 years.

art_tatum · Post #17 » by **art_tatum** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:18 pm

he got that 1motion push like shot, more extreme version of currys. Should have a great eason if given the right minutes

PaKwAn · Post #18 » by **PaKwAn** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:22 pm

I've been really impressed with this kid! His basketball IQ is what stands out the most.

limbo · Post #19 » by **limbo** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:23 pm

I had the Kings pegged as one of the worst teams in the West this season, arguably only finishing ahead of than the Wolves and Thunder, but they've actually surprised me with their play thus far. Not that i think they're going to make to Playoffs now or anything, but they're 3-1 now, and their wins haven't came against some fodder either, but against legit teams.

Marvin Bagley still sucks though, but at least he's playing... so far at least.

rpa · Post #20 » by **rpa** » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:26 pm

2 thoughts so far on Hali:
1) If you needed another point of evidence to show that Divac may have been the worst GM in the last 10 years remember that the reason for not picking Doncic was they didn't want to take the ball out of Fox's hands. Now look at how Fox and a secondary ballhandler (like Hali) can work together. Not like we needed this evidence, though.

2) The detractions on Haliburton remind me a bit of the ones on Doncic pre-draft. "Not a spectacular scorer", "shooting may not translate", "lack of athleticism means low ceiling, high flow", etc. What Doncic taught us then and Haliburton is teaching us now is great fundamentals combined with an elite BBIQ can overcome the lack of standout physical abilities.