Rainwater wrote:Bensational wrote:I think the success over the season has lead people to forget that we’re only in Paolo’s second year - he's not a finished product.
Just for some comparison, let's look at Paolo compared to some other young franchise stars in their 2nd seasons:
Paolo vs Shai
Paolo vs Ant
Paolo vs Tatum (21, 3rd season) - this is probably the best comp for Paolo. Keep in mind that Tatum was winning from day 1 playing behind Kyrie. It wasn't until Tatum's 3rd season that the keys were handed to him the way the Magic handed the keys to Paolo this season. Efficiency is on Tatum's side, but he wasn't phenomenally efficient that season. They were good enough to make the ECFs that season, and then drop to a .500 team the following season and a 1st round knockout. Imagine the outrage on this board if we have Paolo in year 4 his help was Kemba, Fournier and Theis off the back of a conference finals showing?
Tatum/Brown/Smart + Kemba + Hayward + Theis eventually became Tatum/Brown + White + JRue + KP + Horford and contenders, but they had some stormy waters in between.
Paolo/Franz/Suggs + (Fultz/Harris) + Ingles + Isaac + (WCJ/Moe/Goga) will eventually become something else, and it won't all be smooth sailing.
Silver lining though - Paolo's numbers are up across the board in efficiency, even if it's not at the level you'd like to see, it's trending the right direction. Tatum didn't crack 60% TS% until his 6th season (last season). Tatum's personal game has hit its peak over the last 2 seasons, right as Boston is primed to contend. They still managed to pull out some conference finals appearances in the lead up to that. I think we should feel good about Paolo's trajectory to date.
Great post. I feel like people want rapid success when this is a process. I may be off by a couple of seasons but I believe it took the magic 9 years from the season they Dwight to make the finals. People really need to be patient, this is going to take time.
You're way off, it took five lol
Basketball is not complicated really, you find the best talent, you're probably going to win.
Sometimes the best talent is really young, other times a player has to add gradually to their game. It is a young man's game after all.
It's not an accident that team's tank to find a Great talent. I personally wont be surprised if San Antonio constructs a contender within the next few years around Wembanyama. He is that good. This isnt always a gradual process like many other things in life commonly are.
The Heat's philosophy outright eschews tanking or "process" type thinking. Why? Because they are smarter than that and know that ultimately it comes down to hard work no matter who you got. They find elite talent one way or another.