Eye of the Tiger: The Tidjane Salaun Thread

[KembaWalker]

Tiddy's rawness might do him some favors in this upcoming stretch. Its one thing to go out there and waste your time doing cardio with Micic and Seth but teams are gonna be absolutely locked on LaMelo and Brandon with help and doubles. Salaun should have plenty of open shots. Just gotta make some of them

[Chapelchilla]

I am glad he is getting NBA PT early in the season so he can learn the game and where he needs to tighten it up. I don't care if he looks raw at first. Again, he is barely 19 and just moved to the USA.

[JDR720]

He's already ahead of where we expected him to be, in terms of actually playing NBA games at least.

The only draft picks that are reasonably "what if" scenarios are Edey and Clingan.

McCain was never on our radar (or anyone else in the top 10) and Dalton benefits a lot from playing with LeBron and AD, he wouldn't be doing any of that here.

[KembaWalker]

if you saw a Hawks/Wizards/Rockets fan lamenting Risascher/Sarr/Sheppard saying they should have taken Knecht you'd be very confused about their lack of patience. thats how yall look

[SWedd523]

He’s going to get absolutely embarrassed

Yeah maybe, but he is starting to piece a few good games together.

Averaging 15mpg, 8 ppg, 4 boards over his last three games on 66/66/88 shooting splits.

Should see his mins jump in the 25 mpg range.

Numbers!? Show some sympathy at least, EmpireFalls is an empath that will suffer greatly for each Tiddy flop.

I, for one, do enjoy a good Tiddy flop

[EmpireFalls]

The other guys won’t even think of passing it to him out there. He’s actively sabotaged up 10 offensive possessions with illegal screens, awful spacing, terrible passing, failing to move. And that’s before we even discuss the dribbling and the fact that he can’t make any shot that doesn’t feel like a fluke. I have timestamps if anyone needs them.

He rebounds OK and he runs (mostly into the wrong positions). Other than that there isn’t a single thing he’s shown potential to do well at the NBA level. Be honest with yourselves. It really hurts the team to have a player who no one trusts out there, and it’s a huge reason for our 22 turnovers tonight.

[yosemiteben]

I see we're blaming Salaun for other people's turnovers and ignoring his 5 blocks tonight. Cool.

[EmpireFalls]

I see we're blaming Salaun for other people's turnovers and ignoring his 5 blocks tonight. Cool.

Zero blocks. And yes, having a player who no one on the team trusts to pass to is going to cause turnovers indirectly. He is actively a zero on offense.

[Liver_Pooty]

I'm just going to say everyone on this board was excited about Biyombo as a rookie (and I don't care what his wrist structure or whatever it was i think he was more 21 than 18 when drafted) and TJ even though robotic and raw has more skill than he did. Give it time. At least 2 years. He's a project. Let him be a project.

[JMAC3]

The goal for Tidjane by the end of the year should be to be able to confidently handle the Grant Williams role. Which is spread the floor by making some threes and be big enough defensively to be able to play some small ball 5. Both seem like stretches right now, but a lot of development can take place in 60 games.

[GoBobs]

I'm just going to say everyone on this board was excited about Biyombo as a rookie (and I don't care what his wrist structure or whatever it was i think he was more 21 than 18 when drafted) and TJ even though robotic and raw has more skill than he did. Give it time. At least 2 years. He's a project. Let him be a project.

You can get away with having a guy that is unskilled in a lot of areas at center. It doesn't work as well with other positions.

It's like when we had Tyrus Thomas and the stats look good on paper and then when you watch the team play you realize, this guy can't dribble or pass and that is a huge problem.

It is the same thing we do every year. Pick a guy who has good size but is some project and hope we can teach him enough skills to be a good player in the league. That might have worked in the 90's but the league is different now. Kai Jones, JT Thor, James Nanji... how about we pick somebody that knows how to play already

[yosemiteben]

I see we're blaming Salaun for other people's turnovers and ignoring his 5 blocks tonight. Cool.

Zero blocks. And yes, having a player who no one on the team trusts to pass to is going to cause turnovers indirectly. He is actively a zero on offense.

I need to apologize for the snark, I read the box score wrong but either way wasn't a very cool response. My bad.

[KembaWalker]

I see we're blaming Salaun for other people's turnovers and ignoring his 5 blocks tonight. Cool.

Zero blocks. And yes, having a player who no one on the team trusts to pass to is going to cause turnovers indirectly. He is actively a zero on offense.

I need to apologize for the snark, I read the box score wrong but either way wasn't a very cool response. My bad.

+1 on the +/- though
simple box scores and counting stats can't capture the pure winner energy Salaun infused into the lineup

[EmpireFalls]

I see we're blaming Salaun for other people's turnovers and ignoring his 5 blocks tonight. Cool.

Zero blocks. And yes, having a player who no one on the team trusts to pass to is going to cause turnovers indirectly. He is actively a zero on offense.

I need to apologize for the snark, I read the box score wrong but either way wasn't a very cool response. My bad.

I should probably stop posting in this thread entirely, I can tell I’m bringing negative energy in. And look, it isn’t his fault that he’s playing 30 mins, he is just a 19 year old kid in a lineup ravaged by injury.

It’s more that I’m simply appalled that the front office came to the conclusion that spending the #6 on this was the best option. My outrage really isn’t directed at him but whoever thought that this kid who barely has a grasp on the game of basketball (and isn’t even a super athlete, he has a very underwhelming vertical) was a premium draft pick.

[SWedd523]

You keep harping on #6 as if it wasnt generally considered a historically weak draft where #1 is more like #5 in most years.

Compare him to the other guys taken in the top 10 and he doesn't look so bad. That draft was butt cheeks. He is, by all accounts, ahead of schedule.

[JustBuzzin]

This dude needs time. Let's see how he does after à full season of the NBA game and a full off-season.

Next season is when I start questioning this pick. He's clearly got a lot to learn so he's not going to look good right away. The good thing is we are bad and dealing with injuries so he has to play. Let him figure it out.

[vexco]

He was drafted as a project and is seemingly way ahead of schedule as far as minutes go. He looks like a deer in headlights sometimes, other times he looks good. I just don't get this whole the-sky-is-falling mentality surrounding him.

Give the kid time. He's basically just learning on the job.

[KembaWalker]

its not his fault but I'm not gonna have as much patience for a guy getting 30 minutes and doing nothin but cardio. i dont think he should ideally even be playing minutes of real basketball rn but if you are, you gotta find a way to contribute something

[EmpireFalls]

You keep harping on #6 as if it wasnt generally considered a historically weak draft where #1 is more like #5 in most years.

Compare him to the other guys taken in the top 10 and he doesn't look so bad. That draft was butt cheeks. He is, by all accounts, ahead of schedule.

That’s not a valid excuse to me. There’s a guy drafted #39 who’s playing at a much higher level than Salaun, Jaylen Wells.

Taking a guy who has this many deficiencies at #6 is poor talent evaluation no matter how you slice it. And for what it’s worth, Buzelis does everything Salaun does and has looked quite a bit better.

[JMAC3]

You keep harping on #6 as if it wasnt generally considered a historically weak draft where #1 is more like #5 in most years.

Compare him to the other guys taken in the top 10 and he doesn't look so bad. That draft was butt cheeks. He is, by all accounts, ahead of schedule.

That’s not a valid excuse to me. There’s a guy drafted #39 who’s playing at a much higher level than Salaun, Jaylen Wells.

Taking a guy who has this many deficiencies at #6 is poor talent evaluation no matter how you slice it. And for what it’s worth, Buzelis does everything Salaun does and has looked quite a bit better.

Who cares how they look the first 20 games of their career, you are hyper fixating on that. At one point Raptors fans were coming to our board bragging how Malachi Flynn looked better as a rookie then LaMelo Ball.. You are getting dangerously close to these levels of overreaction.

I swear people would rather have 10 good games of Dalton Knecht right now then giving Salaun 50 games to figure it out... even if it meant realizing Knecht is terrible defender and him and LaMelo are an awful fit together in 6 months. The level of impatience is maddening.