Eye of the Tiger: The Tidjane Salaun Thread

[yosemiteben]

Can you at least acknowledge that he's very young and there is a developmental plan for him? Judging the youngest player in the NBA as a wasted pick / poor talent evaluation a month into his rookie season just seems very odd to me.

[EmpireFalls]

There isn’t a single point that anyone has brought up in Salaun’s favour that wouldn’t also apply exactly to rookie JT Thor or Kai Jones. In fact I’d argue that he is getting significantly more of an opportunity and much longer leash than those two did, if anything. Especially Thor. And those guys were taken 20/30 picks later.

“Oh he’s so young”, “he’s raw and learning the game”, “he just needs some time to develop”, “it’s not about how good he is right now”, that’s nothing constructive and applies to every rookie. Actually let’s focus on JT Thor.

The more I think about it I’m not sure what he does better than Thor, who was also 19 when he entered the NBA.

[yosemiteben]

I'm not sure how that's responsive. Do you legit believe he can't possibly develop better than those players?

Lots of young players don't develop, why does that mean that it is objectively a bad pick when he hasn't even had the time to develop?

Again, we're like a month into the season. Do you seriously not understand why it seems too early to write him off?

[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.

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.

Cool, it's a draft. That's the nature of the beast.

Michael Jordan was a 3rd pick
Jokic was 41st

Darko went 2nd ahead of Melo, Bosh, and Wade

Look at the entire lottery in 2013.


Sometimes it just be like that.

1. Risascher is 11/4 on 38/25 splits in 25mpg
2. Sarr is 10/6 on 38/24 in 26mpg
3. Shepperd is 4/1 on 38/38 in 12mpg
4. Castle is 12/3 on 40/30 in 26mpg
5. Holland is 6/3 on 39/12 in 15mpg
6. Tiddy is 4/4 on 28/28 in 17mpg


I think all things considered he's relatively in line with the rest of the guys. Sure, there are going to be guys doing better and guys doing worse but that's how the world works.

older rookies are going to play better to start, duh. wings tend to be a little slower on the uptake, so on and so on. There's more to it than just "He's not LeBron day 1 so I hate him"

[KembaWalker]

its hard to see the conversation on this topic changing off "he sucks" vs "be patient" until he shows even something resembling a glimmer of hope beyond preseason. its hard to even get excited about him as a 6'9 3/d guy cause he can't even hit open threes rn. and perhaps concerningly he seems to do relatively better off poorly timed ones 2 feet behind the line at the top than he does in healthy stationary catch and shoot shots in the corner

if he throws up another 30 minute invisible nothingburger tonight its gonna be disappointing. like i said i'm willing to be patient longterm in the idea of the guy but im not going to be patient with garbage on the court in big minutes

[yosemiteben]

So you'll think worse of him as a prospect for playing more than you would if he wasn't playing? I'm really not tracking that logic.

[KembaWalker]

So you'll think worse of him as a prospect for playing more than you would if he wasn't playing? I'm really not tracking that logic.

what i'm saying is, I'm patient with him in the very long run in that I'm open to him maybe being good one day if a lot of things swing his way

what I'm not patient with is 30 min of complete suckage. its not asking a lot, even of a 19 year old rookie, to find at least some small niche to contribute. many have before. if he continues in not being able to do that, he needs to be replaced with someone who can play basketball, and his development can continue unimpeded, off the grown up big boy court.

like, i get it, we're injured, he's the last real PF bodied player on the roster. thats a problem i'm also not patient with. there are guys sitting at home that can play better than Salaun for very cheap and its something we should be considering since its going to be an ongoing problem even when Miles gets back.

[KembaWalker]

Great game, more than I could have even hoped for

[Chapelchilla]

Hmmm, maybe being patient with the new kid may just pay off after all. PT will help with the growing pains. TJS is a young 19 and has a solid foundation to build off of. I am glad he is getting experience in NBA early and we should probably wait another year or 2 to decide if he stinks or could actually be good.....

[wilson115]

Tiddy the Kid

Watch on YouTube

[KingCat]

Idk maybe I'll eat crow for saying this,but I feel the kid will be atleast a solid long term piece for us. I keep on hearing he was gnona be the worst player in the league, and he has bypassed my admittley low expectations. A stint in the G league would be nice if we could ever get healthy enough this season, but so far this feels much different than the Kai Jones experience.

[KembaWalker]

One thing I’ll never waver on with this kid, I **** love how unashamedly hyped he gets whenever he does anything good

[Snidely FC]

The Kid

The Celebration

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxMyQMwiZndehLp2PNPEtUluYHQxrr8lI7?si=4rdvaISiMrCzh2VF

[MPM]

One thing I’ll never waver on with this kid, I **** love how unashamedly hyped he gets whenever he does anything good

Fun to watch for sure - just don’t get that level of exuberance with a lot of today’s players. I only wish that early fist pump would’ve accidentally connected with Hero’s face (it came awfully close)

[SWedd523]

One thing I’ll never waver on with this kid, I **** love how unashamedly hyped he gets whenever he does anything good

Yeah dude is like anti Batum with how **** wild he goes. Hit that one three and seemed like he was trying to go super saiyan

[KembaWalker]

One thing I’ll never waver on with this kid, I **** love how unashamedly hyped he gets whenever he does anything good

Yeah dude is like anti Batum with how **** wild he goes. Hit that one three and seemed like he was trying to go super saiyan

I had the same reaction on the couch tbh

[Bassman]

Despite my rancor over the Hornet’s decision to select him at 6, there is much to love about Salaun. His effort andreported work ethic is far beyond the pathetic Batum. Recently his ability to hit 3’s is grooving in. He has good size. I hope he continues to grow and gain confidence. I am pulling for him for those reasons, as well as we REALLY need to get a quality player out of that draft.

My chief concerns remain;

> He has no elevation or spring. He will either build some via his muscles catching up to his frame and size, or he just ain’t got it.
> His ability to finish at the basket. Somewhat a byproduct of point 1, but if you’re that size you have to battle and win in the paint.
> Hands and handle. This is one he can and should build on, as he shows flashes.
> Positioning. Another weakness he will likely build and improve, but he is certainly weak at this stage (particularly on D).

My hope is built on these observations:

> His instincts are pretty good for a 19 year old. BBIQ will improve and help him manage the game.
> Does a good job working within the offensive scheme to get open for shots.
> Showing some signs of life relative to rebounding, but this has to get much better. I think it will.
> The fact he is SO YOUNG, and doing what he is doing at this point, IS ENCOURAGING.

[KembaWalker]

There’s no world where he is going to be an overall “good player” any time soon. Too raw, too unskilled. Not asking him to be a good player. Asking him to be a bad player that is hitting 3s at 6-8 attempts /36 at 34-36%. That’s what he did last night plus extra which is great but taking and hitting those 3s is my baseline minimum expectation for him. And it’s not just on him, teammates need to be looking for him and encouraging him to take them.

[GoBobs]

I like his body language

I like the emotion he shows after he hits a big shot

he wants it almost as much as I do......

[Liver_Pooty]

I wanted Reed badly. Damn near advocated using a future first with our pick to move up and get him. Judging by the preseason video the Hornets released I think they may have thought about that as well.

Thank God they didn't. He's been dreadful and I'm very happy with TJ thus far.