Eye of the Tiger: The Tidjane Salaun Thread

[KembaWalker]

hey now thats top 75% EPM defense right there

[EmpireFalls]

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Come for the atrocious, clumsy footwork, stay for the dismayed Charles Lee finally realizing what we all have realized for a while now.

Peterson must feel even more dismayed. Feel bad for him. Salaün is one of the most uncoordinated prospects we've seen since JT Thor. It gets no better on the offensive end.

In a way I think it’s better that his two big moves this summer have utterly crashed and burned. Green and Salaun, the “low usage role player” types, who are incapable of initiating offense or making plays off the dribble, have been shown to be completely inept.

Hopefully it marks a philosophical change. Basketball players first, value BBIQ at a premium. Whatever criterion we used to evaluate Salaun needs to be balled up, tossed in the garbage, and set on fire.

[MasterIchiro]

Read on Twitter

?s=46

Come for the atrocious, clumsy footwork, stay for the dismayed Charles Lee finally realizing what we all have realized for a while now.

Peterson must feel even more dismayed. Feel bad for him. Salaün is one of the most uncoordinated prospects we've seen since JT Thor. It gets no better on the offensive end.

In a way I think it’s better that his two big moves this summer have utterly crashed and burned. Green and Salaun, the “low usage role player” types, who are incapable of initiating offense or making plays off the dribble, have been shown to be completely inept.

Hopefully it marks a philosophical change. Basketball players first, value BBIQ at a premium. Whatever criterion we used to evaluate Salaun needs to be balled up, tossed in the garbage, and set on fire.

Precisely. Since one-and-done became a thing, the front offices that have prioritized IQ, well-rounded skills, have made out like bandits across the lottery, through the mid-late first round and into the 2nd round.

[yosemiteben]

I bet that JP is not embarrassed that the 19 year old he drafted needs to be developed, and I doubt he is surprised at where he is at this point in his development. These final judgments of Salaun as a prospect are just painful to read.

[Bassman]

Truth hurts Y-Ben. Yes he needs development. Sadly he’s not showing anything that that makes me think he’s going to suddenly “get it” and look like a top 6 pick down the road. My hope is for a limited rotational sub at the 4. Or maybe some other GM drinks too much wine in France and gets inspired to trade for Salaun.

Agree with previous post….two key Peterson moves (Salaun and Green) are really bad.

[MPM]

So...netting Green for a Sixers' second round pick and taking a swing on a young player in what's proving to be a garbage draft are really bad moves. Got it. That's an awfully low bar.

[Bassman]

So...netting Green for a Sixers' second round pick and taking a swing on a young player in what's proving to be a garbage draft are really bad moves. Got it. That's an awfully low bar.

Maybe…not saying Peterson is trash…just saying his moves aren’t producing results. I was all for the Green trade BTW, felt it was a good get. Either Green is just not so good, or he doesn’t fit this system, or the coaches don’t know how to use him. His poor defense is the shocker. Wasn’t happy with Salaun pick, still not.

[Walt Cronkite]

So...netting Green for a Sixers' second round pick and taking a swing on a young player in what's proving to be a garbage draft are really bad moves. Got it. That's an awfully low bar.

Maybe…not saying Peterson is trash…just saying his moves aren’t producing results. I was all for the Green trade BTW, felt it was a good get. Either Green is just not so good, or he doesn’t fit this system, or the coaches don’t know how to use him. His poor defense is the shocker. Wasn’t happy with Salaun pick, still not.

Who is your current rookie flavor of the week?

[MasterIchiro]

So...netting Green for a Sixers' second round pick and taking a swing on a young player in what's proving to be a garbage draft are really bad moves. Got it. That's an awfully low bar.

Maybe…not saying Peterson is trash…just saying his moves aren’t producing results. I was all for the Green trade BTW, felt it was a good get. Either Green is just not so good, or he doesn’t fit this system, or the coaches don’t know how to use him. His poor defense is the shocker. Wasn’t happy with Salaun pick, still not.

Can't really say Peterson is trash nor Salaün, Green, Lee the same.

But how can anyone say any of them have been impressive?

It would be nice to be able to say nice things if we shall be expected to say nothing at all.

I was hoping for a more all-around impressive debut for Peterson.

It's early, and he's sitting on a good stable of core players, picks and movable contracts.

Should trade out of the draft the next time we find ourselves in position again like we were with Salaün in a crappy draft.

[MPM]

So...netting Green for a Sixers' second round pick and taking a swing on a young player in what's proving to be a garbage draft are really bad moves. Got it. That's an awfully low bar.

Maybe…not saying Peterson is trash…just saying his moves aren’t producing results. I was all for the Green trade BTW, felt it was a good get. Either Green is just not so good, or he doesn’t fit this system, or the coaches don’t know how to use him. His poor defense is the shocker. Wasn’t happy with Salaun pick, still not.

Yeah, I didn't expect Josh to be a big contributor, but, even so, he's underwhelmed. This said, Peterson paid a second and he's likely worth two to a team that thinks he would be a better fit - plus he has his moments and his salary might come in handy in trade. I was intrigued by Salaun before the draft, don't feel he was the massive reach many make him out to be, and didn't expect him to see a minute of time this year. So while there's plenty to groan about in his unexpected early minutes, nothing that approaches judgement (yet). If he maxes out as a big, long active defender who can board and hit the three at a pretty good clip, can't say I'd be unhappy with that at #6 in a bad draft.

Suppose all this to say I haven't been too upset with Peterson's tenure thus far.

[amcoolio]

Has there ever been a player this uncoordinated that has turned into an really nice NBA player? Not saying there isn't, but are there examples? I don't know why teams keep doing this to themselves, the success rate has to be 1 in 40.

[Walt Cronkite]

Has there ever been a player this uncoordinated that has turned into an really nice NBA player? Not saying there isn't, but are there examples? I don't know why teams keep doing this to themselves, the success rate has to be 1 in 40.

This reddit thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1jov67/who_is_the_most_uncoordinatedawkward_player_in/) suggests
Bosh, McGee, Noah, Hibbert, Bonner, Lopez, Biyombo, Muresan and (hilariously) Shawn Marion.

[CuseMayne]

Salaun has shown good defence, good energy and can hit the open 3.

the team is hoping for more, encouraging him to remain aggressive and try stuff.

but i think at least you have a rotation 3 n D player.. if they were trying to win now, you would give salaun strict instructions to not try anything but play his role and he would be fine.

Simply this. All of the Salaun haters on here are putting too much stock into the first 33 games of a foreign 19 year old's career. And it's not like he's been a complete disaster either.

[EmpireFalls]

Has there ever been a player this uncoordinated that has turned into an really nice NBA player? Not saying there isn't, but are there examples? I don't know why teams keep doing this to themselves, the success rate has to be 1 in 40.

This reddit thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1jov67/who_is_the_most_uncoordinatedawkward_player_in/) suggests
Bosh, McGee, Noah, Hibbert, Bonner, Lopez, Biyombo, Muresan and (hilariously) Shawn Marion.

The difference is Salaun is an oversized wing who can’t protect the rim whatsoever. Those guys were all bigs who ended up as plus defenders. And as we all know who watched Biz, he was never, ever, as raw defensively as Salaun is. Offensively sure. But he was a legit shot blocking force from day 1.

Don’t believe me?

Seth Curry and Tre Mann have more blocks than him. He has negative rim instincts and doesn’t have a good vertical at all. I find his lack of shot blocking at that size unforgivable and almost impossible to believe.

[Bassman]

So...netting Green for a Sixers' second round pick and taking a swing on a young player in what's proving to be a garbage draft are really bad moves. Got it. That's an awfully low bar.

Maybe…not saying Peterson is trash…just saying his moves aren’t producing results. I was all for the Green trade BTW, felt it was a good get. Either Green is just not so good, or he doesn’t fit this system, or the coaches don’t know how to use him. His poor defense is the shocker. Wasn’t happy with Salaun pick, still not.

Who is your current rookie flavor of the week?

For those we could have drafted I still say Clingan. Some here say he’s trash….Portland disagrees. They’re reportedly trying to trade their starting C to clear Clingan for more minutes. But how good would he look here backing up Mark? If Salaun showed any raw flashes athletically to be more than what I’ve seen, it would be great.

[yosemiteben]

Maybe…not saying Peterson is trash…just saying his moves aren’t producing results. I was all for the Green trade BTW, felt it was a good get. Either Green is just not so good, or he doesn’t fit this system, or the coaches don’t know how to use him. His poor defense is the shocker. Wasn’t happy with Salaun pick, still not.

Who is your current rookie flavor of the week?

For those we could have drafted I still say Clingan. Some here say he’s trash….Portland disagrees. They’re reportedly trying to trade their starting C to get Clingan more minutes. But how good would he look here backing up Mark?

Well he's already been injured 2 or 3 times and generally has not made a difference when he's played, so I'm thinking we'd probably look about the same.

[yosemiteben]

Truth hurts Y-Ben. Yes he needs development. Sadly he’s not showing anything that that makes me think he’s going to suddenly “get it” and look like a top 6 pick down the road. My hope is for a limited rotational sub at the 4. Or maybe some other GM drinks too much wine in France and gets inspired to trade for Salaun.

Agree with previous post….two key Peterson moves (Salaun and Green) are really bad.

To be clear, I have no vested interest in Salaun. I hope he works out, but I literally knew nothing about him before we drafted him and if he wasn't playing for our team I wouldn't care about him at all. I don't know that he'll work out, and I'm not saying anyone should be confident he will.

But saying at this point in his development that it's a certainty that he'll never be anything and preemptively criticizing the FO for drafting him is just dumb IMO. We clearly do not know what he can or will be, and it reaks of complaining just to complain.

[MasterIchiro]

Truth hurts Y-Ben. Yes he needs development. Sadly he’s not showing anything that that makes me think he’s going to suddenly “get it” and look like a top 6 pick down the road. My hope is for a limited rotational sub at the 4. Or maybe some other GM drinks too much wine in France and gets inspired to trade for Salaun.

Agree with previous post….two key Peterson moves (Salaun and Green) are really bad.

To be clear, I have no vested interest in Salaun. I hope he works out, but I literally knew nothing about him before we drafted him and if he wasn't playing for our team I wouldn't care about him at all. I don't know that he'll work out, and I'm not saying anyone should be confident he will.

But saying at this point in his development that it's a certainty that he'll never be anything and preemptively criticizing the FO for drafting him is just dumb IMO. We clearly do not know what he can or will be, and it reaks of complaining just to complain.

What's with this character assassination?

[GoBobs]

Salaun has shown good defence, good energy and can hit the open 3.

the team is hoping for more, encouraging him to remain aggressive and try stuff.

but i think at least you have a rotation 3 n D player.. if they were trying to win now, you would give salaun strict instructions to not try anything but play his role and he would be fine.

Simply this. All of the Salaun haters on here are putting too much stock into the first 33 games of a foreign 19 year old's career. And it's not like he's been a complete disaster either.

In the last 20 years we have picked in the first round almost that many times. Only A Ajinca has a rookie PER as low as Salaun and those guys are tied at 7

[Diop]

Has there ever been a player this uncoordinated that has turned into an really nice NBA player? Not saying there isn't, but are there examples? I don't know why teams keep doing this to themselves, the success rate has to be 1 in 40.

This reddit thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1jov67/who_is_the_most_uncoordinatedawkward_player_in/) suggests
Bosh, McGee, Noah, Hibbert, Bonner, Lopez, Biyombo, Muresan and (hilariously) Shawn Marion.

The difference is Salaun is an oversized wing who can’t protect the rim whatsoever. Those guys were all bigs who ended up as plus defenders. And as we all know who watched Biz, he was never, ever, as raw defensively as Salaun is. Offensively sure. But he was a legit shot blocking force from day 1.

Don’t believe me?

Seth Curry and Tre Mann have more blocks than him. He has negative rim instincts and doesn’t have a good vertical at all. I find his lack of shot blocking at that size unforgivable and almost impossible to believe.

Salaun doesn’t go for the blocks as he’s clearly been coached growing up to hold your position in front of the ring instead. I’ve seen him affect shots by doing this, I don’t hate it