Eye of the Tiger: The Tidjane Salaun Thread

[EmpireFalls]

I was laughed at on this board for wanting Deni for the pick. This entire board would trade Salaun for Deni without second thought

JMAC, for the eleventeenth time, it doesn't matter than the other rookies also suck. The reality is we sucked again this offseason to add any talent or improve this team. You have to make the most of the assets you have. We squandered assets. So yes, Peterson deserves blame here.

Here we are again, hoping to do well in the next draft. Can you tell me any reason we shouldn't also just start preparing for the 2026 draft as well?

In all likelihood yes 2026 will also be another lotto year for us. Unless we make significant changes in the offseason and acquire real NBA talent.

[Walt Cronkite]

Can you tell me any reason we shouldn't also just start preparing for the 2026 draft as well?

The team has a winning record (4-3 by my count, on mobile though) in the 7 games LaMelo has played with Mark, where Mark has played at least 20 minutes. Small sample obviously, plenty of question marks with both of those guys, but they seem to be pretty good together based on the limited information we have. Easy to cast a black cloud over their health... but what if they're fine now?

Also, they should always be preparing for every draft, it's the best way to stock your team with cheap talent.

[HornetJail]

I was laughed at on this board for wanting Deni for the pick. This entire board would trade Salaun for Deni without second thought

JMAC, for the eleventeenth time, it doesn't matter than the other rookies also suck. The reality is we sucked again this offseason to add any talent or improve this team. You have to make the most of the assets you have. We squandered assets. So yes, Peterson deserves blame here.

Here we are again, hoping to do well in the next draft. Can you tell me any reason we shouldn't also just start preparing for the 2026 draft as well?

let's be real, we could've traded the pick for a 2nd rounder to draft Kyle Filipowski or some **** and been better off than paying Salaun 7-10M a year to suck. I don't think anybody would've argued against Deni being better than Salaun, and it has nothing at all to do with Deni. nobody thought we were lighting the pick on fire like that

[MasterIchiro]

I was laughed at on this board for wanting Deni for the pick. This entire board would trade Salaun for Deni without second thought

JMAC, for the eleventeenth time, it doesn't matter than the other rookies also suck. The reality is we sucked again this offseason to add any talent or improve this team. You have to make the most of the assets you have. We squandered assets. So yes, Peterson deserves blame here.

Here we are again, hoping to do well in the next draft. Can you tell me any reason we shouldn't also just start preparing for the 2026 draft as well?

Wasn't here for that. Someone (won't mention names) shot me down for envying the Blazers approach to this lottery. They stayed ahead of the minefield and secured a known commodity instead. Clear-eyed.

[JMAC3]

I was laughed at on this board for wanting Deni for the pick. This entire board would trade Salaun for Deni without second thought

JMAC, for the eleventeenth time, it doesn't matter than the other rookies also suck. The reality is we sucked again this offseason to add any talent or improve this team. You have to make the most of the assets you have. We squandered assets. So yes, Peterson deserves blame here.

Here we are again, hoping to do well in the next draft. Can you tell me any reason we shouldn't also just start preparing for the 2026 draft as well?

let's be real, we could've traded the pick for a 2nd rounder to draft Kyle Filipowski or some **** and been better off than paying Salaun 7-10M a year to suck. I don't think anybody would've argued against Deni being better than Salaun, and it has nothing at all to do with Deni. nobody thought we were lighting the pick on fire like that

Shocker again, the top 10 pick 24 yr old in his 5th season is better than a 19 yr old rookie. Where do you get your ideas?

Deni averaged 6 ppg as a rookie... almost like maybe Salaun the guy averaging 5 ppg might also improve by the time he is 24 yrs old.

[MasterIchiro]

I was laughed at on this board for wanting Deni for the pick. This entire board would trade Salaun for Deni without second thought

JMAC, for the eleventeenth time, it doesn't matter than the other rookies also suck. The reality is we sucked again this offseason to add any talent or improve this team. You have to make the most of the assets you have. We squandered assets. So yes, Peterson deserves blame here.

Here we are again, hoping to do well in the next draft. Can you tell me any reason we shouldn't also just start preparing for the 2026 draft as well?

let's be real, we could've traded the pick for a 2nd rounder to draft Kyle Filipowski or some **** and been better off than paying Salaun 7-10M a year to suck. I don't think anybody would've argued against Deni being better than Salaun, and it has nothing at all to do with Deni. nobody thought we were lighting the pick on fire like that

Shocker again, the top 10 pick 24 yr old in his 5th season is better than a 19 yr old rookie. Where do you get your ideas?

Deni averaged 6 ppg as a rookie... almost like maybe Salaun the guy averaging 5 ppg might also improve by the time he is 24 yrs old.

With LaMelo averaging near 30 on the season and testing double digit assists more regularly with Mark assimilated, I don't know that I'd want to wait 5 years for Avdija vs. starting this season with Avdija on his 4 year deal just a small margin over the cost of an MLE player.

[MasterIchiro]

I mean, for the first 2 years of LaMelo's 5 year deal you're eating 15 million for a Gleague player vs. Avdija where you know what you're getting for the next 4 of those 5 years of All-Star LaMelo.

[EmpireFalls]

People are also being way too optimistic about his timeline. The NBA is a cutthroat business and if you haven’t established yourself on merit by year 3 you get cut. It’s very simple.

Salaun is due $10m in year 4 (27-28). We have to make that decision to pick up his 4th year team option on October 31st, 2026. Closer than you’d think.

Does anyone think that he is going to be worth $10m in 18 months? That’s effectively what he has, 18 months. Be very very realistic about this. Does anyone think he’s even close to that level now?

Significant improvements are needed to get that 4th year team option picked up. I am not optimistic.

[SWedd523]

I have little to no desire to guesstimate how good Salaun will be in 5 years. 5 more years of "just be patient" means Melo is playing for LA, or Mark/Brandon are cap casualties because the FO doesn't want to be a tax team.

[penquin11]

Scrolling through the pages I see alot of coping here......

Salaun has been pretty terrible in just about every facet of the game. Despite that, it was such a weak draft class that we haven't really lost much by missing on the pick should he fail to develop. One thing is certain- he isn't ready for the NBA and probably shouldn't have been thrown into the fire given he looks 2-3 years from being ready to even be a rotation player. I wish there was a loan system in the NBA so that we could loan him out to Europe to develop.

[Diop]

i can't be bothered bitching about who we should have picked because it wont change anything.

anyhow, he's a couple of things he did well in his crappy g league game.

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[fatlever]

For the swarm tonight in a big loss he had 11 points 7 rebounds 4 turnovers on 5 of 10 shooting.

[JustBuzzin]

For the swarm tonight in a big loss he had 11 points 7 rebounds 4 turnovers on 5 of 10 shooting.

Prime Taj Gibson like numbers.

[MasterIchiro]

For the swarm tonight in a big loss he had 11 points 7 rebounds 4 turnovers on 5 of 10 shooting.

I'm guessing he tried to dribble the ball 4 times.

[GoBobs]

I just want to know what was going on in that draft room... Like what exactly was the vision here?

This is pretty much the worst part. Before the draft Salaun had like a 37% fg percentage, 14% on layups, had shown zero shotblocking ability. It was obvious that his handle and passing were below average for an NBA wing.

Drafting guys that are very young, not ready to contribute right now, almost never works out. The cost isn't just the draft pick. It is also the salary and holding the roster spot hostage for 2-3 years.

You cannot build a team by filling your roster with these projects. You need guys that are ready to contribute because injurys happen every year.

[KembaWalker]

I didn’t expect him to thrive in the g league but still,it’s getting harder every day to see what the vision was with this kid. He’s a 3 point specialist that can’t shoot for **** lol

[Snidely FC]

Y'all with your knives out are unbelievably bloodthirsy. Salaun is the youngest player with a roster spot in the NbA. Peterson took him as a Project and as a Stretch 4. He said so. If ya don't believe it y'all haven't been paying attention. This is what Peterson had to say immediately after the draft:

“Young, athletic, plays hard. I think he’ll be able to shoot. I know he didn’t shoot it great this season, but I do think he’ll be able to shoot though. I just love the makeup of this guy. The thing I love about this guy is he plays so freakin’ hard on the defensive end. He can guard multiple positions, he takes pride on that end of the floor. I love his running patterns, he never clogs the lane. He’s always spacing to the wings or to the corners. I think he almost identifies as being a guard or wanting to play on the perimeter which is encouraging. He wants to be great. All the things you can’t teach, he has those intangibles. Again, with him, it’s just going to be about the shooting piece ultimately.”

In case you missed that last line:

"It’s just going to be about the shooting piece ultimately.”

Did you all ignore Wilson't post the other day? 3 pt% Ronald Holland II 26.8% Alexandre Sarr 27.5% Stephon Castle 27.7% Did their teams f up taking those 3 guys Top 5? You can see the future player they will become and if you squint you can see Peterson's vision for Salon. Give him time for crying out loud. My prediction is that when Salon's shot starts falling there is going to be a lot of changing tunes around here like is starting to happen with Nick Jr

[JDR720]

The difference is those 3 (Holland/Sarr/Castle) were known bad shooters. We talked about 2 of them on here, Holland and Castle. Castle was meant to be some kind of PG/SG hybrid, which seems to be the case. Holland was an athletic defender/slasher type. Sarr was drafted for defensive upside.

Salaun was drafted, like Peterson said, as a shooting piece. And... he isn't a good shooter either.

He's just so raw on offense that even if he can figure out how to shoot 3's, his overall offense is still going to be pretty mediocre.

These types of players just very very rarely turn out to be good. If he was an above average athlete, I'd more more optimistic. But he's below average there too.

His highest upside is a 4/5 energy big, bruiser, hustler etc. that can make open 3's and run in transition.

[JDR720]

I also think a lot of the negativity isn't for Saluan specifically, but Peterson. His first draft pick being a wasted pick (if Salaun doesn't improve) is a bad first impression. Especially when players were available that could've been useful to have here (Clingan/Edey). And considering we basically skipped a draft with the Kai/Thor picks, we needed to find some hits.

[KembaWalker]

yeah its not like he's some otherwise well rounded prospect or freak athlete where the shooting piece finally comes around and might have a player on your hands. his awful 3pt shooting right now is his best current offensive skill. he's even more deficient on literally everything else.