Eye of the Tiger: The Tidjane Salaun Thread

[Diop]

That reminds me you did not want to read my trade talk about giving up last year that 6th pick to Houston to get Eason

Eason projects to be a much better player, at least i would think he would shine in another environnement (Detroit?). But Salaun is better than what people thinks, esp in the clutch. but obviously he has to improve quite a lot - consistency in shooting well being the most obvious one - to become a true nba player

for me hindsight says we definitely should have looked harder to trade. Deni Avdija would have been a great and achievable target.

you were wise to suggest it, but its always hard not to take the surprise prize in the box. Just in case it turns out amazing.

[bravor]

That reminds me you did not want to read my trade talk about giving up last year that 6th pick to Houston to get Eason

Eason projects to be a much better player, at least i would think he would shine in another environnement (Detroit?). But Salaun is better than what people thinks, esp in the clutch. but obviously he has to improve quite a lot - consistency in shooting well being the most obvious one - to become a true nba player

Tari Eason turns 24 this week, so yeah he should be better than 19 yr old Tidjane Salaun.

Jalen Green is probably better than Dylan Harper right now too, doesn't mean I would trade the #2 pick for him.

The point was that #6 pick was not worth a usual top pick last year. And Eason was a clear upgrade matching the current core
About being wise, i am not sure, i would have gotten rid of Bridges and i have to admit he restored some value on the court.

The main downside of Eason is not his (young) age, but the end of his rookie season and the fact he will probably get a decent extension. This is where Salaun has the edge. Basketball wise, they are different players. To a certain extent, Salaun is some Jamychal Green (+/-) prospect which is not so bad (but definitely a role player).
We will see how he develops, and if Charlotte can afford his extension next year (s).

[EmpireFalls]

Salaun is Tari Eason now, this is high comedy

[Bassman]

I don't want you to think I'm saying Tiddy will ever be that good, I'm more referring to play style and role.

He's not athletic or springy enough to rely on his hustle in a way that works for the Thompson Twins, Brooks, Eason, etc.

THIS! SWeed is dead on target with this. I’m most concerned about his relative slow response, his lack of hops, poor hands and his utter deficiencies in basketball awareness. He can improve on the latter (and did by end of season), but the bounce, quicks and hands are gifts you either have or don’t. He will grow in strength, and his jump shot may get more consistent, but his finishing and near rim game may never come.

[JMAC3]

That reminds me you did not want to read my trade talk about giving up last year that 6th pick to Houston to get Eason

Eason projects to be a much better player, at least i would think he would shine in another environnement (Detroit?). But Salaun is better than what people thinks, esp in the clutch. but obviously he has to improve quite a lot - consistency in shooting well being the most obvious one - to become a true nba player

Tari Eason turns 24 this week, so yeah he should be better than 19 yr old Tidjane Salaun.

Jalen Green is probably better than Dylan Harper right now too, doesn't mean I would trade the #2 pick for him.

The point was that #6 pick was not worth a usual top pick last year. And Eason was a clear upgrade matching the current core
About being wise, i am not sure, i would have gotten rid of Bridges and i have to admit he restored some value on the court.

The main downside of Eason is not his (young) age, but the end of his rookie season and the fact he will probably get a decent extension. This is where Salaun has the edge. Basketball wise, they are different players. To a certain extent, Salaun is some Jamychal Green (+/-) prospect which is not so bad (but definitely a role player).
We will see how he develops, and if Charlotte can afford his extension next year (s).

Eason is still a role player, yes he is better than Tidjane now. Nobody is doubting that, but when Eason was Tidjane age he averaged 7 ppg at Cincinnati. Drafting is about patience, last year Amen Thompson was nothing special as the 4th pick and some probably would have said they should have traded #4 for Mikal Bridges, now Thompson looks like a future all-star in yr 2 and that trade would have been clowned.

Just like if Charlotte trades #3 for Jalen Green, Green would probably average 20 ppg here and be better than a rookie. However good chance that pick is better than Green by year 2 or 3 and then we look bad.

That is the risk of trading 6th overall for a role player like Eason, we need a bit more patience instead of mediocrity in the moment.

Avdija averaged 6 pts a rookie, 9 pts as 3rd year player. Using the same thought process the Wizards should have traded Avdija away for Trevor Ariza because Ariza was better than young Avdija.

[JMAC3]

I swear half the board would trade Tidjane away for undrafted rookie Quinten Post right now because they think he is a better player right now and be done with it.

[EmpireFalls]

I swear half the board would trade Tidjane away for undrafted rookie Quinten Post right now because they think he is a better player right now and be done with it.

Golden State would laugh in our faces and turn down that trade in half a second. There is no chance Salaun could play in that high feel motion offense of Golden State.

[JMAC3]

I swear half the board would trade Tidjane away for undrafted rookie Quinten Post right now because they think he is a better player right now and be done with it.

Golden State would laugh in our faces and turn down that trade in half a second. There is no chance Salaun could play in that high feel motion offense of Golden State.

Right you are proving my point here, you would rather have a 25 yr old center who went undrafted because he can average 8 ppg today, rather than be patent and wait on a 19 yr old to develop.

Again the 19 yr old, who most draft analysts had a lottery grade on. I don't get it.

We should draft Johni Broom top 5 for the group of people who want instant satisfication.

[EmpireFalls]

I swear half the board would trade Tidjane away for undrafted rookie Quinten Post right now because they think he is a better player right now and be done with it.

Golden State would laugh in our faces and turn down that trade in half a second. There is no chance Salaun could play in that high feel motion offense of Golden State.

Right you are proving my point here, you would rather have a 25 yr old center who went undrafted because he can average 8 ppg today, rather than be patent and wait on a 19 yr old to develop.

Again the 19 yr old, who most draft analysts had a lottery grade on. I don't get it.

We should draft Johni Broom top 5 for the group of people who want instant satisfication.

This is a false equivalence.

Another raw 19 year old who most analysts had a lottery grade on is Matas Buzelis, who I’d be overjoyed to have instead of Salaun. Why? He showcased real talent and feel for the game, is a legit shot blocker, can shoot, dribble, and pass the ball enough to fit into a team concept. He broke out for Chicago towards the end of the year and established himself as a starter. Salaun couldn’t even show up in the G League.

I have no bias towards draft age. I simply want good players. Post and Buzelis are good players. Salaun is not.

[KembaWalker]

I have no problems waiting for a 19 year old to develop. I have problems when I see the guy cannot play ball and doesn’t appear to have any talent to make me believe they will be able to play ball in the future. That’s Salaun

There’s no Hornets fans that are impatient, that’s simply a bad take. We’re all incredibly patient or we wouldn’t be here still

[JMAC3]

Golden State would laugh in our faces and turn down that trade in half a second. There is no chance Salaun could play in that high feel motion offense of Golden State.

Right you are proving my point here, you would rather have a 25 yr old center who went undrafted because he can average 8 ppg today, rather than be patent and wait on a 19 yr old to develop.

Again the 19 yr old, who most draft analysts had a lottery grade on. I don't get it.

We should draft Johni Broom top 5 for the group of people who want instant satisfication.

This is a false equivalence.

Another raw 19 year old who most analysts had a lottery grade on is Matas Buzelis, who I’d be overjoyed to have instead of Salaun. Why? He showcased real talent and feel for the game, is a legit shot blocker, can shoot, dribble, and pass the ball enough to fit into a team concept. He broke out for Chicago towards the end of the year and established himself as a starter. Salaun couldn’t even show up in the G League.

I have no bias towards draft age. I simply want good players. Post and Buzelis are good players. Salaun is not.

Right so you have no issues with the process, you are just 100% results oriented. Got it lol

[JMAC3]

I have no problems waiting for a 19 year old to develop. I have problems when I see the guy cannot play ball and doesn’t appear to have any talent to make me believe they will be able to play ball in the future. That’s Salaun

There’s no Hornets fans that are impatient, that’s simply a bad take. We’re all incredibly patient or we wouldn’t be here still

This makes no sense, you just said you have no problems waiting for him to develop. but then said you have problems with the player he is right now before he is developed.

[EmpireFalls]

This is a false equivalence.

Another raw 19 year old who most analysts had a lottery grade on is Matas Buzelis, who I’d be overjoyed to have instead of Salaun. Why? He showcased real talent and feel for the game, is a legit shot blocker, can shoot, dribble, and pass the ball enough to fit into a team concept. He broke out for Chicago towards the end of the year and established himself as a starter. Salaun couldn’t even show up in the G League.

I have no bias towards draft age. I simply want good players. Post and Buzelis are good players. Salaun is not.

Right so you have no issues with the process, you are just 100% results oriented. Got it lol

My issue is with how terrible Salaun is at basketball.

Nothing else. I am not interested in comparisons to others or trying to find equivalences. I am solely looking at specifically him the basketball player and I am horrified.

He will not magically learn feel for the game in two years. He has easily the lowest basketball skill base of any Hornets player since Biyombo. He is not an explosive athlete. His attempts at doing anything but shooting a spot up 3 looks like a fish attempting to climb a tree. His final game, against Boston’s G League scrubs, he shot 1-11. A poignant capstone to one of the worst rookie seasons any lottery pick has ever had. There’s being raw and then there’s being lost. He is the latter.

[KembaWalker]

I have no problems waiting for a 19 year old to develop. I have problems when I see the guy cannot play ball and doesn’t appear to have any talent to make me believe they will be able to play ball in the future. That’s Salaun

There’s no Hornets fans that are impatient, that’s simply a bad take. We’re all incredibly patient or we wouldn’t be here still

This makes no sense, you just said you have no problems waiting for him to develop. but then said you have problems with the player he is right now before he is developed.

I wasn’t unclear at all. I don’t have a problem with a 19 year old in a vacuum, I have a problem with Tidjane, cause he is a bad prospect. Let me be even clearer for you specifically, it doesn’t even have much to do with how bad he was this year on the floor. He’s just not talented, which is a lot worse than being bad right now, which he also is.

It has nothing to do with your strawman arguments about people being impatient or hating the idea of young raw players in general.

[yosemiteben]

There is nothing new to this discussion, let's please move on from the "he has no skills" vs. "just wait for him to develop his skills" debate.

[fatlever]

There is nothing new to this discussion, let's please move on from the "he has no skills" vs. "just wait for him to develop his skills" debate.

amen

certainly we can all be more nuanced in our analysis of tiddy

[fatlever]

Salaun is Tari Eason now, this is high comedy

my comment started this tari talk... i said tari is a decent comp for what tiddy could become. i dont think that's an outrageous statement. they have or will have similar size/weight/strength, and strengths/weaknesses

tari is high motor, mediocre shooter, straight line finisher, no real handle, passing or high-level processing to speak of... his skill is grit/grid, willpower, physicality, and good hands on defense

now maybe tiddy will never have tari's lateral slide or his def processing, but he can have similar impact and similar role in 2-3 years.

thats a realistic comp for us to hope for from tiddy.

[Liver_Pooty]

The fish attempting to climb a tree analogy did make me giggle.

[JMAC3]

I have no problems waiting for a 19 year old to develop. I have problems when I see the guy cannot play ball and doesn’t appear to have any talent to make me believe they will be able to play ball in the future. That’s Salaun

There’s no Hornets fans that are impatient, that’s simply a bad take. We’re all incredibly patient or we wouldn’t be here still

This makes no sense, you just said you have no problems waiting for him to develop. but then said you have problems with the player he is right now before he is developed.

I wasn’t unclear at all. I don’t have a problem with a 19 year old in a vacuum, I have a problem with Tidjane, cause he is a bad prospect. Let me be even clearer for you specifically, it doesn’t even have much to do with how bad he was this year on the floor. He’s just not talented, which is a lot worse than being bad right now, which he also is.

It has nothing to do with your strawman arguments about people being impatient or hating the idea of young raw players in general.

Yes, he is such a bad prospect that he was a lottery pick in the best league in the world. He fooled everyone, us included and he will never improve ever.....

The drama queens in this thread act like players have never improved ever. Yall must be the best basketball scouts in the world if you can predict which 19 yr olds will improve and which ones won't.

Too bad I know that is wrong because I have seen people campaign for absolutely terrible players over the years from Wiseman to Bouknight to Scoot to drafting Naz Little 9th overall... so yeah I don't think any of us know which 19 yr olds are guaranteed to be bad or good.

YB: Warned. Name calling is out of line, and we already directed the board to move on.

[GoBobs]

I swear half the board would trade Tidjane away for undrafted rookie Quinten Post right now because they think he is a better player right now and be done with it.

I would trade him for cap space because he is a bad contract. There is no way his fourth year option is getting picked up. Maybe not even his third year option.

I do believe in his shooting though. I think he is a good 3pt shooter and will probably hit 35% at some point in his career. Maybe even as a career average. He also has some good foundational stuff. His motor is decent-good. His physicality is decent-good. His size is good.

It doesn't bother me at all that he doesn't jump out of the gym. Jumping is the most overrated thing in basketball.

His defense is not good however. People saying he is a good defender are totally off. He isn't even a below average defensive player.