Dexjackson wrote:The continuous comments that Scottie is not a 1st option are short sighted and straight up disrespectful. This guy is a great bball player who is good to elite in most skills. Appreciate what we have rather than continuously wishing he was a KD, Curry, etc level scorer.
This post is a bit confused.
The commentary is pretty accurate. Scottie doesn't fit the profile of the level of player required to contend. His scoring approach and effect aren't that of a guy who can consistently dominate and take over games. None of that is false. But those observations do also frequently come with appreciation for the other things he does on the court, because there's plenty to appreciate. Especially this season. Even now that his 3pt shooting is tailing off, he's still only a tiny bit below league-average efficiency, which is acceptable given his volume and role. He's been doing a great job of attacking the basket so far this season, and we all already know that he's a strong rebounder and an excellent defender.
The problem with the narrative around Scottie is that it frequently devolves into this sort of "you can't criticize him" stuff, which is entirely bogus, or the exact opposite, where posters don't want to acknowledge his overall value.
The middle is the much more accurate space to occupy.
People criticized Michael Jordan in his career. Scottie can weather some accurate critiques of his limitations as well, and it'll still be fine. We've generally done a very good job positioning him for success this year, especially when other guys around him are scoring. When BI and Quick are doing their thing, Scottie tends to thrive and pick up that energy. And those sets where we were getting him at the nail were also great, because he's super dangerous from there when he goes aggressively toward the basket (which he has been a lot this year).
He's a great part of this team. Not perfect, not a superstar, but a critical part of our success and having a magnificent season.
