BadMofoPimp wrote:Optimus_Steel wrote:BadMofoPimp wrote:People are so desperate for the Next Big Superstar they don't seem realistically envision what it takes to obtain one.
It is like people are already saying Dante is a Superstar ready to start his rookie season without realizing that he is a kid who is super raw who played at Australian HS speeds and can hardly shoot the ball. He is a project plain and simple. Any GM who drafts him plans on Exum riding the bench and learning the game of basketball for 2-3 years before he can start.
Anyone who thinks Exum will start his rookie season has alot to learn about pro basketball. I have been watching Drafts since I was a kid in 1985 with my step father who played College ball and was a HS basketball coach. He knows every player in every draft. Exum would have to do the impossible to compete at the level Fans on this board envision him straight out of High School. Kid is only a project that may or may not live up to peoples expectations.
I do not want Exum because I want to win now, not suck for another year. I want NBA ready Smart, Big 3 or Randle.
First of all, has anyone here said that he will be a superstar? I haven't and I dont remember seeing anyone claiming that he will be.
Second, I havent said that I expect him to start right away nor have seen people claiming he would be. If Dipo couldn't start then certainly Exum wont.
Smart is the most ready player out of the top 6/7 players. But aren't you concerned that Smart plays a very similar game to Dipo? Duplicating abilities and possibly getting on each other's way?
You act like Exum is a raw HS athlete that hardly played with limited skills. He is not a dumb, raw high school athlete like Darius Miles. Exum is a very skilled player that is athletc but you dont want to recognize it.
Solid retort!
First, I seen too many posts stating a starting lineup with Exum starting. And, I was just arguing in this thread with people who think Exum could actually start.
As far as Smart, then most of the teams in the league shouldn't draft Smart because of the same exact rationale. Every wing player can be said to be similar to other players on their team. That is not a valid thought. Exum plays too much like Oladipo also. Thus, we should draft either one of them. It is a redundant and illogical reason to not draft someone.
Maybe, Phoenix shouldn't play 2 PG's either. Thus, there is not a single reason not to draft Smart or Exum if that is the GM's prerogative.
Exum has never encountered this level of competitiion and speeds. Just because he is athletically gifted and never faced intelligent College or Pro level competition doesn't mean he has a super high IQ. Those Australian HS kids looked like they played at the Middle School level. I could look like an All-Star against those kids, hahaha.
I like Smart and I have no problem drafting him, but if Exum and Smart are still on the board I want to take the shot on Exum. Sure you can still have similar size players with similar skill sets on the backcourt with Dipo and Smart, but it can limit us in terms of matchups and versatility, specially since the outside shooting is suspect. The Phx thing works because Bledsoe is clearly not a PG, he is SG with PG size. It helps that Dragic is a playmaker, and is one of the taller PG's and they run a system that allows Dragic to probe and dish. Not many teams run that system, and we are not even sure if JV is a competent coach to implement something like this, and neither Smart nor Dipo strike me as being adept to it. This is one of the reasons I am against acquiring Bledsoe because we already have Dipo. Although Exum's shooting is also suspect, he has a really quick first step, he is a tremendous ball handler, he is smooth and has tremendous body control, and he is a playmaker, to go along with his tremendous size and length that can allows us to play different lineups and create all sorts of matchup problems. He is also not a twig like MCW who has a similar body type, Exum is actually stronger and heavier than he is already.
The level of competition argument is valid if we are talking about an athletic freak with limited skills, but Exum is clearly skilled. He has shown that in international competitions thru his teen years against some of the better talent in the world of the same age group, not just against 5'5 Aussie high schoolers as you claim. Reminds me of watching some footage of the Greek Freak, Giannis last year (I didn't watch nowhere near as much footage on him as I have with Exum), it was clear then that he was a skilled player even though he was playing some very inferior minor league in Greece. It doesn't seem to me like Exum is as big a gamble as you think because he is talented and skilled. He is smart, he has good instincts, he knows the game and he understands it. Some of the young kids that flame out are athletes that have no idea how to play the game and never develops skills or had any to begin with.
