Swish1906 wrote:drekwins wrote:nedleeds wrote:
You aren't alone. I don't think DSJ is anything other than an injury prone chucker so far. Maybe he'll turn it around this Summer. But he's pretty bad, that being said his salary is reasonable he's only 21. If you told me I had to dump 1 of our 4 21 or under players he'd be the first I'd get rid of and I'd keep Frank, Knox and Mitch. Frank at least can do one thing at an NBA starter level. DSJ can't shoot, defend or run a remotely efficient offense, and he's a bit of a diva.
The issue that I have is that guards traditionally take a long time to develop. There's some freaks who are great right away but it's really not that common.
He fell into a situation with Luka where nearly every young guy would struggle. Look at all of the young PGs - Ben Simmons would probably be traded if he wound up next to Luka. Same for Fox, Lonzo and Shai. ... The only recent PGs drafted who would be fine to move off the ball would be Trae and Murray. You could go back to DLOs draft but those guys have twice the experience at this point and have developed..
Actually and thats the funny part /sad part for DSJ:
After the trade and the Barea injury they put Jalen Brunson in DSJs exactly old spot. He started 39 games, played 30min and averages 14PPG 4RPG and 4.3 APG with 49 FG% and 37% from downtown.
Jalen Brunson is 2nd round pick rookie and 8 months older than DSJ. He played really really well off Luka even with the rest of the S5 being pretty crappy with JJ/Kleber/Powell. Because Brunson is a smart and willing player.
I understand that but Jalen is a shooter. It's much easier for shooters to move off the ball and excel. As you stated, he was able to feed off Luka. DSJ plays a different game. He's a PG, not a SG. For most traditional PGs, at 20-21 years old, it would be an adjustment to not have the ball in your hands. Not to mention, he still has work to do with his shot. He's a penetrating guard. The bigger thing for him is decision-making. His shot will gradually get better but he needs to learn how to be a consistent playmaker. As Fiz said, I don't think he really knows what being in GREAT shape means.. kind of like Oladipo before being traded to Indiana (There's pictures floating around the internet of his before and after).
Time will tell, though. All I'm trying to say is that it's not like he can't be a good-to-great PG. He's just never going to be the Steph Curry style. J-Kidd was an absolutely awful shooter entering the league and was never anything close to elite.