King Malta wrote:As someone who's been critical of Ball I don't think his red flags are off the court, to be fair to him everything I've seen/heard points to that area not really being a substantial issue. Despite their insane father, Lonzo and Lamelo seem like decent enough kids.
I just can't get past the non-existent defense or the woeful 3 point shooting and broken jumper.
Plenty of people talking today with opinions about someone like Haliburton as the actual best guard of the draft. One guy on nba radio saying he was deemed the "safe" guy and buzz terms like that end up hurting players. Because he showed he was good at too many things already it somehow hurts him. They talk now about he dropped into steal of the draft territory. I freaking hate examples like this and makes me want to crumble the draft process up into a paper ball and stomp on it for good.
Then you have examples like Ball and Edwards with unrefined, possibly unrefinable skill levels, but they have grown up physically faster and people equate this to what exactly, that there is more room for skill growth yet? It's a sad rhetoric. Hopefully they can both become good players.
How about the plethora of examples of kooky looking young draftees of the past. Durant twigs, Steph teeny weenies, remember KG?, Kobe. Sure, we draft underdeveloped guys all the time and they don't work out. It's nice to know Edwards has that already primed for him. But that in itself just isn't enough. I want pro level skills or else I just don't want to watch it anymore. I can head to a high school and watch kids slopping ball. That's not what we are paying for and that's not what competes in teh playoffs of this league. Refined skills do, and if a college kid happens to already have high level skills imagine how they could become even better yet or more consistent yet or how it allows them to focus on any weaknesses they do have. Instead of having to focus on basic skills required to win games, like shooting.