NatP4 wrote:DCsOwn wrote:Ruzious wrote:3.7 assists and 3.5 to's per game. Am I wrong for worrying about that?
I don't think you are. I would say that's his primary area of concern (along with solid but not elite athleticism). Kinda have to weigh that potential issue against the flaws exhibited by his competition for 1OV though, and to me, I'd be more comfortable banking on Cade improving in that area with (ostensibly) better teammates, a better offensive system, more spacing at the next level and more personal development. He's also reputed to be tremendous from an intangibles perspective so that's important.
Agreed on that. His teamates are awful, the have no spacing or shooting. His passing ability isn’t reflected in those assist totals.
Still, Suggs is the better athlete, more explosive/powerful, better at getting to the rim, better at bending the defense, better vision, significantly better defender and perimeter threat, much smarter, and much more confident on the court. He’s like if you took guys like Jalen Brunson and Fred Van Fleet and gave them better size and athleticism. He could be your star lead guard or your 9th man that plays 12 minutes and he’s going to play his ass off and impact the game positively.
The league perception probably does get Cunningham drafted before Suggs, it also got Anthony Edwards drafted 2nd instead of Haliburton. Suggs is going to be a better NBA player IMO. Cunningham will be good though.
I think the league's perception of Edwards/Haliburton in terms of their pre-draft evals has been remarkably prescient tbh. When Ford put together his final tier list (a list constructed almost entirely based on rankings made by scouts in the league), he noted the tremendous variance in opinion around the league about Edwards, noting that multiple scouts deemed Edwards a tier four prospect, which was unusual given where most people had Edwards slotted. That was a byproduct of questions about Edwards' bb IQ, his passion for the game and just how raw he was as a prospect. Even Edwards' fans in that aggregation exercise noted that he would take time to develop in the most ideal scenario, and that there was a tremendous amount of risk in his profile. Should be noted that the Wolves understood that as well, which is one of the reasons why we saw that article on RealGm the other day stating that the Wolves were still literally trying to move the pick while on the clock during the draft. That pick was an upside pick with all the attendant risk well established.
Conversely, everyone had Haliburton pegged accurately as well. In that aforementioned tier list, the consensus was that Haliburton was a tier three prospect (with tier 1s being considered transformational players, tier twos being multiple time all stars and tier threes being quality starting caliber players), with a few scouts viewing Haliburton as a potential tier two. Bunch of the scouts also fingered Haliburton as one of the most prepared players coming into the league and a kid that could contribute to winning immediately. Literally nothing we've seen has disproven either projection. Edwards went one purely as an upside play, this wasn't a situation where people got his eval wrong.
In terms of the Cunningham/Suggs comparison, I'm fine with anyone here preferring Suggs. Not like I don't like him a tremendous amount as well. But, I do think anyone valuing Suggs over Cunningham is undervaluing what size means in this league (in the postseason in particular), especially when comparing comparably talented players. Cunningham is listed at 6'8 220 with somewhere in the vicinity of a 7'0-7'1 wingspan at 19. You could be looking at a scenario in a few seasons in which you have a 6'9 220 pound primary ball handler with quality quickness for his size, with solid shooting ability and tremendous passing ability. Short of Suggs ascending to a DWade tier of primary ball handler, not sure it's possible for him to end up being more valuable than Cunningham is given just how versatile he could be. He'd have the size to guard 1-4 giving you versatility defensively in a switch heavy league, and offensively, he'll have the ability to post smaller guards (along with shooting and passing over any of them whenever he wants), and he'll be able to blow by most forwards that switch onto him. Reticent to make a direct Luka comparison for a variety of reasons, but he should present many of the same issues to teams.
Absolutely!
