NatP4 wrote:I would ... probably drop Cade to tier 2 but I won’t say that because it always starts a big argument) but other than that, I pretty much agree with the list.
Illuminaire wrote:Great list! I have a similar one, except I'm the oddball who puts Cade back in T2. I'm either going to look prescient, or like a moron, with nothing in between.
I'd like to see the case for it. To me Cade is a supremely versatile player who is ideal for pretty much any team. You can play him 1-3, and as he adds strength I can see him working at small ball 4. His frame will take the weight. He defends with timing and vision, hits a sweet outside shot, his passing is elite when he has a team around him, his handle is solid even if it might not be his primary duty starting out at the NBA level. But he knows how to relocate and play off the ball, and out of the gate even as a secondary playmaker he will make any team better.
Are we concerned about his asst/TO ratio? Sure, a 30% usage rate means you will be under pressure all the time, and your assist rate will suffer if you have exactly zero other NBA draftees on your squad. Compare with Suggs (25% usage, 3 other likely draft picks on his team) and Butler/Mitchell who had each other to pass off to. Yet OKState won against most of the Big Dogs they played, splitting with Baylor and Texas. That team won or lost solely on the strength of his play. They weren't relevant before he arrived, they won't win with him gone.
In the NBA he is a playmaking 3&D Small Forward who has an aggressive mindset and actually wants the ball. With a sweet and pretty 3 ball that drops from any position he plays. At a 40% rate, and usually from NBA distance. He is an asset to any team that has smart players in motion, can initiate the pick and roll. Even without the ball in his hand though he knows how to play smart. Starting out you can play him as an aggressive Otto Porter: appearing cool and cerebral, but actually taking the shot and hitting it. Eventually though he has a chance to be Ben Simmons with an outside shot. That is an all-star.
And he is clutch. How many times have you wanted Beal to take over at the end of games? Brad works hard but tends to fall short in those last second scenarios. Not Cade, who makes the winning play at both ends. He of all players though would work really well with Beal to get him the ball on his motion and timing runs past screens. Ditto Bertans, hitting him as soon as he is open. Clutch is not just wanting to take the last shot, but to make the right play. And knowing what is the right play before it even develops. Setting up the right play.
I think what his detractors miss is in thinking his aggression or athleticism or size are supposed to be where he has an advantage. No. It's his smarts and timing. Its his defensive angles. His understanding of space. Watch him in interviews. Check his positioning on defense. Check his timing on cuts when he is not on the ball. He gives his passers angles to hit him when he spots up outside, and will hit from anywhere around the arc, with the same smooth motion on his J. Granted, in passing he forces passes to scrubs who are not where they ought to be. He will make a jump pass, expecting he will figure out a target when he is in the air. He can be a gunslinger as a passer, expecting his teammates to be better, since he had an all-star squad in highschool. But in the NBA he will have outside killers and lob threats on the interior, you can trust him to pick the smart play and the right target.
On this team he is the only player that might start right away, after winning the job in training camp. Maybe Mobley if he puts in a solid summer in the weight room. On this team you can play him next to Beal, Russ, Deni, Rui, Bryant, Gafford, Bertans. In pretty much any configuration. You can even play him next to both Deni and Rui, playing a big version of a pace and space game, where any player can take the rebound and initiate the break. On defense you can switch everything and still be big.
He's not a tier zero player. A LeBJ or Duncan or whomever. But he absolutely belongs in the top 1-4 of this draft the way I see it.
Here's a representative game showing his smarts and timing and angles.
and here with Mike Schmitz, check out his analysis of zones and how to use angles to cut off certain passes so you can jump the route on the next most likely pass, etc:
