Leslie Forman wrote:Alright, I think I've seen enough so I'm just gonna say it: this guy is white DeMarcus Cousins.
Not exactly, of course. He has some slightly different negative/positive traits. He has fewer turnovers, but even worse defense. He doesn't ever pout, but he also doesn't ever bring any intensity. Ultimately, the end result is the same - he puts up similar box score impact (very, very high) with similar W/L column impact (very, very low).
So why is this? Why is he not having some Embiid/Jokic-like effect?
1. The bottom tier defense. He's not "ok," he's not "passable," he is flat out awful. If you look at the league's starting centers, I honestly cannot see a worse defending first choice starting center in the league. At best, he's on a similar level as a Bryant/Wood/Towns type. But his mobility and explosiveness is so poor that I still say he's even worse than them.
2. He was billed as some excellent passer with amazing vision who could potentially be a poor man's Jokic - nope. His passing is basically just Satoransky-ish. He is able to have such a good assist:turnover ratio because he's incredibly risk averse, which leads to low turnover numbers, but also means he is not gonna be dishing out dimes like some point center. Thadgic is easily a better passer IMO.
3. He doesn't drive. No, not literally never. But it is simply not a big part of his game. He, like Lauri, is just an opportunistic driver, not a forceful one. Combined with his good, but hardly special post ability, it means he doesn't warp defenses at all. You don't have to double this guy, and he doesn't create many defensive collapses, as he simply doesn't force the issue enough.
People say I'm just a hater, well I tried. I really tried to see something in his game to make me think we're not just seeing the beginning of another unsuccessful "plan" yet again. Well after these 15 games and everything I've read from Orlando fans who watched him for almost a decade, I'm sorry. This trade was a total dud and it was incredibly predictable.
My gut reaction to this trade when it was made was "oh my god, that is f-----g awful. Being in a very small minority in that view, I then spent time checking myself and wondering if I was just wrong.
The more time has gone by, the more I feel stupid for doubting my first blush opinion.