SeattleJazzFan wrote:weird that this thread has dropped all the way to third page. was beginning to wonder if there was even a thread on him - which of course would have been much more bizarre.
anyway, banchero's talent is off the charts. people want to compare any tall, skinny kid who can shoot to KD. and while Banchero's body isn't KD's body, his game, more than any other i've seen in a while is more KDesque. he doesn't take or make as many threes as KD did at the same stage - iow, KD was a more advanced perimeter shooter - but paolo's stroke is pure and he will get there. he has a pull up game, catch and shoot - dude has it all in terms of potential as a shooter. but where a lot of guys who get compared to KD fall short - like Jabari Smith - is that while KD took his threes, he wasn't soft. he didn't settle for jumpers. he attacked the rim, used his size to dominate inside, he rebounded, he put it on the floor, he could create for teammates. he had a well rounded offensive game. that's where the similarities start with paolo.
FSU had an excellent defensive game plan for Banchero last night - it worked and they won. dude still finished with 20 points on 11 shots with 12 boards and 7 assists. my question for banchero is whether he wants to and is willing to dominate. he has the skillset - the game comes easy for him. but will he demand the ball, will be aggressive enough to drop 25-30 every night like the truly great ones do. imo, you have to take him #1 due to his size, athleticism and overall skillset and just hope it clicks and he chooses to the be a superstar rather than just a star.
To be fair, I think this thread has dropped because I think I do more than enough to keep the Duke prospect talk alive in the main draft thread haha.
I don’t really see any KD with Paolo. A few negatives with Paolo that have stood out to me watching him so far. His handle isn’t good at all. He loses his handle or gets it picked way too often. Also his shot form is very inconsistent. It’s not just the lack of a follow through (which gets repeated every Duke game got some reason), but the form itself changes a good amount. Sometimes the shooting elbow flairs out, sometimes it’s more of a push shot than a clean shot.
Don’t get me wrong, not saying he doesn’t have potential with his jumper, he clearly does. But he has a good amount to tighten up with it.
Also his passing has been pretty bad most of the year. No doubt he’s shown some flashes with it (like last night). But he’s basically been a 1:1 assist to turnover guy all year and some really frustratingly bad passes throughout the year.
And after a solid start defensively playing the 5 for a few games, it started to look pretty rough and we’re seeing less and less of it the past few games.
With all that said, I do like Paolo and he’s actually started climbing back up my board after I dropped him down a few weeks back.
I still think a smarter and more team friendly Randle is probably his best comparison.
