Snakebites wrote:Yeah, I assure you, he's been as bad as the stats would suggest. This definitely isn't a situation where someone brings a ton of intangibles that don't show up in the stat sheet (not that there's any amount of intangibles that would justify these stats).
We're still keeping the hope alive, but it's definitely waning. He had the excuse of the injury last year that allowed us to keep that hope going because it kind of gave him a built-in excuse (he had been awful before the injury, but that was only 7 games, after all), but there's definitely a point where those excuses run out. Either you have game or you don't.
He was supposed to be a big guard in the mold of Harden. Not particularly athletic, but he had that quick first step and also showcased above average vision and strong defensive potential. His handle, shot and finishing were all major question marks, but those are things that can be worked on.
You can't teach size and first step.
Unfortunately, he was more raw than most fans were expecting from his draft slot. Then he had a near career ending hip injury and his first step disappeared and is never going to come back.
He still has a small chance at being a backup point guard that can get the team into their sets while playing above average defense. It's looking increasingly unlikely to happen on this Pistons team tho.