BGleas

Completely agree on Simmons. I didn’t mean he isn’t a legit super star, he’s a phenomenal player. But his biggest weakness, lack of shooting, is a huge, huge weakness. Even with the great passing, court vision, length, etc., he’s manageable for good defenses with length because he’s not a shooter.

So, my one game into the season overreaction, the Sixers are worse than last season. When losing Illyasova and Belinelli, they lost the shooting that made them so effective the second half of last season. Unless Fultz somehow turns into a legit star, which I don’t think is going to happen, they have some real problems. Not enough reliable scoring and playmakers, and they don’t have a single guard, in a guards league, that scares you. To me Ben Simmons is weird. He’s a freak athlete, he’s incredibly skilled with the ball and he puts up monster stat lines, but as an opponent he doesn’t scare me at all. It’s sort of like Matt Ryan, he’s going to retire with huge numbers, maybe some better than Manning, Brady and Brees, but when playing the Falcons I’m not like, “oh crap, we have to go against Matt Ryan, we don’t have a chance!”

Definitely not the projection I'm trying to give off. I'm just connecting dots. Archie is definitely fallible, and the coaches he's going against for these two have great recruiting track records, if not much longer track records. I'm just saying that if he's not really, really confident on these two, like confident to the point where he thinks he has them, then what he's doing doesn't make much sense.

Same! I can definitely admit I'm connecting dots here in a bit of a biased way, but that's just how it appears the timeline goes to me.

I think the big telling sign on both TJD and Brooks is that Archie has essentially backed off of any legitimate back-up plans. Yes, we're still in with Watford, Stewart and Hurt, but those guys aren't back-up plans, they are guys you swing for the fences on if a spot opens late to add to your class. It's telling to me that as far as we know, IU is no longer really in it or pursuing anyone in the 50-150 range that would be back-ups if we lost Brooks and/or TJD. As it came clear that Franklin was going to commit, interest between IU and guys like Newman, Bouknight, Ramsey, etc. seemed to stop. The coaching staff must be really, really confident here.

I agree it’s not a great comparison, in terms of style of play, Hill was a 6’8” point forward, where Langford is more of a straight shooting guard/perimeter player. Hill had a more all-around floor game, distributing, etc., and was a legit high level defender. Langford is definitely more of a pure, natural scorer at this point. I do disagree big time that it’s some how a limiting comparison for Langford. If Langford has equaled Hill’s accomplishments through 7 NBA seasons, then I’d consider Langford a phenomenal success who has not only matched but surpassed the hype.

Curious what you think is unwatchable about it? Compared to the 90’s, the NBA of today has way better ball movement and spacing, the shooting is better, the players are more skilled, all-around players, etc. The one thing I do agree on is that I don’t love the ‘3 or nothing’ aspect of today’s game, but again overall the ball movement, people movement, spacing and skill are much better. The 90’s was filled with isolation basketbal, not as much movement on offense, etc.

I think this is a possibility as well. Not saying Vic won’t be great this year and that he won’t figure it out, but I could see early on where he tries to do too much and has a bit of trying to prove he’s a legit star and last year wasn’t fluke, and that it’s his’ team. I remember Pierce going through this a bit as the Celtics transitioned from Antoine Walker/Pierce to just it being Pierce’s team.

Completely agree. I remember calling for Blackmon to be benched before his injury, partly because of his defense and turnovers, but mainly because of your point that it needed to be “Yogi’s team”, and for some reason Crean wanted it split. It was unfortunate for Blackmon, but his injury kind of forced Crean’s hand.

Did you get a chance to read the article? Absolutely, I would never want anyone to have injuries, and Hill’s injuries impact how he’s viewed for sure. I wish Hill hadn’t gotten injured, because we lost out on seeing the peak prime of one of the all-time greats. Yes, it’s definitely fair to want Langford to be a better 3-pt shooter, but if he turns out as good of an all-around player as Hill was pre-injury then that is a massive accomplishment. I get what you’re saying too, that the injuries are a part of Hill’s story, but at the same time if Hill hadn’t gotten injured he would be considered a better player historically than guys like Ray Allen, Paul Pierce (you know I’m Celtics homer), Reggie Miller, McGrady, Vince Carter, etc., and would be in the Kobe conversation.

When you have some time, I’d ask you to read this article. https://ca.nba.com/news/2018-hall-of-fame-ceremony-how-good-was-grant-hill-injury/1gpcgsnbclfg91m9yd3yegap4k Some excerpts from include Hill having 24 triple doubles his first three years in the league, with Jason Kidd coming in second over that span with six, Hill’s numbers in his first 6 years in the NBA being almost identical LeBron (except lower in scoring), and his peak season, from an analytics perspective, being better than Kobe’s peak season. The guy would be viewed in the Kobe, Wade, etc. level of player of not for his ankles.

I don’t think you’re remembering pre-injury Grant Hill. Dude was a 7-time All-Star before he got injured and would have been a 10-12 time All-Star and slam dunk first ballot HOF’er if not for the ankle injuries. I would say Duke fans love Hill plenty. I’m super excited about Langford, as we all are, but to say comparing him to a 7-time NBA All-Star is limiting him, is kind of letting the hype train get off the rails.

Depends on what you mean by fundamentals, guys today have way better handles, are better shooters and more all around skilled, the ball movement is much better, etc.

Not that FK was doing this, but people also forget just how great Hill was in the NBA before the ankle injuries. People forget, he was a 7-time All-Star, and if not for the injuries he would have been the bridge as the best perimeter player in the NBA between Jordan and Kobe.

Wondering what you mean in regards to Hill? It limits Langford in terms of his freshmen year expectations compared to Hill’s, or for his entire career?