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BigSm00th
Posts: 24504
Alba Posts: 0
Joined: 12/9/2001
Member: #178
USA
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oohah, i agree nobody is designing an offense around curry in the nba. i do think he can play point and stretch defenses with his other worldly range.
here is an interesting post from the blog nyismecca.com about "tweeners".
http://nyismecca.blogspot.com/2008/04/brief-history-of-tweeners.html
As the 2008 draft nears the horizon line, speculation, projection, opinion, conjecture, John Hollinger, draftexpress.com, nbadraft.net, Briggs, upside potential, the search for the next Maciej Lampe, and Darko Milicic are sure to increase in cultural significance. In accordance with the imminent momentum of the aforementioned, I decided to conduct an Elementary School level study which considered the history of the tweener shooting guard, the hybrid, the undersized 2-guard, ENTER OTHER LIMITED SYNONYM, etc, for these kinds of players who probably should not be pigeonholed (whatever I am going to try anyway). I think this is relevant with Eric Gordon and Jerryd Bayless poised to enter the El, and so with reference to them, I tried to find players who somewhat matched up to their style of play. As is characteristic of each prospect, I searched for players that were not specifically spot-up shooters, but for those who tended to need and dominate the ball for large portions of possessions. These players differ from Point Guard in that their primary ambition with the ball is generally to create and score for themselves (although many are capable of setting up teammates). I recognize that defining and typecasting players (as a scorer, or a creator, or a rebounder, etc) through such established criteria risks oversimplification and a misrepresentation of the truth. Nonetheless, I think the study has some value, as I believe the essence of both Gordon and Bayless is most fully realized when scoring (and so are the players I point to as historical precedents). I went through each draft since 1996 and to the best of my ability and memory listed all players underneath 6’4 who’s most prominent and effective capacity on the basketball court was creating and breaking down the defense so to get buckets. The following is a list that might help anticipate the performance of the two young bucks in the Association.
Note: Some liberties were taken with heights if I felt including a particular player would better help understand Gordon and Bayless' future. The number next to each dude was the overall pick he was in the Draft.
1996
1- Allen Iverson
1997
4- Antonio Daniels
23- Bobby Jackson
1998
34- Shammond Williams
42- Miles Simon
1999
2- Steve Francis
26- Vonteego Cummings
42- Louis Bullock
2000
13- Courtney Alexander (6'5 but reminds me a bit of Gordon)
37- Eddie House
2001
21- Joe Forte
31- Gilbert Arenas
33- Will Solomon
2002
6- Dajuan Wagner
17- Juan Dixon
42- Ronald Murray
2003
16- Troy Bell
2004
3- Ben Gordon
24- Delonte West
33- Lionel Chalmers
54- Ricky Paulding
55- Luis Flores
2005
21- Nate Robinson
24- Luther Head
31- Salim Stoudamire
32- Daniel Ewing
40- Monta Ellis
45- Louis Williams
47- Bracey Wright
2006
7- Randy Foye
52- Guillermo Diaz
2007
15- Rodney Stuckey
32- Gabe Pruitt
* I debated adding Jason Terry and Cuttino Mobley to this list but decided against it. I could definitely be forgetting a bunch of guys (especially from the earlier years) so lemme know if you see anyone I overlooked.
There has clearly been a wide range of achievement in the El from the players listed above. There is one icon of the game (AI), 2 legitimate All-Stars during their respective primes (Franchise + Gilbert), one fledgling star (Monta), one ambiguous star who’s starting to retreat from that territory (Ben Gordon), a couple youthful, promising guys still incomplete (Foye, Stuckey, Louis Williams), a decent number of legitimate role players (West, Nate, Luther, Juan Dixon, Bobby Jax), one guy it would be unfair to judge (Dajuan Wagner), and a lot of guys who found no place in the NBA.
Importantly, no team that has been constructed with a player from this list as it’s Alpha Dog (or even as its number 2) has won a championship. Many of these guys are still quite early in their careers, however.
Regarding Eric Gordon and Jerryd Bayless, I think they are both significantly more talented than the majority of the players above. How they will sort themselves out amongst the role players, the gamechangers, the stars, and the superstars remains to be seen. The history of players of similar stature and skills indicates how difficult it has been for this character-type to succeed. The summit is lonely for hybrid guards.
That said, players can certainly blend roles and positions to different extents and in the subtlety of that variation realize unique futures. There is no way to definitively define how Gordon or Bayless will develop as a Pro. I suppose this study may help give some perspective to the challenge they will face (as well as the challenge a team will face that chooses to hand over the team to a player like the two frosh), though. At the end of the day, 4 real good players in 11 years isn’t a whole lot.
(and no, i didnt write that).
#Knickstaps
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Wait and See? Over my dead body! I have knee jerk reactions to express! You're not the boss of me...Supreme Commander!
11/21/2008 7:28 PM