I think Bender is the player who drops the most but Dunn would had been an easy pick at 3 over Brown.
I still like Brown a lot but Dunn showed some flashes of greatness already.
None whatsoever in preseason thus far.
He was horrible last night. Heild also. It's tough to judge with such a small sample size but I would definitely say that Dunn's preseason struggles are more significant than his summer league domination just based on the level of competition.
Brown, Ingram, Chriss and Bender were all expected to struggle due to their age and lack of experience. They will have struggles off an on all season.
Heild and Dunn however were expected to be ready to contribute right away, being much more experienced, and they don't look great either so far. Dunn particularly has stunk in preseason.
Heild averaged 16.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists in 32 minutes in the Summer League. Sure he struggled with his shot (32.7% FG, 22.9% 3PT) but so did just about every other rookie. On the plus side he did shoot 90% from the foul line, and despite struggling with his shot he still found ways to produce.
In the preseason so far he's averaging 12.8 Pts, 4 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 25.8 minutes while shooting 47.6% FG, 35.3% #PT, 100% FT - and that's after a stinker of a game brought his averages down.
He's been probably THE most consistent rookie so far, producing consistently in both the SL and Preseason,
As for Kris Dunn, his average of 24 PPG in the SL this year ranks fourth in Summer league history behind only Damien Lillard, Lou Williams and Kawhi Leonard. His overall average of 24 PPG, 7 RPG, 3 APG and 2 SPG were incredible and he's one of the few rookies who actually was efficient offensively (54% FG).
He's struggled in the preseason so far, but at least he's shown he dominance at SOME level so far.
Jaylen Brown has had his struggles in college, in the SL and in preseason - no doubt about it. But at every level he's consistently shown flashes. In College he showed flashes of his ability to take over with his physicality. In the SL he was dominant in his ability to get to the basket and draw fouls. In the preseason he's starting to show some flashes of his rebounding ability, court vision, defensive potential, and even early stages of a mid-range game.
He's not been really dominant at any level, but he's consistently giving us reasons to be optimistic.
Compare this to Ingram / BenderIngram was not "dominant" at the college level. He put up very nice all-round numbers, but was never dominant. He was absolute garbage in the summer league when he was going up against rookies and D-leaguers, and now he's sucking even more in the preseason against guys who are closer to NBA level. He's yet to show dominance at any level, and he's yet to show even the faintest hint of competence at the NBA level.
Not saying he's a lost cause by any degree - he may well develop into a solid role player like a Nicolas Batum or Tayshaun Prince (which is what I had predicted all along), but he sure as hell does not look like a guy who has the slighest hope of ever becoming a star.
The same is true about Bender. He looked pathetic in the european league, he looked like trash in the Summer League, and he's looking arguably even more trash in the preseason. He probably still looks better then Ingram, but not by much.
Now people can jump on the whole "Dunn and Hield are older so they are supposed to be more NBA ready" card. Fine.
But then how do you justify the fact that Jaylen Brown (19), Ben Simmons (19) and Marquese Chriss (18) have all flashed potential on the court, while Ingram (18) and Bender (18) have shown none at all?
I don't get why people didn't see this coming. It was blatantly obvious from the get-go that Bender and Ingram were being massively overrated by scouts, who were allowing past visions of grandeur (Porzingis and Durant) blind them in thinking these guys had potential to become something they never looked remotely like.
People massively overrated Bender's shooting, his rebounding, his athleticism, and his defense. He has a solid foundation for all of the above, but people spoke about those areas of his game as if he was a beast at them all - no. He struggles with all of those things, but shows flashes, that's it.
Same with Ingram. People are like "he can shoot, he's an above average rebounder, he is an ok passer, he's really skinny with long arms - ZOMG NEXT DURANT". In reality Durant averaged close to 30 PPG and a couple of assists shy of a triple double in college as a freshman - he had one of the most dominant college years in history. Ingram averaged like 17/7/4 or something mediocre like that. Not even remotely close to being in the stratosphere of what Durant put up. Maybe he's got the potential to match Durant as a jump shooter, but that's it. He'll never be nearly as good a passer, ball handler, rebounder, athlete or overall scorer as Durant is. That was always a pipe dream.
He's a mentally softer version of Tayshaun Prince, which is basically what I've been saying all along.
Almost every single draft there is at least one guy who guys top 3 and ends up a flop. It was clear to me from day one that this year, that guy was going to be Ingram. He's done nothing to change my mind so far.
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Topic: Where would Jaylen get drafted today? (Read 11284 times)