« Reply #54 on: August 10, 2021, 08:41:52 PM »
I would've rather have kept our pick and grabbed Alperen Sengun.
Eh. He has no ability to play anywhere besides the 5, and would have struggled for the necessary minutes here. Wood is the ideal pairing for him in Houston with his perimeter game on offence
I love this kid he's going to be like Sabonis. You find room for him.
There's a big gap between one good Summer League game and the second best passing big man in the NBA. He's also got much less perimeter game than Sabonis, even as a young player. Sabonis also had a really unexpected developmental arc. I see him more as a Mason Plumlee type big with a Nurkic tier ceiling (pre-injury) than a perennial All-Star like Sabonis.
Sabonis has taken a fairly typical path improving every year with fairly big jumps between his 1st and 2nd and then 2nd and 3rd years. That is what you'd expect, especially from a big man.
Please point to me all the posts of people predicting him to end up as a 20/12/7 guy after his rookie season.
There is a reason Indiana made him a big part of the Paul George trade. Big men often take time to develop. Jokic 10/7/2.5 in 22 mpg as a rookie. John Collins 10.5/7.3 in 24 mpg as a rookie. Capela played 12 games a rookie and even in year 2 was just a 7/6.5 guy in 17 mpg. Nurkic, who you cited, 7/6 in 18 mpg as a rookie (pre-injury he was a 17.5/10.5 guy). Gobert 2.3/2.3 in 9.6 mpg over 45 games as a rookie. Even much lesser talented players like Steven Adams (3.3/4.1 in 17.8 mpg) or superstars like Anthony Davis (13.5/8 over 29 mpg) have bad rookie years statistically. That doesn't mean all big men are awful as rookies. Towns and Ayton were both very good.
Sure guys sometimes surprise with their peaks. I mean no one saw Giannis coming, but it also is very common for young big men to make massive leaps in production after their 1st and 2nd years, which is exactly what Sabonis did.

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2023 Historical Draft - Brooklyn Nets - 9th pick
Bigs - Pau, Amar'e, Issel, McGinnis, Roundfield
Wings - Dantley, Bowen, J. Jackson
Guards - Cheeks, Petrovic, Buse, Rip