More fun for me is asking the question, what is a player's ceiling if he gets his act together and surprises us. In my business, we call it "shots on goal".
I also like using analogies. So why not hockey?
Maybe one of these guys can surprise us. I think Reggie Lewis was a surprise: who would of though a really quick first step could make you an allstar? I think Chauncey Billups was a surprise.
Yes, this is what I was trying to say. Good to great players do not always have to be found at the top of the draft. With college players leaving so early nowadays, teams are more and more ending up with the James Youngs of the world or Cleveland when they ended up with Bennett. The draft has become more and more of a crapshoot.
Lewis and Billups are great examples. Even a guy like Dana Barros forced his way into the NBA scrub versus good player conversation, as in maybe the initial consensus was wrong. Andrew Toney, anyone? Didn't he come out of nowhere? Okay, I see Toney was picked 8th. For some reason I always thought he was the big surprise steal of his era. Pierce and Dirk weren't drafted at the top of their class. There have also been a number of great players emerging from the second round. Marc Gasol and Ginobili, for two examples?
No one predicted Bradley would emerge like he has. Or that guy Leonard on the Spurs.
Jared Sullinger : absolute best ceiling would be the next Wes Unseld. You can be short and great: it is possible!
Maybe that is something I agree with. I just looked at some images of Unseld and he didn't seem overweight like Sully. Maybe Sullinger is afraid if he loses the weight, he will damage his chances of becoming a top rotation player.
I think this is the best Turner will ever be. He has definitely improved. I think that makes his ceiling as a top guy off the bench on a good team. Perhaps a journeyman who finds himself in the right situation. He is definitely not the same scrub whose game took a beating from being picked #2 overall and ending up on a dysfunctional team.
Smart obviously has the best chance of becoming greatness. But he needs to improve his outside shooting. He does seem to have potential as a point guard. His drives to the hoop earlier in the season looked pretty, pretty good. Smart is halfway to becoming a hall-of-fame player. He must improve his shooting, however, or his ceiling unfortunately is a rich man's Tony Allen. He has to improve at being a pg or sg. Sure, he can end up as a hybrid. He can eventually be hidden on offense like the team hides Isaiah flaws on defense. But that wouldn't be greatness.
Olynyk is another question mark. I do see his glass potential as half full.
Bradley turned a definite corner with ball handling and driving to the hoop. His defense is back. He is shooting the ball extremely well and can get those off it seems any time he gets just a little separation. I think Bradley is our best player. Sully was our best player about a month ago. I think Bradley has moved ahead of him on the Celtics' individual power rankings.
I agree that Crowder is pretty much at his ceiling. He can tighten his shooting with practice. He must.
One surprise to me is how hard Isaiah Thomas plays on defense. If only Rondo had tried that much, he might still be on the team.
It was good to see Isaiah finally put together an efficient shooting night. I have been worried about that. He too needs to hit the practice court like a Ray Allen and keep at it. If he can hit the outside jumper at an above average rate and continue to be pesky on defense, I also am not afraid to give him the high ceiling you are.
I agree with CelticPride2016 and Danny Ainge: I like our guys. When I look at a lot of rosters of near 500 teams, I like ours best.
Yes, I agree back at you. Whenever I read comments that such and such a roster is much better than ours, I cringe. Orlando? Philly? I could see folks being envious of maybe Milwaukee and Minnesota, but that's about it. Indiana? Chicago? Maybe those teams will end up better than us this year, but that will be fool's gold for them in comparison to our roster and future Brooklyn picks.
The grass only seems to be greener elsewhere? How can other teams have greener grass when the Celtics are defined by the color green?
Topic: Individual C's Career Predictions (Read 1827 times)