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Fultz4thewin

2017-2018 Official Season Discussion Thread

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44 minutes ago, Payton4thewin said:

It's going to be a good year for us if Gordon keeps this up into the regular season.

I think the national media is sleeping on him as a major break out candidate this year- but maybe I am just being a homer.

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13 hours ago, ROCK LEGENDS PHOTOGRAPHERS said:

I'm impressed with AG so far in the preseason. Is it possible that Henny got that one right?

I've always argued that Henny has had an eye for talent. Where he failed was FA signings, trades, and eventually putting together a cohesive team that works. 

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2 hours ago, Odin said:

I think the national media is sleeping on him as a major break out candidate this year- but maybe I am just being a homer.

That may partly be because some we're looking for that breakout last season and it never really materialized. Of course he was playing out of position as we all now realize and agree on.

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55 minutes ago, magicblue said:

That may partly be because some we're looking for that breakout last season and it never really materialized. Of course he was playing out of position as we all now realize and agree on.

that's a good point. There's a tendency for experts to predict something, have that not happen, then completely distance themselves from that prediction the following year.

There was a lot of talk about a Gordon breakout last summer. it didn't happen. now he's being slept on a bit.

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51 minutes ago, Mauro Pedrosa said:

Lowe and Russillo actually talked about Gordon on Lowe's recent podcast. Said he could be great but was playing the wrong style, trying to be a wing etc.

I have a big problem with what they said.

 

they said:

R: ...I always feel like the Aaron Gordon stuff was like just, I wish Aaron Gordon was on a team that just let him be Aaron Gordon instead of trying to figure out some position or this hybrid thing just go out there and be yourself

ZL: I think part of it is Aaron Gordon wants to be something he's not. I think Aaron Gordon wants to be like give me the ball [R: A small forward] run pick and rolls and do all this stuff and Aaron Gordon should just be, its amazing that players like, if Aaron Gordon just screen and rolled, crashed the offensive rebound, cut, and played good defense he could average 16 and 11 RIGHT NOW and be acclaimed as like 'Look at Aaron Gordon! What a great player he's turned into!' like with his athleticism its like Hassan Whiteside whose a more skilled player in the post and that you can just walk into 12 and 8. Forget 16 and 11 he can just walk into 12 and 8.

R: Yeah but he wants 25 and 5 assists and he wants to say I'm a small forward and I'm a guy getting all star votes and those things and I think there's something off especially I think with the ball handling with him but... I think with Simmons (and then it trails back to their original point with Simmons. EDIT: Ben Simmons for clarification).

 

I think there's some parts true in what they're saying. I don't think we should have moved his positions before he solidified himself as a PF. He needed that base level before expanding his game. But at the same time, just sticking him into a box (i.e. work off ball exclusively) is severely limiting to his career. Look at Paul Millsap. he started out as a nice player who got the majority of his offense at the rim and rebounded a ton. then he developed a midrange game. then he developed a three point game. it transformed him from a nice player into a max contract guy because there's few players that play defense and can operate from the perimeter.

 

I think they're going to look back after a few weeks and think "I didn't think Gordon had that in his game. I didn't expect he'd be able to do that".

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18 minutes ago, Payton4thewin said:

I have a big problem with what they said.

 

they said:

R: ...I always feel like the Aaron Gordon stuff was like just, I wish Aaron Gordon was on a team that just let him be Aaron Gordon instead of trying to figure out some position or this hybrid thing just go out there and be yourself

ZL: I think part of it is Aaron Gordon wants to be something he's not. I think Aaron Gordon wants to be like give me the ball [R: A small forward] run pick and rolls and do all this stuff and Aaron Gordon should just be, its amazing that players like, if Aaron Gordon just screen and rolled, crashed the offensive rebound, cut, and played good defense he could average 16 and 11 RIGHT NOW and be acclaimed as like 'Look at Aaron Gordon! What a great player he's turned into!' like with his athleticism its like Hassan Whiteside whose a more skilled player in the post and that you can just walk into 12 and 8. Forget 16 and 11 he can just walk into 12 and 8.

R: Yeah but he wants 25 and 5 assists and he wants to say I'm a small forward and I'm a guy getting all star votes and those things and I think there's something off especially I think with the ball handling with him but... I think with Simmons (and then it trails back to their original point with Simmons).

 

I think there's some parts true in what they're saying. I don't think we should have moved his positions before he solidified himself as a PF. He needed that base level before expanding his game. But at the same time, just sticking him into a box (i.e. work off ball exclusively) is severely limiting to his career. Look at Paul Millsap. he started out as a nice player who got the majority of his offense at the rim and rebounded a ton. then he developed a midrange game. then he developed a three point game. it transformed him from a nice player into a max contract guy because there's few players that play defense and can operate from the perimeter.

 

I think they're going to look back after a few weeks and think "I didn't think Gordon had that in his game. I didn't expect he'd be able to do that".

Right. It's important to screw up and try different things in your early days just to get it out of your system, in sports and in life.

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2 minutes ago, Mauro Pedrosa said:

Right. It's important to screw up and try different things in your early days just to get it out of your system, in sports and in life.

not just that. Gordon has looked amazing this preseason taking catch and shoot threes and attacking the rim off the perimeter. exclusively playing him off ball is a bad idea. Last year didn't work as well because he tried to force things. If he stops doing that he'll be pretty good.

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Just now, Mauro Pedrosa said:

Right. It's important to screw up in your early days just to get it out of your system, in sports and in life.

What I don't get is the idea that playing him at SF last year hurt his progress. Sure, he didn't look as good as he had previously- he didn't make the jump that was expected with more minutes, but none of what he was doing should hurt him going forward.

We saw that he was able to take over games on the occasion. We saw that he was able to handle the ball without turning it over (his turnover percentage actually went down). We saw that he was comfortable taking any defensive assignment handed to him.

Yes, there are areas that did not go as well as we would have liked- his shooting wasn't there, he struggled to be a true facilitator. His rebounding went down. His blocks and Steals went down. But I think that he showed a lot of good things that he can build on beyond the "just screen, cut, and finish" type stuff that they seem to want to box him into. He is great at that stuff and we should run more of that for him, but he has some rough other skills that should be beneficial for the team if used properly.

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