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Originally Posted by hayth.james.g
Your arguing your point with some real vigor... I can dig it 
Reading through your posts, it seems like you are reaching quite often to prove your own bias correct. As previously stated, we could do this to any prospect which is why they are prospects. Its all a guessing game.
The question is does he have the skill set to translate to the NBA and potential + work ethic to continue to improve. Keep in mind that for many of these guys you can simply go back to their senior year at HS and summer ball to see how they faired against stacked competition. This was my biggest selling point to DSJ last year, and Porter Jr. this year. Bagley has always performed very well in these scenarios.
Again, I'm not saying I do not like JJJ. I am just struggling with putting him into the tier 1 (top 3) in this draft. Especially after watching today's game from start to finish. |
You're right. There's not a ton of 7 foot bigs in the NCAA for Bagley, or any other prospect, to prove his wares against. However, he has shown signs of being a poor defender vs shorter, less athletic bigs & that is concerning. The notion of Bagley III being a one-way player should concern us all. If he were a more adept defender, then I'd probably be willing to cut him more slack.
As I wrote in a Youtube comment a while back, I think most fans don't pay attention to defense, they just look at typical box score stats points & rebounds, and they think Bagley is too good not to go in the top 3 of this draft. The problem with that idea is you're not drafting the best college basketball player because Bagley's stats at Duke mean nothing the moment he steps on an NBA court for the first time. What you are drafting is the best NBA prospect, and the box score from college does not always show, in fact can often times betray, the real ability of a player.
I'm much more concerned when I hear things like "has trouble defending the Pick n Roll", "takes plays off", or "has trouble following his defensive assignments" those are all things that Carlisle will sit a rookie for. If it's Julius Randle and we're 3/4 years into an NBA career & still have a reputation as a very poor defender, now we have a problem that impacts the chances of a championship contender. That's all stuff I weigh much heavier than 30 & 15 vs a team with an elite defensive system but a bunch of 6-7 guys enforcing it.