I m taking the role of buzz kill here. First, I just don't believe in cade. Maybe its the turnovers. Maybe he is having one of those starts this season where the league hasnt caught on yet. Same with Jalen Duren. Now duren is an interesting study, I was bullish on him when he came into the draft. He was soooooooo young that I thought well, he really should get much better. And he has tools. And so he has, but do I think he's a winning player? I sort of don't though I cant really defend that belief. Same with the Thompson twin. Same with Ron Holland. I dont trust these guys. I think they are having a blessed first half of the year. And none can shoot. Thats going to catch up with you eventually. I think JB has them doing stuff that has fallen out of favour (offensive rebounding) but i dont think its sustainable. Opposing coaches are going to figure out how to frustrate a turnover prone team. Maybe ill be proved wrong. I am after all the guy said the Bulls would be a surprise this year.
What's interesting is that my own metric, xRAPM, is a lot less of a fan of Cade than some of the other metrics. And I think it's because of the turnovers you mentioned, with many of them being "live"
But he's probably good enough where the question now is more whether he's top-15, or just top-40
I've come around on Duren. Some of the things he does look a bit clunky, but he's just too big and strong for some other frontcourts to handle. And those offensive rebounds and putbacks are valuable
And I think the biggest thing - when it comes to the whole team - is they just all go hard, all the time. They take more pride in defense than 90% of the other teams. Couple that with size and athleticism, and I don't see them dropping out of the top-8 defensively
Agree they’ve been a bit lucky in close games, but I’m hoping that’s offset by their injury luck across a wide array of players this year. Thanks for the analysis, I feel good about the team!
I m taking the role of buzz kill here. First, I just don't believe in cade. Maybe its the turnovers. Maybe he is having one of those starts this season where the league hasnt caught on yet. Same with Jalen Duren. Now duren is an interesting study, I was bullish on him when he came into the draft. He was soooooooo young that I thought well, he really should get much better. And he has tools. And so he has, but do I think he's a winning player? I sort of don't though I cant really defend that belief. Same with the Thompson twin. Same with Ron Holland. I dont trust these guys. I think they are having a blessed first half of the year. And none can shoot. Thats going to catch up with you eventually. I think JB has them doing stuff that has fallen out of favour (offensive rebounding) but i dont think its sustainable. Opposing coaches are going to figure out how to frustrate a turnover prone team. Maybe ill be proved wrong. I am after all the guy said the Bulls would be a surprise this year.
What's interesting is that my own metric, xRAPM, is a lot less of a fan of Cade than some of the other metrics. And I think it's because of the turnovers you mentioned, with many of them being "live"
But he's probably good enough where the question now is more whether he's top-15, or just top-40
I've come around on Duren. Some of the things he does look a bit clunky, but he's just too big and strong for some other frontcourts to handle. And those offensive rebounds and putbacks are valuable
And I think the biggest thing - when it comes to the whole team - is they just all go hard, all the time. They take more pride in defense than 90% of the other teams. Couple that with size and athleticism, and I don't see them dropping out of the top-8 defensively
@MarcStein Thank you for sharing the Det story by Royce Webb, Jeremias Englemann very detailed insightful and informative Ty
Agree they’ve been a bit lucky in close games, but I’m hoping that’s offset by their injury luck across a wide array of players this year. Thanks for the analysis, I feel good about the team!