Mavericks @ Suns Friday game thread 11-29-19

[AzStevenCal]

Steve, come on... you're talking above about guys who couldn't win a title, but were still in the running every year or at least in the playoffs by the time they were 23. The only thing Book's been in the running for throughout his career has been the #1 pick in the draft. Now, that's not HIS fault. They aren't bad BECAUSE of him. But he's yet to show his game can lift a team for a significant amount of time, to really make them better than they have any business being. Those guys "who couldn't win the big one" until they did were still winning a lot of games and turning their teams into at minimum playoff participants. That just hasn't been anything close to the case with Book.

I wasn't just talking about Jordan and Lebron, the list of HOF players that never won a ring is quite impressive. As is the list of HOF players that didn't make the playoffs until well after their 23rd birthday. And even Jordan led a team to a horrible record, they only won 30 his second season and that was with a much better roster (IMO) than anything Booker has seen until maybe this year.

Anyway, this is a team game and I truly believe that no NBA player has ever dealt with a worse overall situation (caliber of teammates, questionable coaching, heavy roster turnover etc.) than Devin has faced.

None of what I've said offers any support to the idea that Booker will become a truly dominant player, I just maintain that failing to have accomplished it by the age of 23 means almost nothing. And remember, I'm not claiming he will take us to the promised land, I'm arguing against the idea that it has already been established that he will never be able to lead a good team to success.

 

[BC867]

He'll find his shot and he will be just fine.

That is an opinion, not a certainty. None of us know what he'll find.

If you're saying that you hope Bridges will become an NBA shooter, that's a wish.

It would be nice if your perception becomes a reality.

 

[AzStevenCal]

That is an opinion, not a certainty. None of us know what he'll find.

If you're saying that you hope Bridges will become an NBA shooter, that's a wish.

It would be nice if your perception becomes a reality.

Sure, there are no guarantees but he took 6 shots per game from distance his final year in college and he made 43.5% of them in addition to making more than 85% of his free throws. Those are good indicators for how he should perform at the next level. Hopefully he'll follow a pattern similar to his college career where he shot 29.9% his first season, .393 his second season and then .435 his final year.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I wasn't just talking about Jordan and Lebron, the list of HOF players that never won a ring is quite impressive. As is the list of HOF players that didn't make the playoffs until well after their 23rd birthday. And even Jordan led a team to a horrible record, they only won 30 his second season and that was with a much better roster (IMO) than anything Booker has seen until maybe this year.

Jesus. Talk about twisting facts to fit your narrative. Jordan only played 18 games in his second season when the Bulls won 30 games. And when he did play, the team was 9-8. Leaving out that little tidbit of information is ridiculous to me.

Anyway, this is a team game and I truly believe that no NBA player has ever dealt with a worse overall situation (caliber of teammates, questionable coaching, heavy roster turnover etc.) than Devin has faced.

Weren't you the guy just a couple days ago who mocked someone for posting the most hyperbolicist hyperbole ever? Good gravy.

None of what I've said offers any support to the idea that Booker will become a truly dominant player, I just maintain that failing to have accomplished it by the age of 23 means almost nothing. And remember, I'm not claiming he will take us to the promised land, I'm arguing against the idea that it has already been established that he will never be able to lead a good team to success.

Jesus... and now comes the classic move-the-goal-posts point of the discussion. The overwhelming majority of people (really everyone but 1sun) are saying they don't think Book can be the #1 on a TITLE WINNER. The "promised land" is the ultimate level of success, but there are varying degrees of success and again, no one but one poster is flat out saying he can't be successful at the level of a Joe Johnson/Brandon Roy/Melo. Those guys had varying levels of success and got their teams to the playoffs but didn't possess the overall skills/game to really elevate that team to be a title contender/winner.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Jesus. Talk about twisting facts to fit your narrative. Jordan only played 18 games in his second season when the Bulls won 30 games. And when he did play, the team was 9-8. Leaving out that little tidbit of information is ridiculous to me.

It was ignorance on my part, not deception. I looked him up quickly on BR and obviously didn't dig deep enough.