^^ THIS ^^ You missed the LB era, where we were winners, so we could bother doing stuff like idolizing Darko. We're spoiled kids and we're getting sour milk on our Cheerios. I look at it like the economic situation. This is a correction that will slowly bring our expectations and values back into alignment with reality, instead of thinking Amir will be the next KG, he might be the next Dupree.
From emotional point of view it is understandable that you always hope the best ( why you shouldnt?). I have toyed with idea AJ - allstar too, but I did not take it seriously: talance may be there but he is missing from many aspects, even AJ's shooting motion is plain ugly. For me this beforementioned idoltry of bench as always been desperate wishful thinking : starters couldn't get it done, so maybe somebody from bench can. You still hope that you can find help from somewhere regardless of odds. Who wants willingly to confess "that's the end, man"?
I went to sleep after the 3rd quarter. This game was boooorrringggg as h-e-double hockey sticks!! I didn't even care that Rip and A.I. stunk up the joint and that Tay was taking over like a superstar in some parts of the game. It was not a great game at all, well for Minnesota at least. LOL
Micro: Thank you for bringing in some perspective. I would be happy at this point if even one of the youth (take your pick) actually play at a significant level on any steady basis.
Dre, Let me get back to you on the Piston/Clipper game for 1/4. How do I communicate? Can we send private messages on this board?
Indeed. It would be great if one or two of Amir/Stuck/Spellcheck/max could pan out to be a starter. Click on Dre's name, and you can send him a message. Or he can message you first and you can reply. Let me know if you need help.
Out of the guys that you mention above; I see Spellcheck as a guy that might turn out to be starter in the NBA for many years. Everyone was on the Stuckey bandwagon last year after he showed flashes in the playoffs. I just couldn't get wit dat. Maybe someday but I haven't seen it yet.
I suppose KB watching people stroll by him to the rim after our guards get beat is more appealing. I prefer to look beyond statistics. I don't really understand how Flip's assessment was correct. He stated Amir fouls. Curry stated Amir fouls, but with more PT he will stop fouling as much. Amir got more PT and his fouls went down save a game or two. Now he's pressing b/c the starting spot got yanked away from him for ?? reason when he was "doing everything the coaches were asking him to do". Maybe Tay should go back to the bench. After all he was a bench player that people were "idolizing". Stating Amir can be a player is different than stating he's Kevin Garnett. Also bench players can make a huge difference; Brent Barry, James Posey, hell Brian Scalabrine went nuts against us in a PO game. Isn't finding out if they have "it" better than not knowing ?
lpgrl, Amir has been a favorite among many posters. This year we are actually getting a real look at his game. What I see is a really raw player so far. He does not get significant boards as he seems to get a hand on them with nice effort but not actually get the ball. He has made a few tips to save possession and a few blocks. But he has not been the roaming type young big that creates havoc. He has done some good perimeter type help on D but has been attacked at the rim if not pushed out. Of course, he is not a banger but he is not using his quickness or length or hops to make up for lack of banging. If he gets a block down low, it is not with enough force to clear the ball. They get it back and stuff it as he is pushed out of position after the block. His offence around the basket has been poor. He is not a good finisher at this stage. Most teams have a young big that has outplayed him. Anyway, that is what I have seen. I will continue to root for him but so far, his production is just not there. Everyone is rooting for him and our youth. But I for one, can't say we are seeing great production from any of them yet.
Every time I watch Amir out there, I think of how young he looks/is. He looks like a kid among the elders out there. He has the energy to outrun a lot of them, and the raw athleticism to make some amazing plays, but he is still growing and learning to play in the real world (if the nba is a real world) I think he will be a late bloomer. He has amazing raw talent, but he doesn't have the natural abilities that a Kobe or Lebron had when they came in the league. I think he has plateau high enough to sort of recreate a position like Dwight Howard or Chris Paul has. I don't think he will be a star like them, but he could really change the way a power forward is viewed in this league. but don't get me wrong, he is nowhere near there, and if he doesn't keep his head about him, he will never get there.
As I've said in chat, he needs to do less shirtless beach running and acting like a millionaire in his pool for all of his YouTube fangirls, and he needs to get into a gym with a strength coach and a shooting coach.
He's a fairly handsome young athlete millionaire. There will be lots of time for hanky panky. In his 3rd (4th?) season, expectations are pretty high that he will be able to deliver and at least be a consistent reserve. One thing I learned from the Darko and Tayshaun experiences. When Tay's # was called, he was ready. When Darko's # was called, he wasn't. You can only wait so long for a guy. If he doesn't show you that he belongs in 3 or 4 seasons, you have to consider cutting the cord. The bad boys went downhill when their GM became obsessed with reforming William Bedford, and it ended the team's dominance prematurely.
I got to disagree somewhat. First, even when Amir was in the starting unit, Curry would not play him in the 2nd or 4th quarter. In other words, he would not actually give him anything approaching starters minutes. Even if he was not in foul trouble. Since Amir has been taken out of the starting unit - he has played in the rotation just twice. So in all, no, we have not really had a good look at Amir yet.
I think what you call natural abilities would be called working hard on their games by Kobe and LeBron.
Flip is gone, somewhat and now lets start with Curry. Curry did what I wanted to see. Start him and lets guage his game. He didn't deserve it, but hey, lets see if he steps up. As Coe mentioned, did he do his homework? I think not.
I thought Amir was doing a pretty good job of being the garbage man and hitting the very occasional jumper. We seemed successful overall when he was starting. He got humiliated a few games there on D, so clearly there are some match-ups that he's not suited for/ ready for. The Suns game was painful on all of our bigs. Kwame looked decent at bodying up Shaq, but the rest was ugly.
