2019-20 Player Rankings

[Joey]

except maybe Ibaka, who has never seen a shot he didn't like.

I liked this post for this part only. The rest of the post was fine enough, little pessimistic for my tastes, but this is what earned the like. Lol

[The Great One]

The best justification for your hot take that you can come up with is from a completely different Sport that has zero in common with basketball? Really? C'mon man. Do better. Lol

Looking more locally at the actual sport we are discussing, what about Oladipo when he was #2 on OKC, and then moved to #1 with Indy and flourished? I'd say that's far more an apt example, wouldn't you?

[KeonClark]

I liked this post for this part only. The rest of the post was fine enough, little pessimistic for my tastes, but this is what earned the like. Lol

Speaking offense only, Ibaka is basically becoming bargnani. Thank God hes also an energy guy

[GLF]

I'm still not sold on Siakam. Yes, he was great last year....as the 2ND option. This year he's going to be the no. 1. He's going to be the main focal point of the D.

Using the Pittsburgh Steelers as an example. Smith Schuster has been great for Pitts the last couple years as the no.2 receiver behind Antonio Brown. Brown is gone, Smith Schuster is the Steelers no.1 receiver this year. So far he's been a disaster.

Agreed. It's a completely different thing being the number 1 option. I really hope he proves me wrong but I think he's gonna really struggle, especially in the playoffs. He's gonna have to show that he improved that 3 and that midrange game significantly in one offseason for him not to struggle. But we shall see, I definitely believe he will be a good number 1 option in the future but after one offseason of work preparing for it I don't know. I'm excited to see what happens

[S.R.]

Siakam was one of the best iso scorers in the league last year. I mean obviously the team will be worse without Kawhi, but that's not really news? They won a lot without Kawhi on the floor, the rest of the guys are good. Missing Green is a big x-factor, will have to see how much OG or one of the new guys will produce.

Also, Siakam's a pretty good passer. If he's drawing extra defensive attention on his iso's, I'm pretty confident he can hit open guys consistently. He sees the floor pretty well.
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[Joey]

I get the feeling we're going to see alot of "Trade Siakam while his value is high" threads this year if he ever goes through some minor struggles.

[LJ2]

I think we need to focus less on Siakam being a number 1 option and more on him continuing to develop as a really good 2nd option. Like when all these big contracts come off the books and we can take aim and another potential number 1. He's still going to be needed when Masai lands that next top 10 guy.

And hey, if it turns out Siakam develops into a number 1 option then we can all be pleasantly surprised.

[Quirk]

Yeah, I mean a better example would have been be the 'other guy' in the group Wham! before George Michael went solo. Why even stick to sports?

Dude, he delivered.

[G__Deane]

I think we need to focus less on Siakam being a number 1 option and more on him continuing to develop as a really good 2nd option. Like when all these big contracts come off the books and we can take aim and another potential number 1. He's still going to be needed when Masai lands that next top 10 guy.

And hey, if it turns out Siakam develops into a number 1 option then we can all be pleasantly surprised.

This.
No one should be counting on Siakam to develop into a true number one, possible but still a huge leap away and a lot to ask. Since it's too late to draft one and trades for one are ultra rare and require assets we can't move..........Masai has to somehow sign one. I try not to think about it too much since I don't see it happening

[planetmars]

I think sport has a bit of an instant gratification mantra to it. When you win you want to keep winning... but in reality its so damn hard to win, especially in the NBA where top market teams have an advantage simply due to geography/location.

It might take another 5-10-15 years before we get the chip again. I'm hoping we don't lose hard core fans along the way because we had to take a few steps back. We're hoping for the next star.. but honestly our next star may still be wearing diapers or hasn't even been conceived yet. It's a long journey to get to the top.

But yeah.. holding on to hope that Siakam turns into a top 5 guy overnight is a bit ridiculous. He's got his own personal growth. First step to stardom is making the all-star team. Let's hope he can do that next season.

[KeonClark]

I think sport has a bit of an instant gratification mantra to it. When you win you want to keep winning... but in reality its so damn hard to win, especially in the NBA where top market teams have an advantage simply due to geography/location.

It might take another 5-10-15 years before we get the chip again. I'm hoping we don't lose hard core fans along the way because we had to take a few steps back. We're hoping for the next star.. but honestly our next star may still be wearing diapers or hasn't even been conceived yet. It's a long journey to get to the top.

But yeah.. holding on to hope that Siakam turns into a top 5 guy overnight is a bit ridiculous. He's got his own personal growth. First step to stardom is making the all-star team. Let's hope he can do that next season.

I dont think anybody thinks he can be a top 5 guy this year, but even sports illustrated calls him 24? I dont think its unreasonable or unfair to think a #1 option is in the cards. DeRozan, Oladipo, butler, Kemba, murray, these guys are #1 options on quality teams, and I think siakam can reach that same tier offensively

[G__Deane]

I dont think anybody thinks he can be a top 5 guy this year, but even sports illustrated calls him 24? I dont think its unreasonable or unfair to think a #1 option is in the cards. DeRozan, Oladipo, butler, Kemba, murray, these guys are #1 options on quality teams, and I think siakam can reach that same tier offensively

I think there's a distinction to be made between a number 1 "option" which every team has to have, even crappy teams.....and a true number 1, as in a top guy in the league, arbitrarily like a top 10 guy for instance.

I don't have a problem seeing Siakam as our number one option because there are so few .... options lol
I think we want him to turn into whatever makes it easier for Masai to attract a true number 1, top 10 in the league here.....

[S.R.]

I think there's a distinction to be made between a number 1 "option" which every team has to have, even crappy teams.....and a true number 1, as in a top guy in the league, arbitrarily like a top 10 guy for instance.

I don't have a problem seeing Siakam as our number one option because there are so few .... options lol
I think we want him to turn into whatever makes it easier for Masai to attract a true number 1, top 10 in the league here.....

Yeah I'm not sure where in the last page or two "#1 option" became synonymous with top 10 or top 5 in the league, I don't think anyone here has used it for 2019-20 Siakam with that in mind.

[G__Deane]

Yeah I'm not sure where in the last page or two "#1 option" became synonymous with top 10 or top 5 in the league, I don't think anyone here has used it for 2019-20 Siakam with that in mind.

I htink because so many people now realiize it's almost impossible to win without a ton of talent on the roster. And starting with a top 10 guy is a great place to start. Even then, you need to surround him with a lot more talent and depth. It wasn't long ago many were hoping OG would be an upper tier talent, now they're hoping he can be a serviceable player with plus D who can drop 3's at a reasonable rate.

This team still needs not just young up and coming talent but a BIG signing to really compete (not just have a chance to) as our vets retire and/or regress.

I don't want to settle for a winning season and an easy out in the 1st or 2nd round any more

[SkywalkerAC]

As a first option, you're talking about step-back & pull-up contested 3's off the dribble. Like this...

And this....

Ahhh... the memories....

Pascal's 37% is deceiving. It's mostly on low-volume, wide-open & hilariously un-contested corner 3's, which he struggled with at various times throughout the regular season and playoffs.

Are we banking on Lowry and Gasol to turn the clock back? Yeah, we might be able to get through the regular season on a Wednesday night vs. Charlotte, but those guys all became afraid to shoot when the defense tightened up.... except maybe Ibaka, who has never seen a shot he didn't like.

So it's not that he's missing a 3-ball per se but that he's missing a pull-up 3-ball? Strikes me as moving the goal post and generally not a requirement to be a scoring power-forward - you seem to be comparing him to point guards and the league's handfull of superstars for some reason. Our offense is fully capable of generating open 3-point shots, whether for Pascal or others.

And why do we have to leap ahead to facing playoff defenses? We're not talking about what it will take to repeat as champions, we're basically talking about Pascal taking that next step - ie becoming an allstar - which is all about how he performs night in and night out during the regular season.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves.