02-08-2023, 09:09 PM
(02-08-2023, 02:38 PM)cow Wrote: It's a good post, KL. Not that you are doing it, but we can't equate Josh to Jaden. Josh has hit walls along the way and look stunted which makes this season even more remarkable for him. He showed flashes last year but more often than not looked like a deer in the headlights. Those flashes are what he's bringing consistently now so kudos to him.
Hardy is built different. He's hit walls too, but he tends to smash through them on the next opportunity. We know he's basketball fiend, loves practicing and coaching. I'm sure Josh does too but Hardy has the "it" factor, the confidence you just can't teach. He's always comfortable out there no matter who he is playing alongside. That's not to say that he will not meet a wall that he can't run through, but we need to keep feeding his basketball computer minutes and luckily for him, he's going to get that opportunity as he and Josh are really the only one's capable of creating offense for themselves and others and boy does our second unit need that help.
I'm probably higher on Hardy than most but he has something that was noticeable right away.
Agree with all this, but I remain skeptical on Hardy not being treated exactly like he was following his last 20+ point game. We all thought he'd start to see more minutes. It didn't happen, he still got garbage time only. I have a feeling it's going to be exactly the same the rest of the way, and will take Luka and Kyrie being out for him to get decent minutes again. Hopefully I'm wrong.
(02-08-2023, 03:23 PM)Smitty Wrote: Well, I don’t want his ceiling to be THJ. A shooter that can’t/won’t dribble and one that doesn’t play defense. Obviously Timmy has made a lot of money and had a great career but I’d much rather him work on his handles, understand his limitations on his decision making and find a way to study and/or work on it. Put an emphasis on getting better defensively so that he’s not always out of position and fouling, which will allow him to stay on the floor. Just the normal things that take time. That’s why I just saw “raw” or “a year away”.
Regardless of the flaws in his handle, he is already right now in his raw state, light years ahead of THJ as a ball handler. Not even close.