Quote:
Originally Posted by KC_Connection
Volume scorers who do literally nothing else on court (he's a pitiful defender still too) don't count for much anymore. Ceiling these days looks much more like DeMar DeRozan than Tracy McGrady.
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He's not a terrible player. He's flawed defensively, but remember when everybody bitched their head off about the Love trade because the Cavs were getting rid of a guy who could "come in and play good wing defense off the bench?" He's only had 3 years in the league, 3 different coaches, and two years where he was immediately thrust into the lineup as THE guy. It's like a QB getting drafted by a shitty team who goes through bouts of franchise instability, and while he puts up pretty decent stats and hasn't lost the knack for showing off why a team drafted him in the first place, he has the knack of being a loser on a loser team.
If everybody thought he was a defense-first player who would slowly integrate better scoring into his toolbox as a player, he's still got the ability to do that, I'd say, particularly with the solid surrounding defense-friendly environment he'll be playing in if he doesn't get traded.
If after this year he's still losing the handle at inopportune times, making dumb jumpshot choices, and ranking near the bottom in defense rankings after this season, then sure. Call him a bust if you want.