Cam Thomas comp is quite fair, barring the (as you mentioned) potential to turn up effort on defense. Could be very dependent on what franchise he goes to and what development staff he’s under
But maybe they are. I like to divide players’ defensive issues into three categories: “can’t”, “won’t”, and “doesn’t know how”. Some players are negatives defensively due to physical limitations: they might be too small or have short arms or limited quickness. That’s “can’t”. Some players hurt their teams because they just won’t defend: they don’t care enough about that end of the floor or don’t want to deal with the physicality or aren’t in good enough shape. And some players simply don’t have the habits and knowledge to be in the proper spots, to anticipate, to execute.
This framework is helpful because some of these limitations are more changeable than others. A team can’t get a player’s arms to grow. A head coach might be able to impact how much a player cares by emphasizing defense more, and allotting playing time based on performance at that end of the floor, though this doesn’t always work. But a coaching staff at least has a good chance of creating habits through film and practice.
My friend has a phrase for all facets of life — “aggressively mediocre” — which is really a good descriptor for players like this. They’ll make a shitty team competitive but they’ll hurt a great team with their mediocre efficiency. Who is in your pantheon of aggressively mediocre players?
many microwave bench scorer types fall into this category. But they can still be valuable if 1) they play primarily with bench units that struggle to otherwise score but can cover up for the microwave scorer's defensive deficiencies, 2) they don't monopolize the offense while there is still time on the shot clock to run offense to swing for a higher upside shot, but rather only when there is little time on the shot clock and therefore the opportunity cost is low
Is it possible that the most optimal version of his game — at least one that impacts winning — is Malik Beasley? Low at rim frequency (<10th %ile since ‘21-22) but doesn’t need much daylight to shoot, especially from 3. Very good breakdown, Tre’s been my toughest eval this cycle
The Malik Beasley comparison has been thrown around, but Beasley was athletic enough to be 23/25 on dunks in his lone season at Florida State. I worry about Tre's ability to attack a closeout with how bad he has been at the rim.
Loving the approach and your writing
The one I’ve been waiting for
Cam Thomas comp is quite fair, barring the (as you mentioned) potential to turn up effort on defense. Could be very dependent on what franchise he goes to and what development staff he’s under
How would you rank skills (physical and mental) from “easiest to develop” to “hardest to develop”?
There is a really good Ben Falk quote from this Cleaning the Glass article that is relevant here. From https://cleaningtheglass.com/making-the-transition/
But maybe they are. I like to divide players’ defensive issues into three categories: “can’t”, “won’t”, and “doesn’t know how”. Some players are negatives defensively due to physical limitations: they might be too small or have short arms or limited quickness. That’s “can’t”. Some players hurt their teams because they just won’t defend: they don’t care enough about that end of the floor or don’t want to deal with the physicality or aren’t in good enough shape. And some players simply don’t have the habits and knowledge to be in the proper spots, to anticipate, to execute.
This framework is helpful because some of these limitations are more changeable than others. A team can’t get a player’s arms to grow. A head coach might be able to impact how much a player cares by emphasizing defense more, and allotting playing time based on performance at that end of the floor, though this doesn’t always work. But a coaching staff at least has a good chance of creating habits through film and practice.
My friend has a phrase for all facets of life — “aggressively mediocre” — which is really a good descriptor for players like this. They’ll make a shitty team competitive but they’ll hurt a great team with their mediocre efficiency. Who is in your pantheon of aggressively mediocre players?
many microwave bench scorer types fall into this category. But they can still be valuable if 1) they play primarily with bench units that struggle to otherwise score but can cover up for the microwave scorer's defensive deficiencies, 2) they don't monopolize the offense while there is still time on the shot clock to run offense to swing for a higher upside shot, but rather only when there is little time on the shot clock and therefore the opportunity cost is low
Is it possible that the most optimal version of his game — at least one that impacts winning — is Malik Beasley? Low at rim frequency (<10th %ile since ‘21-22) but doesn’t need much daylight to shoot, especially from 3. Very good breakdown, Tre’s been my toughest eval this cycle
The Malik Beasley comparison has been thrown around, but Beasley was athletic enough to be 23/25 on dunks in his lone season at Florida State. I worry about Tre's ability to attack a closeout with how bad he has been at the rim.