Taurean Prince is averaging 21.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1 steal per game almost shooting 50/40/90 (49.2/41.9/93.3)

[High5]

27 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

He was never that good defensively. His success was driven by his time with Al Horford who protects his teammates with the best of them.

He's never played with Horford. 

[JayBirdHawk]

31 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

He was never that good defensively. His success was driven by his time with Al Horford who protects his teammates with the best of them.

The long arm of Al Horford helping Taurean with his defense all the way from Boston.   

Your love for Al knows no bounds Supes.

3 minutes ago, High5 said:

He's never played with Horford. 

Got 'im!

[benhillboy]

At 6’8” 220 Taurean’s got as many dunks as Huert Locker, 6’7” 190.  I could never understand some touting his athleticism.

[benhillboy]

9 minutes ago, High5 said:

He's never played with Horford. 

Damn.

[NBASupes]

12 minutes ago, High5 said:

He's never played with Horford. 

Damn, 

 

I got too much work on my plate at the job. Holla

5 minutes ago, benhillboy said:

At 6’8” 220 Taurean’s got as many dunks as Huert Locker, 6’7” 190.  I could never understand some touting his athleticism.

Kevin pretty damn athletic 

[AHF]

7 minutes ago, benhillboy said:

At 6’8” 220 Taurean’s got as many dunks as Huert Locker, 6’7” 190.  I could never understand some touting his athleticism.

Why is that a knock on Taurean's athleticism?  Huert is a big wing with pretty good athleticism.  They are one inch apart.  Huert has played fewer minutes but more garbage time when dunks are more frequent.

[High5]

2 hours ago, Atlantaholic said:

While I don't disagree changing systems hurt Carroll's efficiency I think a lot of it also had to do with his health. He wasn't the same player post Atlanta regardless of his role, lets not forget he came off of significant injury at 29 years old and only played 22 games his first year in Toronto. Fact is Carroll in his prime is a hands down, no doubt about it, better more valuable player than Prince. Heck, Bazemore is a singinficantly more valualbe player then Prince by a mile and he isn't as good as Carroll was in 2014.

Glover comparison is harsh but fact still is he is a lot closer to Glover level value than he is to Jimmy Butler and Derozan. Glover had a higher PER and more win shares than Prince at this stage in their respective careers. 

The thing that bothers me about Prince is how he has stated publically he wants to show the league he is a star. How about showing the league you can be a functional starting caliber player, and showing just a modicum of interest at the defensive end first?

Again, I have never said Prince is going to become the next DeRozan, but if you want to compare stats DeRozan finished his 3rd season with a PER of 12.3 and .503 TS%. Butler was at 13.5 and .522, but obviously a much better defender. 

And the problem with Prince's attempt to ascend in this league is that we don't have the roster for him to ease into it. He was on a nice trajectory as a rookie. He played really well and within himself in the playoffs. But now he's on a team where if he doesn't take the shot then it's just going to be someone else doing some wild shit. Obviously he has room to make more smart, high percentage plays and these red flags may be present for the rest of his career, but as I've said, I'm not going to judge anyone too harshly in this environment. 

[EazyRoc]

27 minutes ago, High5 said:

Again, I have never said Prince is going to become the next DeRozan, but if you want to compare stats DeRozan finished his 3rd season with a PER of 12.3 and .503 TS%. Butler was at 13.5 and .522, but obviously a much better defender. 

And the problem with Prince's attempt to ascend in this league is that we don't have the roster for him to ease into it. He was on a nice trajectory as a rookie. He played really well and within himself in the playoffs. But now he's on a team where if he doesn't take the shot then it's just going to be someone else doing some wild shit. Obviously he has room to make more smart, high percentage plays and these red flags may be present for the rest of his career, but as I've said, I'm not going to judge anyone too harshly in this environment. 

The problem with all of this is Prince is an ABSOLUTE terrible playmaker, so when the ball is in his hands and he’s not shooting, he’s a huge liability.

[benhillboy]

15 minutes ago, AHF said:

Why is that a knock on Taurean's athleticism?  Huert is a big wing with pretty good athleticism.  They are one inch apart.  Huert has played fewer minutes but more garbage time when dunks are more frequent.

Well take Kevin out the equation, his jumping, floor run, and explosion has just always been unimpressive.  2 dunks from a wing of his size and length, at 29 minutes is awful, especially for one of the league’s “highest pace” teams.  He’s never near the rim on either side (.3 blocks).  You got a guy playing PF who takes twice as many threes as FTs and a lesser percentage of his shots within 3 feet than Trae.  I could go on.

[AHF]

Just now, benhillboy said:

Well take Kevin out the equation, his jumping, floor run, and explosion has just always been unimpressive.  2 dunks from a wing of his size and length, at 29 minutes is awful, especially for one of the league’s “highest pace” teams.  He’s never near the rim on either side (.3 blocks).  You got a guy playing PF who takes twice as many threes as FTs and a lesser percentage of his shots within 3 feet than Trae.  I could go on.

That is fair, although I'd say he is not a PF.  He is a SF who can fill in for a few minutes at PF in a small-ball lineup.  He is MUCH more of a wing than a PF and once Collins is back I'm not sure he plays much PF anymore.  He has struggled with those minutes this year.

[High5]

34 minutes ago, EazyRoc said:

The problem with all of this is Prince is an ABSOLUTE terrible playmaker, so when the ball is in his hands and he’s not shooting, he’s a huge liability.

I said at the beginning of this thread that he's not a playmaker. But he doesn't need to be a playmaker to be a valuable player. My hope is that we add more talent and he's able to move into a role that suits him better. Like something similar to Klay Thompson's role. 

[NBASupes]

11 minutes ago, High5 said:

I said at the beginning of this thread that he's not a playmaker. But he doesn't need to be a playmaker to be a valuable player. My hope is that we add more talent and he's able to move into a role that suits him better. Like something similar to Klay Thompson's role. 

He gotta play better d to he 3 and D

[EazyRoc]

10 minutes ago, High5 said:

I said at the beginning of this thread that he's not a playmaker. But he doesn't need to be a playmaker to be a valuable player. My hope is that we add more talent and he's able to move into a role that suits him better. Like something similar to Klay Thompson's role. 

I just want him to stop forcing it. Don’t wait until you’ve dribbled yourself into a bad spot or traffic to decide to through a bad pass. 

[Lurker]

As I remember when he was playing at first in his rookie year, his muscle memory of the dumb Baylor zone scheme was still there. Eventually it was getting better, but it was still too early to tell if he'd actually live up to what people believed he'd be.

I think we know enough now to conclude that he's not going to be the defender thought of. He could be better if he had a lesser role, but wouldn't be a true 3/D little things glue guy.

Huerter is that if he can get confidence.

[benhillboy]

7 hours ago, AHF said:

That is fair, although I'd say he is not a PF.  He is a SF who can fill in for a few minutes at PF in a small-ball lineup.  He is MUCH more of a wing than a PF and once Collins is back I'm not sure he plays much PF anymore.  He has struggled with those minutes this year.

Totally agree, I wouldn’t even remotely  consider him at PF but it’s just where the league is now.  Taurean simply can’t play on that imaginary plane 9-11 feet off the floor.  There’s no shortage of SGs let alone SFs who are more like to grab contested boards, block jumps shots or challenge them to misses, serve up facials, or catch alley oops like 6’5” Baze (who also has a solid hustle line so far) let alone an Oladipo. He doesn’t have Klay-like shooting and All-NBA floor defense or a beautiful dribble/pass/shoot game like Joe did to account for the total lack of explosion.