Minnesota Sports Forum

As much as I was impressed by Curry when I went to the last Warriors game, Draymond Green totally blew me away...how does anyone ever score on him? He's a younger, bigger, faster version of Tay Prince, and the Warriors got him with the 35th pick. I actually like him better in many ways than Kawhi Leonard, and that's saying a lot. He's the second best player on the best team in basketball.

longstrangetrip wrote:As much as I was impressed by Curry when I went to the last Warriors game, Draymond Green totally blew me away...how does anyone ever score on him? He's a younger, bigger, faster version of Tay Prince, and the Warriors got him with the 35th pick. I actually like him better in many ways than Kawhi Leonard, and that's saying a lot. He's the second best player on the best team in basketball.

Yep, he's big, fast, and nasty. We need someone like him, Payne might not get enough minutes this year to find out if he can be that guy for us, but maybe he could be a poor man's Draymond.

ToddGak wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:As much as I was impressed by Curry when I went to the last Warriors game, Draymond Green totally blew me away...how does anyone ever score on him? He's a younger, bigger, faster version of Tay Prince, and the Warriors got him with the 35th pick. I actually like him better in many ways than Kawhi Leonard, and that's saying a lot. He's the second best player on the best team in basketball.

Yep, he's big, fast, and nasty. We need someone like him, Payne might not get enough minutes this year to find out if he can be that guy for us, but maybe he could be a poor man's Draymond.

I think Bjelica might be more like Draymond Green than Payne will be as far as the vast skillset and he has actually shown some very positive signs on the defensive end. Green is kinda like a better defending a little more athletic version of Anthony Mason which to be honest is damn high praise.

longstrangetrip wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:Are we going to have these Zach evaluations after every game? Can we wait for at least 25 games? All-Star break?

NO! In fact, I'm planning on increasing the evaluations to every half!

Ok that's fine, lol. That comment wasn't directed at you LST, it was to all my friends here. We're so quick to project and over-analyze on here, especially about Zach, I don't know what it is about him that gets everyone so fired up!

I'd say overall the discussions/nit-picks/analysis are happening beneath what is generally a positive umbrella.

True. But also the chasm between Zach's best moments and his worst makes for great discussion too. On adjacent plays you can see Zach as a HOFer and then a D Leaguer!

It's the peaks and Valleys and the fact that he has played PG that makes him a hot topic. The fun thing right now is I think everyone agrees there has been some real progress for him this season to be legitimately feel positive about.

BizarroJerry wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:Are we going to have these Zach evaluations after every game? Can we wait for at least 25 games? All-Star break?

NO! In fact, I'm planning on increasing the evaluations to every half!

Ok that's fine, lol. That comment wasn't directed at you LST, it was to all my friends here. We're so quick to project and over-analyze on here, especially about Zach, I don't know what it is about him that gets everyone so fired up!

Quick to project and over-analyze? Hmm. Call me crazy, but I think that's what happens on sports message boards. :)

lipoli390 wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:Are we going to have these Zach evaluations after every game? Can we wait for at least 25 games? All-Star break?

NO! In fact, I'm planning on increasing the evaluations to every half!

Ok that's fine, lol. That comment wasn't directed at you LST, it was to all my friends here. We're so quick to project and over-analyze on here, especially about Zach, I don't know what it is about him that gets everyone so fired up!

Quick to project and over-analyze? Hmm. Call me crazy, but I think that's what happens on sports message boards. :)

Haha, you're absolutely right Lip, but I want our fans to be more patient and rational about expectations.

monsterpile wrote:

ToddGak wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:As much as I was impressed by Curry when I went to the last Warriors game, Draymond Green totally blew me away...how does anyone ever score on him? He's a younger, bigger, faster version of Tay Prince, and the Warriors got him with the 35th pick. I actually like him better in many ways than Kawhi Leonard, and that's saying a lot. He's the second best player on the best team in basketball.

Yep, he's big, fast, and nasty. We need someone like him, Payne might not get enough minutes this year to find out if he can be that guy for us, but maybe he could be a poor man's Draymond.

I think Bjelica might be more like Draymond Green than Payne will be as far as the vast skillset and he has actually shown some very positive signs on the defensive end. Green is kinda like a better defending a little more athletic version of Anthony Mason which to be honest is damn high praise.

Draymond is to Curry what Pippen was to Jordan - a swiss-army knife of a player that plays elite defense and helps facilitate on the offensive end. I realize they play different positions and stylistically are different, but in terms of overall team impact and b-ball IQ, they play a very similar role.

Q12543 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

ToddGak wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:As much as I was impressed by Curry when I went to the last Warriors game, Draymond Green totally blew me away...how does anyone ever score on him? He's a younger, bigger, faster version of Tay Prince, and the Warriors got him with the 35th pick. I actually like him better in many ways than Kawhi Leonard, and that's saying a lot. He's the second best player on the best team in basketball.

Yep, he's big, fast, and nasty. We need someone like him, Payne might not get enough minutes this year to find out if he can be that guy for us, but maybe he could be a poor man's Draymond.

I think Bjelica might be more like Draymond Green than Payne will be as far as the vast skillset and he has actually shown some very positive signs on the defensive end. Green is kinda like a better defending a little more athletic version of Anthony Mason which to be honest is damn high praise.

Draymond is to Curry what Pippen was to Jordan - a swiss-army knife of a player that plays elite defense and helps facilitate on the offensive end. I realize they play different positions and stylistically are different, but in terms of overall team impact and b-ball IQ, they play a very similar role.

Pippen was a hell of a player but yeah Green is doing some really special stuff right now. It's amazing what he has developed into where a conversation about him being a Pippen type isn't ridiculous. It's amazing.

"Would Zach have shown such dramatic improvement this year if he had played 90% of his minutes at SG? We don't know...maybe and maybe not. I tend to think not because of the Flip doctrine, and also Wig and Martin haven't missed much time this year, so Zach wouldn't have gotten the starting minutes he got when Ricky was out. But none of us really know."

After halftime of the ORL game, Zach LaVine was a +53 in 34:12 minutes at SG this year. I get that you want to push the narrative that LaVine's a good point guard, but please don't act like his contributions/improvements aren't evident playing the 2 because that wouldn't be true.

It looks like LaVine in a runaway, but Payne has to get some consideration too if he can string a number of quality games together.