Shabazz Muhammad

[mrhockey89]

I realize the guy wasn't quite as disastrous as many of us predicted in his rookie year, but I see an awful lot of posts listing Shabazz as a valuable rotation guy and I'm thinking that may be jumping the gun a bit. He rebounded well and scored a bit, while giving effort, but so far he's a better post-up game+worse shooter+higher effort+less talented version of Michael Beasley. He was also the worst on the team in +/- in on vs off court on the team by a fairly wide margin.

Maybe I'm the only one, but I'm not ready to crown him a successful draft pick, nor a rotation player. I think he has a long ways to go before he's a + asset on this team that should be getting regular minutes.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

the problem is that he can't shoot, can't dribble, can't defend. But he can score on the block and rebound alright

[thedoper]

I realize the guy wasn't quite as disastrous as many of us predicted in his rookie year, but I see an awful lot of posts listing Shabazz as a valuable rotation guy and I'm thinking that may be jumping the gun a bit. He rebounded well and scored a bit, while giving effort, but so far he's a better post-up game+worse shooter+higher effort+less talented version of Michael Beasley. He was also the worst on the team in +/- in on vs off court on the team by a fairly wide margin.

Maybe I'm the only one, but I'm not ready to crown him a successful draft pick, nor a rotation player. I think he has a long ways to go before he's a + asset on this team that should be getting regular minutes.

So tough to tell because he didn't get playing time. Which was so much of my frustration because he couldn't have been any worse than the rest of our bench. I wanted Shabazz as my top guy from the whole draft so I was always pulling for him. What I am confident of is that this year we will definitely get a good look at him, because I think Flip will give him some PT and wade through the ups and downs that go with a young player. I agree generally that the jury should still be out but the glimpses of good play should warrant more of a chance I hope.

[mrhockey89]

the problem is that he can't shoot, can't dribble, can't defend. But he can score on the block and rebound alright

You're much more to the point than I am

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

You don't really have a choice but to play him. He beat up the D League pretty good and won't develop at all on the bench behind mediocre guys like LRMAM and Bud. How do you expect him to get better if you ask him to play worse competition in the D League or ride the pine in the big leagues? Nobody is saying he was a good pick yet, but we also won't know one way or the other if he never gets consistent minutes. I don't see how Bud or LRMAM have earned playing time over him either besides being in the league longer which should never be the criteria for playing over another guy. He's just a guy you have to give a shot in order to determine if he is worth it to keep for the long haul.

[Monster]

You summed him up reasonably well I think. I think people are putting him in there partly because they want to at the very least see him get an opportunity to show what he can do or maybe what he can't. Like a lot of the roster he is a unique player and does some sort of odd things well for his position. Not many wing guys have the sort of post up offensive rebounding game he has. I think we will have some idea of if he has improved any when we see him in Vegas. If he could icrease his ball handling to even slightly below average for a wing that would be sort of impressive. I see him as a project (still young raw etc) and I don't really know what I think his ceiling is because I didn't see him play much at all. I'm hoping for nifty bench player and with his strengths he could be sort of useful in that regard. Let's hope for the best right? Lol

[mrhockey89]

I guess I understand that people want him to get more of a chance, and that's good and fine, but I just guess I don't feel like we should assume he deserves to be a regular rotation guy based on what he did last year. He's still a black hole on offense and not a strong defender. He definitely has his strengths and weaknesses, and like many on here, I'm interested to see how this next year goes for him, but I think we better have a legitimate rotation player that we know we can count on, and play a "see how it goes" with Shabazz.

khans brings up a point in Luc. I agree that Luc is pretty bad, although I imagine he got more playtime not just because he's a veteran, but because he played more within the offense that Adelman ran, which focuses a lot more on off ball movement and sharing the ball, but that's just my assumption.

I'm still disappointed we somehow managed to not upgrade in the Derrick Williams trade, even short term.

[Monster]

It seemed like Luc underachieved last year and the bar was set pretty low for him. I wonder if Dante doesn't come back Luc takes over his role (or what it should be hopefully we get more bigman depth one way or another) and maybe Luc ends up giving the Wolves some solid minutes at times. He has been a pretty solid player in the league for a while so that's not too crazy to hope for.

Back to Bazz yeah I am not counting on him but there are only so many guys on this team you can count on. Those guys are either very good or solid or in Dieng's case legit potential to be valuable. Hopefully out of Chase, Bazz and a draft pick we get at least one guy that becomes at least a valuable rotation player.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I can't help thinking of Hall of Fame WR Chris Carter when people talk about how limited Shabazz Muhammad is. When Buddy Ryan let him go to the Vikings for nothing, he famously said "All he can do is score touchdowns". He was right. If Carter were measured at a combine, he would rank near the bottom of the bunch because he wasn't all that fast, big or athletic. And yet he knew how to do the one thing that teams covet...get in the end zone.

I see similarities in Shabazz. I watched him a lot live in his one year in college, and the first few times I watched him, I thought "This is the guy who was considered the best high school player in the country last year?!". His game was so unorthodox, and he appeared almost clumsy on the court at times. And yet at the end of the game, he would have his 20 points, and after awhile I realized that he could flat out score. And he has now shown it at every level he has played at:

1) High School player of the year
2) Pac 12 all-time freshman scoring leader
3) Although Adelman limited his playing time, he still led all NBA rookies in points per minute.

Rick Adelman has a vision of how NBA basketball should be played (and frankly I agree with him in many ways), and Shabazz didn't fit that vision at all. Despite scoring at will in practices and in limited game appearances, as well as in a short stint in D-Laegue, his obvious flaws (still a project on defense, ball stopper) prevented Rick from giving him a chance. I think this was a big mistake, because he is a legitimate big time scorer.

The Beasley comparison I sometimes hear is faulty. Beez was a gifted, but sometimes lazy and disinterested, player. Nobody has ever accused Shabazz of laziness or indifference. He is going to be putting out 100%, offensively and defensively, every times he steps on the court.

I'm also annoyed by comments that he can't shoot, and that he only scores on his one baseline turnaround move. Both comments are far from the truth. In college, he scored in a number of ways: the baseline move, put backs, in transition, 3-pointers, and even mid-range. And he can shoot. Some on this board rave about the 3-point ability of CJ McCollum and malign Shabazz in the same breath. I invite them to do a little research on the 3-point shooting percentages of each of them in college. (spoiler alert...EXACTLY the same, despite Shabazz facing superior defenses!). It's apparent Adelman didn't want Shabazz shooting threes...let's see if Flip is smarter.

I'm obviously a Shabazz fan, but having said that, I see him as a role player...able to score prolifically off the bench, but not necessarily a starter. The Spurs have showed us that the best teams are those that move the ball well, and I don't think he will ever be adequate in this area...it just doesn't seem to be his mindset. He also needs to improve his defensive technique. I'm optimistic that he will improve defensively, because he is a hard worker and intensely competitive.

Most importantly, since he drafted him Flip is going to want Shabazz to succeed. I often felt that Adelman was holding Shabazz back in a passive aggressive move to show Flip he didn't draft an Adelman type guy, and he never seemed happy when Shabazz succeeded. I admired Muhammad's attitude in spite of this, as many rookies would have become whiners. I look for a successful year for Shabazz.

[BloopOracle]

I'd love to hear people's reasoning as to why they think Shabazz can't play defense