re: Why the hate for Jaxson Hayes?

What pods did you listen to?

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Not really hate but guys like him aren’t as valuable in today’s NBA. Plus he isn’t a spacer so he isn’t the best fit NOW for this squad.

If Z and to a lesser extent Ingram really develop an outside shot than he becomes much more valuable IMO. This pick was made thinking ahead a few yrs.

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I completely disagree that the Capela/Jordan/Gobert type player doesn’t carry value. If they can set picks/roll/finish, guard the rim/perimeter players, and board like crazy...always a place in the league.

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If they can set picks/roll/finish, guard the rim/perimeter players, and board like crazy...always a place in the league.

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Yep, the days of Ewing & Shaq as Centers are over. Decades ago, Bruno Fernando & Takko Fall are arguably lottery picks, but now, aren't guaranteed to make a G-League roster.

Specialists like Rodman (rebounds) & Ben Wallace (blocks/rebounds) were infrequent back then, but the switch was most evident to me when 2012 Dream Team had Tyson Chandler and raw AD as centers.

Now the league is filled mostly with Capella/Jordan/Gobert/M Robinson/Mo Bamba/Hayes etc types with recent stretch 5's like Love/KAT/Porzingis/Cousins/Lopez/Vucevic/Turner/etc being the preferred alternative.

Hayes was the 2nd highest in all star potential according to projections

He fits our scheme perfectly with his athleticism

We cannot go with slower guys even though they shoot the 3, as that will limit the way we want to run our offense (see Boogie in his time here how he was having trouble keeping up)

i'm curious myself

Basketball as all sports is cyclical. The Big man will come back. It's too big of an advantage and hard to defend. There just haven't been any huge prospects dedicated to the craft and have taken the easy way. Even Embiid is a shadow of what he can be. Give it time..

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Basketball as all sports is cyclical. The Big man will come back. It's too big of an advantage and hard to defend. There just haven't been any huge prospects dedicated to the craft and have taken the easy way. Even Embiid is a shadow of what he can be. Give it time

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It wasn’t by random happenstance that the big man went away, he went away because of Jordan, the fruits of analytics, and a league that specifically adjusted the rules and reffing of the game to be more guard and wing dominant.

The only way the big man truly comes back is through adaptation(which seems to be in the process as most young bigs growing up now all have an emphasis on being perimeter orientated, which they will need to be) or targeted rule changes.

Zion, AD, Jaren Jackson, Embiid, Jokic, those are examples of that evolution, and I suspect more are to come, but I think given the genetic lottery required to be one of those types of players, and to remain healthy in a game that’s pace and risk taking is not geared to those body types, there will be an upper limit on the dominance of bigs. But I think when you do find a big that can initiate offense, hit jumpers at a good level, drive, and post, with elite athleticism and ball handling, that is going to be a special player. And I think the Pels just got the makings of that special player.

I mean you can debate about lights out,
But it is true Simmons has been known to hit threes pretty well in practice:

LINK

Which just goes to show there is a notable difference between doing something in an empty gym or when it doesn’t matter, and being able to do it when it does.

And this is Shaq on his FT issues in games:

“I tried to make 200 a day,” he said. “And then when I got really big time and was able to build gyms in my house, I shot all the time. But there’s a difference between playing craps at your house with your boys and going to Mr. Cordish’s casino and playing craps. When I’m by myself I shoot like Steve Kerr. But it’s just something about when I’m in a game, there’s pressure, I just tighten up.”

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. It's too big of an advantage

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offensively? nope

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There just haven't been any huge prospects dedicated to the craft and have taken the easy way. Even Embiid is a shadow of what he can be.

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what the frick?

I agree but I would say two things.

1.) I still don’t think given the way the game is now called, the way the rules are, the way analytics have changed the game, that a a team built around an elite traditional low post big will ever be able outperform a team built around an elite modern wing or guard. But I definitely think there is a niche ripe for exploitation if we could get some hybrid style player that can hang with the modern switch and run and gun nature of the league but incorporate those classic big men skills at an elite level.

2.) the other problem, unfortunately, is that it is becoming a bit of a lost art. I keep reading and seeing how the talented big men growing up today are looking to Curry, Davis, and Harden, not Olajuwon and Duncan. So I think it will be rarer and rarer to even find bigs with the inside games of even an Embiid, who is probably the closest we have today...But like I said, that may not be a bad thing. As you can imagine the dominance of a future big coming into the league that has the ball handling and shooting prowess of a Durant or Harden, but the defensive switching ability and bully ball abilities of a Davis or Zion just wrecking the league. And heck, Zion May very well evolve to be that big.