Fox will be better than Boogie as an impact player, individual production, efficiency, leadership, all-star appearances, and winning. I know they play different positions but they came into league at same age, from same school and almost same draft spot. Boogie was a tremendous talent from Day 1. Fox is a tremendous talent. The difference is maturity and weakness more likely to be addressed and overcome.
I said in my 4000 word team preview and before Fox is a 20+ PPG scorer in this league. Scoring comes easy to him, which is quite exciting given fact he is also an unselfish passer. Last night on two plays he dribbled with his left hand, then finished with his right on a lay-up and lob pass. This is epic! I had not seen this before from him. Most lefties are overly left-hand dominant. The fact he can switch hands when he contorts himself into lane and attacks at various angles is going to keep defense off-balance and make him more lethal.
Tyreke was SO predictable when he would drive lane. He could not finish left. He never developed floater. His finishing ability was predicated on power and size and when he lost his explosiveness he did not have nuance or savvy to compensate. His career flatlined because of this one dimensionality. Fox is already more proficient in these areas: (1) using off hand and (2) shooting the soft floater if he can not get all the way to the cup. I always say the most talented players make the game look easy. Fox makes game look easy. His ankle definitely hampered him in LVSL because last night he looked twice as fast.
The other thing I like about Fox is that even though he is wiry in build he does not look to be afraid of contact.
Frank Mason is NO joke. A lot of confidence and poise for his first game. I compare him to Isaiah in terms of size and ability to run a team. Mason is NOT as fast as Isaiah, but Mason looks stronger. The combination of shooting, speed, strength and low center of gravity for a 5'9" is a headache for opponents. It is type of opponent you dread! Mason is money from deep as his 47% shooting from 3s last year attest. I think there could be minutes for Mason when we go small ball with Fox at the 2 and Buddy or Boggy at the three.
Boggy was nervous last night. I was curious to see how his size compared against teammates and opponents. His size is good. He has good length. The next thing I look forward is his ability to create separation. I didn't see enough but I will expect him to settle down over the next few games. We need Boggy to be a scorer and playmaker off the bench. This has been a substantial flaw of the team over the last decade. There have not been NOT enough players who can make plays for others besides the PG so the whole offense sputters to a halt eventually. No one along the frontline or SG could set up their teammate consistently. Boggy can do this and this is where he can valuable and style of play infectious.
Speaking of making the game look easy (Fox), Skal makes the game look easy. His game last night make those criticizing his summer league play look silly. He is a legitimate threat to score the ball whenever and wherever he gets the ball: on the run, face-up, out of the block. He is patient to survey and attack with high release point and smooth footwork. It will be interesting to see how much of a green light he has to launch the three. He can make that shot and opponents aren't going to be eager to contest. I would not surprised if Skal averaged 1 or 2 three point FGA per game.
Talking about Evans makes me sad because I think if it weren't for the Kings mismanagement of him and his own injuries, he'd be a top 20 player right now(big limb, but I'd argue for it). I don't think Evans has flat lined at all...I think people just forgot about him because he went to the Pelicans. He was productive for the Pelicans in all his years. In his first year, he put up good numbers at 14.5/5/4.7reb. In the 2nd year with the Pelicans, he put up 16.6/6.6/5.3rebs. Despite clearly being their 2nd best player, and helping them get to the playoffs, nobody talked about Tyreke or any other Pelican player outside of AD. When they played against GSW in the playoffs, that's where the Pelicans
finally got national limelight and people saw Tyreke and thought, "Oh, he's actually playing, and he's good?". They got swept, but this made people care about the Pelicans, and not just AD.
In his 3rd year, the Pelicans were nationally focused on. However, Tyreke got injured in preseason, and the Pelicans started out 1-9(2 games without AD). When Tyreke came back, they went 11-14, and he put up 15/6.6/5.2rebs on 38.8% 3pt. The NBA world started talking about Tyreke's revival in the NBA and how he was an integral part for AD's success. 25 games into his season, he gets injured for the rest of the season. NBA forgets about him again.
In his 4th year, injuries continued, and people went back to not caring about the Pelicans as a whole. So in reality, it's not that his career flatlined, because it didn't. It's just that....nobody gives a crap about the Pelicans because they're the smallest market in the NBA without playoff success. I think people legitimately just forgot about Tyreke. He played 72 games in his 1st year, and 79 in the 2nd. I don't know any 24yearolds who could put up 14.5pts 5asts and 4.7rebs, but go entirely unnoticed in the NBA. That's NO market for you.
Not digressing anymore, I think Fox and Tyreke have similar playing styles because both are/were ball dominant slashing PGs. The thing that can help Fox live up to his potential vs. Tyreke is his better support system and better roster fit. The support system is a lot better than the Maloof era. Roster fit is better because we have floor spacers in Hield, Hill, Temple, Bogdan, Jackson, and Skal(to some extent). I doubt that Fox and the 20yearold version of DeMarcus would be able to effectively co-exist. Biggest thing Fox has over Tyreke is his IQ, leadership, and charisma. Fox is amazing with all these, whereas Tyreke only had average IQ, and was more humble and quiet.
I'm excited for Fox after being down on him. It's only been 1 preseason game+SL, but his finishing ability has translated insanely good. Sign me up for the Fox 20ppg hypetrain.
