I don't see Tyreke anywhere near the OP.
I simply don't see this "Top 5" ability to drive.
I've watched him closely, and counted the times he penetrates past his man vs how many times he is denied, and it's a WAY lower % than KF's realize.
I think what confuses people with Tyreke is that when they think of him, they remember him driving past transitional defenses. If so, yeah, I'd agree he's very good at that.
The problem is - he's simply not elite when it comes to penetrating vs set defenses.
I don't think you can make an exceptional career out of feasting on transitional defenses, yet not being able to exploit a set defense with a weak outside shot and bad bball IQ. His stubborn lack of learning the pick-and-roll may well kill his chances at becoming an elite player.
Until I see more out of him, I don't see him as a center piece of any NBA offensive scheme, because he has not shown the ability to get better in the NBA - on the contrary, he's getting worse and less dominant every month he plays. Combined with his lack of bball IQ and mental weakness, as proven by his mom having to come to Sac to smack him out of his mental funk (it wasn't physical then), and in 5 years I see him as a roleplayer on a winning team (i.e. not the Kings) or a centerpiece of a losing team.
As far as defensively?
He's got skills, but they are eviscerated by his lack of focus & bouts of laziness on defense. He'll get his team some points on defensive steals, but he gives up more by gambling, letting his man by and poking it from behind, and simply losing his man to give up a bucket.
To be clear - that's not what I want to see, that's what I predict based on his play and demonstrated mindset so far in his career.
I sure hope he shows the world that he can get better and add new aspects to his game, but that hasn't happened yet so I'm not the kind of guy who expects spontaneous generation against all known data so far.
I simply don't see this "Top 5" ability to drive.
I've watched him closely, and counted the times he penetrates past his man vs how many times he is denied, and it's a WAY lower % than KF's realize.
I think what confuses people with Tyreke is that when they think of him, they remember him driving past transitional defenses. If so, yeah, I'd agree he's very good at that.
The problem is - he's simply not elite when it comes to penetrating vs set defenses.
I don't think you can make an exceptional career out of feasting on transitional defenses, yet not being able to exploit a set defense with a weak outside shot and bad bball IQ. His stubborn lack of learning the pick-and-roll may well kill his chances at becoming an elite player.
Until I see more out of him, I don't see him as a center piece of any NBA offensive scheme, because he has not shown the ability to get better in the NBA - on the contrary, he's getting worse and less dominant every month he plays. Combined with his lack of bball IQ and mental weakness, as proven by his mom having to come to Sac to smack him out of his mental funk (it wasn't physical then), and in 5 years I see him as a roleplayer on a winning team (i.e. not the Kings) or a centerpiece of a losing team.
As far as defensively?
He's got skills, but they are eviscerated by his lack of focus & bouts of laziness on defense. He'll get his team some points on defensive steals, but he gives up more by gambling, letting his man by and poking it from behind, and simply losing his man to give up a bucket.
To be clear - that's not what I want to see, that's what I predict based on his play and demonstrated mindset so far in his career.
I sure hope he shows the world that he can get better and add new aspects to his game, but that hasn't happened yet so I'm not the kind of guy who expects spontaneous generation against all known data so far.