Your ability to understand the traits of a role player vs star is again left wanting. No one is saying MLM can't become a star, actually most are pointing out he has star talent and the most upside in the draft.
Yet, what are his strengths? Shooting, movement without the ball and athleticism. Decent defender too with upside on that side of the ball. What are his weaknesses? Can't create well off the bounce for himself or others and mentally isn't aggressive enough. Actually, his lack of aggression is something which keeps popping up. Of course he hasn't played a minute in the NBA yet and a lot of this can change, but going off where he is right now he practically is the definition of a support player, a very good one.
Why? A star can create for himself or others. A role player needs to play off the attention of others and the creation of others. And until you get to Ray Allen/Reggie Miller territory, which MLM can but is nowhere near doing at this point in time, he's a support player who will rely on others creating opportunities for him. Shooters who can't create, no matter how great they are at shooting have a long history of being support players. Peja, was a support player, yet an extremely high level support player. Peja still developed his jab step/step back, or quick crossover off a jab step which he could use in isolation, and it was a vital part of his game. Can MLM do the same? Of course he could, hopefully, but he hasn't yet. Nothing wrong with that. Those players are very important. But a star is generally someone you can throw the ball to and have them create something for themselves or others no matter the defense, no matter the situation. That does not coincide with MLM's game right now.
Maybe I can add a little enlightenment to this discussion. There are some on this fourm that I know have seen McLemore play. I've seen him play, counting the tournament, probably 20 times or more. So I think I have a fair idea of what kind of player he is. First, if you've seen him play, and that means more than one game, you'd never compare him to Wes Johnson. Nothing alike! I would never call Johnson a pure shooter, even though he put up good stats. And he was a one year wonder. Plus, Johnson played for Syracuse, which is excellent at hiding your flaws. McLemore however, is a pure shooter with a beautiful stroke. He's also twice the athlete that Johnson is, and Johnson is a good athlete. McLemore almost floats across the floor. He borders on gracefull, or effortless movement. McLemore is a elite athlete, that some would call a freak athlete. He has tremendous range on his 3pt shot. I've seen him launch his shot from 26/27 feet, and it looks effortless. He very good at coming off screens and shooting.
As has been pointed out, his main, and perhaps his only big weakness is his ballhandling. Having said that, he's hardly inept! He's quite capable of going end to end with the ball and dunking the ball, and very few would be able to catch him. To some degree, his problem with ballhandling, in my opinion, has more to do with confidence, and being confortable, than it has to do with inability.. I'd like to remind everyone, that McLemore played PF in highschool, so he's actually made remarkable improvement in a short period of time. The idea that a player can improve his shot, but not his ballhandling makes no sense to me. Where's the logic in that. If you put in the time, and your a well coordinated player, which McLemore is, there's no reason you can't improve. He's a SG, not a PG! If your a PG, then ballhandling is imperative. At SG, its a big plus, and may decide just how good overall you can be, but you can still be a good player with average ballhandling. Mitch Richmond was decent to good ballhandler, but he wasn't an elite ballhandler. He knew hot to use what he had to the best of his ability.
I'm not going to get into this discussion of whether McLemore can be a star or just a role player. Who the hell knows? This I know! He has an excellent work ethic, and he's an outstanding athlete that can shoot lights out. His lack of aggression has been noted. I've noted it in my write up of him. However, as was pointed out during the draft. He was a freshman (redshirt freshman) playing with four seniors. So its possible that he felt a little out of place trying to take over games as a freshman. He's a very humble and almost shy kid. He comes from my hometown of St. Louis, and amazingly grew up only 8 blocks from where I lived.
My aunt that raised me and I were the last white family on our block. All my friends that I grew up with there were black. However, when I wandered out of my area, and Wellston was a place I went to with regularity, because I used to go to the Wellston theater all the time. Got my butt kicked a few times on my way home. Wellston was a very tough area when I lived there, and its probably worse now. So McLemore grew up in a very bad place. I don't think he takes anything for granted. I think he's willing to work his butt off. However, no guarantee that even if he does, that he'll be a star. Let me put it this way. I think there's a star in there to be had. If he works hard, and the coaching staff is what it should be, maybe thats what we'll end up with. But at worse, we should end up with a player that plays off the ball very well, and that can spread the floor.
Didn't everyone say we had enough chucker, ball dominate players on this team. Well at least in the immediate, he's not one of those players. Oh, and by the way, he has the ability to be a lock down defensive player. He averaged around two steals a game. He has excellent lateral quickness, and by all accounts, he loves playing defense. He takes pride in it. So take that for what its worth.
