jcwkings
All-Star
Ok so I really want to know how this community views Tyreke Evans as a player since ive seen a lot of backlash about drafting McLemore, the main arguement being that we already have Tyreke, which I personally find absurd. Where does board see the max potential of Tyreke Evans given what we have seen from him the last 4 seasons. I do not want this to turn into a should we re-sign him or not arguement, i think we all want him back, i just think there are some people on here with ridiculously unrealistic views of what Evans can be. I understand that it must have been hard for Tyreke, dealing with the constant carousale of coaches, crappy owners, which is why i want him back, to see what changes now that we have a stable situation. To me Tyreke Evans is still in a promosing talent level, but basically when players reach their prime (should be by age 25-32) giving them seven years or so of prime basketball. So saying that Evans is basically 2 seasons away from "being what he will always be". Lets look at how i view tiers of players in the league
Tier #1- Elite Superstars
These players are the best of the best and generally share the same or similar traits, having one of these players completely alters your franchise, in most cases almost instantly, if not after 1 or 2 seasons. Common traits from this tier, are Elite Basketball IQ and understanding of the game, Elite competitiveness/will to win, Elite athletic ability, immense overall skill level, great defensive prowess, a player that clearly makes his teammates better. To be clear you don't need absolutely all of these to be in this tier.
Modern Examples: Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, Dwayne Wade( a few years ago), Pre-injury Derrick Rose(imo), Tim Duncan(prime), Kevin Garnett(prime), Dirk(championship season)
Tier #2 Perrenial All Stars
These players are the guys that make anywhere from 5-10 all star appearances throughout their career, like the elite superstars they share a lot of the same traits, but may have limitations that ever let them reaching the absolute elite level, these players are still hall of famers, but generally are not going to be thought of as the #1 guy on their team with a few exceptions.
Modern Examples: Deron Williams, Steve Nash, Dirk(rest of career), Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Dwight Howard, Tracy McGrady (prime), Yao Ming, Chris Webber, Tony Parker
Tier #3 All Star
These players make 2-5 all star appearances throughout their career, they usually have 1 or 2 skills that are elite level, but also have glaring weaknesses that will ever let them become absolute key parts of a championship or competitive team. These guys are most likely to be 3rd options on a championship team, and 2nd options on a competitive/average team. They lack many of the characteristics that the 2 levels above have, but are so good at one or two aspects of their game, they make great careers for themselves.
Modern Examples: Andre Igoudala, Peja Stojakovic, Pau Gasol, Chris Bosh, Chauncy Billups, Manu Ginobli
Below this are guys that may make one all star appearance, or guys that have solid 10-12 year careers, not hall of famers, but guys that will always be remembered, usually specialists at something.
So lets honestly analyze Tyreke Evans now and see where his potential is
Athletic Ability- Tyreke isn't an elite athlete, he is however a good athlete with a great build, deceptively quick especially in the open floor. Physically he is a gifted specimen, athletically he is average for an NBA player.
Skill Level- Tyreke's basketball skills vary, his ball handling is probably at an Elite level, especially for a 6'5 SG. His shooting is very erratic. He has improved his set 3 pt shot just this last season which is good. However his off the dribble jumpshooting(most important if you're talking about an ball dominant guard) is downright bad and i have honestly seen little to no improvement in his four seasons with us. Tyreke also hasn't added any kind of runners, flip shots, tear drops to his game in his four seasons. Tyreke is a very good finisher around the rim, while he isn't athletic enough to dunk over defenders, his craftyness allows him to produce nifty finishes around the rim that do dazzle. However because he doesn't have any runners, or other short shot variants in his game, he becomes exteremely predictable, Tyreke's goal off the dribble is to get to the rim, there is no in between, however he does show the potential of being able to find open shooters after drawing in defenses.
Basketball IQ- Evans has average to good basketball IQ, he shows a good understanding of the game, at an iso individual level. At a team level is where his flaws start to show. Evans does not show the capacity to run a basketball team, he has looked lost in many occasions when given the duties of setting up the offense or crunch time execution. Defensively he has great instincts at an individual level, if a team is running an iso for a SG, i want Tyreke guarding him. At a team level he has shown instances of being lost defensively, things like playing too loosely on good shooters, over gambling, getting lost on switches. These are things that can be attributed to bad coaching however, and just our team being a terrible defensive team in general. However defense starts with your stars, and Tyreke needs to assume the responsibility.
Competitiveness/Leadership/Fire aka "IT" factor- Here lies what truly separates the greats from legends, good players from great players. I'm sorry to say Tyreke absolutely hasn't shown these traits for an extended period of time in his four seasons here. This is something you absolutely cant teach someone, they either have it and show it or they don't. Tyreke is a modest guy, which imo works against him, he just doesn't have that "you can't stop me" attitude that the greats show. Tyreke has never shown that "give me the ball, i'm taking us home" attitude the greats show. His confidence fluctuates depending on how good he is playing on that specific game. A great player knows they are great and that he can't be stopped on any night. When Evans has played against a stopper (Tony Allen) he absolutely looks lost in the game. When the team has a great shotblocker, he isn't assertive. This ins't his fault, his skill and athletic level isn't at the level where he can just take over against anybody, but fans expect too much of him.
With all this taken into account, imo Tyreke's ceiling is at Tier#3. He absolutely can make a few all star appearances two or three years down the road. Imo he can get there by becoming a defensive stopper first, that gets out on the break and scores in the open court. I have not seen enough from him in a half court setting for me to think a Tyreke Iso is viable on a regular level(certainly viable a few times per game, depending on defensive matchups, and if the other team is playing a good shot blocker). This is from what i have seen in 4 turmoil years, which is why i'm all for giving Evans that "one last chance" under our new organization as the ball dominant player we envision him as. I am comfortable with that because with Cousins is going to be the #1 option on this team. I think Cousins, Evans, McLemore core can work. I see Cousins ceiling at tier #2, Evans at tier #3, McLemore is too young, but his ceiling is Tier#2, with a more likely tier#3. The intagibles are what i want to see from McLemore.
Tier #1- Elite Superstars
These players are the best of the best and generally share the same or similar traits, having one of these players completely alters your franchise, in most cases almost instantly, if not after 1 or 2 seasons. Common traits from this tier, are Elite Basketball IQ and understanding of the game, Elite competitiveness/will to win, Elite athletic ability, immense overall skill level, great defensive prowess, a player that clearly makes his teammates better. To be clear you don't need absolutely all of these to be in this tier.
Modern Examples: Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, Dwayne Wade( a few years ago), Pre-injury Derrick Rose(imo), Tim Duncan(prime), Kevin Garnett(prime), Dirk(championship season)
Tier #2 Perrenial All Stars
These players are the guys that make anywhere from 5-10 all star appearances throughout their career, like the elite superstars they share a lot of the same traits, but may have limitations that ever let them reaching the absolute elite level, these players are still hall of famers, but generally are not going to be thought of as the #1 guy on their team with a few exceptions.
Modern Examples: Deron Williams, Steve Nash, Dirk(rest of career), Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Dwight Howard, Tracy McGrady (prime), Yao Ming, Chris Webber, Tony Parker
Tier #3 All Star
These players make 2-5 all star appearances throughout their career, they usually have 1 or 2 skills that are elite level, but also have glaring weaknesses that will ever let them become absolute key parts of a championship or competitive team. These guys are most likely to be 3rd options on a championship team, and 2nd options on a competitive/average team. They lack many of the characteristics that the 2 levels above have, but are so good at one or two aspects of their game, they make great careers for themselves.
Modern Examples: Andre Igoudala, Peja Stojakovic, Pau Gasol, Chris Bosh, Chauncy Billups, Manu Ginobli
Below this are guys that may make one all star appearance, or guys that have solid 10-12 year careers, not hall of famers, but guys that will always be remembered, usually specialists at something.
So lets honestly analyze Tyreke Evans now and see where his potential is
Athletic Ability- Tyreke isn't an elite athlete, he is however a good athlete with a great build, deceptively quick especially in the open floor. Physically he is a gifted specimen, athletically he is average for an NBA player.
Skill Level- Tyreke's basketball skills vary, his ball handling is probably at an Elite level, especially for a 6'5 SG. His shooting is very erratic. He has improved his set 3 pt shot just this last season which is good. However his off the dribble jumpshooting(most important if you're talking about an ball dominant guard) is downright bad and i have honestly seen little to no improvement in his four seasons with us. Tyreke also hasn't added any kind of runners, flip shots, tear drops to his game in his four seasons. Tyreke is a very good finisher around the rim, while he isn't athletic enough to dunk over defenders, his craftyness allows him to produce nifty finishes around the rim that do dazzle. However because he doesn't have any runners, or other short shot variants in his game, he becomes exteremely predictable, Tyreke's goal off the dribble is to get to the rim, there is no in between, however he does show the potential of being able to find open shooters after drawing in defenses.
Basketball IQ- Evans has average to good basketball IQ, he shows a good understanding of the game, at an iso individual level. At a team level is where his flaws start to show. Evans does not show the capacity to run a basketball team, he has looked lost in many occasions when given the duties of setting up the offense or crunch time execution. Defensively he has great instincts at an individual level, if a team is running an iso for a SG, i want Tyreke guarding him. At a team level he has shown instances of being lost defensively, things like playing too loosely on good shooters, over gambling, getting lost on switches. These are things that can be attributed to bad coaching however, and just our team being a terrible defensive team in general. However defense starts with your stars, and Tyreke needs to assume the responsibility.
Competitiveness/Leadership/Fire aka "IT" factor- Here lies what truly separates the greats from legends, good players from great players. I'm sorry to say Tyreke absolutely hasn't shown these traits for an extended period of time in his four seasons here. This is something you absolutely cant teach someone, they either have it and show it or they don't. Tyreke is a modest guy, which imo works against him, he just doesn't have that "you can't stop me" attitude that the greats show. Tyreke has never shown that "give me the ball, i'm taking us home" attitude the greats show. His confidence fluctuates depending on how good he is playing on that specific game. A great player knows they are great and that he can't be stopped on any night. When Evans has played against a stopper (Tony Allen) he absolutely looks lost in the game. When the team has a great shotblocker, he isn't assertive. This ins't his fault, his skill and athletic level isn't at the level where he can just take over against anybody, but fans expect too much of him.
With all this taken into account, imo Tyreke's ceiling is at Tier#3. He absolutely can make a few all star appearances two or three years down the road. Imo he can get there by becoming a defensive stopper first, that gets out on the break and scores in the open court. I have not seen enough from him in a half court setting for me to think a Tyreke Iso is viable on a regular level(certainly viable a few times per game, depending on defensive matchups, and if the other team is playing a good shot blocker). This is from what i have seen in 4 turmoil years, which is why i'm all for giving Evans that "one last chance" under our new organization as the ball dominant player we envision him as. I am comfortable with that because with Cousins is going to be the #1 option on this team. I think Cousins, Evans, McLemore core can work. I see Cousins ceiling at tier #2, Evans at tier #3, McLemore is too young, but his ceiling is Tier#2, with a more likely tier#3. The intagibles are what i want to see from McLemore.
