It's hard for me to reconcile going forward with Darius and Collin. I said it when Darius was first brought up. "It is going to be hard to bench Sexton if he improves at all, especially if Garland doesn't surpass Sexton's first year."
Even if Garland ends up being pretty good, what is the plan? Does he actuality have Dame or Curry potential? I haven't seen that dog in him at all.
We have a very good small scorer on our hands that needs a defensive minded 2 guard sized pg or a playmaking 3 to make that work. There are 2 highly touted 6'5" pg's in this draft where we will be picking. I prefer Haliburton because I think he has for real vision and NBA range. Hayes playmaking looks more like good decisions to me, and I don't believe he is more athletic than Haliburton. He has more bulk at the moment.
I really like Okoro, and if he were 6'8" he would be the pick to me. However, Haliburton has better defensive numbers, and he scores 15 a game with over 6 assists. Even if those are all 2's, that;s 27 points of offense while being a very good defender on 1's and 2's. He hasn't even played with shooters, he has been the best shooter on his team for 2 years. Only Vassell has better defensive numbers, which I admit are impressive.
Haliburton 15pts 6 rebs 6.6 Ast 63 eFG% 20.3PER 8.1 WS 4.4DBPM 101dRTG
SGA 14pts 4.1rebs 5.1 Ast 50 eFG% 21 PER 5.2WS 3.7 DBPM 101 dRTG
Tatum 16.8pts 7.3rebs 2 Ast 50.7 eFG% 22PER 4.1 WS 3.2DBPM 97.8 dRTG*
I posted these Tatum numbers not to say Haliburton is better than him, but to show how great his statistical profile is. It's elite.
I seriously can't tell what I am missing. This guy impacts the game in every single way. Is there anyone here that wouldn't trade SGA for Darius? Here is a guy who has more athleticism IMO, who has a better numbers across the board, and already rates highly in advanced metrics. Look at his win shares. He helps his team win. That is the kind of player we need. We need playmaking and defense, and he solves our small scorer problem with Sexton.
I think everyone is overthinking this. Haliburton is in the 2nd tier, just like SGA isn't Luka or Trae. He has star even if he doesn't have #1 option superstar potential. He is a superior prospect to Garland in every way that can be measured. This is making me more nervous all the time that we can't see what is staring us in the face.
Haliburton is not good enough at looking for his own shot, but we have KPJ, Collin, and Kevin love for that. He is going to make Drummond and everyone else look better while greatly improving perimeter D at the point of attack.
I know it sucks to take 3 pg's in a row, but Haliburton is better than Darius and he will help maximize our best young scorer going forward, and will give us so much more versatility in the backcourt. Play switchable lineups with him and KPJ in the backcourt, or a small transition team of 5 out shooters with Larry at the 5, Love, Haliburton, Sexton, and Garland.
It's driving me crazy, but this is it. I want to bench Garland in favor of Haliburton and challenge Darius to take a starting spot. If he is up to it, we can trade him or Sexton, maybe for a star player.