Rich
Saucin'
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2010
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Garland is maybe slightly worse than Allen right now as a player, but has a lot more room to grow. Allen for the most part is who he is as a player at this point imo. He's not anything special as a creator and most likely never will be because he doesn't have great vision, doesn't have the frame for being able to dominate in the paint, lacks outstanding hands or touch, and doesn't have any semblance of an outside shot or handles. And listen, I really like Allen on this team. He's a good finisher in the PnR and when he can exploit smalls switched onto him. And he's a very good but not elite defender. But it's important to realize his limitations. He'll likely always be a guy below All-Star level at his best.
Players in DG's archetype are just inherently more valuable, as well, especially as you get into the playoffs. A quick guard who can operate out of the PnR, pull up on a dime, score on all three levels, and create for others. You need that against set playoff defenses who are gonna scheme out plays like lobs to Allen to a greater degree and will play smaller in order to draw Allen away from the rim to reduce his rim protection and overall impact. Yeah, Darius isn't perfect in those abilities yet, but you can see the progress, not to mention he's being asked to shoulder a burden right now that's not ideal at this point. Going from a legit 0-5th percentile player his rookie year to maybe like 40th percentile his second year to like ~80th now? And you can see how much better he is getting into the teeth of the D, finishing inside, and being willing to launch threes than he has been in the past. Consistency as the game draws on is his main issue, and easing his load for now and letting him grow into that bigger one with time will help. Overall, he's seen pretty exceptional improvement since coming into the league.
It's not slight man. Not at all.
one guy makes an impact on the defensive end and one guy is still, quite frankly, an awful defensive player.
Their impact is not close.