Talen Horton-Tucker Discussion: Growing Pains

On paper, I thought playing THT with Bron and Westbrook never made much sense. Felt THT was best as a pseudo-PG with the ball in his hands.

In actuality, I don’t know if I buy that excuse anymore. Even when he does get to run the offense, he’s just not productive. It’s not a matter of fit, he’s just not good right now. I can’t envision a way anybody could switch up our rotations in a way that gets THT to look good while also being good for our team.

Frankly if we weren’t desperate to pump up his trade value, there is no reason he should be seeing the floor right now. He’s almost at Kent Bazemore levels.

But to some of the points made above… he is only 21 years old. It’s almost like he’s hitting his “rookie wall”. His current level of play is not an indictment on his future potential. Unfortunately we’re not in position to wait. I do think it’s likely that we sell low on him, and he ends up blossoming somewhere else in a few years. Opposing fans will claim that the Lakers/Lebron held him back, but in actuality most young players just need time to develop.

 

Our big three is a flop of epic proportion. I say trade AD and Russ and keep THT.

 

THT game is limited. He hasn't improved enough where his game has evolved. We needed him to be a better off the ball shooter, which he hasn't . He doesn't have the footwork for a mid range game. It's hard for him to get off a shot with a defender in front of him which makes the offense stagnant at times. His strength are slashing to the rim, coming off a screen and going to the hole. I rather have Austin Reaves moved up bench over THT, Reaves plays solid d, hustles, can space the court with his 3 point, he is a better passer and fit around Lebron and Westbrook.

 

I agree that THT hasn’t looked all that great alongside LeBron and Westbrick this season. However, Westbrick could be gone this summer and LeBron the summer after so why be so short sighted? I’m tired of the “short rope no time to develop LeBron only matters timeline” way of valuing players.
LeGM ain’t going to be here forever, but everyone acts like he is and the fact remains that we will be starting over with nothing if this mercenary approach continues.

 

It’s becoming increasingly difficult for me to believe this is just a spacing problem. Even on fast breaks he has been terrible with all the space in the world. The problem is he hasn’t developed anything apart from some unconventional driving methods and finishing with one hand.

I said at the start of the season, he needed to be a lockdown defender to be a starter and long time contributor. And that has materialised yet.

 

Well, at least he’s still only 21, tries on defense, will actually listen to coaches to improve, and isn’t getting paid $44 million a year to miss layups.

 

This is just like Kuzma situation. We haven't put him in optimal positions to succeed and neither has he taken advantage of the opportunities give to him. If you're gonna be a wing player in this league you have to know how to shoot, especially if you're playing next to Bron. All parties are at fault here.

 

^ sure... he's killing it in WAS... oh wait. Sometimes players are who they are, mediocre guys drafted late. Simple as that.

 

How about defensively? rebounding? hustle? He knows he's not not shooting well so he's making up for it in other areas isn't he?

 

yep. this. i thought his three-game comeback stretch when lebron was out was how he can shine. and he still has work to get to that. but we don't offer that possibility.

 

He did that for us as well. I liked him for it actually.

 

me too. kuz got a raw deal from fans here. tht is act II.

 

yep. he's not a star who can't be moved at any price, but he's not a guy to be dumped so that we lose in the 2nd round instead of the 1st or play-in.

 

Losing Alex really hurts more with THT’s off year…

 

The talk on several of the Lakers pods today involved THT and his role. Honestly, I'm not sure he has one when everyone is back and healthy. He'll have to because you can't DNP a 10 million dollar man and at the very least we have to try to bump his trade value (although at this point you could argue his value would only go up if we sat him). Here's the way I broke it out in my head today and under this breakdown he's much more valuable as a trade chip...

Is he better than the following players in any of these categories?
Scoring: Bron, Russ, AD, Monk, Melo at home, Nunn (Miami)
Creating/Floor General: Bron, Russ, AD, Bradley, Collision (historically), Nunn
Attacking: Bron, Russ, AD, Monk, Nunn
Shooting: anyone not named DJ or Baze
Defense: Bron, Stan Jo, AD, D12, AR, AB, Ariza
Rebounding: AD, Bron, Russ, Melo, Dwight, DJ, Stan Jo, Ariza

Add in the fact that he cannot, should not play next to Russ ever. Not on a boat, with a goat, in the rain, in the dark, in a tree, in a car, in a box, with a fox, in a house, with a mouse. They shouldn't play together here. Or there. Or anywhere

Factoring in all that, I don't see a legitimate role for him that warrants a salary for more than the vet min. But we're on the hook for $10m a year.

 

That's been the issue. If THT had sucked while Alex was still here, I'd be like, ok, the pressure got to THT, ain't the first time this has happened, he's young enough to get another shot and the contract would help in a trade since it's a good chunk.

But the Lakers chose THT, and I supported it. He's 7 years younger, had handles. So, I am not going to front, I was wrong too. And being wrong cost us Caruso and Caruso was a big part of this team's identity during their title run.

 

Maybe, but he would help. Young, determined and a player the Lakers need in terms of his skill set.

 

Well no s***. Getting Dame wouldn't even do that for us. But it swaps out a round peg/square hole for a square peg and addresses a monumental need that fits our window.