Talen Horton-Tucker Discussion: Growing Pains

It’s different actually being close to him. Hard to believe but tv couldn’t really show just how big that guy really is.

 

I’m 198cm (6’6 I think?) and 105kgs (230ish?). I was flying business in 2016 about a fortnight before the Olympics and I remember being at the airport when the Serbian and Montenegro national teams were travelling through for the Olympics on chartered planes. It was wild to see how big players like Jokic and Nurkic were when they’re standing right next to you. I was one of the shorter people in that line up. Tv just doesn’t prepare you to be next in line to 20-30 huge basketball players.

 

I walked up to him one night shooting video of an engagement party half a block down north side of Mulholland Drive with camera in my hand at my side to ask him how his toe was (when he was rehabbing it on company time) He owned the house next door and was at the party with his wife. He saw the camera and gave me a dirty look but they both were sitting on this short partition wall. Good thing he didn’t stand up with that nasty look LOL. He just mumbled something that the toe was getting better.

 

I think THT has a very solid NBA career ahead of him. Maybe we shouldn’t draft players with skill sets we won’t let them use during the Lebron era. Such a waste.

 

we badly mishandled this one. if we weren't going to carve out a role for him, we needed to trade him and not sign him to a larger contract.

my guess is we were planning on a role for him prior to the russ trade, another way in which that move screwed us.

btw, as i've said before, i don't think he's out of position at the sf. i think that's where he's going to have to play if he wants to have a career. he needs to become the sg/sf version of pj tucker.

 

I agree this was botched to high hell. Not only was not trading him a massive f*** up, the bigger one was paying him and not keeping AC. The second we landed Russ, we needed THT going out in another deal. Maybe even in a 3 team or before it's announced because after the Russ trade, we lose leverage and it's seen as we need to move THT.

I'm not so sure. Where does he fit even with the Sac deal? Cause then we still have KCP AND Hield both needing 26+ minutes a game. Our guard depth kicks him out of a role still. KCP, Hield, Nunn, Monk, Baze, Rondo, Ellington, and AR.

I don't think Rob or Bron value him. Bron wants to get him paid because Klutch reasons and Rob was OK paying him because of the same thing. Rob only sees him as a trade chip and Bron doesn't think he is ready to contribute otherwise he wouldn't be knocking at the door of all these ball dominant guards. They doubled down on this belief by getting Walker who's the same type player.

I think they thought he was young and long enough to mold into whatever they wanted, even if it's the two things he's the absolute worst at. They backed the wrong horse. We have the best development guys in the league and they can't get rapid enough improvements from him with defense or his 3 ball. He's a ball dominant two guard who has tunnel vision and isn't better at scoring or creating than at least four other guards on the roster.

If that's the hope, he and his team are doomed. He can't 3 and he can't D.

The PJ Tuckers are the exception to the rule. They're one in 100. PJ Tucker wasn't even PJ Tucker until he came back from playing overseas for 5 seasons. He didn't really start putting together what he learned overseas until his second year with the Suns when he was 28 years old. And he wasn't not paid real money until he was 29, when he proved he could succeed as an undersized hustle/ dirty work kind of guy. It's a very long road for THT if that's the north star. One I do not want to take with him.

 

we've been over this, but a) only nunn could be seen as a credible ballhandler in that group at the time, and b) THT has the weight and standing reach of a typical nba sf. i brought the latter up this summer when people were advocating bringing in "big wings" who were basically that size or even smaller.

he's 21. he can improve. a lot.

what i meant was a guy who defends more than one position, generally up from his height. offensively, he'd be different, obviously. though again, improving on standing threes is definitely NOT a 1 in 100 thing in the nba. lots of guys (maybe even most?) do this.

 

Well, it looks like he’s gone. Sorry your career trajectory was mismanaged by foolishly gambling on the Westbrook trade. Yet another young casualty of the Lebron James Lakers era. Go kill it in Utah.

 

i'll definitely be watching.

 

This certainly can work out much better for THT’s development and next contract than a repeat of last year’s situation for him.

https://theathletic.com/3537107/202...ck-beverley-trade/?source=user_shared_article

 

another guy with inside information for the upcoming documentary called "Down with the King"

I look forward to all of the stories someday of the guys who were fedup with LeGM's b*******

 

that's a fair take on the trade and THT's potential and value. was he bad last year? yes. are most 20 year olds bad? yes. but he has very unique tools. maybe he ends up starring in china, but he could also be a sixth man type within 2 years.

it took stan what, 6 years, to start getting team defense concepts and to get his shot barely respectable.

 

Still horrible offensively. Bev is also horrible offensively so I guess at least we got out of his contract a year early..

 

they're playing him at the sf a lot, too, which is where i'd put him. but he still can't make a three to save his soul. at least this time it wasn't a situation where the guy went somewhere else and discovered his stroke like lonzo.

 

He's not good enough to be on ball for a team. He's gonna have to figure out his off ball game if he wants to stick around in this league.

 

that was part of my pj tucker angle. yes, THT has the skills to destroy foreign leagues as a creator, but not the nba. too many guys better that skill set. but he's strong, has long arms and pretty good instincts. just get that corner three and commit to locking in on d.

bruce bowen was a scorer in college.

 

guy's been balling out since conley got dealt. might finally be playing to his potential