Talen Horton-Tucker Discussion: Growing Pains

With the way Chicago is playing right now and how they already meshed between Zo, AC, Lavine -- I doubt that's a possibility.

Chicago are chocking teams right now.

 

You mean AC was able to take his particular game and strengths to another team and they actually work there too …. it wasn’t just playing with LeBron?

 

Meh...they have 4 wins against Detroit, New Orleans and Toronto. I'm not sure exactly how good they are at the moment. Their upcoming game against the Jazz will shed a little light.

 

SMH...we haven't even seen Tucker play yet. I think Talen is going to be a budding star in a couple of years at 22. I think he's going to be a real difference maker this season.

 

well we saw him not be super helpful in the preseason, but yes, we need to see a lot more before making determinations.

plus, could have just had both.

 

The preseason doesn't mean anything in the NBA IMO. The vets don't play hard if they even play much at all. It makes it hard to gauge when you have a veteran heavy team. Now Austin has definitely shown more effort on defense than Rondo and Monk so far. He deserves to play with those two in the mix. Once Tucker and Nunn get into action and if Avery keeps putting in work on the perimeter. The situation could look a look different. He's still a great pickup by the FO.

 

Why does it have to be one or the other? I think we need both.

 

It doesn’t and I’d imagine we all agree on that. Especially with the unique physical and skills intangibles he brings. It could come into play in crunch time lineups though if there’s a real gap in overall defense effectiveness and shooting ability in AR’s favor and only room for one of them in Vogel’s preferred lineup at that point in time in that game.

 

Progress

 

I think he is over Rondo and Monk at the moment. THT will play 3/4 this year. I don't see Reaves losing his spot if his game doesn't go down, he is really valuable

 

Maybe...way too early to say what his spot really is yet. Tucker is 6'4 I can't imagine him playing 4. More 2/3. Nunn is a decent player too, if Ellington proves to have a decent stroke, the PT for the guards will be very tight.

 

I don't know if it's Frank asking him to do this, but when he only looks to score he is far less threatening on offense. When he is a scorer and a play maker, he's at his best. In THT's early games I feel like he played a similar role to Reaves' right now - filling in the gaps, making good passes and not being afraid of the moment. Somewhere along the line he preferred to score first, and he's much easier to stop when he plays that way.

 

He's probably back on the court by the middle of next week.

 

Will be interesting to see who has the better accuracy and zip on the ball in difficult situations such as off the dribble and in traffic …. with their left hand. THT when he comes back, after all this more or less forced work with his left like that pass above, or the older 4 years in college honing his particular game rookie, HbK. Reaves just really impresses with most of his passes to me, with the fundamentals and zip he puts on them. That very similar left hander (to THT’s above) that he fired on the money several games back was a stunner.