Again, my Sasser gripe has less to do with him not being good, then “4th guard upside” seems like pretty small goals. Everything you say with fit/etc I don’t disagree with.
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I would rather see it at 35-36 as acceptable for Ausar. 33 isn’t cutting it IMO.
Plenty of really good offensive perimeter players shoot 32%/33% because they can get it done in other ways. Not everyone needs to be a knockdown shooter.
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I think he’s going to function more as a wing on offense though. He’s a 3&D that can function with bigger ball handlers because of his lack of size. Definitely an upgrade on the roster. I’m fine with a role player at 25. Didn’t give much up to move up 6 spots.
If GG Jackson or Leonard Miller (both definitely higher upside than Sasser) weren’t massive risks, they’d have been late lottery picks. I don’t think you need to take big swings in the 20s. Players like that have huge bust potential and don’t really help your stars near term and probably don’t help long term. Someone like Sasser probably does both.
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If he shoots 4 attempts per game and plays all 82 games, the difference between 33% and 36% is 10 made baskets. I don’t see that as an acceptable vs unacceptable difference.
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Very much agree with this. Now I’m salivating at Supreme Athlete Josh Giddey being the third best player on this team
While that is true but 33% on 4 attempts aren’t a credible shooting threat. They’re going to play under or give him ton of space until he hits it consistently which I don’t think he’ll ever get to this point.
It’s nice that Ausar is a connector and can play defense but until you get to crunch time, he’ll be sitting on the bench for offense/defense substitution.
I can envision a closing out lineup being Sasser, Cade, Jaden, Bogey and Duren. That would be a heck of an offensive lineup to close out the game.
Much like Bruce Brown and Aaron Gordon were stapled to the bench late in games for the Nuggets
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Giannis, Luka Doncic and Ja Morant, famously undone by 31-33% three point shooting
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Thompsons skills seem a bit fragmented and don’t necessarily connect to each other. Great that he’s got a wonderful first step but I’d be a lot more excited if you pair that with good half court finishing numbers in a weak league. If you pair that attribute with bad finishing numbers in a weekly that’s kind of a concern. Great that he’s an excellent cutter, but again, the skill that connects to that isn’t clearly there. He’s great at a lot of the things you need, but not quite enough of them.
But everything will open up for him if he can shoot. If he can’t, well, a pocket Rodman coming off the bench is a nice player to have, although a very underwhelming return for the fifth pick in the draft.
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IMHO Stewart and Ausar as your bigs is interesting to think about. Ausar as a roller seems like he could be really serious biz.
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Just because these things REALLY get overstated, I want to explain, literally, what’s getting argued about with the three point shooting and 32% vs 35%.
If he shoots 4 a game (Franz Wagner volume) and plays 70 games, that’s 280 shots. The difference between 32% and 35% is, literally, 8 baskets. Eight baskets. One two three four five six seven EIGHT.
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My read on the bad finishing numbers is he often made up his mind to score in 1 on 1 situations on that team and attempted tough shots at the rim that he just wouldn’t have the opportunity to do on a team centered around Cade and Ivey. Put the man in a lob catching baseline role and he will be good at the rim. Ask him to get his own off the bounce like he did at OTE a lot and he will be meh.
There was no better option at 5. Seems like a lot of people are underwhelmed but I have yet to hear anyone who doesn’t love the pick come up with a better play. Clearly Whitmore wasn’t happening and shouldn’t have happened otherwise 19 teams will look dumb. Are we really more excited about Walker or Hendricks? I’m not. Anthony Black or Gradey Dick at 5 would have been bigger stretches than Jett at 11. I think Ausar was pretty clearly the best player available and a good roster fit - it may be “underwhelming” but that’s only because they got stuck at 5 in the Wemby/Scoot draft, not because they could have gotten something better at 5.
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I will eat my own b*tt if 23 year old Ausar Thompson is a bad finisher.
Agree with Buckets - I preferred Whitmore, but there is obviously something there that we don’t know about. Othen than Guest, nobody on earth was serious about Hendricks there. I’m not sure what the alternative was that’s plausible/sensible.
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Where are the “bad finishing numbers”?
Yeah, OTE to my knowledge doesn’t have second spectrum data or “rim” data, but 56% on twos doesn’t seem like a red flag, and given this guy isn’t taking pull-up jumpers, I assume that’s rim and floaters.
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He shot 65% at the rim (83-of-127). That’s not “bad finishing,” IMO. I just don’t understand where that take comes from.
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They’re all lead creator and Ausar isn’t expected to be one. Big difference.
70% in the NBA is big time elite (like, Giannis). Obviously OTE and NBA aren’t the same, but it’s not bad.
I just don’t think the statement is true. But we’ll see. If he’s dribbling with the ball in his hands and getting a screen (these times they will go under the screen you’re referring to) it sounds like he’s being the creator on that possession. If he’s not being a creator why are you concerned people will go under screens on him…because he won’t be doing that?
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