You could be right about Cooper, but you've also got to remember he's younger than most of the previous star players that have ever come into the league. At the same/similar age, IMO he's looking better than Kobe, T-Mac, KG and some of the youngest players to ever play in the NBA. I'd say so far, he's only behind Lebron at the same age. Maybe he ends up being what you said, but since he's so young, he could still end up being a super batman type star rather than a robin.
I like Cooper a lot, but the thing that, at least based on the VERY limited amount of clips I have seen him (like highlights, the first game and some streams for a few minutes at a time), he seems like a facilitator and isn't yet ready to take over. You are likely right that he is just too young, but even when Kobe came into the league, he would take over games (or try to, for better or worse). T-Mac I never thought of as an alpha as he really is like Durant in that regard (and yes, Durant is a beta, I know I will catch flack for that). I recalled KG looking really good in his rookie season though, his defence was elite and his offence needed some work, but then again, Garnett never became that offensive franchise player though. Dirk was the one I think of who didn't look like a franchise carrying offensive star when he was young, but you have to give Avery credit for forcing him to be more selective in his 3 pointers that turned him into such an unstoppable offensive force. Perhaps Cooper can have that trajectory.
I think Cooper will be a very very good player, perennial all-star level, but I do see him more as a T-Mac/Pippen type, or even a perimeter Garnett type, rather than a Dirk (with defence) or Lebron light type (even though some would argue Lebron is like Pippen 2.0, minus the defence).
Yeah, I agree, but still, players now are getting more Achilles injuries and no one really knows why. So now, especially if it's a megastar like Victor, teams are obviously not wanting to risk it which is fair enough (I definitely don't want them taking a risk with Victor or Dylan - I'm frustrated, but no way am I not saying to not sit them). For me, it's just, what are they doing different/what is different now compared to before where they were able to play through these and not end up with Achilles injuries/tears?
Nothing to back this up, but my guess is combination of over-training and play styles of the game, the later being by far the bigger of the two reasons. The amount of ground a player has to cover is much more than what it was, and the space created from 3s force defensive players to quickly change directions to cover open players constantly, while offensive players are cutting and moving constantly. The distances weren't covered until 2014 season.
Last year teams ran between 17.2 to 19.1 miles per game (offence 9.2 to 10.1, defence 8.0 to 9.2) at a speed of 4.05-4.48mph (4.20 - 4.84 on offence and 3.80 - 4.15 on defence).
When the NBA first tracked these metrics, they were 16.2 to 17.8 miles at 4.03 to 4.43 mph), so the game is going faster and people had to run longer.
From what I recalled, the 90s and 00s, it was dumping the ball down low and other players standing around with the occasional off-ball screen or cut on offence, and the defence reacting accordingly. The Chris Mullins and Reggie Millers constantly running through screens for open shots were the abnormally. That level of strain will get even the best of the athletes.
The conspiracy theorist in me felt the league (I have ZERO backup on this) wanted to have more variance in games for the betting market, so they opened up the game to be more perimeter friendly. The side effect is that there is a whole lot of running and the players are getting hurt much more easily. This feeds into more variance in the betting market as bettors have to guess when players are sitting out and/or have to make last minute changes due to stars being game time decisions, leading to bigger money for the casinos. Yet the team is unwilling to cut back on the 82 game schedule which is absolutely unsustainable due to the rigours required. I laugh at the Jordans or the world who said they were tougher because they played all 82 games at 40 mins a game because half the time players were just standing around. Anyways, the league just wanted their cake (betting revenue) and eat it too (TV and stadium revenues). It is just pure greed at this point.
Would you guys take DeMar if he played any kind of defense? If he was just average on defense, he might be decent as he doesn't have to be the Batman on offense for this current Spurs team. He's not a good playoff performer as the number 1 option, but could be really good as 3rd of 4th. I think the Lakers would have done much better if they chose him over Westbrook back then. Probably too old now even for that, but if he was at least average on defense, he'd be much more valuable.
First of all, he won't play defence. it's not that he isn't trying, he just can't, even when he was young. I just can't understand the logic of piling onto a guy like Keldon, who clearly tries but just can't, then turn around and hypothesize a guy like Demar, who throughout his entire 2 decades of playing ball has not shown any ability to play defence, would suddenly be remotely competent now. Hey Keldon is hopeless, it's year 7 and he still looks lost on defence, but Demar, who is in year 20 or whatever might turn it around!
