Player The Burgeoning 3&D American Sign Language Consulate of Carter Bryant

scott said:
Interesting comparisons to Gordon @LeBowen and @JMarkJohns - worth noting that after the Denver game I noticed that CB came over to give Gordon a hug. I assume they have a relationship the stems from the Arizona connection. Wouldn't mind seeing them working out over the summer together.
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CB spent last summer with guard whisperer dude... i expect he and Castle will do that this summer once again
 
Man, the one little mistake Mitch has made in the great season of his so far IMO is not play CB more. I really thought he should start (I was wrong on that, as like other posters said, he wasn't ready and it could have been detrimental to his development if he started and didn't do well), but at the very least, if he wasn't to start, I thought he needed a bit more consistent minutes to be ready for the playoffs. Once he started showing he can play at this level with his defense and showed he could also hit shots, he should have gotten more minutes. I think he will help the team more than HB in the playoffs. If HB gets all the minutes and CB hardly any in the playoffs, it's going to hurt the team IMO. They can use a combination of the two (if need be) depending on the game or matchups, but CB's defense is needed over HB's poor rebounding and average defense.
 
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Ice009 said:
Man, the one little mistake Mitch has made in the great season of his so far IMO is not play CB more. I really thought he should start (I was wrong on that as like other posters said, he wasn't ready and it could have been detrimental to his development if he started and didn't do well), but at the very least if he wasn't to start, I thought he needed a bit more consistent minutes to be ready for the playoffs. Once he started showing he can play at this level with his defense and showed he could also hit shots, he should have gotten more minutes. I think he will help the team more than HB in the playoffs. If HB gets all the minutes and CB hardly any in the playoffs, it's going to hurt the team IMO. They can use a combination of the two if need be depending on the game or matchups, but CB's defense is needed over HB's poor rebound and average defense.
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Agreed..Especially if barnes ends up being terrible in the playoffs.
 
Ice009 said:
Man, the one little mistake Mitch has made in the great season of his so far IMO is not play CB more. I really thought he should start (I was wrong on that as like other posters said, he wasn't ready and it could have been detrimental to his development if he started and didn't do well), but at the very least if he wasn't to start, I thought he needed a bit more consistent minutes to be ready for the playoffs. Once he started showing he can play at this level with his defense and showed he could also hit shots, he should have gotten more minutes. I think he will help the team more than HB in the playoffs. If HB gets all the minutes and CB hardly any in the playoffs, it's going to hurt the team IMO. They can use a combination of the two if need be depending on the game or matchups, but CB's defense is needed over HB's poor rebound and average defense.
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CB looked awful, deer in the headlights awful until January when he made that one game trip to Austin. I wouldn’t have played him one more minute before that.
 
Exstatic said:
CB looked awful, deer in the headlights awful until January when he made that one game trip to Austin. I wouldn’t have played him one more minute before that.
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CB seemed star-struck at first, hurried and missing dunks, but once he got comfortable after the Austin trip, he got comfortable and started balling. He’s another great POA defender and can dance with bigger players. His CS 3pts are money, can rim run. If Aaron Gordon is the comp, I’d be happy. But I think CB’s a better defender from 1-5.
 
John B said:
CB seemed star-struck at first, hurried and missing dunks, but once he got comfortable after the Austin trip, he got comfortable and started balling. He’s another great POA defender and can dance with bigger players. His CS 3pts are money, can rim run. If Aaron Gordon is the comp, I’d be happy. But I think CB’s a better defender from 1-5.
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NBA never got to see Gordon at full Gordon, due to immediate and multiple early career injuries. He definitely isn’t an ideal guard defender but is probably a stronger frontcourt defender even immediately on. Especially as he’s allowed the game to become more physical.

The 1-5 aspect + raw athleticism reminds me of Marion just entering the league, but I don’t think Carter is that level of quick burst athlete, but can be bigger and stronger in time. Marion was so damn unique though. Not sure we’ll ever see a 6-7/220 pound wing go for 20-11 and 3+ stocks with 100+ 3s in a season while defending 1-5.

But sometimes I see Carter’s chase down blocks, long arms in the lanes, or offensive board attacking and I see flashes.
 
JMarkJohns said:
NBA never got to see Gordon at full Gordon, due to immediate and multiple early career injuries. He definitely isn’t an ideal guard defender but is probably a stronger frontcourt defender even immediately on. Especially as he’s allowed the game to become more physical.

The 1-5 aspect + raw athleticism reminds me of Marion just entering the league, but I don’t think Carter is that level of quick burst athlete, but can be bigger and stronger in time. Marion was so damn unique though. Not sure we’ll ever see a 6-7/220 pound wing go for 20-11 and 3+ stocks with 100+ 3s in a season while defending 1-5.

But sometimes I see Carter’s chase down blocks, long arms in the lanes, or offensive board attacking and I see flashes.
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As illustrated by his post Suns career, Matrix’s scoring was inflated by being spoon fed by Nash. He immediately became the mid teens scorer he always really was.
 
Exstatic said:
As illustrated by his post Suns career, Matrix’s scoring was inflated by being spoon fed by Nash. He immediately became the mid teens scorer he always really was.
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He was 20 ppg average in 3 seasons with Marbury as his PG, seasons where he had a higher usage and multi-year FGA average.

Nash helped his efficiency a bit, but I’d say his usage crashing out to 16-17% from 22-23% is more of a reason for fewer points then just simply Nash, given he was 20-10 prior to Nash.

Also, he was 30+ those seasons after Phoenix in an era where 30-32 was the age of beginning decline, especially for a player boosted by raw athleticism.
 
Mugen said:
Good stuff @JMarkJohns, you've been providing great intel on CB since last year's draft tbh.
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Carter is a great kid with a great attitude. I worried because I subscribe to the mantra of the best time to enter the draft is when you will have a defined skilled role. So many undeveloped players never make it. I saw it with Dalen Terry in Chicago, who was arguably more ready than Carter, but still very raw, and he’s now out of the league or simply bouncing around in 4 seasons.

But I think Attitude is the biggest differentiator here. Carter has a bit of that Mamba Mentality to him where he understands he has to grind to get better. Definitely still gets sped up, especially with jumper. When he plays like 2 nights ago and that jumper is smooth, boosting his confidence even more, yeah, he will have some special seasons.
 
JMarkJohns said:
Carter is a great kid with a great attitude. I worried because I subscribe to the mantra of the best time to enter the draft is when you will have a defined skilled role. So many undeveloped players never make it. I saw it with Dalen Terry in Chicago, who was arguably more ready than Carter, but still very raw, and he’s now out of the league or simply bouncing around in 4 seasons.

But I think Attitude is the biggest differentiator here. Carter has a bit of that Mamba Mentality to him where he understands he has to grind to get better. Definitely still gets sped up, especially with jumper. When he plays like 2 nights ago and that jumper is smooth, boosting his confidence even more, yeah, he will have some special seasons.
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Of course it has a lot to do with the program. The Spurs during the championship years had “specialist” players, doing things in their comfort zone, guys like Bowen who defended well and shoots 3’s when open, Danny Green, Neal, Patty Mills, etc. They knew their assignments. It’s great to have a Timmy Duncan as anchor and let his teammates to get better. Spurs are lucky to have found Wemby who exemplifies the same unselfishness, who’s so skilled that he can correct others fault with his skills. CB doesn’t need to create, he got Castle, Harper and Fox to do that. Vassell doesn’t need to over dribble, he just catch and shoot and he’s excelling, Champs likewise. It started with Pop, knowing how to maximize his personnel. CB just needs to play great D, occasionally rebound and bury the 3. He can definitely do that, and that makes him play “comfortable” out there. Sure he can always add more during practice and in games when ready. Players need to find their roles in a team to be successful, and Spurs are great at identifying them, and developing them in Austin. Sadly a lot of NBA GM’s and Coaches have no idea on how to assemble a team, nor develop players. That’s why they look to Spurs example, or hire ex-Spurs to try to follow. It’s sad how players with great potentials get to those clubs and lose themselves in the process. Danny Green would be a great example having already waived twice before Spurs picked him up. CB is a great kid with a lot of raw skills and great attitude to get better.
 
Ice009 said:
Man, the one little mistake Mitch has made in the great season of his so far IMO is not play CB more. I really thought he should start (I was wrong on that as like other posters said, he wasn't ready and it could have been detrimental to his development if he started and didn't do well), but at the very least if he wasn't to start, I thought he needed a bit more consistent minutes to be ready for the playoffs. Once he started showing he can play at this level with his defense and showed he could also hit shots, he should have gotten more minutes. I think he will help the team more than HB in the playoffs. If HB gets all the minutes and CB hardly any in the playoffs, it's going to hurt the team IMO. They can use a combination of the two if need be depending on the game or matchups, but CB's defense is needed over HB's poor rebound and average defense.
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It's easy to look at how CB is performing now and say "he should have played more - look how good he is!" but on the flip side, you have to consider that CB looks as good as he does right specifically because of how he was brought along the way.

I don't think we should view Mitch's handling of CB as a mistake at all... that handling has delivered who CB is today. It should be viewed as nothing other than a resounding success.
 
Exstatic said:
CB looked awful, deer in the headlights awful until January when he made that one game trip to Austin. I wouldn’t have played him one more minute before that.
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I would have. But January is around the time I wanted him to start (when I say start, I don't mean give him starter minutes, I wanted him to start, get say 5 minutes in the first quarter and 5 minutes in the third, and if he did well in those short stints, then expand the minutes from there). HB was freaking horrendous and I thought CB would can be better than him on the defensive end regardless of what he does on offense. The main reason I wanted him to start was because HB's offense had vanished, and as most of us/all of us know, he didn't provide any defense or rebounding when he was shooting/playing poorly, so I thought at the very least, Carter will rebound and play defense. Basically, if Carter can be consistent shooting the ball, he should take ALL of Harrison's minutes in the playoffs. I just don't trust HB in the playoffs, because if he's not hitting shots, can he play passable defense and get some rebounds, if not, it's going to make it much harder for the team in the minutes he's out there.

John B said:
CB seemed star-struck at first, hurried and missing dunks, but once he got comfortable after the Austin trip, he got comfortable and started balling. He’s another great POA defender and can dance with bigger players. His CS 3pts are money, can rim run. If Aaron Gordon is the comp, I’d be happy. But I think CB’s a better defender from 1-5.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I never thought Carter sucked at all. I thought he was just pushing so hard that he kept making mistakes. What I mostly saw was a kid trying so hard that he wanted to impress and not make any mistakes. That was why I was thinking to start him in the first and third quarters. I thought it might make him more comfortable to relax and let the game come to him a little bit. He was pressing too much and trying to not make any mistakes rather than let the game come to him. He was also rushing his shots. Maybe he was also a little star-struck like you said, but he's going up against great players in practice, so I don't fully think it was due to that.
 
scott said:
It's easy to look at how CB is performing now and say "he should have played more - look how good he is!" but on the flip side, you have to consider that CB looks as good as he does right specifically because of how he was brought along the way.

I don't think we should view Mitch's handling of CB as a mistake at all... that handling has delivered who CB is today. It should be viewed as nothing other than a resounding success.
Click to expand...
I believed CB could play how he is now earlier than this. It's not my fault if Mitch didn't believe he could do it back then. I know what you're saying, but I believed he could do it before seeing how he's playing now. Just the flashes I saw in the very limited minutes he was getting (There was games where he played well in very short stints, but Mitch never gave him more minutes to see if he can expand on it), his willingness to want to improve day by day, the way he talked, the work he was putting in behind the scenes (I could tell it's not just lip service and he really was working hard), and he seemed to be a dawg when we needed someone to step up and spark the team in some of those games he got a few minutes, he brought physicality and showed he's very willing defender, and on offense, I thought his shot looked good from the get-to and that it seemed to me, he was either rushing it or lack of a confidence was playing a part in him not hitting shots early on. All those things are what made me think he could do this/get to this point back then, or at least sooner than now. He certainly didn't look three or four years away as some posters said early on. I thought he looked like a possible contributor this season.

We'll never know, though, and I maybe OK Computer and you might be right - if he did start and did get more minutes earlier like I wanted, maybe he doesn't do well and it breaks his confidence a bit and he doesn't get to where he is at now. Maybe you guys are right and this was the right way to get him to where he's at now. I don't know if the way I wanted to see him handled would have yielded better results. All I can say is, I did believe he can play, and play well. I think for sure I was wrong about starting him (it probably would have been too much too soon), but I do think he still should have gotten more minutes these past couple of months after he started showing he can be a rotation player this season.
 
Ice009 said:
I believed CB could play how he is now earlier than this. It's not my fault if Mitch didn't believe he could do it back then. I know what you're saying, but I believed he could do it before seeing how he's playing now. Just the flashes I saw in the very limited minutes he was getting (There was games where he played well in very short stints, but Mitch never gave him more minutes to see if he can expand on it), his willingness to want to improve day by day, the way he talked, the work he was putting in behind the scenes (I could tell it's not just lip service and he really was working hard), and he seemed to be a dawg when we needed someone to step up and spark the team in some of those games he got a few minutes, he brought physicality and showed he's very willing defender, and on offense, I thought his shot looked good from the get-to and that it seemed to me, he was either rushing it or lack of a confidence was playing a part in him not hitting shots early on. All those things are what made me think he could do this/get to this point back then, or at least sooner than now. He certainly didn't look three or four years away as some posters said early on. I thought he looked like a possible contributor this season.

We'll never know, though, and I maybe OK Computer and you might be right - if he did start and did get more minutes earlier like I wanted, maybe he doesn't do well and it breaks his confidence a bit and he doesn't get to where he is at now. Maybe you guys are right and this was the right way to get him to where he's at now. I don't know if the way I wanted to see him handled would have yielded better results. All I can say is, I did believe he can play, and play well. I think for sure I was wrong about starting him (it probably would have been too much too soon), but I do think he still should have gotten more minutes these past couple of months after he started showing he can be a rotation player this season.
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I know you were excited to see him do well. I had high hopes for him because he walked in with the commitment that Danny Green and Bruce Bowen developed only after being cut or traded, which gives him a huge head start.

That said, I'm really happy with the way Mitch developed him. Pop would have sat him too long, set him up to fail and frustrated him. You can't beat Carter's confidence at this point. He was in meaningful games playing meaningful minutes but not enough to mess the team up. As a result he carved himself a nice spot into the rotation just in time for the playoffs.
 
Slow-playing Carter is what Tommy Lloyd did at Arizona. 7th Man and 18 mpg early into 6th Man/Spot Starter and 22+ minutes end conference and March.

It frustrated the hell out of me. But it did work. He was very impactful late. I still wonder if he had another gear with simply starting at PF all season. It sucked losing him to draft without seeing him even tease his upside fully for a entire season.
 
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