Comments on: David Thorpe: Brandon Knight should study Deron Williams

By: domnick

domnick — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:20:32 +0000

i think their styles are related… i think BK will be the next D-will 2.0

By: leveltheone

leveltheone — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 03:01:04 +0000

lol…no choice to be patient with a rookie who played one year of college basketball and no summerleague….smh we compare stars way too much. Irving is a different kind of PG , knight is even in a different situation he isnt the main ball handler, that would be stuckey, sometime knight is a spot up shooter. next year this will become more of knights team and also the pistins dont have any shooters or athletes on the team. give the kid a break

By: leveltheone

leveltheone — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 02:11:24 +0000

knight doesnt get enough credit for his durability and stamina…….. he has started more games than any other rookie and he has played more minutes than any other rookie…. he has transitioned between playing pg,sg,combo guard and no his doesnt have alot of steals but he plays solid defense. very underrated rookie year

By: tarsier

tarsier — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 18:50:31 +0000

Yes most players picked in the top few are good pretty much right away. Most that are taken later aren’t. Many of them take some time to blossom (I don’t think taht’s any more true of PGs than any other position). And Knight is way too early in his career to write off. I like the examples you provided, because that is more like what is typical. Guys may take a couple years to really hit their stride. But they don’t go about 5 years amounting to very little and then suddenly turn into all-star caliber players. Such a Billups case is exceedingly rare.

By: Lorenzo

Lorenzo — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 17:34:28 +0000

Tarsier, while I agree the Chauncey case is a rarity I think the gist of the argument is that it tends to take some time before point guards blossom—if they do at all. Since he was part of Thorpe’s piece….take the case of Deron Williams–who was a shoot first guard–undoubtedly had an up and down first season before breaking out. Some others abet with different styles took yet longer…ala Rondo, Lawson,Holiday, Lowry. I’m still not sold on Knight either, it would have been much more encouraging to see him have a rookie season comparable to a Irving, Wall, Rose, Paul, or Westbrook…but I suppose that’s the reason a few of those guys were top overall picks and Knight was not. Unfortunately at the time we don’t really have any option other than being patient with the kid.

By: tarsier

tarsier — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 12:21:50 +0000

People have gotta stop comparing young PGs to Billups. Yeah, there is the occasional player who really turns things around. But most of the time, when players look mediocre early on, it’s because they are. I still have high hopes for Knight. But they’re on account of his flashes of brilliance not because there was once upon a time a PG who started not too great but got really good later on.

You know how you can tell that a Billups-esque turnaround is so rare? Because everyone refers to Billups when they suggest it could happen. If it were really very plausible, there would be many other names to drop and Billups would just be one case occasionally mentioned.

By: zach b

zach b — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 04:02:35 +0000

chauncey was never a good point gaurd, other than scoring, before he came to detroit with larry brown coaching him. im not worried about knight right now, hes like 20…

By: Daye and Knight

Daye and Knight — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 03:56:20 +0000

I rather have Knight watch Westbrook…wishful thinking

By: Mike Payne

Mike Payne — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 03:50:28 +0000

I lol’d and agree’d. It’s sad when the 60th pick is a better point guard than the 8th pick.

By: Mike Payne

Mike Payne — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 03:49:03 +0000

The difference between Williams and Knight is that Williams exhibited the ability to run an offense in college. He was much more of a pure point player than Knight was, more than doubly so (in terms of assists vs. attempts). It’s unfortunate for the Pistons that even Ben Gordon was more similar to Deron Williams in college than Brandon Knight was…

As it relates to Thorpe’s story, Deron Williams is absolutely not the type of player that needed to be taught how to play point guard. Placing Knight even close to the same category as Williams is analytically blind.