Young talent

[Beat LA]

Which isn't really what mm^10 is saying at all.

Guys like Stephenson slipped because of character issues -- and there are guys like Arenas and Manu who simply blew everyone else out of the water and surprised everyone. That's why they're called surprises, because they're uncommon (i.e. surprising), but common enough for us to have a word for it in the common vernacular.

It shouldn't have been such a surprise with Stephenson.  The talent was always there, he just needed a chance.  Don't forget about Michael Redd, either.

[pokeKingCurtis]

Look at Evan Turner, Derrick Favors, Wesley Johnson, and Ekpe Udoh from 2010.  None of those guys have come close to what they were projected to be, as players, with Turner being the closest to actually living up to his potential, and he's still far off from those expectations.

Well, Favors is younger than Turner by 2 years (but has been in the league for the same amount of years!!).

Favors is 23! Out of the 4 listed Favors still has a chance. Bigs do take time to develop.

[Smitty77]

Hate to be a downer but I just don't see the potential in any of young players. I do believe Avery has already peaked. Can he improve his shooting? Absolutely. But his ceiling is still a 3 and D type of guy and that's what some people are labeling him now.

Sullinger is too limited physically to be a good defensive player and while his low post game is decent he'll be no more than a starter level player on a bad team.

Olynk still looks awkward to me. Like Sully, he's destined to be a rotation player.

Young is just too raw right now. I'll need to see how he stacks up again NBA competition before I pass judgement.

Smart is a bit of a wild card. While I love his motor and his passion, I am not a big fan of the put your head down and ram to the hoop type of player. If that's your style, then you better be able to jump out of the gym ala young Lebron James. He must develop some type of shot in order for him to have a place in this league.

Zeller...well if he couldn't crack 30 minutes playing on a rebuilding Cavs team without Varejao, I am not too confident on his abilities.

Once again sorry to be a downer but I just don't see the potential in most of our players.

In fairness to Zeller, his coaches in the NBA have been Byron Scott and Mike Brown.  He NOW has a real coach in BS!!!!!

Smitty77

[mmmmm]

Zeller...well if he couldn't crack 30 minutes playing on a rebuilding Cavs team without Varejao, I am not too confident on his abilities.

A couple of points.

1) Cleveland was NOT supposed to be 'rebuilding' last year.   They were trying to make the playoffs.

2) Zeller came into the season with high expectations after a strong summer workout program to build muscle mass.   He promptly got appendicitis and had to undergo an emergency appendectomy in October.  This caused him to lose a lot of the strength and mass that he had put on.  It's not surprising that he played much better as the year went on. His numbers after the AS break were much better.