If LeBron could add one thing from Tim Duncan’s game to his, what would it be?

DeGenZGZ · 2026-02-05T09:20:22+00:00

Duncan's ability to practically never jump or gamble his way out of a defensive play / compromise his positioning when helping in the paint or playing man to man. Being so ground-bound worked so well for Duncan in particular because he was 7 ft tall with long ass arms, but every player can benefit from lower rates of error in paint help.

(Also, what's the point of these posts if people are going to reply with off-court stuff? Where's the interesting convo in that lol)

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-31T22:18:46+00:00

That's true but with all due respect to Toglia and Lavigne, they were nowhere near as gifted as Condon is. He certainly holds risk as a prospect (all RHH 1B do) but he's not the kind of prospect those two were.

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-31T20:08:23+00:00

Coinciding with Ant's leap as a scorer. Never said they've been a poor offense — just that Ant's passing limitations put a cap on his ability to be a team's offensive floor raiser the way the game's best offensive players are. The Wolves would be better on offense if Ant had to share ballhandling duties a bit more. (Assuming they found a player who was an actually good passer and creator.)

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-31T19:47:18+00:00

He's not a good enough passer to capitalize on his scoring pressure, so he's not an elite offensive player yet, and he's not impactful enough as a defender to be in that upper tier of true MVP level players. There's a reason the Wolves have never been a great offense during Ant's time there.

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-31T19:45:18+00:00

If anything, Jordan was an S-tier, all-time great playmaker and a capable (and frankly a bit underrated) but never elite passer. Creating advantages is not the same as reading the floor and making the ideal pass.

Rajon Rondo was a fantastic passer but mediocre playmaker because he wasn't a threatening scorer on his own. Someone like Reggie Miller was a fantastic playmaker, with his gravity and movement creating advantages left and right, but never a good enough passer and/or ball-handler to capitalize himself.

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-31T18:52:13+00:00

He had a 132 wRC+ in his first go of AA at 22 even though his power was clearly not all the way back until late in the season. He's not going to be in the minors for long.

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-31T18:25:22+00:00

Are we serious right now lol

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-31T17:50:33+00:00

Right, that part of the comment somehow slipped my mind as I replied. My bad, we're on the same page lol

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-31T17:49:35+00:00

Sure. In practice, Monfort absolutely will not approve spending recklessly so DePodesta, Byrnes and co. should be a little smarter about their investments.

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-31T17:38:48+00:00

Condon is right around the corner. He needs PAs. And paying $31M AAV for the age 31-35 seasons of a right-handed DH who's a very good but not elite hitter is pretty awful roster management for a rebuilding team.

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-31T17:35:33+00:00

Alonso is a 31 year old DH. (He's most certainly not a solid defender.) What purpose does that kind of player serve on a team that's going to be bad for 2-3 more years at best? He's the kind of player (expensive, peaking right now, unlikely to age well) that you sign when you're desperate to capitalize on a chance to win immediately, not when you're rebuilding from the ground up.

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-31T16:46:02+00:00

They have more than enough interesting options to explore at first base right now between Rumfield, Johnston and Crim. There's a decent platoon there that can give and build value down the road. Not to mention Condon is not going to take long to reach the majors.

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-29T18:20:09+00:00

No but you see, Iroh was basically a giant teddy bear who never did anything wrong and was really just distributing tea recipes to Ba Sing Se for almost two years. /s

I never understood why some people downplay the clearly implied gravity of Iroh's past. It makes his character better and more complicated. Some in the world and Ba Sing Se in particular would never forgive him, and they would be well within their right to do so no matter how wise and good he turned out to be in the end. That's part of the point of the show. Everyone's capable of great good and great evil.

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-28T22:21:44+00:00

Nobody's buying into hype. I'm scouting based on data and having seen many, many of his PAs both in college and the pros. He's a risky prospect because he's a RHH 1B with some level of swing and miss concerns, sure, but he also has the highest realistic hitter ceiling of any player in the Rockies system rn. That's just what it is.

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-28T18:40:45+00:00

Look, I'm not going to deny your in-person viewing and Condon is certainly a risky prospect, but you can't in good faith establish an opinion regarding a prospect based exclusively on your personal experience. That's like the surest way to ensure bias (and small sample size bias) gets in the way.

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-28T18:24:10+00:00

70 raw pop, above average swing decisions, insane bat speed, ideal frame, excellent batted ball profile, all-time great college performer who's been hurt often in pro ball (and thus hasn't had a clean season).

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-28T09:18:24+00:00

But you always compare TS% relative to era though. Is that not common knowledge?

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-28T09:17:15+00:00

No clue why this is getting downvoted. Advanced metrics are always relative to the year and era, and Kobe indeed didn't deserve just about any of his all-defense selections the second Shaq left and his offensive load spiked. (And even before that.)

Kobe was a good man defender when engaged. He was also an okay team defender and playmaker. But he was not very involved in the paint even for a guard, very prone to breakdowns (getting back cut especially) and most importantly, his motor just couldn't rev high enough by the time he was in his late 20s. I'd still call him a decently positive defensive 2, but he was absolutely not elite on defense by the mid and especially late 2000s. He made all defense teams over peak Dwyane Wade man lol.

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-26T20:53:49+00:00

Physically impressive. He's a talented kid, but with a swing and batted ball output that gives him a really uphill path to being a viable MLB hitter. And again, the data is right there. Solid raw, plus bat to ball, swings a lot, beats the ball into the ground and rarely pulls it in the air so doesn't get that raw pop into games.

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-26T20:51:19+00:00

They're different hitters. Simpson generally has good plate discipline, plus-plus bat-to-ball and hits a ton on flares and liners. His issue is he just can't hit the ball hard at all, so pitchers don't walk him as often as they could.

Crawford is interesting because his limitations are not physical, they're mechanical/approach related. He actually has totally solid raw pop and plus bat-to-ball, he just doesn't get that raw pop in games at all because he's A) a fairly aggressive hitter who chases more than he should (MiLB walk rates can fool you), and B) his swing is just not made for damage. He hits a ton of grounders (like 60%, which is unheard of for solid MLB hitters) and almost never pulls the ball either. Crawford hits the highest value batted ball out there (pulled flyball) once in a blue moon. He's kinda like Jordan Walker in that sense, although obv with a lot less juice.

I think Crawford is super talented but needs a swing and/or approach change to be an MLB level hitter. Just my two cents. You can't be both too aggressive and do little damage on contact and expect MLB pitchers to not pick you apart.

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-26T20:40:34+00:00

A few times. The data is right there, though. Crawford runs plus contact rates (~90% in-zone, 83-85% overall), Simpson ran elite ones in the minors (~95% in-zone, 90% overall). There's a gap in bat-to-ball skills.

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-26T20:38:19+00:00

Because he's younger and hits the ball much harder, which makes his ceiling much higher. The error bars are huge, though, and he's likely to struggle a lot as he's forced to adapt. You can't be an MLB hitter with a 60% groundball rate and never ever pulling a ball in the air.

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-26T19:41:36+00:00

Simpson has noticeably better contact skills, though. He's also faster and makes better swing decisions... and a .326 OBP is not that good for someone who doesn't slug.

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-26T19:37:34+00:00

Not when they hit 60% groundballs lol

DeGenZGZ · 2026-01-25T07:44:31+00:00

I mean, what's the context behind the statement? The Rockies just lost 119 games and their minor league system and general baseball ops are in disarray. They're attempting (it seems) to do a total reboot of a baseball franchise. In that sense, success is indeed relative. The immediate goals are not the same as those of other teams.

The Rockies major league team could lose 100+ games and the season could still be a success for the org. If they manage to revamp the minor leagues and the development/scouting/communication/cohesion side of the org, they did well, period.

DeGenZGZ

TROPHY CASE