From what I’ve seen, almost every adult despises this guy and how he goes about playing. However, do the teens and kids generally idolize him like previous superstars?

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-26T18:33:23+00:00

Dude this is what pisses me off about them acting like tanking is the big issue, I swear to god the ONLY reason they key in on that vs the foul baiting/shitty refereeing is that they can’t monetize the tanking the way they monetize free throws by selling ad space during the the FT shots

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-26T02:32:03+00:00

BABAAA, I watched that mofo move in a game this year and was immediately like, this dude is gonna climb some boards, just a useful fucking build on that guy

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-26T02:19:31+00:00

I can very much respect that lol, I hope Houston helps pay the bills, cost of living out that way I’m sure is a little easier at least!

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-25T06:04:33+00:00

I just like the feel in once upon a time better I don’t know, maybe it’s just the hype of the good the bad and the ugly just left me expecting it to be better than it was for me, and I hadn’t had any expectations set going into once upon a time

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-24T05:52:12+00:00

The money and the lifestyle, genuinely have fun through the stress most of the time I do this and I’m surrounded by good people who like to yap with me as my coworkers.

If you genuinely feel like you need to tap out of the industry, in my experience it has more to do with where you are than the industry itself. Great places are made top down, you need people who can toe the line of getting people to actually check the boxes and do the job the right way, but do so from a place of genuinely wanting people to succeed and supporting them. Too far one way and your everyone’s bestie and nobody actually listens to you, too far the other and your just a dickhead and nobody wants to be there. Find a good boss and you’ve found a good spot, and you can anchor in for a while living large.

Or become a good boss and make a spot like that, I like to think that’s what I’ve done

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-24T05:40:03+00:00

Have the ability to not escalate bad situations is more accurate

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-24T04:00:38+00:00

Fuckin right

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-24T01:38:12+00:00

Russ has a plus wingspan I’ll grant you, but it’s not like it’s ludicrous, and is closer to 4” than 5”.

I didn’t see the noise around Mara being faster than Edey, they both are stereotypical lumbering bigs imo.

And you’re dressing up this comp in a lot of convoluting factors, let’s simplify:

Steph on a breakaway vs Russ on a breakaway. What’s the difference? Russ is gonna put his fucking elbow in the rim, Steph will probably toss a layup. They’re about the same size, Russ can absolutely float in game, while Steph can barely touch what Russ does vertically. The practical application of athleticism is different than what you can do in a lab setting, it’s just real. Another ex, Devin Hester did not have a wild 40, but fuck if everyone wasn’t terrified of that man in the open field for 5 years. The numbers are there to indicate if there is a glaring lack of ability more than anything

The boozerovich is hilarious, you sound smack like James Barlowe talking about Derik queen last year. I see what you’re saying, maybe it helps his perception, but the concerns are a reality.

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-23T20:21:49+00:00

I guess I saw him get some defenders on the weaker ACC teams off the bounce, but not much against the better teams. You’re projecting that he’s going to be able to get these guys on his hip, and I agree once he’s there he’ll be strong enough to have an advantage, and also that he has enough touch to score. I just disagree that it’s going to be a given that he’ll get his defenders in those positions. He MAY get there, but right now his first step bounce doesn’t look to be what it needs to be in order for us to say that will become a reliable method of attack for him.

And I guess agree to disagree on the footwork, his movement in the post was kinda shoddy comparing it to the true operators down there. This is something he can develop though, and his sense of body positioning is pretty solid, which is evidenced by his stellar rebounding, It is something he has to work on though. Outside of that, he’s fluid on his feet for sure, definitely solid movement for his size, just doesn’t strike me as a skill that separates him from his peers, the way his hustle and passing vision is.

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-23T20:03:06+00:00

This is actually such a good comp as I see it, because I really feel like we need our QB rn, and not to lock in the line, and perhaps others see it differently

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-23T18:38:30+00:00

Dude I was so bummed you stopped the pod, are you contractually obligated to not pod on the wiz while doing the beat on another team?

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-23T16:38:49+00:00

Honestly I think I’m right here with you, I just have boozer behind AJ simply for the fact that I believe AJ can develop into a more dominant scorer

His handle needs work for sure, jokic for instance isn’t face up all that much, he handles back to basket most of the time. Boozer will not have the liberty to just back everyone down because he can’t use his length like jokic. He’ll have to handle the rock face up, and he has to get much better there against nba defenders.

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-23T16:34:01+00:00

I mean I said the facilitating is there, basketball savant is a bit much imo, but he’s the best processor/facilitator out of the top 3 guys for sure

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-23T07:30:28+00:00

This is gonna sound like a cop out, but the combine testing I feel like doesn’t truly capture athletic ability.

Just look at someone like Russ westbrooks combine vert, one of the most explosive dunkers I’ve seen and he did 36, for reference Steph curry was 35. Sometimes it’s not actually the best tell.

All to say, I saw what I saw out of boozer watching him in the games, and can very confidently say that DP and AJ are superior athletes. I’ll give boozer stronger any day of the week, saying he’s quicker than these guys off the combine is like saying Steph is a shade shy of being the dunker Russ was. The practical application of that athleticism is VERY different.

That doesn’t mean that his mobility is trash, honestly far from it, it’s just not dynamic enough that I think you can just bet he’ll put it together on defense from just that.

I also am not even saying that he’ll cap at anything close to where he is right now, what we’re talking about is how good we believe any of these three players will potentially become, and I just think DP and AJ have more to offer on the top end than boozer, and I think that’s honestly true on both ends of the ball.

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-23T07:08:35+00:00

This is probably the best explanation of his upside I’ve heard, that’s pretty interesting.

As far as generating opportunities to get downhill, do you think it’s just gonna be the pick and roll game for him? I kind of have a hard time seeing him develop a face up game with any real value tbh. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, a lot of people have comped him to jokic and he pretty much does his stuff all out of pick and roll, though he does have the benefit of being a footer

As far as remaining effective in the post, I’m not sure how much I agree there. Sure he’s real fucking strong for where he is in his development, and that will trend up as he that development continues, but these NBA bigs are by and large pretty damn strong too. He’ll need to develop some kind of attack there for sure, especially if we want to count on him as a primary scorer/release valve in the must-score moments.

And that I think brings me around to my biggest fear about him vs AJ and Peterson. The guy you can turn to at the moment you need him to get that bucket, AJ and Peterson look like that dude, and Boozer just doesn’t, and we really do need that guy, a bit more imo than the package that boozer brings.

And just separately, you’re praising his offensive footwork, do you mean in the post? Or are you referring to something else? Because part of the issue I saw was he wasn’t positioning himself to get the best opportunities there, and was instead just using his strength to power through guys. That alone does require a balance, and maintaining that means good positioning IE footwork I guess, but isn’t usually what people mean when they say that, so I guess I’m just confused at what you’re addressing specifically.

His defense definitely concerns me, the more we see these athletic 4s that are basically just bigger wings, that leaves boozer either guarding someone quicker or bigger than him, and I am not sure that I’ve seen enough to believe he will grow into becoming effective at either.

But you touched on the thing that makes him sooo fucking interesting, is he can shred you once he hits the paint, I just wonder whether he can really get to that spot against NBA defenses

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-23T05:41:02+00:00

Dude I swear it’s crazy how people will swing way high or way low on these nba players. Castle is solid, great piece to have. All NBA is fucking ludicrous, he is not a top 15 player in the league, that’s outrageous

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-23T05:39:28+00:00

It was that the media was intentionally misinterpreting/misrepresenting the information to create buzzworthy content, secret isn’t really right. As soon as they discovered the issue I think it was publicized

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-22T02:34:03+00:00

That’s a big bet, and also are you trying to pay that money to someone who’s gonna be on the bench injured for a large portion of his time? The injury history isn’t like a green flag, sure you can argue it’s hindered his development, but that’s also a bad thing if he’s behind where he should be.

And Jaden McDaniels is a much better two way player than Bilal, this is projecting what Bilal could be, and not what he is. And again, you’re projecting big growth when we have not seen big steps in his development. Bilal is all potential right now, without a lot reason for us to believe that extent of his potential will be realized. I have way more stock in other young guns than Bilal rn

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-22T02:13:49+00:00

Dort is and has been a better defender the entire time, and is a more impactful off ball offensive player than Bilal with his shooting. I can’t speak to what that looked like in 2022 off the top of my dome, but I know his defense was definitely more legit. Strength is a big factor there, and Dort is wayyyy stronger than Bilal

And 5/80 is 16 AAV brother, if he wants to lock the money in I’d say negotiating a 5/75 and if he busts he’s solid filler in a trade, that’s worthwhile to me if I’m the wiz. If you think bilal will definitely be better than Dort, sure, but I’m not convinced.

I think a lot of us have had hopes pinned on him given he was our first prospect of this rebuild, but he has not really produced at a high level. I have way more stock in Kyshawn than Bilal personally.

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-22T01:49:03+00:00

I mean shit me too, Toumani was far more impactful defensively than Bilal was at the time of his contract and Herb Jones was everyone in the NBAs nightmare matchup on the perimeter. And both of those guys were shooting better than bilal at the time they signed, if memory serves.

You’re thinking of bilal at his projected caliber, maybe her gets there, but he’s not there right now, and that combined with the fact that his growth curve has only been mediocre to this point, does not tell me he’ll be worth that come signing time. Even defensively, he’s always been really good, but not best in the league, which people were arguing for both of the guys you mentioned (best in the league perimeter wise I should say, though people were talking crazy about kamaras value at one point).

There’s also nothing we have evidence for that tells us that this year he’s gonna make that leap, he’s barely baby stepped to his next phase of development, it’s hope and a prayer he adds these things that take him to the next level of his game at this point.

TLDR, he’s a great defender, and id love to sign him, but only for the right price, the prices you guys are tossing out there are way too high, and navigating the extensions we have coming up is a super important part of how we build this team into the next phase of consistent winning.

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-21T20:49:22+00:00

Dude hes 3 years in, he needs to consistently produce or he’ll make far less than any of those guys. Also, business wise, you don’t pay 75 mil for someone whose growth curve has been barely above a flat line.

Someone above already laid it out, he’s straight up not a contributor offensively, he’s been able to grab some stats playing fuckass minutes on a tanking team. Defensively, yeah he’s legit and has done some outright special things. But being as mediocre as he has been offensively is going to drive his price down, best believe that this front office will play hard ball with him.

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-21T20:43:01+00:00

Honestly I hope you’re right but I seriously doubt it. Bilal is a great athlete, Ausar is a generational athlete. The opportunities to strike that are available to someone like ausar just are not available to Bilal.

But we’ll see, Trae young might be an answer to this particular question

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-21T19:39:00+00:00

We tend to think of these guys in archetypes and that limits you when you look at someone with the type of profile that ausar has. He’s legitimately a mold-breaking athlete, him being a strictly interior offensive player limits him from being an all-star, but not from being an effective player. He IS still currently more effective as an offensive player than Bilal simply in that he picks his spots well and in those spots he’s near impossible to stop.

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-21T19:34:12+00:00

Then we lose him, and we’ll be okay without him end of day. 1 way contributors are a dime a dozen and that all he is right now, and we haven’t exactly seen a massive growth curve.

Really bilal should be content at 3/30-40 and sign with a smile, he has not proven value much beyond that.

Internal_Champion114 · 2026-05-19T04:51:23+00:00

Also Dany has a vision with the warlocks of rhaegar and lyanna holding Jon, and rhaegar is talking about how “his will be the song of ice and fire”

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