Room check: Kobe Bufkin

[kg01]

Eta. Although I'm not a fan of the pick, per se, I find it appalling the extent to which some folks here are loosely calling him a bust.  And, don't try to sugarcoat it, that's what you're saying.  Although we're all savvy enough to know that's not what you do off SL performances. 

[NBASupes]

3 minutes ago, terrell said:

His last game bothered me in terms of shot selection, but I saw enough flashes both offensively and defensively to be confident that he will mature into a decent NBA player.

The play where he gambled for the steal and missed, but showed the ability to recover and block the shot is something that impressed me. 

So Yes, I think Bufkin can be a good NBA player.  I just didn't see that many winning player traits from the small sample we saw. 

Same. I don't see a scrub but man, it's hard to watch him and see potential all star. He has so much work to do and athletically, I don't see it at the 2 including on defense. That said, I am higher on his defense right now than I was as a prospect. I don't believe he can eventually guard NBA caliber PGs with more strength training and experience 

[JayBirdHawk]

24 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

He was running point in Summer league. They must envision him in that role, or at least to some extent.

True, the coach did say that they did throw a lot of things at him for SL. We'll see what he ends up being with development.

[RedDawg#8]

Bufkin is a guard. He is better suited to  be a secondary ball handler than a guy like Heurter was for example, but he is not an NBA PG, yet, and that is fine.

If he is on the floor with Trae or DJ and they have to get off the ball, Kobe has enough to make a simple DPS read. And at this point, you want guys that can just play off of your star players.

Kobe is definitely more of a scoring combo guard. Just keep it simple and let him attack when he is on the court.

Reminds me of Maxey in many ways at that age. 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

17 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

C.J. has a superior frame and body out of college. C.J. was a superior shooter as a prospect and he didn't take bad shots consistently. When you start comparing guys to guys who are 15-20 pounds bigger like Jalen Rose to Jarrett Culver, you start getting busts.

The best thing about Bukfin aside from his skill level is his ability to run PnRs. As bad as he is as PG, Jeff was just as bad. Thing is, Jeff had the speed and athleticism so when it finally came as he got older, he was functional. I don't know about Bufkin. He needs a lot of development because he's really far away. 

CJ also spent 4 years in college. 

My comparison was in terms of skillset as more SG than true PG.

[AHF]

3 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Eta. Although I'm not a fan of the pick, per se, I find it appalling the extent to which some folks here are loosely calling him a bust.  And, don't try to sugarcoat it, that's what you're saying.  Although we're all savvy enough to know that's not what you do off SL performances. 

I think there can be at least three different things that sometimes get conflated:

1. Someone thinks he was the wrong pick.  This is about how they view him as a prospect but equally about how they view others who were on the board.  These comments can be independent of how good he was in SL because no one is drafting to get great SL performance.
2. Someone commenting on his SL play or more generally about how close or far he is from being ready right now.  This speaks to how much of a role we should expect from him early this year but this doesn't necessarily talk to his long-term floor and ceiling as a prospect.  Someone might think he is totally not ready to play today and so comments about his play in summer league games should mostly fall in this category.  But this can be completely disconnected from a view on him as a prospect.  (I.e., a player can look rough right now and not have much upside or rough right now but have a ton of upside, etc. and comments describing struggles in SL can be really just about that - how he is performing right now in the context of that SL role and roster.)
3. His long-term projection and upside.  One can think he is raw as anything and not ready right now but that he has a bright future ahead of him. Think about if you were ready someone's comments about Kobe Bryant where he looked really rough as a rook at times but became at least a top 25 player in NBA history.  (Then scale that back for our Kobe who might not be as ready as Bryant but also isn't being asked to live up to that high standard.)

I just think sometimes we are blending these things together without being precise about what we are actually discussing and so some exchanges are really talking past one another.

[NBASupes]

10 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Same. I don't see a scrub but man, it's hard to watch him and see potential all star. He has so much work to do and athletically, I don't see it at the 2 including on defense. That said, I am higher on his defense right now than I was as a prospect. I do believe he can eventually he can guard NBA caliber PGs with more strength training and experience 

Edited

[NBASupes]

2 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

CJ also spent 4 years in college. 

My comparison was in terms of skillset as more SG than true PG.

He gotta shoot the ball so much better to be a 2. As a 1, he needs to defend a tad better and run PG much better. I'll take the bet at PG over SG in the NBA 

[JayBirdHawk]

15 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

it's hard to watch him and see potential all star.

That's the issue, he doesn't necessarily need to be Allstar as the #15 pick....my view is can he end up being a solid NBA starter.

1 minute ago, NBASupes said:

He gotta shoot the ball so much better to be a 2. As a 1, he needs to defend a tad better and run PG much better. 

That's stating the obvious after 5 SL games.

[NBASupes]

31 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

That's the issue, he doesn't necessarily need to be Allstar as the #15 pick....my view is can he end up being a solid NBA starter.

That's stating the obvious after 5 SL games.

Honestly, you want to see All Star potential in their first SL experience. Even when they miss, you hope they don't miss bad. 

Most guys who show potential all star never get there or close. See Dennis Schröder first SL. 

Giannis did as well and far exceeded even that. 

Gueye showed that. 

Jeff showed that. 

Edited July 17, 2023 by NBASupes

[deester11]

I honestly didn't like the pick.  I thought he was an ok player though and based on where he was picked, I couldn't be mad at it.  After watching his tape in college and his Summer League debut and subsequent games, I'm not under or overwhelmed, good or bad.

I think he will probably be a better player after his Hawk's tenure than during it.  He's solid and has tools to work with, but I don't see "star." I do see him being a decent to good contributor as he gets stronger and more mature. Perhaps that's good enough as he develops.

[JustSomeGuy]

@RandomFan I don’t disagree. But the odds of him being a contributor this year is slim and we had greater needs, namely in the form of physical 3&D wings over developmental backup PGs. The pick made sense in the moment as a potential DJM replacement but when he signed his extension right after it immediately makes this pick more head scratching. 

Cam was that and based on what he showed in SL not only has a higher ceiling than Hunter, but might be there sooner than later. 

[JayBirdHawk]

14 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Honestly, you want to see All Star potential in their first SL experience.

Not for me...in SL I'm looking for the little things that align with their draft profiles and college tape. The rest to me is just noise.

[NBASupes]

2 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Not for me...in SL I'm looking for the little things that align with their draft profiles and college tape. The rest to me is just noise.

We definitely differ. I highly value SL from rookies. Could care less about 2nd year guys. I just want to see them looking dominate if they are potential starters. 

[NBASupes]

9 minutes ago, JustSomeGuy said:

@RandomFan I don’t disagree. But the odds of him being a contributor this year is slim and we had greater needs, namely in the form of physical 3&D wings over developmental backup PGs. The pick made sense in the moment as a potential DJM replacement but when he signed his extension right after it immediately makes this pick more head scratching. 

Cam was that and based on what he showed in SL not only has a higher ceiling than Hunter, but might be there sooner than later. 

Hunter is a lot better than many on here give him credit for but I do agree that Cam should have been the pick. It's was a position of need but Gueye projects as a 3 so it's not a tremendous need but damn, I saw the value for sure 

[NBASupes]

With Kobe, is he better than Patty or Garrison. Garrison is clearly better. Patty probably is just as good but he's way better offensively than Kobe and he does more good than harm even if he doesn't have much impact. 

Kobe is far away as a 2. He's closer as a 1 but really far away from NBA ready as a 1 as well. That's why I said, he needs a lot of development. College Park needs to coach him to become a PG.

[AHF]

14 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

With Kobe, is he better than Patty or Garrison. Garrison is clearly better. Patty probably is just as good but he's way better offensively than Kobe and he does more good than harm even if he doesn't have much impact. 

Kobe is far away as a 2. He's closer as a 1 but really far away from NBA ready as a 1 as well. That's why I said, he needs a lot of development. College Park needs to coach him to become a PG.

I'm a bit skeptical of someone like him becoming a PG since he has never really shown a natural talent for playmaking.  I guess I am projecting him in my head as a combo guard who can fill in or supplement the point but not really be the hub of an offense and a multi-level scorer and defender ala DM.  (I will say I don't expect him to be as good as DM because most first round picks aren't.)

If he plays more in CP than ATL this season I'm not sure that will surprise anyone.

[NBASupes]

1 hour ago, AHF said:

I'm a bit skeptical of someone like him becoming a PG since he has never really shown a natural talent for playmaking.  I guess I am projecting him in my head as a combo guard who can fill in or supplement the point but not really be the hub of an offense and a multi-level scorer and defender ala DM.  (I will say I don't expect him to be as good as DM because most first round picks aren't.)

If he plays more in CP than ATL this season I'm not sure that will surprise anyone.

I think he has some playmaking chops as a PnR creator. It's the overall passing IQ, passing accuracy, feel for the position, running an offense that he struggles but that's not unusual. We've seen many PGs come in like this over the last 20 years. Some have become some of the game's best players like Steph Curry and Russell Westbrook 

[terrell]

This guy was going to make us all forget about CP3 in yr 2 SL.. Remember? lol

https://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=2526765

 

[JayBirdHawk]

2 hours ago, NBASupes said:

We definitely differ. I highly value SL from rookies. Could care less about 2nd year guys. I just want to see them looking dominate if they are potential starters. 

I will never place a High value on SL play. I'll Call it organized chaos.....good things, bad things, things to learn and things to throw in the trash.

You can make snap judgements but no high value for me.