Its not a matter of extremes, its right vs. wrong. I am right. He's wrong.
I think Boogie is an AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME talent. We agree on that. His hand eye coordination, his agility for a man his size, his feathery shooting touch and range, his anticipation to draw charges are exemplary. They ARE Hall of Fame worthy. He's incredible!!! I have said that from Day One when I said the ONLY thing preventing him from stardom was physical conditioning because ALL of the tools are there. But what has held him back individually and by extension held back the team (and try to separate the two is ridiculous which is what Brick has tried to do) is chronic immaturity and temper issues which have manifested in the following ways:
- suboptimal conditioning
- relationship with refs
- relationship with teammates
- leadership
- poise under pressure
There is also HOLE in his mostly complete and dynamic game. The hole is low post efficiency and go-to low post move. He lacks vertical lift and high release point on his post moves. He is a POWER player. Not a guy you can dump the ball and get a high percentage shot and look for someone else. Granted they are NOT many players like this left anymore, but guys like Marc Gasol, Greg Monroe and even Enes Kanter have more low post arsenal than Boogie. It is NOT who he is.
Remember his idol is Carmelo Anthony! Melo is a blend of inside and outside, face-up AND back-to-the basket. He is a POWER player with WING skills. This is Boogie. And this is my contention. This is NOT a matter of extremes! It is ACCURATE analysis compared to flawed analysis and wanting to fit a square peg into a round hole, wanting to compare Boogie to Patrick Ewing.
When and if (BIG IF!) the Kings win 45-50 games and go to the playoffs with Boogie leading the charge, the individual benchmarks I have set for him over the last 3-4 years that he has FAILED to meet, WILL be met.
Specifically:
- 55% TS or better
- 1.0 assist to turnover ratio or better
- consistent defensive
Regards to last point, this will be reflected quantitatively in lower foul rate, less technical fouls with refs, meaning he is not relying on the whistle and instead moving his FEET defensively instead of trying to defend with his hands. A player who plays this way gets more of the borderline calls or non-calls.
Then when and IF (BIG IF!) the Kings start to win the PRO-Cousins contingency will say "LOOK I TOLD YOU ALL ALONG OF HIS GREATNESS...HE JUST NEEDED A BETTER CAST AROUND HIM!!!" And I will say "NO, the first and foremost reason the Kings are winning is because Boogie made the aforementioned improvements in his game, which thereby justify the high usage rate and franchise tag. When you can trust him with 30%+ of possessions to be slightly or better than average related to passing and shooting AND defending regardless whether his shot is on OR off then (and only then) do you have a player you can win with.
In six arduous years we have yet to witness this player.