Skal Labissiere

#16
I would like to point out that I advocated for trading Cousins away towards the beginning of this season with the primary reason being Skal. A position as moderator will do just fine. Thank you.
 
#17
Skal has me excited to want to cheer for him in a way I have not felt since the early 2000's. I am not sure what it is but I just find myself getting loud in my living room every time he does something incredible. Skal, Hield, and Willie are quite a young base to grow with. Add in a mentor like Temple and hopefully two top 10 picks and I feel very encouraged about the future
 
#18
Love this kid. He is so humble. His family lived in a tent in Haiti. Average family income of 350-450 dollars a year. Dirt poor, and after the earthquake that left him unable to walk for a time from his house crushing him, he never lost faith in God. Any time he talks, God is what is important. I know he will help his family and without a doubt help the poor in Haiti. My daughter went in missions 3 straight years as an RN and volunteered her time and work.She said they are the most friendly people in the world. If my health allowed, I'd adopt a couple of orphan children.
Anyhow, Skal looks to be special. You don't see that footwork with those moves on a 7 footer who can shoot. I couldn't be happier for him.
 
#20
Once teams start watching more tape on him and planning for his moves, that's when we see how far he has come along. Can't get too high or too low, need to continue to improve and I have no reason to believe he won't do so. He is a gym rat, just like Buddy.
I feel your skepticism. I've just been watching his body all year. He was a scrawny beanpole and he's been putting on lean muscle. Further... he has the very natural game face.. .his freaking WAR face comes so natural not forced. He is smooth as all with his shot. He fetches rebounds like crazy. There is just quite literally nothing NOT to like. He just needs to be a bit stronger to hold his ground in the post. Upside is terrific - I know you don't want to guzzle koolaid but he's just getting better and better since the beginning of the season, and two years ago he was one of the top blue chip prospects in the country.

He's the grand prize of last year's draft imo.
 
#23
I would like to point out that I advocated for trading Cousins away towards the beginning of this season with the primary reason being Skal.
Which makes no sense. They don't play the same position. Skal not playing earlier in the season had nothing to do with Cousins being on the team. He simply wasn't quite ready yet, as evidenced by the fact he ended up in D-League for a while and even struggled there a bit early on.

The whole point is to get extremely talented players like Cousins and Skal together. The more of those players you have, the better your team is.
 
#24
You saw today the difference between developing a guy and dangling the carrot in front of him like Joerger and co. have done with Skal and playing a kid a ton of minutes whether they deserve them or not in Chriss. Skal is humble but hungry like a rabid dog and Chriss looks like an entitled child who thinks he is gods gift to the Suns.
I touched upon this point a couple weeks ago. I totally agree. All of the rookies have had to earn their coaches trust and their playing time. Same with Willie too. It started with a few minutes here and there and continued to grow so long as they produced.

That's how a good coach does it.
 

dude12

Hall of Famer
#25
You saw today the difference between developing a guy and dangling the carrot in front of him like Joerger and co. have done with Skal and playing a kid a ton of minutes whether they deserve them or not in Chriss. Skal is humble but hungry like a rabid dog and Chriss looks like an entitled child who thinks he is gods gift to the Suns.
I noticed the same thing with Chriss.....complete turnoff. Must suck to get your butt handed to you by a fellow rookie.
 
#26
Which makes no sense. They don't play the same position. Skal not playing earlier in the season had nothing to do with Cousins being on the team. He simply wasn't quite ready yet, as evidenced by the fact he ended up in D-League for a while and even struggled there a bit early on.

The whole point is to get extremely talented players like Cousins and Skal together. The more of those players you have, the better your team is.
Shhh. Im on genius level 117%. My thought was that we could get a REALLY good point guard/wing player for Cousins and open up the rotation to Skal.
 
#27
The Labissiere bandwagon just got kicked into hyperdrive! Hard not to overreact to this one, but it's even harder not to like what I'm seeing. :) It looks like those HS scouts who projected him in the top 5 before his rough season in Kentucky are going to have the last laugh. Excellent news for us!
Yeah, we all have to remember that this performance was against a SUNS team that has the 3rd worst record in the NBA and is playing a rookie that really can't guard anybody right now. Still, it's better to see these types of performances even against the bottom level teams than not to see it at all. The best thing about it is it instills more confidence in the kid. As we all know, confidence is nearly as important as talent and skill.
 
#30
I'll just leave this here. ;)

Skal: 32 points (11-15 FGs) 11 rebounds 3 TOs 2 fouls WIN 0 technical foul ( +8 plus / minus)
Boogie: 19 points (8-17 FGs) 9 rebounds 4 TOs 5 fouls LOSS 1 technical foul (-15 plus/minus)