I saw MJ do a lot of thing early in his career that were just dumb. Some of those things were the coaches fault. I saw the staff put MJ on Mark Aguirre to try and guard him. Mark looked over at the Bulls coaching staff, as if to say, "you've got to be kidding me!"
Mark called for the ball and backed MJ into the stands and made a score. That didn't make me think MJ couldn't play, it made me think his coaches were idiots.
Everyone knew MJ was going to be a star when he was drafted.
I've been around for a while, and I've seen a lot of players develop into superstars. I knew Kobe was going to be a superstar player when he came out. I was amazed that he went so low in the draft. I knew that Larry Hughes was going to become a better star in the NBA than Jerry Stackhouse.
I'm telling you right now that Igoudala is going to be a better player than Stackhouse ever was, and he's also going to be better than Larry Hughes. Not only is he as physically gifted as those two, but he's got a better attitude as a player. He wasn't as good a shooter as either of those players at this point in their careers, but even MJ wasn't as good a shooter as he became later on.
I won't say he'll be better than Kobe, but he's got a shot. Kobe is pretty arrogant and therefore difficult to coach. Igoudala is much more humble and therefore easier to coach. There's nothing he can't do physically with the ball or his body on the floor that Kobe can do.
If in two years Andre isn't an All Star, I'll be shocked. He is that good.
I never said Sam was a top 5 center. He certainly isn't now, and I've seen no indications that he will become one yet. All he has is physical potential. But he now has a coach in Cheeks that wants to use him as part of the offense, unlike Brown and O'brien. That should speed his development and turn him into a decent player, if he can become one.
