Bradley or Hamilton?

Bradley seems to have slipped out of the first round in the mock drafts I have seen, and while he can be a lottery pick one day he really needs a single strong selling point at his size. He has to be a deadly shooter, an amazing defender or a great ballhander. A little more seasoning should get him there. Gibson had that one thing he was great at and that is why he is still in the league. Bradley is a better overall player but needs to be a specialist. Stephen Curry’s performance this year does a lot to boost Bradley’s draft potential.

Hamilton has been listed as a mid to late second rounder at best in mock drafts I have seen, and not even listed in others. When the NBA drafts on upside, it is from a physical talent standpoint, which isn’t what Hamilton brings to the table. He is an average athlete, so in order to get into the lottery he will have to prove that he is a solid player. His defense has improved from embarrassing to terrible, he still needs to improve greatly in this area. His foot speed has been the biggest knock on him for a while, and that hurts his defense as much as anything.

I would be shocked to see either player go pro, they lack the physical upside that most guys who go pro early do. In absence of that physical ability they have to be well refined, consistent performers. Bradley is much farther along than Hamilton in that respect, and I can see him turning that corner next season when he isn’t tasked with carrying a poor backcourt single handed.

Bradley is more important to the team next year than Hamilton. The team decayed throughout the season as the laziness and carelessness set in, and defense was no longer a priority. Watch some of the earlier games versus the later games and you will see the difference between 17-0 and 7-10. Yeah the competition wasn’t as good, but the fundamentals went away. We went from crushing teams (even good ones) to being crushed. We went from playing tough defense and forcing turnovers (check that 4 minute span against Mich St where we blew it open) to letting teams to anything they wanted on offense. Losing Ward and Balbay were huge in this as we lost the ability to pressure the ball and/or stay in front of it. Bradley was the only backcourt guy we had left who could do that, and I can only imagine the frustration he felt playing tough D every time down only to watch someone else blow it and let someone dunk it or get a wide open jumper. The problems we had in transition defense didn’t rear its head until later in the year. That poor guard play on defense also affected transition D, and we went from being a team that pushed tempo and beat teams in transition points to the exact opposite. Hamilton does nothing to solve those problems, and I’m pretty sure his play on both ends of the court worked to magnify those problems. The choice quotes from other players during the season about people not moving the ball seemed to have contributed to the “give 100%” mentality that was there at the start of the season.

The great thing about Joseph is he is a hard worker and great defender, just like Avery. This means he won’t be in the dog house like JH and JBC were all season fro their terrible defense and effort. He is also a perfect pick and roll/pick and pop PG who is smart and always under control. Actually he’s a lot like Brown in this regard, but he’s more straight-forward and less predicated on making the “Sportscenter” play.

If I’m choosing, then Bradley for sure.

To leave or stay?

I demand that Emmanuel Acho allow people to call him “Manny” for short, so that we can then refer to them as Sacho and Macho, Attorneys at War.

This notion of Hamilton as being a disaster area on defense is all a bit much. He rebounds extremely well which, if it wasn’t obvious, is extremely important in this game since it secures possession of the basketball. Winning in basketball is achieved through the scoring of baskets and it’s necessary to possess the basketball to achieve that. My point with these obvious statements is to reinforce that his rebounding covers other sins.
He’s also an active thief, he averaged almost a steal per game despite playing over 30 minutes on only 2 occasions.
He stays in front of people pretty well in man to man and obviously takes personal pride in not allowing himself to be beaten by the man in front of him. I think the legitimate complaints about his defense caused this tendency by fans to blame every missed off the ball assignment on Hamilton and reinforce the idea of him as some kind of defensive idiot.
Well he wasn’t the only one missing assignments over the 7-10 stretch. James, Johnson, Brown, a lot of these guys were losing people on screens. Acy didn’t land 10 dunks entirely because of Hamilton.

As far as offense, Bradley is a good spot-up shooter and has a midrange game which makes him tough to guard. Hamilton is a better spot-up shooter, gets to the rim more consistently and passes extremely well off dribble penetration and in the pick’n’roll. Bradley is a good scorer, Hamilton is a creator, big difference that latter are more rare and valuable and NBA offenses are being built off perimeter creators these days.

They are both great players but Hamilton has far more upside. Anyone else present for the OU game at the Erwin Center? When Hamilton is on and making passes it spreads. When he came on in the 2nd half the rest of the team got excited, his good passing was contagious and the defensive intensity increased as the team became pumped up with the success on offense. Hamilton can, at his best, be a throwback to the Magic Johnson/Larry Bird style of basketball and I want more of it.

Crazy Joe, your thoughts intrigue me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

Acy got 10 dunks because Barnes teams always get dunked on.

The Wake game wasn’t much better. How many dunks, game-tying or lead-taking, did we give up in that game?

His teams always get dunked on. Sad, really.

I think that losing either would be about the same. Hamilton’s lack of one-on-one D is made up for by his rebounding and offensive skills, while Bradley’s individual D can cause easy buckets with turnovers his ball handling is so bad that he isn’t much help in pressure situations or fast-break opportunities.

Both players need a good bit of work on team defensive concepts. Bradley had a ton of lapses this past season. Hamilton was pretty atrocious at times. That said, I wouldn’t hold those things against them too much, though. They were freshmen.

Objectively, I wouldn’t take one over the other at this time. Personally, I’d take Hamilton because I think that his skills are harder to ‘teach’ than Bradley’s. Basically Hamilton could come along quicker than Bradley, which is a reality we’ve already seen this year. Bradley’s lack of ‘handles’ is a real downer. Hamilton is a good ball handler and could be excellent with a little work. His three is silky smooth. He just needs to learn a few tricks to make it more effective. He also sets up his teammates far better than Bradley.

I like Bradley’s D, but you have to score to win. I look at Hamilton and see a guy that’s barely scratched the surface of what he can be. I also wonder if Barnes can develop him so that his potential is realized. I look at Bradley and see a guy that might have his highest praises in his rearview. I’m not sure Barnes can help him reclaim that spot, either.