Response to the insanity of the world on Buckets:
1) I have never seen a player improve on defense as much as Buckets did between his freshman and sophomore seasons. There were times when he absolutely carried us on his back with his defensive intensity. And unless Hipster Cat was in the game…he pretty much did it by himself.
2) We remember Buckets’ amazing 40-point games down the stretch last season. What was less publicized – I couldn’t remember him taking a single bad shot (and you could argue that any shot Buckets takes isn’t bad by definition). He was always an excellent teammate, and I believe a very good passer for a forward.
3) Maybe people are focused too much on freshman tape (see item 1), but Buckets transformed his body in the offseason, and he was a total athletic freak last season. He played ridiculous minutes without getting tired, and had to work to chase off double (and triple) teams most possessions. In addition to playing defense, often by his lonesome. There’s a metric f-ckton more to athleticism than being good in a stupid dunk contest. But yeah, I wouldn’t expect NBA followers to understand that.
