Originally Posted by
MickMick
I was amazed at Brandon Clarke's Zag debut, but he had two years of college ball under his belt, and was a prior MWC All-Star. Comparing him to Suggs is apples and oranges. Dan Dickau can be put in this category as well. Not really a true debut considering his prior college experience. Still good enough to be an All American though. Nigel Williams Goss.....same category. Not a true freshman as a Zag. Still one of my favorites of all time as he led GU to it's first Final Four.
The best Zag frosh debut I can think of is Elias Harris, who was very good right out of the gate, but seemed to hit his ceiling early, and never really did get significantly better. He never should have spent that one off season "converting" from 4 position to 3 position. It really set his progression back as he ultimately had to go back to his original role. Despite this, he was still a very, very good player throughout his Zag career. Similarly, Kevin Pangos had an excellent debut and was outstanding as a freshman, but he reached his physical limitations quickly. Length was his issue, especially when defending, but he was extremely skilled offensively, and a dedicated, hard worker. I can't even make a credible comment on Zach Collins (Spock looks up from his monitor and says "Insufficient data"). Collins came off the bench for a loaded team (how many "one and done" freshman can make that claim?) that played for the National Championship. But I just didn't get to see enough of him to make a credible assessment except that foul trouble was his issue. He wasn't in for the final decisive moments of the National Championship Game when he was needed most. Regardless, perhaps Collins had the best Zag freshman debut to this point. He certainly had his moments of Zag greatness. Just needed more of them.
But.....none of the fore mentioned are in the same debut stratosphere as Suggs (although an argument can be made for Clarke's pure athleticism). The length, the athleticism, the attitude, the burst, the finishing, the skill. In a word, jaw dropping. The complete package. Suggs is NBA level right now and not as a developmental project. Like not only makes the roster, but starts immediately, and is a significant contributor. His admittedly needed improvement shooting behind the arc is a learned, easily attained behavior due to dedicated, repetitive training and Suggs isn't that far away anyway. He is close in that regard, only needs to squeeze out about 5% more accuracy, as he can now practice his long range shot instead of spending half the year reading where the free safety is lined up as a quarterback (and you can't convince me that this didn't contribute toward his basketball acumen), and no program is better suited to develop him for a single season than GU. Just look at Brandon Clarke's stroke, before GU and after GU, to get the picture. I think Suggs makes the NBA all rookie team and will be a perennial All-Star at the next level.
On another note, my definitive threshold for all time greatest Zags list is this: Ask yourself, "Is/was he better than Derek Ravio? If not, than not on the list. If yes, then on the list. Ravio will always be on the list if only as a benchmark to see who gets to be on that list.
Suggs #1 Mention in Article
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