It took just a few months of his rookie season for Tyrese Haliburton to exceed many of the rookie-year expectations I had about him coming out of Iowa State. The 6’5 guard proved himself immensely versatile on the basketball court, with instincts and a feel for the game on both ends that are beyond his years. But as Haliburton gets ready for his second season as a King, and his name is getting mentioned in occasional trade hypotheticals, Brenden and I had a discussion about Haliburton’s ceiling as a player and how he fits with the Kings moving forward.
In this episode we discussed:
- Our pre-draft evaluations (and concerns) of Haliburton coming out of Iowa State
- When he started exceeding those expectations, particularly as an individual creator
- What we’d like to see him improve on
- Why it’s impossible to come up with a realistic comparison for Haliburton’s ceiling outcome
- Why I wouldn’t include him in any Ben Simmons trade conversations
What are your expectations for Haliburton, both next season and in his career? Let us know in the comments!
The Kings Pulse podcast is available on all major listening platforms.
Easy: His ceiling is Prime Jordan, but with better hang-time. His floor is Prime Olajuwon, but with better footwork.
In regard to his inclusion in a Simmons trade, the questions break down to:
My feeling is that when you consider both offense and defense, and particularly when you factor in the likely cost in future draft picks to get Simmons, I’m strongly disinclined to include Haliburton in a deal with Philadelphia. There are too many unknowns with Simmons at this particular moment. I don’t believe that if the Kings acquired Simmons, that he would instantly become the best player on the team, and given the likely cost, it’s not worth it.
A team whose best player is reticent to take shots cannot possibly have a shot at making the playoffs.
any chance you could also upload these to youtube? It’s much easier to access and listen. It’s annoying having to go to the podcast site, scroll down, and download the file, then open up the file in a media player. Rather than click a link to a youtube app/site that auto plays. I only go through the hassle for Jerry. The lower barrier to entry will improve the number of listeners/subscribers/likes guaranteed.
I believe that if you are trying to listen on desktop, you should be able to just hit the play button in the embedded link at the bottom of the post?
Typically this would be the case, but I accidentally uploaded a different type of player in this post.
Also, if you have Spotify on your computer it is available on there and all other listening platforms.
I am strongly considering doing YouTube as well.
It’s just that youtube is much more mobile friendly than in browser players that may not work so well depending on your device and os. not everyone uses spotify anymore, but almost everyone has youtube on their phones.
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