How many of these new guys feel like superstars to you ?

[Spain_]

There are a lot of good young guys but most of then don't feel like stars I'm going to remember in 30 years time.
A lot them feel generic, like DM, Tatum, Booker who are just Kobe clones.
Luka, Trey , Morant and Zion are the only ones I can see being remembered in 30 years.

[97 bulls]

There are a lot of good young guys but most of then don't feel like stars I'm going to remember in 30 years time.
A lot them feel generic, like DM, Tatum, Booker who are just Kobe clones.
Luka, Trey , Morant and Zion are the only ones I can see being remembered in 30 years.

All it takes is a little success and a lot of trolling from their fans.

[FKAri]

Booker's not a Kobe clone. Even if he was, who cares? Kobe was an MJ clone and he's still remembered.

[Airupthere]

There are a lot of good young guys but most of then don't feel like stars I'm going to remember in 30 years time.
A lot them feel generic, like DM, Tatum, Booker who are just Kobe clones.
Luka, Trey , Morant and Zion are the only ones I can see being remembered in 30 years.

A lot of these guys have similar skills on offense. What would separate them will be the intangibles and what they achieve throughout their careers.

[1987_Lakers]

Luka for sure, Tatum & Zion seem to be on their way, I don't think Booker will ever be a superstar though, maybe a borderline top 10 player at best. Trae will be a controversial player for years to come, mainly for his great ability to score, but also for constant bad shooting nights.

[90sgoat]

Luka, Giannis, Jokic are the only young superstars now.

There are some older ones like AD, who I guess could be called "younger".

Ja Morant seems to be a superstar in the making.

[Spain_]

Booker's not a Kobe clone. Even if he was, who cares? Kobe was an MJ clone and he's still remembered.

Kobe wasn't an MJ clone and the reason he is remember is because he was an all time talent.
These guys aren't good enough to transcend their generic playstyle.
Having a unique skillset and doing things other people can't is one of those things that define who people remember, Jokic and Giannis will be remembered forever because they dominate playing in a way nobody else is currently stylistically able to.
Luka and Zion also fall into this category of being outliers.
Porzingis should have been like that too but he decided to turn into skinny Kelly Olynyk instead

[90sgoat]

I see Booker more as a Reggie Miller type player or even Ray Allen.

Curry was the last american born superstar.

[NBAGOAT]

watch out for Fox. Undervalued in this thread. Trae I see blossoming into a supertstar

[HylianNightmare]

Yanni

[Sportal]

I feel like "superstar" is easily passed around these days. But I feel as though it only counts when you can say one part of their name to a casual fan, and they'll instantly know who you're talking about.

Zion
Luka
Trae

I think those are clear ones. I think then you've got the next group of:

Morant
Tatum
Mitchell
Booker

These 4 are all relatively exciting and can fill it up whenever they need, but, the only one that has "x-factor" to me is Morant. If Morant was at the Bulls, he'd be huge already imo.

[Jasper]

I'll come back to this thread after 6 games

[MaxPlayer]

Anthony Edwards quietly averaged 19.3 PPG last year, 5th best ever by a 19-year-old.

[Gohan]

I'll come back to this thread after 6 games

cough....cough bucks win cough cough....

[Sportal]

Anthony Edwards quietly averaged 19.3 PPG last year, 5th best ever by a 19-year-old.

Ooo yeah, shit, forgot about him. I'd put him on the potential list... But he's at the TWolves. Lol.

[bobopenguin]

sad to see ppl like jabari parker, exum, dunn, okafor, bamba, sexton, knox etc never break out.

[insight]

Luka for sure, Tatum & Zion seem to be on their way, I don't think Booker will ever be a superstar though, maybe a borderline top 10 player at best. Trae will be a controversial player for years to come, mainly for his great ability to score, but also for constant bad shooting nights.

You have no clue what you are talking about when you say Trae will be contraversial because of his shooting. He is a point guard first, his first responsiblity is to run the offense and control the tempo of the game, he generates points through passing and scoring. Unlike many other players who can't create shots for others, he is still effective on a off shooting night because he draws double teams and is a great passer.
If he played shooting guard like Tatum, Curry or Booker running of screens having plays ran for him his shooting percentage would be much higher.

[Gohan]

You have no clue what you are talking about when you say Trae will be contraversial because of his shooting. He is a point guard first, his first responsiblity is to run the offense and control the tempo of the game, he generates points through passing and scoring. Unlike many other players who can't create shots for others, he is still effective on a off shooting night because he draws double teams and is a great passer.
If he played shooting guard like Tatum, Curry or Booker running of screens having plays ran for him his shooting percentage would be much higher.

stop trying to bring curry up he's not even close to the player that curry is. the other two fine i agree just leave curry alone

[MaxPlayer]

sad to see ppl like jabari parker, exum, dunn, okafor, bamba, sexton, knox etc never break out.

Sexton's a nice player, just not a particularly high-ceiling guy (imo)

[insight]

I feel like "superstar" is easily passed around these days. But I feel as though it only counts when you can say one part of their name to a casual fan, and they'll instantly know who you're talking about.

Zion
Luka
Trae

I think those are clear ones. I think then you've got the next group of:

Morant
Tatum
Mitchell
Booker

These 4 are all relatively exciting and can fill it up whenever they need, but, the only one that has "x-factor" to me is Morant. If Morant was at the Bulls, he'd be huge already imo.

The Bulls already have a high flyer who can jump out of the gym in Zach Lavine who IMO deserves more respect, not sure Morant would be any more popular than his now in Chicago. If taking your carrying your team to the conference finals is not X-Factor I don't know what is, unless you just like seeing highlight dunks.

[iamgine]

There are a lot of good young guys but most of then don't feel like stars I'm going to remember in 30 years time.
A lot them feel generic, like DM, Tatum, Booker who are just Kobe clones.
Luka, Trey , Morant and Zion are the only ones I can see being remembered in 30 years.

It takes time to become 'will remember in 30 years' good. Even Kobe wasn't 'will remember in 30 years' good in his first few years.

By the time we think we'll remember Tatum or Booker in 30 years, they'll not be young guys.

[DevBooker'sMask]

Devin Booker will prove it this series

[insight]

stop trying to bring curry up he's not even close to the player that curry is. the other two fine i agree just leave curry alone

Trae is a true point guard.
When Curry 1st entered the league Mark Jackson tried to make him into a point guard and he was good but no where close to what he became when he started playing off the ball.
Trae and Curry have completely different games and NO Trae is not close to Curry's level at this point in his career and he may never reach that level of impact on the game.
However Curry was not doing the things Trae is doing at age 22.

[Sportal]

The Bulls already have a high flyer who can jump out of the gym in Zach Lavine who IMO deserves more respect, not sure Morant would be any more popular than his now in Chicago. If taking your carrying your team to the conference finals is not X-Factor I don't know what is, unless you just like seeing highlight dunks.

Are you talking about Mitchell? The guy that shows up for 15 games a season?

[insight]

Are you talking about Mitchell? The guy that shows up for 15 games a season?

No, I like Mitchell but I was talking about Trae. He is the only one that did it without having any All Stars on his team.

[And1AllDay]

superstars take time

most guys dont know how to play when young they just chuck shots and get 1-9'd and ballhog

once they learn bran ball and how to involve teammates they win but that usually takes 6 to 8 years to develop that skillset

anyone can shoot a lot
passing is the true skill superstars need

[Axe]

stop trying to bring curry up he's not even close to the player that curry is. the other two fine i agree just leave curry alone
Imagine if james wiseman, the #2 overall pick last year, becomes a superstar in the future who will carry stephen curry to playoff berths for the years to come once klay shows to this league that he cannot keep up anymore because of his torn acl plus achilles. Kinda puts things into perspective for the warriors at least.

[Chuckbe]

Imagine if james wiseman, the #2 overall pick last year, becomes a superstar in the future who will carry stephen curry to playoff berths for the years to come once klay shows to this league that he cannot keep up anymore because of his torn acl plus achilles. Kinda puts things into perspective for the warriors at least.

https://media1.tenor.com/images/b5724788aff2420e7ac44046b35e9ccd/tenor.gif

[Axe]

https://media1.tenor.com/images/b5724788aff2420e7ac44046b35e9ccd/tenor.gif
Just wtf is he doing rt? :roll:

[Real Men Wear Green]

The top scorer on the NBA champion is a superstar. If Phoenix gets it done there is no denying Devin Booker.

You may not remember Tatum in 30 years but he's gone over 50 three times now (I think) and had one of the great games in Celtic history to get the Cs into the postseason this year. He's lead the Celtics to the ECF twice. He had modeled a lot of his game after Kobe Bryant but being a 6'10 "Kobe Clone" is not a bad thing. Donovan Mitchell may have a hard time maintaining high scoring output at his size while staying healthy but when his body is right he's a superstar. Don't see the Kobe comparison here he's more like Wade not that either comparison isn't a good thing.

[bobopenguin]

The top scorer on the NBA champion is a superstar. If Phoenix gets it done there is no denying Devin Booker.

You may not remember Tatum in 30 years but he's gone over 50 three times now (I think) and had one of the great games in Celtic history to get the Cs into the postseason this year. He's lead the Celtics to the ECF twice. He had modeled a lot of his game after Kobe Bryant but being a 6'10 "Kobe Clone" is not a bad thing. Donovan Mitchell may have a hard time maintaining high scoring output at his size while staying healthy but when his body is right he's a superstar. Don't see the Kobe comparison here he's more like Wade not that either comparison isn't a good thing.

these are stars.

super star is KD, lebron tier.
right now the only young guy with super star potential is Luka.
tatum might become a superstar if he has the longevity and true break out.

[Real Men Wear Green]

This is subjective. If you want to say that a guy has to be the best player in the league then that's your standard I suppose.

[90sgoat]

sad to see ppl like jabari parker, exum, dunn, okafor, bamba, sexton, knox etc never break out.

Jabari Parker was the biggest dissapointment for me.

Every time I see him play, I see so much talent and athleticism. He had the inside and outside game and the explosiveness to be a star, but I guess injuries and mentality set him back.

[90sgoat]

We will see who is a superstar at the Olympics.

[ScottieQuitting]

I think all those guys feel like superstars in the making, to be honest. Legends? Luka for sure. Maybe Zion and Trae. But time will tell.


We will see who is a superstar at the Olympics.
This too. Last time Mitchell and Tatum didn’t take over, regardless of how young. And quite frankly was the most embarrassing finish for a pro based U.S.A. basketball team ever. Even over 2002 and 2004. They finished higher, and faced way superior peak foreign competition.

[hold this L]

Feels like Luka is 100% destined to be, if it hasn't happened already. Probably needs one more season though. He's a beast. Zion/Trae are behind him. It's way too early to see what happens with these guys though. I feel like people use superstar too loosely, there's maybe 8-9 superstars in the league. That's it, not everyone can get there.

Joker and Giannis for me were the last two to get there, both a bit older obviously.

[StrongLurk]

The top scorer on the NBA champion is a superstar. If Phoenix gets it done there is no denying Devin Booker.

You may not remember Tatum in 30 years but he's gone over 50 three times now (I think) and had one of the great games in Celtic history to get the Cs into the postseason this year. He's lead the Celtics to the ECF twice. He had modeled a lot of his game after Kobe Bryant but being a 6'10 "Kobe Clone" is not a bad thing. Donovan Mitchell may have a hard time maintaining high scoring output at his size while staying healthy but when his body is right he's a superstar. Don't see the Kobe comparison here he's more like Wade not that either comparison isn't a good thing.

Uhh, that's not an absolute fact...we've had a few nba champions whose leading scorer wasn't a superstar. Devin Booker is not a superstar, he is a standard all-star.

Also, are people already forgetting the insane luck the Suns have had with injured opponents this year? I've never seen anything like it.

AD missed games, Lebron was only around 75%, no Jamal Murray second round, no Kawhi third round, and Giannis is maybe at like 75% as well...in my opinion, this is a SUPER weak ring, maybe even a straight up asterisk. Yes injuries are a part of them game...but not like this season lol. Hell the Bucks themselves got lucky with injuries to Kyrie, Harden and Trae Young.

This whole year is a total waste if people were being objective...and these injuries have really gotten out of control. Feels like you could argue every single ring since 2015 feels a little hollow.

2015: Warriors had a ton of injury luck like the Suns this year
2016: Legit ring IMO but Draymond DID get suspended in game 5 (albeit due to technical limit breached and he should've been suspend vs the Thunder in the previous series anyways).
2017: Most stacked super team ever
2018: Repeat of 2017
2019: KD and Klay injured
2020: Bubble
2021: The biggest mess of a playoffs in my life.

[WhiteKyrie]

Uhh, that's not an absolute fact...we've had a few nba champions whose leading scorer wasn't a superstar. Devin Booker is not a superstar, he is a standard all-star.

Also, are people already forgetting the insane luck the Suns have had with injured opponents this year? I've never seen anything like it.

AD missed games, Lebron was only around 75%, no Jamal Murray second round, no Kawhi third round, and Giannis is maybe at like 75% as well...in my opinion, this is a SUPER weak ring, maybe even a straight up asterisk. Yes injuries are a part of them game...but not like this season lol. Hell the Bucks themselves got lucky with injuries to Kyrie, Harden and Trae Young.

This whole year is a total waste if people were being objective...and these injuries have really gotten out of control. Feels like you could argue every single ring since 2015 feels a little hollow.

2015: Warriors had a ton of injury luck like the Suns this year
2016: Legit ring IMO but Draymond DID get suspended in game 5 (albeit due to technical limit breached and he should've been suspend vs the Thunder in the previous series anyways).
2017: Most stacked super team ever
2018: Repeat of 2017
2019: KD and Klay injured
2020: Bubble
2021: The biggest mess of a playoffs in my life.
Yea I have Booker as an elite all star. Perennial All Star type.

But he isn’t a transformative superstar. He’s basically Klay Thompson with some better ball handling and definitely without the defense.

He would’ve been the Warriors third option just like Klay, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry are transcendent franchise centerpiece superstars.

[MaxPlayer]

I know a few people have mentioned Morant but I feel like he might not be getting enough consideration. He has all the athleticism, smarts, and hustle you could want, not to mention being unselfish and a great facilitator. If he can just develop a more consistent jumper to force defenses to stick him on the perimeter, I can see him blowing up.

[insight]

these are stars.

super star is KD, lebron tier.
right now the only young guy with super star potential is Luka.
tatum might become a superstar if he has the longevity and true break out.

Luka and Zion had the whole media trying to annoit them to super stardom by nationally televising their games much more than players like Trae Young, Ja Morrant or even elite young scorers like Zach Lavine, Shai Gil Alexander and Fox.

But at the end of the day the media will not get to decide who reaches super star status because Super star staus is different.

It will requires one of these young stars to be the best on the biggest stages. This means multiple conference finals and years of being in the contention for a title and playing at MVP level. And the player has to have the right personality that keeps the public interested. Kareem, Duncan, and many other players played at a Super Star level but the general public never paid attention to them outside of NBA fans. Lebron and Steph have reached that level but I wouldn't even put KD, Kyrie or any other current player in the must see tv category.

[FireDavidKahn]

Anthony Edwards quietly averaged 19.3 PPG last year, 5th best ever by a 19-year-old.

His post all-star stats are ridiculous for a rookie.

Pre:

14.9 ppg on 37.1%/30.2%/80.5%
.466 TS%
4 rpg
2.5 apg
0.86 spg
-5.5 +/-

post:

23.8 ppg on 45.4%/34.9%/76.2%
.567 TS%
5.3 rpg
3.4 apg
1.42 spg
-0.9 +/-

Both stretches were exactly 36 games as well.

[hateraid]

Are we talking marketable or superstars?

It's like Paul Pierce v Kobe. Both were superstars, one was marketable

[Real Men Wear Green]

Last time Mitchell and Tatum didn’t take over, regardless of how young. And quite frankly was the most embarrassing finish for a pro based U.S.A. basketball team ever. Even over 2002 and 2004. They finished higher, and faced way superior peak foreign competition.
How is Tatum going to take over when he's injured and not playing?
Uhh, that's not an absolute fact...we've had a few nba champions whose leading scorer wasn't a superstar. Devin Booker is not a superstar, he is a standard all-star.

Also, are people already forgetting the insane luck the Suns have had with injured opponents this year? I've never seen anything like it.

AD missed games, Lebron was only around 75%, no Jamal Murray second round, no Kawhi third round, and Giannis is maybe at like 75% as well...in my opinion, this is a SUPER weak ring, maybe even a straight up asterisk. Yes injuries are a part of them game...but not like this season lol. Hell the Bucks themselves got lucky with injuries to Kyrie, Harden and Trae Young.

This whole year is a total waste if people were being objective...and these injuries have really gotten out of control. Feels like you could argue every single ring since 2015 feels a little hollow.

2015: Warriors had a ton of injury luck like the Suns this year
2016: Legit ring IMO but Draymond DID get suspended in game 5 (albeit due to technical limit breached and he should've been suspend vs the Thunder in the previous series anyways).
2017: Most stacked super team ever
2018: Repeat of 2017
2019: KD and Klay injured
2020: Bubble
2021: The biggest mess of a playoffs in my life.AD always misses games and LeBron is old. Kawhi Leonard has a copyright on the term "Load Management." You are looking for all of these reasons to discredit the greatest possible achievement a team can have. If leading a team to an NBA Championship isn't enough for a player to get credit as a superstar then there is no standard. You aren't just moving the goalpost you have taken it down and hidden the ball. Booker has averaged 25 points and is either his team's best player or a close #2 (Chris Paul deserves a lot of credit as well of course). There are a lot of seasons we can point to where there was a team that may have been better than the champion that got derailed by a key injury. It's part of sports. Guys get injured and grow old. That's life.

[Spain_]

I know a few people have mentioned Morant but I feel like he might not be getting enough consideration. He has all the athleticism, smarts, and hustle you could want, not to mention being unselfish and a great facilitator. If he can just develop a more consistent jumper to force defenses to stick him on the perimeter, I can see him blowing up.

Morant has that D Rose IT factor that makes him memorable.

[Spain_]

Are we talking marketable or superstars?

It's like Paul Pierce v Kobe. Both were superstars, one was marketable

Superstar definitely involves branding so yes.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Superstar definitely involves branding so yes.
This makes it harder to quantify but Tatum has plenty of national ads.

[Airupthere]

I feel like Zion is only in 3rd-4th gear. We haven't seen the monster yet.

[MaxPlayer]

I feel like Zion is only in 3rd-4th gear. We haven't seen the monster yet.

I feel like his ceiling is maybe even higher than Luka's, but I'm much less confident that he'll reach it.

[bobopenguin]

I feel like his ceiling is maybe even higher than Luka's, but I'm much less confident that he'll reach it.

Luka has already shined on international stage before entered NBA, then proven he can do just as well on NBA court.
maybe Zion should step out the comfort zone and start challenging himself, instead of focus on branding himself.

[DevBooker'sMask]

Devin Booker will prove it this series

I have called it correct so far

Game 1: 27 PTS
Game 2: 31 PTS

[Sportal]

I feel like his ceiling is maybe even higher than Luka's, but I'm much less confident that he'll reach it.

You mean he has a "Ben Simmons" feeling about him? Where you hope he'll get a jumpshot and more variety of offensive tools to dominate(even more... imagine)? Or you imagine he'll get a couple of injuries and be done in 8-10 years?

[Axe]

I know a few people have mentioned Morant but I feel like he might not be getting enough consideration. He has all the athleticism, smarts, and hustle you could want, not to mention being unselfish and a great facilitator. If he can just develop a more consistent jumper to force defenses to stick him on the perimeter, I can see him blowing up.
Imagine how those unwanted falls due to reckless dunks done against bigger players can eventually take a potential toll on his longevity someday.

[000]

I feel like his ceiling is maybe even higher than Luka's, but I'm much less confident that he'll reach it.

He needs to get a shot first. He did show some improvement on his free throws this season and I remember when he got challenged to shoot he put up a nice pullup midranger and it went in. So Im more optimistic about him than about Ben Simmons or whoever. If he only reaches current giannis level, thats still pretty good