IT'S HARDY TIME: Jaden Hardy looking like a decent prospect

[DanSchwartzgan]

2-10 with 5 fouls in just 19 minutes against preseason competition tells me he’s far from being a guy who can play right now. That’s about as atrocious a game as you can have. He was like that in Summer League.   A good game followed by several where he didn’t even look like he belonged in the GLeague. He’s going to need to be exponentially better to earn minutes.

I see glimpses of hope, but not enough to declare he has ‘it’.  At this point seeing glimpses is better than not, so that makes me happy…especially concerning a second rounder.  I’d personally rather he not be so ‘aggressive’ in taking shots (as many seem to laud).  I’d rather he take smart shots and make a higher percentage of them.

Hardy kind of reminds me of the arguments that used to surround Monta Ellis.  We often heard “Oh, you have to have “scorers”…people who can get off their own shot”.  The other side would say “not if they are bad shots with terrible efficiency”.  I’ve never been one who believes inefficient shooting is a good idea.  I imagine a professional team will find a way to get off shots with or without Monta/Hardy.  It is too early to tell if Hardy will be inefficient or not.  I think that will be the main difference between him having a career or not.  I’d rather, at this point, he have 2-3 things he does really well than 16 things he’s willing to try.