I’ve come up with a new definition for the word “bust”, one that we can all agree on: if you are a top-five pick but you don’t score thirty points in a single game at any point in your career, you are a bust, UNLESS you do one of the following things:
-Average 9 assists per game for a full season
-Average 12 rebounds and 2 blocks per game for a full season
-Win one DPOY of the year award
Under this new definition of “bust”, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is a bust. His career-high in points in 25, and every time he scores above twenty, it’s a pleasant surprise. He just doesn’t have the go-to scoring moves that would allow him to score at will, and he also doesn’t have a three-point shot that would allow him to get randomly hot for one game. He would have to be playing against an exceptionally bad, slow defense that was prone to turnovers for him to get enough layups to score thirty. Intelligent cuts to the basket are a great feature for an offense, but they’re not going to be there every possession or even most possessions.
Note that Marvin Williams is no longer a bust under this new definition. He’s scored above thirty points three times. I wish I was around making highlights in 2008 when he dropped 33, but I only use my time machine for important things like trying to repair my relationship with Jennifer. Anyway.
Not everybody will agree with my new definition of “bust”, and that’s fine. The greatest innovators were often reviled in their own times.