non-star comps. Who are the good career/good veteran guys of the future?

You always hear people say things like "Shai is a modern-day Kobe" or "devin Booker is a modern-day Kobe" or "Kobe Bufkin is a modern-day Kobe" but I think star comparisons does a disservice to everyone. Not everyone will become a hall of fame level player and that's ok. Some guys have great careers and should be in the hall of "very good" and be respected for it.

You know who had a good career? Ish Smith. everyone was happy when he got his ring. Was he ever a great player? no, but he was a guy who clearly was a good guy to have on a team because he kept getting hired. He put the work in.

So let's make some comps between these guys who are good vets who had good careers. Let's go through some good career guys, and see who has a chance to achieve a similar career where teams are always going to be happy to bring them on board. Guys like:

Nicolas Batum:

So who is the next Nicolas Batum? Who's a guy who will be overpaid but then after he gets off that contract becomes a great utility player on every roster who does all the little things right? who will develop into a very good defender in his 20s and when his athletic gifts started to fade was able to reinvent himself as a defensive role player?

How about a guy like Deni Avdija? Portland fans may be offended by the comparison because Deni seems like he is going to have a deeper scoring bag and have a longer career as a top 3 guy but I can definitely see him getting there. I can also see him getting overpaid by the Hornets.

Lou Williams:

Microwave off the bench scorer. Genuinely one of my favorite players ever. I find his offensive game gorgeous to watch. I think in retrospect it's sad that Lou only seems to come up when people want to take away from his place as one of the best 6th men ever because Manu deserved more awards and while that's true, I think Lou definitely earned his place, is responsible for the biggest comeback in playoff history against the Kevin Durant warriors, and was even able to start in playoff games late in his career. Oh and he has/had 2 girlfriends.

Two players come to mind here. One is a pretty obvious one, Malik Monk and another, Jordan Poole. both have had some low points. I will give it to Poole, as I have more faith in him becoming a dominant iso and pick n roll guy in the future whereas I think that Monk is going to be more reliant on his catch and shoot ability throughout his career. I also for some reason have more faith in Poole dating two women at once. Isaiah Quickley also comes to mind

Rasheed Wallace:

This one is much much harder. For one, Sheed has all the characteristics of a hall of famer and still had a great career. Rasheed's personality lead him to having a great role on a lot of teams while also getting him in trouble. He had the skills to be a problem against anyone and, notably, he was always in trouble with the refs.

basically, if Jaren Jackson Jr. had the personality of Isaiah Stewart, we'd be in business. we need a severe turn. but maybe Ron Holland has a growth spurt of some kind. Maybe Ron Holland grows a couple inches we can see. That would be huge shoes to fill.

Steven Adams:

Still playing, so the modern day Steven Adams is still just Steven Adams, but who's the "oh don't mess with that big man" of the future? For one, we're talking a true throwback big. None of this jumpshooting stuff. He's not swimming in techs, but you shouldn't mess with him. he'll be the big strong vet on young teams for his career and that's a great place for him. He can kill you with a screen. Somehow is perpetually 29.

Ivica Zubac may need to work on his ability to murder people on screens but he has all the muscle that Adams has and probably better footwork. The kind of guy who when a fight goes down just picks the dude up and carries him away.

This was all just for fun, so no they're not perfect comparisons. The Rasheed ones are notably weak.