Post by Rog on Apr 25, 2018 18:16:35 GMT
The 117th overall and second, and last, member of the small 2030 class of nominees, De'Aaron Fox was a late bloomer, a guy who looked good early, never developed, and then exploded onto the scene. Was his peak enough to override a slow start and sudden end, or does he just fall short of his peers? Let's take a look.
Career Stats
36 MPG, 21.4 PPG, 8.7 APG, 4.9 RPG, 1.5 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 2.1 TOPG on 45.6% from the field, 80.6% from the line, and 39.9% from three
Best Season
Raptors(2027) - 26.9 PPG, 10.3 APG, 5.5 RPG, 1.7 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 2.0 TOPG on 47.4% from the field, 80.6% from the line, and 41.2% from three
Career Highs
Points: 55
Rebounds: 13
Assists: 24
Steals: 8
Blocks: 3
Achievements
Championships: 0
Player of the Game: 219
Player of the Week: 4
Player of the Month: 1
Double Doubles: 399
Triple Doubles: 22
Career Leaderboard Rankings
Points - 100th
Assists - 33rd
Awards
2018 - All-Star Rookie Game Participant
2018 - All-Rookie Team
2019 - All-Star Rookie Game Participant
2027 - All-Star Game Participant
2027 - All-League Third Team
2029 - All-League Third Team
Arguments For Induction
- Fox played in one of the most loaded periods in NBN History for point guards and still managed an All-Star game appearance and two All-League Third teams. Not a lot, but considering the competition is impressive.
- Fox came into the league as a guy who you really thought was going to end up the purest of pure point guards, quick as hell and a great passer. He developed that passing as well as you could expect, averaging 8.7 assists per game as well as being over 9.5 a game for 8 seasons in a row and 6 of those being over 10. He did it too while never averaging over 2.5 turnovers, and only averaging over 2.2 in those seasons just once. The guy was one of the best distributors we've had in league history in those 8 seasons.
- Not only could he pass it with the best of them, he was a very good to great scorer. He never reached elite levels, but from his 5th season to his last he never dipped under 20 points per game and six seasons over 24 points a contest. He did this shooting over 45% from the field and being a rock solid three point shooter, dipping below 40% only twice after his breakout. His 80% free throw shooting is a bit low, but didn't hurt his teams. Between his passing and solid volume scorer, he had to have one of the highest usage numbers in the league during those 9 seasons, I have to keep beating into everyone's head how impressive it is that he only averaged 2.1 turnovers a game for his career.
- Probably the quickest player in the league during his time, Fox was probably the best point guard defender in the league during his 9 years after his breakout. Always on the Best Defenders list, like I said almost would be shocked if he didn't carry 95+ quickness his entire career, and averaging over 1.5 steals his entire peak, Fox was a weapon defensively and it showed. His steals numbers just weren't high enough to get him on the award lists.
- Overall, you look at a guy where he had a 13 year career, but didn't break out until his 5th. He had 9 seasons of absolutely elite ball, leading the teams he was on to elite records, even if he never won a title. He was just a great player that everyone would have been lucky to have, and for that you have to consider him as a Hall of Famer.
Arguments For Induction
- I seriously am of the opinion that you can be a little kinder to point guards when it comes to awards just due to how FBB does things and how it is always the best position in any league at any given time, but Fox still falls short awards wise, only having three total to his name.
- Sure he was a great actual defender, but again he doesn't have any awards to his name and more importantly in FBB is the numbers game, and Fox didn't contribute to forcing turnovers at a very good or even just good rate. Great defender, but 1.5 steals a contest just isn't enough to get into the Hall of Fame while using defense as a springboard.
- Good, never great volume scorer and his percentages were above average but nothing special. He had two seasons in his career where you could probably say he was an elite scorer, and none of them were top 10 scoring seasons so those are even out. He was 100th in points, so he doesn't even have the volume overall. Just hard to justify using scoring as a reason to induct him when he wasn't elite.
- Its just a really tough case to make, isn't it? A guy who only had 8 good seasons, only really four of them Hall of Fame worthy seasons. He doesn't have the steals, wasn't elite offensively, and doesn't anywhere enough awards. He wasn't statistically dominant, he doesn't have counting stats to depend on, the guy just doesn't have a solid ground to stand on. He is simply just not a Hall of Famer, this class just doesn't have one.
Vote carefully, and remember to throw out arguments regardless of which side you're on. This should be a discussion that eventually gets the league to the proper decision on him. Your vote can also be retracted after it's been cast if you feel like switching to the other side based on the arguments that have been made. To be inducted, a player needs 70% and to be considered in a later class they need 50%. Vote carefully.
***BONUS - Don't forget that everyone who votes gets $25 and the person that makes the best argument or contributes to the discussion the best will be awarded an extra $25***
. Sorry, Fox, I failed you. 
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