Know your new executive, Pelicans fans! #NBATwitter #NBAPlayoffs #TheJump #DoItBIG pic.twitter.com/L4mckX7Gbv
— NBA The Jump Fanpage (@NBATheJumpFP) April 23, 2019
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Know your new executive, Pelicans fans! #NBATwitter #NBAPlayoffs #TheJump #DoItBIG pic.twitter.com/L4mckX7Gbv
— NBA The Jump Fanpage (@NBATheJumpFP) April 23, 2019
"I was Danny's assistant video guy when Danny was the head coach in Phoenix" - @dg_riff #NBATwitter #NBAPlayoffs #TheJump #DoItBIG #Celtics https://t.co/PWMrJMoNbu
— NBA The Jump Fanpage (@NBATheJumpFP) April 23, 2019
Part 2
Damn, Griffen seems to be in a lot of circles. His hire and opinion of Gayle Benson have given us instant credibility.
Even if we don't ultimately work out...I don't see another hire we could've made that would've been better from the optics alone.
And it's not like the man doesn't have knowledge of how pro level organizations are run. He was part of Phoenix when they totally revamped their medical staff. Not a single thing stopping us from doing the same thing here. My mouth salivates thinking of our team being on the cutting edge of health and analytics.
When did we not have young talent this season?
Are Jackson, Woods, Williams, and Okafor grizzly old vets?
Maybe I'm wrong, but when someone says ''young talent'', I'm thinking players with some unknown degree of potential that could plausibly end up blooming. So Jackson, for example, would count, but I don't really count Okafor as ''young talent'' because I'm pretty sure that we know roughly what we're getting from him and that he's not likely to be exploding into something different. Maybe other people use the term differently, but for me if you're just young-and-thats-it, I'm more likely to just call you ''youth'' or ''young player'' than ''young talent''.
Openly discussing the Davis-staying possibility is smart even if it's far-fetched.
Other options could pop up such as the lottery providing a Zion opportunity. That said, odds are Griffin and Ainge will be engaged in talks that will end in a deal as Boston is motivated and able to outbid anyone who isn't willing to part with the #1 pick. They're both smart guys with a good working relationship which makes the deal even more likely.
This will be a highly revved trade rumor season leading up the draft and perhaps beyond. As far as these particular trade discussions, every name on the Celtics roster except Kyrie will be flying around on twitter. It's going to be fun.
I think Diallo has some promise but I don't think he's ever going to be a star level player. If he continues improving the way he has over the last season or so, he could be a reliable energy guy who plays 15 or 20 minutes off the bench and make a steady career out of it, but I don't expect anything more than that.
One thing that's always confused me is the reputation Ainge has. He has this huge reputation for robbing everyone in trades and being this genius GM that nobody else can come close to, but that just doesn't seem to check out. His biggest feats of trade-mastery were over people like Billy King, who is widely considered to be one of the worst GMs of all time. Ainge tried to trade 4 first round picks for Justise Winslow.
He's not infallible. He's good at his job but it's not like anyone going into trade talks with him is about to negotiate with Cicero or something, he's not magic. It's not like he's made a career out of fleecing R. C. Buford or something, he's built his name off fleecing Billy King and Kevin McHale.
Yes people are quick to say Ainge is some master GM for trades but the only reason he has a "war chest" now is because Miami turned down his offer of 4 1st for Justice.
I want the Memphis pick, the Sacramento pick, and the Clippers pick. They can keep their own pick if they want, but unless they're the only team making offers (which they won't be) then I don't take any less than all three. Tatum is a given, there's no deal without him. So if I'm Griffin, I make it clear that I'm not being difficult and I'm open to discussion, but my starting price is Tatum + 3 picks. Negotiations start there.
There are three components to a trade with Boston. The same three things apply to any team trading for AD, but Boston already has all of them ready to go:
* A young player with star potential.
* Talent making enough money to match salaries.
* Draft picks.
The final trade package will depend on which particular assets Griffin and New Orleans most covet, and how high the other bids will be.
Aminu was a high lottery pick while Diallo was a 2nd rounder. Aminu came into the league with elite size/length and at the least very good if not elite athleticism for his position. Diallo is a tweener who relies completely on hustle to make an impact on the game.
They don't compare at all really. Diallo will *never* be a SF. His best position would be PF where he could use his length as a positive but the problem is he has a very weak offensive game at the range typical PFs operate at. This forces him to spend time at C where he is undersized, doesn't have an advantage with length, and gets bullied out of position.
I'm not saying he can never develop but I certainly see him being a few more years off if he ever does, and I don't think it's any guarantee at all.
Aminu I remember seeing at pre game warm-ups and he would be drilling 3pters. I remember having a discussion on here about why he couldn't consistently do it in the game, we basically came to the belief it was mostly mental for him. Even if Diallo develops his mental game 100% he will still always struggle to make up for the size issues he has. Aminu once he got the mental side sorted out already had the size, length, etc to be successful.
Even saying all this, Aminu still probably hasn't lived up to his draft position.
Bol Bol is nothing like this.
Diallo is a tweener. Bol is not, he's a legit C. Yes, he needs to put on weight: so do most 18 year old centers. Diallo therefore has to play against centers who have him out-sized and have more length than him. Bol will not be outsized by many players, nor find himself dwarfed in wingspan.
Diallo came into the league with zero outside shot. Bol shot 50+% from 3 in college (limited games).
Diallo came into the league unable to play defense and with no rim protection abilities. Bol Bol averaged over 4 blocks per game in college.
There are still definite concerns with Bol, mainly revolving around his health, but to act like an 18 year old with a wide skill set will ''always be a weak string bean of a player'' is just nonsense, to be honest. Unless you consider someone like Porzingis a weak string bean of a player cause he's 7'3 and skinny, or AD because he came into the league 6'11 and 220lbs.
Bol Bol and Diallo are NOTHING alike. BOLsquared already comes to the NBA with multiple elite traits. The only real concern with him is injury wise. He might take time to develop and gain weight to bang in the NBA but his skill set and measurements are not in question. That's actually the exact opposite of Diallo who lacks in both categories even after multiple years now in the league.
I'm sorry. I don't trust Bol Bol will be able to have a full NBA career. The human body just isn't made to have those kind of proportions. I knew without even looking that whatever injury issues he had was likely in his foot or ankle, and sure enough...he had a stress fracture. That won't go away. It'll just move to another part of his lower body later on. Maybe he gets over it, but if we SOMEHOW convince the Unibrow'd Idiot to stay, and we only have the one draft pick...don't want to use it on him.
I totally understand the injury argument. That's the biggest concern with Bol Bol and the only reason he isn't going in the top couple of picks. His skillset and measurements are all through the roof though. That's totally different than Diallo.
Also Bol isn't some freak of measurements. He basically is entering the league with exactly the same height, length, weight as Porzingis.
Porzingis is essentially a stretch 4 whose game is based on finesse. Bol Bol is a true center with a similar body. He will get physically destroyed in the NBA. The guy couldn’t even take the physical punishment in college. Also, I would say Porzingis is pretty injury prone. He has barely played the last 2 years. The Dallas picks that the Knicks received will be more valuable than people expect. I would not spend a lottery pick on Bol Bol. A late first round gamble, sure.
Porzingis in his rookie year: 7'3, 230lbs, 7'6 wingspan.
Bol Bol right now (per Tankathon): 7'2, 223lbs, 7'6 wingspan.
Given that Bol also demonstrated a fair amount of finesse and long range shooting in his time at college, how on earth do you put Porzingis as a "stretch 4 based on finesse" and Bol as a "true center"? Their measurements are almost identical.
Another guy who "couldn't even take the punishment in college", and was injured and sat out a year: Damian Lillard,
I do think there are legitimate reasons to be sceptical about Bol. The injury is definitely one of them: if you're dreading that this injury will be persistent and reoccuring, then that's a totally legit reason to want to avoid him.
I don't honestly think the lack of foot speed will be too big of a deal. A guy of his size and length has certain advantages that make foot-speed less of a must, like standing reach. He should also be looking to put on some weight so he can spend more time as a rim protector (think Porzingis or young AD), because if you have him playing his heavier minutes defending perimeter players who can take people off the bounce, then you're coaching badly anyway. There are very, very few centers who can defend guards and small forwards who can shoot and drive on the perimeter, and a good gameplan doesn't put those players in those positions often. It's like expecting Kyrie Irving to guard Marc Gasol in the post.
Bol Bol is way too slow to play the stretch 4 on a regular basis. He will be someone who will be easy for teams to run off the court due to his lack of lateral quickness and slow feet. He will become a specialist or a solid role player.
Where is the bad foot speed coming from? My understanding was he was very agile for a guy his size. His biggest concerns are his injury future and his needing to bulk up for the NBA.
This is literally from the first paragraph of his scouting report from Nbadraft.net:
"Moves well and is able to get out and move in transition with solid agility ... Quick for his size and has solid agility ... Has the potential to be elite on both ends of the floor due to his freakish physical package ... Has the tools (speed, length, anticipation) to potentially be an elite rim protector ... Gets up really well after grabbing a rebound ... Explodes to the rim really well ... Elevates with ease and has very good lateral speed when he applies himself ..."
Not the point. The only reason I brought up measurements is because you said that he was a skinny string bean of a player and that he's too long and too lanky to be effective as an NBA player. I didn't bring up measurements because I thought measurements are proof of skill, I brought them up to show that if you think he's too long and too lanky, then you've also got to think that Porzingis is too long and too lanky as well, and since you presumably don't think that, your point is dead in the water.
Porzingis doesn't move that much better than Bol Bol, come on.
I actually agree with Mythrol here: why is there suddenly this belief cropping up that Bol Bol has lead feet? He's not John Wall or anything, of course, but he's decently mobile. His speed, baseline to baseline, is pretty solid and he actually has some pretty quick spin moves and turnarounds in the post. He's not Kyrie Irving, but he's got a decent handle for a center as well.
And again: 18 years old. So if his handle isn't amazing, then who cares? He's 18, he can work on it for 3 years with real NBA coaches and a development team and still be younger than some of the rookies that will get drafted that year.
Using Porzingis as a player comparison doesn’t really help your point. Porzingis may have similar measurements, but his game is different. Porzingis’ game translates better to the fast paced NBA. That comparison also proves my point that players with that body type are injury prone and typically don’t have long successful NBA careers.
Any time someone turns their argument to ''just watch the game tape'' or ''you need to watch more basketball'' or ''I guess I've just seen more basketball than you'' or anything like that, all it tells me is that you know you don't actually have a good point, so you just have to resort to that kind of nonsense.
I've watched Bol Bol play. Multiple full games. I've admitted that there is limited tape on him because he got injured early, so judgements are based on limited info. But when you watch his game tape, full games, he moves just fine. He's not John Wall supersized, no, but he's fine.
What does that paragraph say? ''Solid agility'', ''quick for his size'', ''has the tools (speed, length, anticipation)'', ''very good lateral speed''. I've watched the games, my eye test agrees with that.
If he were a traditional center, his feet may be fine as he would be "quick for his size" in a short area. He likely will not be a traditional post up center. If he is going to play the 4, he needs to be quick enough to defend pick and rolls and transition quickly. He is a bit stiff/slow for that role. He will be forced off the court by NBA coaches. That, on top of a pretty difficult injury for a big man, makes him a risk high in the draft.
A couple other views on him-
https://www.thestepien.com/bol-bol/
http://www.nbadraftroom.com/2016/03/bol-bol.html
With his injury, I see him going late lottery at best.
He's not going to be a stretch 4, he's going to be a stretch 5. Good coaches can do work with that. He's much more limited than Bol, but look at how key Brook Lopez has been for Milwaukee. There are very few traditional paint packing bigs in the NBA. They still exist and you still have to plan for them, but they are declining in prominence. Big men who can shoot are key right now, and I don't think that trend will fade quickly. He doesn't need to be elite on the perimeter, he just needs to be good enough that other centers won't be able to leave him in the dirt, and he has that level of speed. As I said before, if you have him defending guards and small forwards on the perimeter with any regularity, something has gone wrong.
I'm totally willing to concede the injury risk: if you have serious worries about that, then that's totally legitimate. Happy to admit that.
I totally agree. My argument for that though is simple: he's 18 years old. When AD came into the league he was 220lbs soaking wet, and people said he needed to put on weight. Now he's 250. Bol Bol weighs somewhere in the region of 220-230 right now. He's 18 years old. He can put on 30lbs or so. Embiid is only 2 inches shorter than Bol Bol and he weighs 250lbs and nobody sees any issues with that.
Exactly. If we were a team that was competing for a championship and we were looking for the rookie that can slot in to a specific need and perform immediately, like a rookie season Tatum or something, then that would be one thing. But we aren't. We may make the playoffs next year depending on what comes back in the AD trade, or we may not, but either way we won't be a championship contender. So for me, the fact that Bol might be a year or two in the weight room away from being ready to start at the 5 is totally inconsequential for me. Giannis was a beanpole too when he got drafted.