<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Aaron Gray couldn?t have landed in a better spot on draft night. Until the Bulls selected Florida center Joakim Noah with the ninth pick of the first round, the tallest players on their roster were Ben Wallace, Luol Deng and Tyrus Thomas, each listed at 6-feet-9. Gray, a 7-footer from Pittsburgh, was one of the Bulls? two second-round picks, and he?ll have a great opportunity to make the final roster this fall. Gray made his debut with the Bulls? summer-league squad on Monday afternoon in Orlando as the Bulls lost to Indiana, 93-89. Guard JamesOn Curry, the Bulls? other second-round pick this summer, collected 9 points and 4 assists while Gray contributed 8 points and 4 rebounds. Noah is not playing in summer league because of a shoulder injury. Gray showed remarkable improvement in college. He barely played as a freshman at Pitt, then averaged 13.9 points and 10.5 rebounds by his junior season, becoming the school?s first player to average a double-double in nearly 20 years.</div> Source: Daily Herald
The bulls need a big offensive Center, other then Noah. Thomas will come into his own, but he is a PF. I just hope Gray doesn't become a guy that gets consistently dunked over and is on ESPN every night.
<div class="quote_poster">M Two One Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Noah is not an offensive center.</div> Well, he is more offense then Wallace. Don't get me wrong, I don't like Noah that much, but he can be a 10/10 most likely.
I agree that he has the potential to be a 10/10 guy, but he's definitely not going to be an offensive option for this team. Especially if the Bulls happen to land Scola. If Scola comes to this city, he's going to be starting at the PF. Noah will likely be on the bench as a backup to Wallace and Scola. Which suits his abilities since he can provide a spark off of the bench. Imagine Nocioni and Noah coming off of the bench to provide a much needed spark. Pax could be heading this direction, but it depends on if he can land Scola without giving up too much. Gray on the other hand I believe will make a roster spot regardless of what he does in summer league. He was a steal in the second round.
<div class="quote_poster">Master Shake Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Well, he is more offense then Wallace. Don't get me wrong, I don't like Noah that much, but he can be a 10/10 most likely.</div> First of all, Noah's not a center. Second of all, he's not a rebounder. Lastly, no way he ever gets the playing time to grab ten boards, even if he were a rebounding big man. He'll be burried behind the likes of Thomas, Nocioni, and Deng, and especially not if Scola is in the cards like M was saying. As for Gray himself, I think he was the only one who kept this draft from being disastrous for the Bulls. A lot of teams were afraid to draft him because of his limited athleticism, but at 7'2" with that bulk, he doesn't have to be athletic. Look around the league at guys like Greg Ostertag, Jake Tsakalidis, etc.; those type of guys usually have much longer careers than most mid-to-late first rounders.
If Gray can get to the number averages of Luc Longley or Greg Ostertag in their primes I'd be very happy. He'd be a starting center at that level of play and would be very valuable.
<div class="quote_poster">Voodoo Child Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">First of all, Noah's not a center. Second of all, he's not a rebounder. Lastly, no way he ever gets the playing time to grab ten boards, even if he were a rebounding big man. He'll be burried behind the likes of Thomas, Nocioni, and Deng, and especially not if Scola is in the cards like M was saying.</div> While I'll sorta agree with you on the first point that Noah isn't a center, he could play center on a team such as the Suns who like to penetrate. For the Bulls I see him more as a PF, although they really don't have much height what so ever, so I could see him playing some C. Noah is a good rebounder. He's not a great rebounder, but he gets the job done on the glass. He will be a very solid rebounder in the NBA and I wouldn't be surprised to see him avg more rebounds then points at least early on in his career. He has a nose for the ball, but had to share boards with Horford and RIchard, not to mention Brewer was a pretty solid rebounding SF(believe he got around 5 a game). Honestly what really separated him at college from David Lee? I won't say he' s a better rebounder than David Lee was in college, but David Lee wasn't THAT much better than Noah was and he's avg over 10 boards a game in the NBA in limited time. I could see Noah doing similar things on the glass as Lee is doing(assuming he gets close to 20-25 minutes at some point). He should be a better rebounder than Tyrus.
