Question About Bargnani

What is your take on Bargnani? He was the first overall pick in 2006 and has not lived up to the hype, nor the selection. He played decently his first season, but slumped significantly in his sophomore year. What were your expectations of him back in 2006 and what are they now?

 

I looked at him as a player with the potential to be somewhat like Dirk. He's got a great stroke from outside and is equally as soft as Dirk. However, at this point, he doesn't really look like that anymore. He looks like a player that could turn into a solid role player or 6th man - not a player you'd want to build your franchise around. I think the expectations of him were far too high, and I think the pressure has really hindered him from playing to his full potential. But hey, he's still very young and still has a ton of potential, I just don't know if he'll ever be able to realize it.

 

lol, worried about Gallinari a bit?

If we're talking about expectations, you have to recognize how they've changed before talking about how Bargnani disappointed. Bargs far exceeded what we expected of him coming into his rookie year. His first season (and in particular his performance in the playoffs, coming off an injury) elevated those expectations for his second year, and he came nowhere near meeting those. If you look at what we expected in 2006, he's still ahead of the curve and there's no reason to give up on him. But clearly he's capable of a lot more and has to prove himself this season.

There are extenuating circumstances for why he disappointed this past season that I might get into later, but you can't pin it all on other people.

And I disagree wholeheartedly with anyone who calls him soft. Almost everyone who does hasn't watched him play enough and has this stereotype in their head about European players.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chutney @ Jun 29 2008, 10:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>lol, worried about Gallinari a bit?

If we're talking about expectations, you have to recognize how they've changed before talking about how Bargnani disappointed. Bargs far exceeded what we expected of him coming into his rookie year. His first season (and in particular his performance in the playoffs, coming off an injury) elevated those expectations for his second year, and he came nowhere near meeting those. If you look at what we expected in 2006, he's still ahead of the curve and there's no reason to give up on him. But clearly he's capable of a lot more and has to prove himself this season.

There are extenuating circumstances for why he disappointed this past season that I might get into later, but you can't pin it all on other people.

And I disagree wholeheartedly with anyone who calls him soft. Almost everyone who does hasn't watched him play enough and has this stereotype in their head about European players.</div>
After some research, I'm liking Gallinari more and more. He definitely isn't as bad as I thought he would be.

Thanks for your assessment, though. I basically wanted to compare the two players.

 

Screw Bargnani. He's way too inconsistent. I didn't expect him to be any better than this in the first place though.

And Chut, what's a producer?

 

Since Bosh is at PF all the time, Bargnani really isn't very effective. He can't post up,(similar to Dirk except worse, because Dirk can hit mid-ranged jumpers well) so playing against SFs is ineffective as they also will drive past him fairly easily. Against centers he isn't a good enough post defender or rebounder, however he has a mismatch offensively against centers who don't want to come out to the 3 point line.

He either needs to be a PF, or needs to somehow put on 20-30 pounds so he can guard centers more effectively.

 

There is one thing Chutney and I don't agree on, it's Bargnani. I personally think he has tons of potential, but I don't see it right now. And I don't have the patience to wait for it. We don't have a coach who can use him well and he's second string to Bosh and now O'Neal. Like Lava said, he is not fast enough for SF or athletic enough. He can't guard centers and he's not a very good post defender.

He'll be coming off the bench this year, probably at PF, and I'll add more about him after 5-10 games of seeing him this year. If he has another bad year, then I've lost a lot of hope. He has the skill, he just need to put it in place.

 

Bargs is a trash player right now who has shown little flashes of promise of the past two seasons. He makes up his mind before he puts the ball on the floor and thus doesn't adjust to defenses. His shot is hesistant and he's not fluid at all with his body motion or dribbling on the floor. He brought nothing to the Raptors last year except for his occasional good game where he scored inside and made a string of 3s.