Portland already has Aldridge and Frye at PF, so we don't really need another PF, but we can slide Frye over to backup C if Diogu deserves more playing time. Is he good enough to make us do that? What does he do and not do well?
Strengths: Excellent low post scorer, fantastic footwork, has every post move and counter move in the book (he seriously has Tim Duncan's scoring skillset), great touch, pretty damn smooth shot out to 18 feet, gets to the FT line a lot and a good Ft shooter, just a great natural low post scorer, pretty strong, very good offensive rebounder, likes to bang. Cons: Not a terrible athlete but not good either, he takes a while to gather himself before he jumps which hurts him (compared to a lot of undersized PFs who explode off the floor at a moments notice). Poor defensive instincts and rotations, really his bball IQ outside of scoring isn't very good. Can't pass out of the double team, poor defense, poor defensive rebounder, he drove Nellie nuts because hes so slow/dumb on defensive rotations. Nellie also said hes a "blamer" and doesn't take accountability for his mistakes. All in all I think isn't out out of the question that he turns into a nice surprise for Portland. He'll be playing next to Oden, Aldridge, and/or Przybilla so that could hide his defense/rebounding deficiencies and prevent teams from double teaming him. Problem is I don't know if he can win Nate McMillan over unless hes improved his defensive IQ and attitude because Nellie didn't like him and neither did the coaches in Indiana. This is a nice video showing how good of a scorer he can be. Also some nice blocks but hes not generally a really good shotblocker. <div><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/X3MyU_NCyu0&"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/X3MyU_NCyu0&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350" /></embed></object></div>
Pretty much what Run said. I think his defense can be better, but it's not like he was the worst freakin' guy on our team. We had guys much worse on D and they still got playing time which really sucked. Can you say Troy Murphy or Antwan Jamison? Bring out the red cape, these guys wouldn't even try most of the time. Ike is anything but soft or dumb, I mostly blame the crap version of the zone we had and plenty of horrible defenders that we'd try to hide behind it. Ike is also a great high post passer. Low post? We got some problems if he doesn't know where his teammates are going to be. Maybe the speed of the game sort of blew his outlet passing away because he is a pretty good all-around passer and he's unselfish. He's got a high motor, excellent strength, great hands, some ballhandling ability, your classic prototype power forward that can play in between a true center and a wing forward. He has to "gather leap" quite a bit, so it's not quite like other power forwards who can just jump up right using all lower calve muscles. I'm sure if he works on his flaws, he'd be a lock for 16 and 8 a game. He's just a fantastic finisher as contact doesn't seem to bother him much and he actually looks forward to going to the foul line. He's got some nice pump fakes and he's smooth when it comes to working the pivot. Oh yeah his hands are gigantic and his wingspan is huge. I'd rather have him than Rony Turiaf.
Very good on offense, but not that good at defense or passing out of double teams in the low post. That description reminds me a bit of Zach Randolph. So does the size. Is that a good comparison? Is he as good as Zach? Better? Worse? Nellie called him a blamer and said he didn't take responsibility for his actions and the coaches in Indiana weren't fond of him either? Can you give me more insight into his attitude? Is he a team player?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gambitnut @ Jul 10 2008, 12:22 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Very good on offense, but not that good at defense or passing out of double teams in the low post. That description reminds me a bit of Zach Randolph. So does the size. Is that a good comparison? Is he as good as Zach? Better? Worse? Nellie called him a blamer and said he didn't take responsibility for his actions and the coaches in Indiana weren't fond of him either? Can you give me more insight into his attitude? Is he a team player?</div> Yeah Zach Randolph is a fair comparison, although I'd say Randolph is the better overall rebounder, while Ike is the better overall passer and he's generally more unselfish if he's got vision on his teammates. Ike can also block shots better. Attitude wise, Ike has a real high motor on the floor. He's always doing something effective like he knows where to be when the play is happening. He's got a high basketball IQ when it comes to offensive awareness. I'm not sure why Nelly got into it so much with Ike. Then again he ran out Zarko Cabarkapa out of town and he was a pretty decent player. His attitude shouldn't be in question, maybe Don Nelson blamed him for not shooting 3 pointers or something. He's definitely a team player, but he's used to being the focal point on offense and never really learned much D in college. Randolph is productive, but I think Ike has more intangibles because of his effort. Randolph is probably heavier and stronger. Randolph has more tendency to get in trouble due his hobbies... Ike really hasn't done anything wrong yet and the only red flag was when Don Nelson accused him of blaming another guy for a defensive lapse. Well since Nelson forgot what defense was since the Bucks, I'll give Ike the benefit of the doubt considering who his company was at the time. Very bad defenders. Mike Dunleavy Jr. also got pretty defensive about taking the blame for what he felt wasn't his fault. I believe Mike Dunleavy Jr. at times when he thought another guy should have done something or other and Nelson just tore him up. Don Nelson went as far to call Dunleavy Jr. the dumbest smart player he's seen. So maybe Don Nelson is just way too over critical or he's trying to make some point about sucking it in and dropping the ego. It's like in the military, maybe they'll push you to see if you can take it. These are all smart players and I think they got beef against coach, but in reality the coach has the final say so you can be right and still be called out as wrong. I think that's why Biedrins and Ellis do so well, because they're like, "yes sir!" We know Chris Webber couldn't take it as a rookie. Dunleavy Jr. had problems with Nelson. I'm sure Murphy didn't like Nelson calling him an "elbow-phobe." Don Nelson is right a lot of times, though. Dunleavy misread a lot of his teammates so he's not that dynamic in an unstructured play system and a team that doesn't fit his style. Troy Murphy got pretty soft and further away from the paint... Ike Diogu doesn't really play that much D and probably is used to being pampered as the only player that mattered at Arizona State basketball. But Ike always came off as somebody that tried really hard, exhibited team skills, and was extremely effective around the basket.
ridiculous. Diogu is in now way as good as Zach Randolph. If Diogu ever averages 20 and 10 then coddamn a miracle has happened. Diogu is going to be an upgrade from Mcroberts as the 3rd power forward on the team, but hes not going to beat our Frye as the backup PF, and we aren't going to trade Joel for at least a year.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gambitnut @ Jul 10 2008, 12:22 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Very good on offense, but not that good at defense or passing out of double teams in the low post. That description reminds me a bit of Zach Randolph. So does the size. Is that a good comparison? Is he as good as Zach? Better? Worse? Nellie called him a blamer and said he didn't take responsibility for his actions and the coaches in Indiana weren't fond of him either? Can you give me more insight into his attitude? Is he a team player?</div> IMO hes not a bad attitude player at all. Hes a guy who's been the #1 option for his team his whole life before the NBA. When he got to the league he was asked to do more than just score and hes had a hard time doing that. Before he just shot through double/triple teams, now he can't do that anymore. Hes not a scrapper like a Millsap, Maxiel, etc. becausel ike I said, hes always been the golden boy scorer of his team and was never asked to be a hustle defense/rebounding specialist role player. I just think hes kind of behind the 8 ball there because hes such a natural scorer and his instincts in other areas are way behind. And, as I mentioned before, hes a below average athlete which doesn't help him any. A Poor man's Zach Randolph is a decent comparison but Randolph is a significantly better defensive rebounder and hes much quicker/more mobile. They've both got scoring skills like crazy both inside and out. Randolph has more face up/handle game but I think its certainly possible that if Ike ever did become a good enough rebounder to merit him getting major playing time he can score a lot of points like Randolph does. Ike doesn't have the attitude problems Randolph does though, when I mentioned his attitude its not like the guy is a cancer or a trouble maker in the locker room. Quite the contrary. There was just something about his on-the-court psyche that Nellie didn't like. I dunno what really happened in Indy but he never really got much of a chance, maybe he doesn't show enough effort in practice? Maybe hes just so slow mentally on defensive rotations thta hes too much of a liability?
He'd undersized for PF and it definitely hurts him. He does get stuffed a lot when he gets stuck inside, and he probably should look to pass out just a little bit more. Misses out on a lot of rebounds because of size. Also commits a lot of unnecessary soft reach-in and hack fouls (though he's young and may improve in this area). Fairly strong but gets cleared out by the big bruisers in the NBA (Duncan, Boozer, Howard, etc.) Then again, I like his aggressiveness when he gets the ball. As mentioned great footwork and a nice jumper. Very good at drawing fouls. He averages over 1.7 freethrow attempts per 10 minutes of play. Compare that with Brand at about 1.7, KG at 1.3, Duncan at 1.9, or Kobe at 2.2. Granted, he's generally not playing against the whole A team like those players are but still, it's an impressive rate, especialy considering he's rarely the #1 (or even #2) offensive option. Like Biedrins, he often had to get the ball off other players' misses. I don't think Ike will ever be a star, or maybe not even a regular starter, but he's got much more game than his minutes would indicate, I think he just needs the right coach and system to shine in.
