The Dante Cunningham Fan Club

He's a pick-and-pop guy. Dante would flourish in a Phoenix type of system.

 

I couldn't believe that while Amare's dunk made the top ten plays, Dante's revenge didn't even get a mention.

 

That would be sweet. I dig Carl Landry as a player. The first time I saw him play was against Oden in college, and he battled Oden even though undersized, both games, and went at him offensivly. But unfortunately, Blazer management didn't watch that tape I guess....

 

Cool. Thanks for the additional info. I wasn't aware of the arm length issues. I loved Green coming out of G'Town.

 

BTW, I'm not ashamed to admit I was wrong about Dante. I was mad when we passed on DeJaun Blair at 22 for a Euro who will probably never play for us (other than maybe in summer league). I was livid when we passed on Blair again at 31. At least Pendergraph plays the same position, but Blair has WAY more talent. I was absolutely fuming when we passed on Blair a 3rd time at 33 and took Cunningham.

I thought WTF is KP doing. We NEED a physical back-up PF and we passed on one that had lottery level talent THREE times. It was not that I disliked Cunningham, but with Travis, Batum and Webster all on the roster, I saw him as a long shot to even make the team, let alone get any kind of meaningful PT. Blair would have gotten PT from day one as our back-up PF.

Turns out, Cunningham is better than I thought. And, with all the injuries, he's gotten way more PT than I could have imagined, and played consistently well (not just consistently well for a rookie, consistently well period).

I still wish we would have used one of those three picks on Blair. With all the inuries we've had, we sure could use him. With his physical play and strong rebounding, I could see starting LaMarcus at the 5 and Blair at the 4 (with our centers out). But, it didn't happen. He's off helping San Antonio, who we are fighting for a play-off spot, win games.

But, I'm glad we ended up with Cunningham. He's a great role player, and could end up making Outlaw and/or Webster expendable. Perhaps, we can use those assets to land the physical big man we are currently lacking with Greg and Joel out.

BNM

 

My memory's hazy, but does Dante remind anyone of Stacy Augmon?

 

Blair looks to be an elite rebounder and garbage scorer, but the reality is he is a-.2 in terms of production, and his win share of 48.8% means the Spurs are losing more often with him on the court than they are winning. That said, I'd love to have him on the Blazers, and regardless of potential injury, he should have been picked at #22 over Claver. After the year Batum had, why in the world was Claver picked? Blair could be giving production right now. I'd say Blair should have been picked over Pendergraph as well, but reality has meant that the Blazers have needed Pendergraph to play some center, so my 20/20 hindsight is skewed.

 

Interesting comparison, at least in terms of athleticism. I don't think Augmon had Cunningham's mid-range game. Then again, I know that Cunningham is not the defensive player that Augmon was during his prime.

 

Augmon was an athletic freak, shorter and thinner, couldn't shoot from beyond 8 feet and was almost universally disliked by his teammates where ever he played.

Other than that, they are just alike.

BNM

 

He reminds me a lot of Derrick McKey. Cunningham might have a little bit better of a jumpshot.

 

I think they (TO and DC) kind of look like each other.

 

Yeah, that's pretty much it. Augmon was wirey and probably stronger than he looked, a great defender, but he couldn't shoot, period. Dante is a very consistent outside shooter and he has HUGE guns for a SF. The guy is ripped.

 

LOL! Fair enough!

 

The thing I like is the coaches have seemingly given Dante the green light to shoot every time it if he's open for that 16-18 footer. He doesn't hesitate at all if he's open. It gives the rookie one less thing to think about on the floor -- whether to drive, find a cutter, etc. Just shoot the ball if you're open on the pick and pop. I'm sure that's played a part in his confidence level that the coaches have confidence in him to knock down the jumper.

 

He probably couldn't miss with that shot in practice, so they gave him the green light in the first place. The difference between him and, say, Martell (who is also can't miss in practice) is that Dante's FG percentage is pretty hot (52.1%).

here's Dante's first ten games:
3-4
0-0
0-0
1-2
2-3
2-3
3-6
0-1*
3-4
2-6*

Only two games less than 50% (only 11 total in 41 games this season). That instilled early confidence in the coaching staff; and in Dante, who took advantage of the situation by not taking bad shots. Now, he's got a permanent green light on that shot.

 

Yup, and I feel like whenever Dante rises up to shoot, it's not a "Oh no!" like maybe Travis, or "are we getting the good or bad Martell tonight" when Martell shoots it. I actually feel like Dante will knock it down more times than not, and he is. Good to see.