I think he's one of the least appreciated players on our team. He is the perfect role player. No distracting ambition to be the man. He goes out there, boxes out, knocks down the open shot, finishes on the fast break, and plays better defense than he is given credit for. He had 2 critical blocks last night. And the fact that he has been able to effectively start at center for us from time to time has been astonishing. I'm very glad we have him and I hope we hold onto him for a long time.
I like him a LOT more now that he has gotten confidence back in his jumper. The few games were he lost that it seemed like he lost confidence in everything. Would make bad passes, pick up stupid fouls, just overall looked like a D league player at his best. When he starts hitting those jumpers his game takes on a whole new level and becomes a great backup... now if he only grew 4 inches over this summer he would be the perfect 4/5 backup.
I like him a bunch for what he is. If he were on a team as an 8th-10th man, he would be great. But with all these injuries he has been asked to do more than he is capable of. He tries hard and is team oriented, and for that, I really like him.
I totally agree. Dante is a fundamentally sound player (4 years at Villanova will do that) and has done pretty well when asked to play out of position. I think he could exceed some expectations and surprise some people with more experience.
I think it's easier to appreciate someone who obviously tries very hard just to get by doing the dirty work. Especially cause he is undersized. Outlaw just took pull up jumpers.
In your opinion, how good do you have to be to get your own thread on a fan's message board? Do you have to be a rotation player? A starter? An all-star? A all-NBAer? Just curious so I don't fall victim to your wrath at a later date.
Let's have a DejJuan Blair appreciation thread maybe. Taken 4 draft sports later than Dante, he had 17 point and 14 points in a win over the Lakers. Meanwhile, Dante had a 6 points and 1 rebound as a starter in a loss to the Nuggets sans Melo.
I like him a whole lot more as the 9th or 10th man than I do as the team's starting center/power-forward, but I agree with the general premise that he does a lot of little things on the court that you like to see. It just underscores how far off the rails this team has gone with injuries that he's being asked to log major minutes lately.
So we can't start threads about our players if someone taken after them in their draft had a better game than them? I don't have the time to do that much research before posting. All kidding aside, whats worse: someone starting a thread to say something positive about one of our lesser players doing well, or someone tearing that down because the team as a whole is a disappointment?
I suppose I agree. Dante is an undersized forward with a streaky jump shot. Nothing less, nothing more. He should be deep on the bench. But the fact that he's starting really underscores how poorly this roster is constructed by depending on oft injured centers.
You need guys like Dante on your bench. We often discuss "consolidation" to prevent too many young players from being unhappy on the bench. I hope Dante is never a "Throw In" to make salaries work. He seems like he is a versatile player that will be happy making a roster. A good soldier with a good basketball iQ.
He hasn't regressed, he's just been forced to play more. Nobody here thinks its a good thing that he is playing so much.
