As I remember, Deng played a lot of PF in college. Anyway, I'd have zero worries about McDermott leading a fastbreak. He's got a good handle and also knows when to give it up.
'Small' Doug McDermott grew into big-time player Vance Downs vividly remembers the first time he met Doug McDermott. "My first impression was, 'Wow, he's small!'" the longtime coach of Ames (Iowa) High said by phone. "His father told me he was the same size at Doug's age, maybe even a little smaller. And he grew to be a very large man. But it was one of those things where I thought, 'It's dad talk.' And you shake your head, smile and move on." As his father, Greg, coached Iowa State, McDermott ignored Downs' doubts. Even as Harrison Barnes, now with the Warriors, jumped to Ames' varsity as a freshman, McDermott kept lifting weights, kept working on his game. Read more http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...a-draft-spt-0629-20140629,0,351022,full.story
I don't remember him at PF at all. Though I do think he'd have been a fine PF for us late in his tenure here. I remember he grew an inch his first summer with us.
I've seen it written in more than one place that Douggie is Thibs' hand picked guy. The bulls went out and got his guy, even at huge expense. Kudos to management for getting Thibs his guy. We don't know if he wanted someone else more, tho. This should throw a wet blanket in the Thibs/management feud talk. On the other hand , if Douggie turns out to be the next Adam Morrison, there's fuel to fire Thibs. I've seen enough of Thibs to think Douggie will turn out better than Morrison. On the other hand, I've seen management stick him with Hinrich at PG - not in position to win.
Lots of times, the position designations don't necessarily fit every team. The 2003-04 Duke team's starting 5 didn't really have a true center. Duhon was clearly their PG and Redick was a SG. Daniel Ewing (6-3) was sort of a combo guard. Deng and Shelden Williams were the team's bigs. Defensively against traditional teams, Williams defended the opposing center and Deng defended the opposing PF.
Doug McDermott is now in Chicago Doug McDermott@dougmcd3 Arrived safely in Chi Town! Posted about 7 minutes ago.
Re: Doug McDermott is now in Chicago As he did on draft night, General Manager Gar Forman stated that the Bulls had targeted McDermott, someone who the team had been watching closely since his freshman year at Creighton. Chicago traded up to acquire him, sending the 16th and 19th picks and a 2015 second round pick to Denver for his rights and forward Anthony Randolph.* Forman sees McDermott as a great fit, bringing an uncanny ability to shoot the ball along with a versatile game, the ability to play inside or out, and a high basketball IQ.* For McDermott, it’s a level that few could have seen him reaching as recently as a few years ago.* “He developed quickly but Doug has put the time in,” said Greg. “It’s a unique story because he was a sixth man on his high school team as a junior. Six years later, he’s a lottery pick and that doesn’t happen very often.”*
I'll give Forman this, he's not covering his ass. While I wouldn't say his talent evaluation reputation rides on McDermott, but he"s putting a good part of his rep out there. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
No, he's not. Neither is Thibdoeau. I think I saw some comment from Thibodeau where he mentioned that his pitch to Anthony will include Rose, Butler, Gibson, Noah and McDermott, which is kind of hilarious. It's not like Anthony is sitting around going, "You know I really like Houston, but Chicago has that player that they drafted at my position in the late lottery . . . " I'm a little late to this party but I think I agree with many of the sentiments here. Initially I was disappointed with the selection because he wasn't Nick Stauskas. But really, even if McDermott wasn't my favorite, this was what I wanted to see from Garpax. I wanted them to ignore free agency, target a player in this deep draft and make the moves necessary to get him. And it looks like they have. What are the chances that both Thibodeau and Garpax are incorrect about McDermott? Probably not very high. I'm eager to see how he fares this upcoming season. On the flip side, I feel that the use of the Charlotte pick was kind of anticlimactic. We've heard rumblings about the potential the pick offered for years and when push comes to shove it was just another asset tossed in the mix in the rush to acquire a Ninth pick.
