So before he decided to be serious about hoops Giannis put together the highlight tape I linked? All he was showing off to scouts was huge, fast, coordinated & really young... and then down the line when he turned 19 he got serious? Thats pretty much my point. Had Soapy shown some foresight, the chances of a Neil Olshey day parade down Broadway would be significantly higher. That draft was the crossroads where he could have put together a dynasty but didn't... how is that "great"? STOMP
I'm with HCP as far as the value of highlight tapes... They're misleading as often as they're useful for projecting. Giannis obviously showed great athletic potential, to be a mid-1st round pick with very little known about him. But, that only puts him the Darius Miles category of potential. It's what head they end up having on their shoulders that dictates how they develop.
Ahhh the old highlight tape. Just saw a couple of my daughters teammates latest reels…. Horrible. My daughter asked me to help out her friends over the last 18 months. It’s a wonder what some music and flashy editing can do. I should have been charging these kid’s rich Lake Oswego families. Ha!!!
A highlight tape is only enough to give a glimpse of what a prospect might be like, of course it's not enough to draft a kid off. A good GM and front office sees an intriguing highlight tape or gets a hot tip from scouts and then pursues that prospect to learn more about them. If that prospect is overseas, they get on their private jet as they have the resources and thats the job. They talk to the prospect's teammates, coaches, opposing coaches, teachers/mentors & of course the prospect themselves. They put him through private workouts and watch game tapes. Very quickly the youngest and best athlete in the draft wouldn't be a mystery. Neil blew this opportunity to draft a younger, bigger, more athletic & grounded prospect then Darius Miles. He wasn't coming straight out of HS, he'd played professionally in Athens for 2 years in their Senior league... he was an All Star there at 17. Major European professional clubs were trying to sign him when he went for the NBA instead. While he was unknown to peons like you & I, he was not an unknown prospect. His physical talents were obvious, I don't get why you're making excuses. STOMP
oh the horror, at 18 he's only KD sized (and a lot more athletic). Any decent medical staff can project what sort of weight a young man's frame will carry. But "great" job Neil, way to safely draft the crafty/undersized shooting guard instead who went to college 4 years. STOMP
Dallas never traded away Dirk, the Buck did. Stop mowing frozen lawns long enough to figure it out. Then post.
tho I know that you just reversed the teams, if there's a team due for some good draft karma, it's situated in Portland.
I think people forget things really quickly because there is no such thing as a lot more athletic than KD. I know it was 15 years ago when we were introduced to him but that dude was one of the most athletically gifted people at his size, ever... guys like Giannis and maybe AD and Simmons could be seen as a little more athletic than KD but a lot, no way.
I hear you. But it might be worth it to take that risk. I think Dame would be able to handle him. We're going to have to take that risk on some players to get where we want to go. I'm not saying that we should have traded the pick. Just that we'd likely have a significantly better record if we had traded it to NY for Randle and 11. Dame, Hart, Grant, Randle, Nurk is a hell of a tough lineup. And draft Duren or Williams at 11 and you have a hell of a tough bench. Maybe Sharpe's future is worth it. I'm certainly excited to find out. Seems like a solid gamble.
I owe someone a final game. @Tince is that you? I cant find the history now, or dont have the patience to look further. Lol. Im officially eating crow. Haven't given up on him. Just not gonna excel as fast as i had predicted.
No way. Plus everyone is boring compared to @Chris Craig, but with him you need to bring earplugs. Lol
Since the day he hit the league Giannis has clearly been a better run jump athlete then KD and more importantly, consistently pushes those athletic advantages out running and out jumping everyone else. KD is much more prone to relying on his unblockable money J which sets up his glides to the hoop. I think some posters are consistently ridiculous trying to make a counter point. STOMP