According to Marang, insiders have said Rayan has grown over an inch since drafted. They expect he will keep growing given his wingspan..I posted this in another thread last night but should be mentioned here.
Yes he does. It’s up to Chauncey to make it work. Ayton is big and mobile. He can be used as a cutter from the weak side instead of clogging the lane camping out in the paint. If the opponents center protects the hoops against a driving Scoot or Sharpe it’ll be very tough to stop Ayton from scoring on the dump off from our guard. This should be a standard part of the Blazer offense. It’s called “pick your poison.” We should see a lot of variations of “pick your poison” offense by Chauncey. If it’s just a free-for-all he should be fired.
The problem being Rayan is not much of a leaper. He can play ball, certainly, but he is not that level of athlete.
If he’s a point of attack defender defending the ball handler, leaping isn’t important. Do you remember Doug Christie? A great defender. He made it nearly impossible to pass to the player he was defending, and also made it difficult once that player had the ball.
Oh yeah. Rayan gaining some size is *chef's kiss. Just saying, it wouldn't make him Giannis somehow. He's a different kind of athlete.
Honestly, we'd be lucky to get some sort of Amimu level production out of Rupert. As long as he avoids the trebuchet shooting form, that'd satisfy me.
I don’t think it’s crazy to believe he could’ve grown another inch, although any growth would be gravy at this point. At 6’6 barefoot, he’s already over 6’7 in shoes and is a huge mismatch for most opposing guards. That extra inch that Danny claims, if true, would make him 1/4 inch than Joe Johnson who was 6’6.75 barefoot. Right now, I think he is the highest upside prospect on the team outside of the two in the backcourt. Once he spends time in the GL to get use to running our schemes, we’ll be able to actually see glimpses of what he can be for us when we gets in the real games.
The idea of Rupert playing exclusively at SG is so exciting to me right now. Assuming no actual growth spurt, 6’7.25 in shoes is still huge for a SG. Combined with a 7’3 winspan and great movement on the perimeter, he’s going to make it SO difficult on opposing guards. He’s going to get better at defense as soon as he plays more in GL. But once he can dribble and shoot 3s, we’ll really get to see him get some playing time. Anyone have a realistic idea or have some realistic examples of how soon he can develop both? Brown became a great shooter pretty quick but still has a questionable handle. Of course, Brown was considered the cornerstone of a franchise while Rupert doesn’t have that burden.
I’m sure you’re just busting my balls lol. I meant that with a GL team now, guys who desperately need playing time can do it on our own GL team that can run our offense and defense instead of another team’s GL where they’re just getting time on the floor without actually developing anything but their personal game. Yes, we our offense was revolved around an iso-centric player for a decade and we don’t currently have a defensive scheme, but I’m hoping a good one gets implemented now that we have a clean slate.
It’s kind of amazing how much talent we acquired since the Dame trade. We’ve been talking about Shae, Scoot, then DA, then Williams, I’ve even been looking at next year’s draft. I keep forgetting about how Schmitz drafted this gem and he could literally be the second most exciting young prospect on a team like the Wizards. Outside of Coulibaly, is there a guy on that roster who has Rupert’s physical attributes and a definitive projectable skill?
I remember seeing Rupert and Coulibaly in some FIBA tournament last summer before the season when Rupert had lotto hype. (I always check France's teams out in those tourneys cuz their perpetually LOADED with talent) and finding it odd Rupert was the highly touted prospect, Coulibaly seemed better, Rupert seemed a bit more like Bambi on Ice and still needing some time to better control those long arms and legs. .. They also had Melvin Ajinca (uncle former 1st rd pick) at SF whos got plenty of 1st rd hype for this next draft as of now. What I found encouraging about Rupert is his work ethic is supposed to be off the charts. Lets see if he can carve a Thabo Sefolosha type of role out... Or some of you old timers might remember Jared Jeffries who was drafted like 20 years ago, n he was like 6'10 but not much of scorer n more of a swiss army knife type of combo forward --- I wonder if Rupert will be like that but as a swingman.. I think thats his niche, type of player you run 0 plays for.. But its gonna be important to have plenty of shooting on the floor with him or else the spacing can get funky.. But i mean if he gets that 3pt shot working (As Im sure you will all recall Al Farouq Amino did in Portland) he's got plenty of upside.
That being said... I dont think Rupert deserves some huge benefit of the doubt(as in tons of time) given the rosters composition - Like do we rule out drafting Theirry Darlan in this next draft because we already have Rupert? Seems foolish.. Rupert is a low risk solid reward type of bet. But thats whats cool about this roster the further you go down the depth chart.. N its really something happening league-wide.. Lets see what he's got! Lets see what kind of Strength he can add! It'll probably be understated that if he really strengthens up he'll be a rotation guy somewhere. Its fair to wonder if he's gonna be one of these players who might be more productive on his 2nd contract than his rookie one. Classically 3pt shooting is actually one of the easier skills for NBA players to improve on.. He's got a good foundation, lets see if being in an NBA setting sharpens him up, cuz he's plenty raw.
You're setting yourself for disappointment if you want Rayan to reach Giannis level. If he can be Bruce Bowen or Shane Battier, we should be happy
