The game was played outside in back in KG's day but today it's reversed. Few players have a back to the basket game let alone play on a team that features that as their mode of attack. It's about making and defending the 3, so how KG played then isn't how he'd play if he came into the league today. Can Chet guard the guy in front of him and keep them from getting a good look at a 3? Can he reasonably switch onto a variety of players and provide weakside help D? Yes and hell yes IMO. On Offense, he can shoot really well from the outside and drive. I don't think he'll be the tip of the spear on a good teams attack, but it's going to be tough to contest his quality J when it's swung to him and he can dribble and drive. I think he's going to be a load in today's game STOMP
lol, i don't think i can be any more in disagreement with this sentiment. i can't picture Chet having the mobility to do anything on D other than protecting the rim. let's see how the workouts/combine/measurements turn out.
you don't think game strategy has changed dramatically since KG played??? Good grief man, I don't know what to say other then the workouts/combine/measurements don't have anything to do with that sort of evaluation. Back to the basket is dead. btw, for quite a few years now the top prospects usually skip the predraft STOMP
It will have to be workouts because I would almost guarantee that he doesn't do shit at the combine... except maybe basic measurements.
we can agree to disagree. it's why i started this thread to see how others project these guys. i don't think i've seen any prospect more polarizing than Chat in recent history.
Can we at least agree that the game has completely flipped since KG's day? Almost every team now features the outside shot as a primary focus. Hell, the Timberwolves are putting up 41 threes a game this season. They averaged shooting 10 a game back in KG's rookie year. STOMP
of course the game has changed. Never disagreed with that or challenged it. Strength is just one issue. While I think it's a concern with Chet, it obviously isn't as big a concern as it would have been a few decades ago. Where i vehemently disagree is the notion that chet has mobility to guard quick dudes. I think modern PFs and some Cs will drive by him if he's asked to guard in space. And I'm pretty sure that's what @blazerkor was saying also.
I couldn't tell what you were disagreeing with as you were being so sweeping with your statements. Guarding quick dudes is different if you've a 7'3 wingspan. If he plays up on a perimeter player taking away the outside shot and then they drive past him, thats part of good team D these days. Others have the drive by responsibilities. Everyone switches and rotates/not much one on one D anymore. STOMP
I want to say that I hope all of the people that are seeing foot speed that I don't are right because if he can't move his feet fast enough and if he can't get stronger in a way that seems impossible, his one elite defensive skill will be as a shot blocker. He does seem to see opposing offenses well so he should be able to use his length to break up some passes too but as far as one on one defense goes, if his feet aren't a lot faster than I see them then he's fucked against guys that are faster than him in space and fucked against guys that are stronger than him in the post... so basically I think in one way or the other every player that's at a legit starting level in the league will be able to exploit Chet one on one. Like I said, I hope that's not the case because he seems like a nice enough guy and if his feet are as quick as a lot in here are saying, he'll be incredibly fun to watch on both ends. That's just not what I've seen and I'm talking about what I've seen in multiple games against WCC fours and fives and every game against posts from big time programs.
Dale Davis was an NBA all-star and a starter on at least two conference finals teams. If Duren's worst-case scenario is Dale Davis, he's a lot better than I think he is and we'd be getting a steal if we got him with the 11th pick.
KG was skinny & young, I think he flopped more than any 1/2 year player in the history of the league. He was on floor constantly his rookie year. However, they didnt call flops back then.
You aren't the only one that's not seeing the foot speed. I keep looking to see what people are talking about that I'm not seeing. I was rewatching the Memphis game where he was in the middle of the lane in help position and not only wasn't deterring Memphis from attacking the time, they were doing it and scoring and he rarely challenged it. That was Chet playing against a team with NBA speed and athleticism. Not Chet playing against Pepperdine and Pacific. People also talk about him getting stronger like it's a given. His frame makes it questionable that he can do that. His frame also makes it questionable that he can do that while maintaining the agility he does have. His offensive sample size is so small because he's entirely a complementary element. Too many games for a guy I keep being told has this fantastic offensive game to be taking fewer than 10 shots. He took double-figure shots 12 times this season. He got to the foul line 99 times in 31 games.
One other thing about Chet's range and offensive potential. If you take the best analogs for what he'll see in the NBA defensively, the three NCAA Tournament games, the two WCC tourney games and the regular season games with Texas, UCLA, Duke, Alabama and Texas Tech, he was a sizzling 5-for-30 from 3 in 264 minutes played. He was 2-for-4 in the UCLA game. EDIT: He also committed 36 fouls in those 10 games.
I'm not sure about Holmgren in many areas, but I am pretty damn sure the idea he can guard NBA SF's and wings is loopy. As some have said, I think he'll have lots of trouble, in lots of games, defending NBA PF's. Guys like Giannis and Siakam and Jackson will eat him up and a lot of NBA C's will simply push him all over the floor. Holmgren will be perpetually in foul trouble at C, at least he will in his first few seasons I would agree that it's kind of hard to come up with comps for him. KG is a bad one, IMO. Durnat is a ridiculous comp. I think Porzingis is closer; he was/is a similar type of unicorn. And Porzingis is a good comp in another critical way: his impact has never been significant because he's an awkward fit for the modern NBA. Seems like in order to be an impact player as a C, you need extreme elite talent like Jokic or Embid or KAT. That's not to say that lesser talents can't have impacts at C; there are plenty of guys at the level of an Ayton, Sabonis, or Valanciunas. I mean, think about guys like Sabonis, or Nurkic or Valanciunas....how many years in the weight rooms would it take before Holmgren wouldn't be pushed all over the floor by those guys? and if he's a PF, is there really any chance he ever becomes an elite player? How many top-20 NBA players right now are PF's? I'd say there is only one and that's Giannis. That is a really difficult position from which to create high-level impact which kind of leads to something else: is Holmgren another project-big? and if he is how long will a team have to wait before he's matriculated from project to star?...if he ever does?
I thought you might have been going for that, The competition he faced in college makes a comp even more difficult. If current Josh Hart is playing in a junior high league, how the heck can you tell what he really can do and how he projects?
I’ve listened to many NBA analysts and looked at ever mock draft I can access and ALL have Chet in top 5 or better. Thats pretty damn high for a guy that many in here think will bomb or struggle at the next level. Yeah there is risk with any player but the experts seem to think he will be a player.
