Read in ESPN the Mag that Ainge has been interested in this dude since taking over the C's post. Reading this little report leaves me intrigued. Getting a Kirilenko type would be a nice thing. Strengths: Versatility. The way he plays the set offense as a wing player is impressive. He somehow finds a way to score. His repertoire includes blowing past a defender for a monster dunk, hitting the trey if he has the time to set his feet or making the double team pay with a perfect pass (including spectacular ones). Back door cuts have become a useful weapon which indicates he is adept at the strategic side of the game. He knows how to play the low post game when matched up with a smaller player. A player of certainly more than one dimension. -- Floor general. In the Russian Under 20 team, he is the heart and the soul. The way he directs his teammates helps the coach a lot. Is cunning enough to make the adjustments. You rarely see him make the same mistake twice, however it requires time to establish a mental presence in the NBA. -- Open court. A killer in the open court with all the mentioned weapons. A good runner of the lane (like Hedo Turkoglu or Ryan Bowen, but not the same lethal shooting level as Peja Stojakovic) as expected from a forward but also can make the half court pass with precision as well as run the middle lane as the trailer. Can play 4 positions in the open floor. -- Upside. He still has not reached his eventual weight which is one of the indications that there is room for physical improvement. Grew 3 inches after 18. His wingspan is huge which makes him a good shot blocker. Issues like the time taken to establish a balanced stance, committing undesired reach-in fouls will probably get resolved when he completes physical development. However, the team that drafts him might elect to let him continue to develop in Europe and add him to the roster a couple of years later as in the cases like Jaric, Ginobilli. Weaknesses: Inexperience. Has not had the chance to demonstrate his ability on the top level. Even though there have been rumors that big clubs in Europe (Real Madrid and Barcelona) are after him, he has not seen any top level competition to this point (20 years). Considering the fact that the shift of interest to European players is partly due to their acquisition of high level competition earlier than most US players, he does not have it. -- Defensive matchup. He always prefers to defend big men to the level that his height is not much of a disadvantage. He tries to anticipate. (Recall Divac gave Shaq more trouble than any of those huge bodies on the other teams) However, the real problem is defending perimeter players which will be priority if he plays his natural position, namely SF. He basically is not used to the defensive slide to challenge Rashard Lewis, Lamar Odom or Peja Stojakovic. His team will need to excel in 5 on 4 defense. However, the fact that he is a very hard worker will help him to make up quickly. -- Jumpshot. Needs more consistency. It looks obvious that he does not trust it even though he seems to hit whenever he takes. The form of the shot is questionable ("blockable" would be a better adjective). Also, because of the weight balance issue, he never takes a shot after putting the ball on the floor. In other words, he does not have a pull-up jumper off the dribble which limits the effect of all the shot fakes he takes because everybody knows that he is going to pass the ball if there is a crowd around the basket. Improvement on midrange game would be great and required after a certain point.
Well yes getting another AK47 would be quite nice indeed. It would be a reach to get him with the 15 pick, but using the 24 or 25 pick on him wouldn't be bad. I mean, if they were courting him for 2 years, he must have shown them something good about his game.
