He's extremely raw. Still a ways away offensively. Watch how Detroit used McDyess, I think that's what Vonleh could be. I thought he showed flashes on defense that I think he'll be our best defensive big in a year or two. His base is so strong that he can check any center in the league. He's the type of post defender that you can't budge. His 7'4"-7'5" wingspan is a big factor here.
the form on his J needs to be addressed. I can think of very few players in league history who cock the ball back so far and still shot a decent percentage. Way too much arm movement involved. I'm hopeful about his potential but not optimistic STOMP
I'm still in wait and see mode. He is still raw but with his youth and physical gifts there really is a lot of room for growth. Even if he never fully develops his offensive game he could still be our version of young Ibaka in a couple of years: put backs, offensive rebounds, dunks, weak side shot blocking, good solid post D, and the occasional wide open 3 on kickouts from double teams on our guards.
He's to shy. He needs to have more confidence in himself. He doesn't have that natural swag about his game where he wants to show us something. The nice ones have that. I hope it comes but I'm not to optimistic on him. Great defender tho. His defense is nice that I'll give him
I wish he was more aggressive on the offensive end as well but that is probably tough to do when you are a 20 year old starter on a team designed for you to pick for the guards so they can each get 20 shots a game. Even when he was open or pinned a mismatch from a defensive switch clear under the basket, rarely did he get the ball. So he was at least doing some of those things right. It wasn't just Vonleh. I don't know how many times I saw Harkless come around the end of the weave and be wide-open for an alley-oop and yet never get the ball. The kid can jump out of the gym and time after time no one would throw the ball up to him. I don't think it's too much of a lack of confidence from Vonleh as it takes attitude to D up as well as he did at times. He just knows he was the #5 option and if starts taking shots instead of getting the ball to Dame/CJ his time would have probably been even more limited.
I'm excited to see where he is 2 years from now. I'm extremely hopeful for the kid... That being said, his "ceiling" offensively here is a #3-#4 scorer (most likely #4), so realistically, do we really need him to be this big threat scoring? 10/10 from him for a season would be beautiful... almost like a younger Ed Davis with better D. I'll take that all day.
I really don't think this is a long term issue. I actually applaud him for not shooting too much when he was in with Dame and CJ. That was not his role at the time. Glad to see he was smart enough to see that, and not try to do too much before he was ready. Smart players know their limitations and stupid players don't. Hopefully he will get to the point where his offensive skills will warrant some swag.
With PFs - unless you get an exceptionally rare and gifted one - they should be your 3rd-5th option. So like you, I'm not so much concerned with his PPG average as I am his ability to score. As long as he develops a reliable ability to score so that defenses have to play him honestly he'll be fine. Ideally he'd have a double-digit average between 12-15 PPG so that Dame/CJ don't have to carry as much of the offensive load, but it doesn't really matter if Noah's scoring or other teammates are scoring just so long as the rest of the team as a collective becomes better at carrying the offense. Like Tunchi and others have already touched on, I think his biggest hurdle is confidence - he doesn't have any alpha dog in him, and that's a little concerning. Obviously he's never going to be an alpha dog playing with Dame/CJ, but as a player you still need a bit of that mentality. Like Henderson, Crawford, JR Smith, etc - they should never be the best player on a team, but they have that belief in themselves that every player should have. That said, Jerm looked like a lost baby on the court when he played for us and he eventually put it together - Noah really reminds me of Blazers-era Jerm.
Will you lead the brigade of negative threads posted when its official this summer? He is literally the best possible realistic scenario for us this free agency
Great Points. What I do like is he seems to be engaged and very attentive to coaches and vet players. I think he is sharp and will learn much in the next year.
For lack of a better place to drop this........I saw (on TV) that Vonleh and Pat Connaughton were riding the Fred Meyer(?) float in the Rose Festival Parade. I'm not sure by the looks on their faces if they were having fun or were totally embarrassed. The Fox Network announcers seemed to have absolutely no clue who they were, as they oohed and aahed interminable over the float but never said a word about the riders.....I guess when you ride the end of the bench, these are the kinds of events you are relegated to attending......at least Patty C isn't playing baseball......
You're not actually starting to miss those 18 foot jumpers as the go to move already? The Power Forward pumpfake? Those endless freethrows and dangling thumbs?
