He's got the size/length/agility (or physical ability) to guard most 4s & 5s straight up. Sure Pop's scheme is good and he's also a very smart competitive player, but 14 times he's made an All NBA Defensive team and thats largely because of his tremendous physical gifts. That was obvious when he was a 17 year old Freshman at Wake dominating the ACC STOMP
I was working on my Bill Walton impersonation. We were the worst last year though, and Leonard is God awful
Sure he was. Whether he will be this coming year, or the year after, is TBD. Too early to close the book on him.
OK this is all true, but he is no Shaq when it comes to brut force. And he never was a great leaper. My point was he is not a physical specimen like we often get caught up on when we evaluate which centers we want. He is great because he is talented, smart and well coached. I would argue that if he was drafted by the "wrong team" his defensive talents may never have been developed as much they were. Their team D fits his talents perfectly.
Marc Gasol's rookie numbers vs career avg per 36 minutes ppg 13.9 14.2 rpg 8.6 8.5 bpg 1.3 1.7 fg% .530 .520 I fail to see this center that went from raw to beastly in those numbers. I see a center who has been pretty consistent.
Yeah, Gasol was a terrible example for Mags to use. He put up a 16.7 PER as a rookie. OK, MM--here's something you're going to love. This is the list of 7-footers who played at least 1000 minutes in their rookie years and put up a PER of less than 13. Not a whole lot of world-beaters here. Maybe Leonard can be another Chris Kaman...?
The team is in DESPERATE need of a true center. That said, I am a firm believer in drafting BPA - not based on need. There are other options available to find a temporary solution at center.
Chandler and Eaton ended up pretty good. I'm not sure you can really compare everyone on that list. A third of those guys were bad because they had no motivation (Kandi). Another third were terribly uncoordinated (Montross). Leonard is neither of those. He is raw though. When I see that list it gives me hope.
I'd settle for Tyson Chandler or Mark Eaton, but somehow I doubt it, as their problem was scoring. Two reasons we need a center: 1. We had probably the worst differential in the league between our points in the paint and the opponents'. 2. With a team as universally bad on D as ours, the easiest first step is the most important defensive player, which is the center.
I actually think Bol was pretty good too. Not much of an offensive game, but he was definitely a rim protector. Shawn Bradley was bust material, but at the right price would be good.
The reason I mentioned Kaman as the best possible outcome is that all these other guys you mentioned were over-sized shot-blockers--except Chandler, who was just really, REALLY raw. Re-sorting the list by rookie-year block percentage, Bol, Eaton, and Bradley are at the top. Leonard's 2.4 is the 2nd worst of the group.
You're just DETERMINED to stamp out all hope, aren't you? Interestingly, Leonard has the best TS% of the group.
That is depressing to me. I hope Leonard breaks out next season and plays much better basketball. He's definitely having all the necessary physical tools to do it. He just needs to work in and mental growth to get there.
Not really. I was looking for a good example of a decent center who started poorly to supersede Mags' terrible one, and this just happens to be what I found. Also noticed that Leonard had the lowest TOV% of the bunch, the best ORtg, best ORtg/Drtg differential, and the second highest WS/48. Perhaps that means that even though he didn't set the world on fire statistically, he still had a relatively positive impact on the team.
