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I would like to know where he ranks among Centers at the same age? or where he ranks among players in his draft class that were picked ahead of him?

Bobby Ray wrote:I would like to know where he ranks among Centers at the same age?

By PER:
Below 22, the better Centers:
Andre Drummond at 19
DeMarcus Cousins at 22
Greg Monroe is 22


Some comparisons:
JaVale McGee is 24
Brandan Wright is 25
Jordan Hill is 25
Larry Sanders is 25
Kosta Koufos is 23
DeAndre Jordan is 24
Spencer Hawes is 24
Omer Asik is 26


Vučević would be projected to be in the middle range of this group. So, in his generation, he should be a top-10 NBA Center in some point of his career.

or where he ranks among players in his draft class that were picked ahead of him?

In the 2011 draft, there is a good chance that Vučević will develop into the best Center of this draft and a yop-3 draftee. Kyrie Irving seems like the only "certain" future all-star (and he does not look to be a franchise guy). Derrick Williams has the curse of #2, and projects as an average NBA starter. Enes Kanter at #3 because of his size is looking a lot more like Zaza than anything else at this point. Tristan Thompson at #4 is developing slow but he still has an awesome NBA body. Jonas Valančiūnas at #5 has an BA upside as a marginal starter. Detroit's Brandon Knight shows like he could be the real deal. Kemba Walker is better than many thought he would be in the NBA.

Without looking at every single player, Vučević projects to easily be the best big in this class, and by far the best Center. He also should slot in the top 3/4-tier with Irving and Knight, and maybe Thompson.

..

Around top 15, and he has much more offensive upside than many of those currently ahead of him

Horcy wrote:Varejao is definitely overratd too.

Hibbert should definitely be higher.

AV is averaging 14/14 this season plus almost 4 apg and 2 blocks and steals, he is playing very well this season.

Vuc is just scratching the surface of his potential man, He has a post game he can build off of. He has a jumper with nice range that can actually be extended to the 3pt line if he chooses to and coach may have alluded to. His frame can still fill out some so he has room to get stronger which in turn will only help his rebounding and help him get post position. Really the only weakness he has is that he's not really athletic but his length helps kinda offset that and you can't say he's a bad defender either because he's not. He can only get better and i'm glad we have him, i personally know some philly fans regretting not playing him and giving him up

drsd wrote:By PER, Vučević is at #26.

Ṫḩâñḱ ẙòü.

Interestingly enough, Dwight is putting up around the same stats, and a relatively less per as Andrew Bynum had last year and for years past. Imagine if the two had switched places, would Bynum currently be considered the best center in the league?

Bobby Ray wrote:Vuc is just scratching the surface of his potential man, He has a post game he can build off of. He has a jumper with nice range that can actually be extended to the 3pt line if he chooses to and coach may have alluded to. His frame can still fill out some so he has room to get stronger which in turn will only help his rebounding and help him get post position. Really the only weakness he has is that he's not really athletic but his length helps kinda offset that and you can't say he's a bad defender either because he's not. He can only get better and i'm glad we have him, i personally know some philly fans regretting not playing him and giving him up

I've heard the "he can add strength" argument before for Gortat and frankly, until they actually do it, I'am not convinced anything will happen.

Right now Vooch is simply Vooch.

A good player that won't take you places but won't fck you either.

unless we become good and resign him, we'll have to let him go because he'll be too expensive.

better than michael doleac, and doleac was a top 8 center.

ivDT wrote:better than michael doleac, and doleac was a top 8 center.

I never considered Doleac a top 8 center, however.....

NV is way better, and Vucevic probably has more double digit rebound games in the early part of this season than Doleac had his entire career.

ivDT wrote:better than michael doleac, and doleac was a top 8 center.

Always good to see Magicjam/ozone jokes bridge to other message boards. Rumors are that Ron Mercer's girlfriend has a Louis Bullock autograph for anyone that can prove the top 8 comment false.

This thread is perfect for the Doleac <> Declerc battle

Not even close

SmiteaDwight wrote:

Bobby Ray wrote:Vuc is just scratching the surface of his potential man, He has a post game he can build off of. He has a jumper with nice range that can actually be extended to the 3pt line if he chooses to and coach may have alluded to. His frame can still fill out some so he has room to get stronger which in turn will only help his rebounding and help him get post position. Really the only weakness he has is that he's not really athletic but his length helps kinda offset that and you can't say he's a bad defender either because he's not. He can only get better and i'm glad we have him, i personally know some philly fans regretting not playing him and giving him up

I've heard the "he can add strength" argument before for Gortat and frankly, until they actually do it, I'am not convinced anything will happen.

Right now Vooch is simply Vooch.

A good player that won't take you places but won't fck you either.

unless we become good and resign him, we'll have to let him go because he'll be too expensive.

This makes no sense. The point of rebuilding is to get better. You do that by keeping Vuc, who's still young and proving to be a solid big and trade your current assets (JJ, Baby, etc). I'm not understanding your last sentence.

#2, right behind brooke lopez

GameOver25 wrote:

SmiteaDwight wrote:

Bobby Ray wrote:Vuc is just scratching the surface of his potential man, He has a post game he can build off of. He has a jumper with nice range that can actually be extended to the 3pt line if he chooses to and coach may have alluded to. His frame can still fill out some so he has room to get stronger which in turn will only help his rebounding and help him get post position. Really the only weakness he has is that he's not really athletic but his length helps kinda offset that and you can't say he's a bad defender either because he's not. He can only get better and i'm glad we have him, i personally know some philly fans regretting not playing him and giving him up

I've heard the "he can add strength" argument before for Gortat and frankly, until they actually do it, I'am not convinced anything will happen.

Right now Vooch is simply Vooch.

A good player that won't take you places but won't fck you either.

unless we become good and resign him, we'll have to let him go because he'll be too expensive.

This makes no sense. The point of rebuilding is to get better. You do that by keeping Vuc, who's still young and proving to be a solid big and trade your current assets (JJ, Baby, etc). I'm not understanding your last sentence.

If Vooch continues to develop he will eventually command 8 figs. Unless we have a chance to be good in that season, do you really want to commit to paying that?

Even though i am from Montenegro , i would say he is still away from top10 centers in NBA but since he is only 22, but he has all things and skills to become one of them in the future.I used to go in same school as him he looked like a giant to me even though i was 2nd tallest guy(i am now 194cm tall not quite sure how u measure that because we use metric system)

Funny thing is that Pekovic and Vucevic both were sidelined by their coaches and they believed they would never made even decent career, mostly because our coaches like giving more attention to PG/SG(i am talking about coaching youngsters) which mostly turned out to be flops and currently Montenegro despite having population of 650k have top 3 frontcourt in Europe thanks to them and few other young guys which have huge potential such as Bojan Dubljevic which is our stretch 4 with European Kevin Love potential.Nikola Mirotic which is drafted by Bulls is also Montenegrin(playing for Real Madrid) but with Spanish passport(there is a lot of drama will FIBA allow Spain to keep both him and Ibaka if they dont allow that Mirotic will probably play for us).Even w/o Vooch and Pek Montenegro managed to finish undefeated in our group topping Israel and Serbia on Eurobasket 2013 qualification.

After seeing him getting drafted by Philly and playing decent for minutes he got, i was glad he ended up in team like Orlando because i knew he would get more minutes and real chance after Howard departure.I am also amazed how much he improved his game since last time i saw him playing during NBA lockout which probably have something to do with Magic bigs coaches which certainly helped him grow into legit starting center and double-double machine.What i am hoping right now is that he definitely need to improve his defensive game because even for me he look soft sometimes.

I hope i made my points about him clear and understandable,not quite sure about my english skills but i tried to make it sound as simple i could.

SmiteaDwight wrote:

GameOver25 wrote:

SmiteaDwight wrote:
I've heard the "he can add strength" argument before for Gortat and frankly, until they actually do it, I'am not convinced anything will happen.

Right now Vooch is simply Vooch.

A good player that won't take you places but won't fck you either.

unless we become good and resign him, we'll have to let him go because he'll be too expensive.

This makes no sense. The point of rebuilding is to get better. You do that by keeping Vuc, who's still young and proving to be a solid big and trade your current assets (JJ, Baby, etc). I'm not understanding your last sentence.

If Vooch continues to develop he will eventually command 8 figs. Unless we have a chance to be good in that season, do you really want to commit to paying that?

Honestly I think it's too early to tell. I can't answer that right now. I think we need to see how the rebuild process goes first.

Vuc N Pek wrote:Even though i am from Montenegro , i would say he is still away from top10 centers in NBA but since he is only 22, but he has all things and skills to become one of them in the future.I used to go in same school as him he looked like a giant to me even though i was 2nd tallest guy(i am now 194cm tall not quite sure how u measure that because we use metric system)

Funny thing is that Pekovic and Vucevic both were sidelined by their coaches and they believed they would never made even decent career, mostly because our coaches like giving more attention to PG/SG(i am talking about coaching youngsters) which mostly turned out to be flops and currently Montenegro despite having population of 650k have top 3 frontcourt in Europe thanks to them and few other young guys which have huge potential such as Bojan Dubljevic which is our stretch 4 with European Kevin Love potential.Nikola Mirotic which is drafted by Bulls is also Montenegrin(playing for Real Madrid) but with Spanish passport(there is a lot of drama will FIBA allow Spain to keep both him and Ibaka if they dont allow that Mirotic will probably play for us).Even w/o Vooch and Pek Montenegro managed to finish undefeated in our group topping Israel and Serbia on Eurobasket 2013 qualification.

After seeing him getting drafted by Philly and playing decent for minutes he got, i was glad he ended up in team like Orlando because i knew he would get more minutes and real chance after Howard departure.I am also amazed how much he improved his game since last time i saw him playing during NBA lockout which probably have something to do with Magic bigs coaches which certainly helped him grow into legit starting center and double-double machine.What i am hoping right now is that he definitely need to improve his defensive game because even for me he look soft sometimes.

I hope i made my points about him clear and understandable,not quite sure about my english skills but i tried to make it sound as simple i could.

Nice post. I understood most of it. (194 cm is about 6 foot 4 according to google). Thanks for the input.

SmiteaDwight wrote:If Vooch continues to develop he will eventually command 8 figs. Unless we have a chance to be good in that season, do you really want to commit to paying that?

Yes, yes I do. That's exactly the idea of getting young talent - you develop them and lock them in long term so you can build around them and win.

What strategy are you suggesting, develop one piece at a time but keep none of them because they aren't good enough to win a title all by themselves?

Building a team is a process, you add pieces and in time hope they develop and meld as you add more pieces. You don't throw away the good ones just because they're only the first piece.