Kevin Seraphin

[TheGreatWall]

Poor McGee is going to get awful sore having to guard him in practice.

If you check out some of the video on the Wizards website, they show a couple of times where Javale gets the best of KSera. Javale is definitely taller and longer and when he extended, Seraphin looked like he didn't stand a chance. But I agree that Javale needs to battle against more physical players like Sera on practice.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Ernie at his presser today said that Kev is 275 lbs Where is that weight? We have hope for a rebounder for this team

He must have legs like tree trunks. It's going to be ridiculous in a couple of years once he fully matures physically and he has spent a few offseasons in an NBA weightlifting program. He'll be Dejuan Blair plus another 2.5 inches in standing reach and better hops.

Code: Select all

Name            Year     Ht. NoSh   Wt.    Wngspn    Reach           
Dejuan Blair    2009     6' 5.25    277    7' 2      8' 10.5         
Kevin Seraphi   2010     6' 9       275    7' 3      9' 1     

Poor McGee is going to get awful sore having to guard him in practice.

Seraphin's hook will be tested by McGee's shotblocking. McGee's probably going to get better having a banger to practice against. He can get his shot off against Seraphin, but I wonder if Javale doesn't have to work to get inside when not in transition.

Both guys at 21 and 22 years old will get bigger and stronger.

[Ruzious]

I Saw Josh Howard Yesterday
September 22nd, 2010 He is looking good and is very upbeat and positive.

I appreciate that and I believe he will make a big contribution to the team this season.

Here is a really thorough analysis of Josh and his body of work.

Speaking of bodies of work, I will say it again: Kevin Seraphin. Now that is a big body - built to bang under the boards.

This is Ted's Take - from the owner's website.

[doclinkin]

Poor McGee is going to get awful sore having to guard him in practice.

If you check out some of the video on the Wizards website, they show a couple of times where Javale gets the best of KSera. Javale is definitely taller and longer and when he extended, Seraphin looked like he didn't stand a chance. But I agree that Javale needs to battle against more physical players like Sera on practice.

I think playing against JaVale will also benefit The Black Angel of Doom. The kid has only been playing BBall for 5 years, everything he learned he picked up in the Euro leagues. But in Euro ball most of the bigs there tend to finesse the ball into the hoop, or hit the midrange shot even. You don't have the same dunk fetish as you see here because quite frankly few can really do it with authority.

Watching how the BOOM is celebrated by teammates and fans will tend to give the kid a few new role models for his game. I expect we'll see a bit more of Big Bad Kev bringing the heavy hammer at times. He's still learning the game, but now he has opponents and teammates who actually have athleticism etc and doesn't have to try to shrink himself down to imitate them. He'll learn to use that muscle not try to pretty it up.

[fishercob]

I'm guessing it's been mentioned somewhere in this thread, but when I read the beats' tweets about how "RAW" Keh-von is, one name jumps to mind: Ben Wallace.

The Wiz gave up on Wallace 11 summers ago, when he was 24, KS is similarly "undersized," by which I mean in height only and is a physical beast. It's going to take some time, but we're not going to make the same mistake with this kid. He's only 20. I think he'll be here a looooong time, and make a lot of people forget about not drafting DeJuan Blair.

[WizarDynasty]

nope i definitely wouldn't compare kevin to Ben Wallace. Kevin actually has excellent coordination around the basket...the dude can look like a ballerina with his spins and shots. He doesn't have a well developed outside game as he uses the same mechanics for insides shots that he uses for outside shots. Wallace never had and inside or outside game and Wallace was much quicker. Seraphin though definitely shows alot of hustle and effort and he seems like the type that doesn't take a play off and is very serious about the game. His outside shot mechanics are pretty non existent but he is a dominant inside player that needs to learn english. once he is warmed up, he can make shots even with his extreme unorthodox outside mechanics. KS 9'1 standing reach makes him comparable to almost any powerforward/center in the league and he is way longer, more coordinated feet and hands, than Dajuan and Wallace.
The language barrier is going to take some time and we still aren't sure how quickly he can pick up advanced nba concepts but he has good bigman instincts and is tougher than anyone on the wizards roster. I love how he punked booker and few times.

[fishercob]

WD, I'm not saying they're clones. I'm saying there are similarities -- raw offensive players who are rare physical specimens that allow them to impact the game defensively and on the boards. I agree that KS projects to be more skilled offensively, and at the same time it's presumptuous -- knowing as little as I do -- to proclaim that he'll have Ben's DPOY impact on D.

I guess my point is that the Blatche extension -- the whole Ted era -- provide hope that we're never going to see another team win a title with three starters (!!) that we drafted and gave up on. KS is going to be given the time and necessary resources to be successful here. That's exciting to me.

[WizarDynasty]

i agree. At the very least, we haven't had a player as tough as Kevin Seraphin in the last 10 years. Etan was semi tough but he had no foot coordination or hand coordination.
its just nice knowing that McGee is getting rough in practice everyday instead of watching him get roughed up for the first time in games that count.
What i like is the dynamic that Seraphin is actually younger than McGee and the culture in the wizard locker room is that younger player are normally on a lower pecking order than more experienced player.
McGee instinctively feels that he should dominate Seraphin since Seraphin is younger less senior but we see that Seraphin doesn't play by those rules. When mcgee first came in he cowered to haywood, he coward to Blatche and whoever else had seniority over him. In college he coward to Fesenko because because Fesenko was senior to him. Now he is in a situation where he has to battle against a rookie and rookie is dominating him physically and has no respect for seniority. Its like watching an action suspense film.
What will mcgee do now that a player 3 years younger than him injects fear to himself. There is a mechanism in McGee that pushes him to dominate players that he feels are less senior than him.
Blatche is responsible for this because blatche has been playing behind Jamison all these years purely to seniority. But now a foreign player who is hard to communicate with but is physical basketball player on your team that you see almost everyday shoves a powerful forearm into your chest every chance he gets and send your weak body hurling across the court and embarassing you in front of the older senior wizards players for the soft player you are and what's great is Seraphin feels no remorse and isn't even aware of how soft McGEe, Seraphin is just being the player he was before he came to wizards. So what will McGee do to get this foreign rookie to respect him just he was forced to respect the elder bigman basketball players of mcgee's basketball career.
or will mcgee learn now that he should have been like seraphin all along. That's what i will watch this season and see what happens. Will McGee break down and dissappear or will we see a dramatic change in style that McGee unleashes. What lies inside a McGee will be exposed due to the brutality of his 3 year younger rookie teammate who plays his exact position.
Finally will it force McGee to really develop his non contact game since at the moment he is no match physically for Seraphin and Seraphin...unlike his previous team mates actually enjoys shoving mcgee to the ground every play to grab every rebound. how long will the wizards last with booker guarding Seraphin in practice. Blatche won't have to worry so much because coaches dont' want to put any stress on blatche's foot so there is no escape from the brutality of Seraphin...mcGee gets tougher or he is ridiculed by his teammates..and while the non english speaking Seraphin has no clue what he has done to McGee psyche due to the language barrier so he doesn't ease up on his brutality of the soft mcgee. So entertaining.

[closg00]

He's our guy and we gotta stick with him.

[doclinkin]

McGee instinctively feels that he should dominate Seraphin since Seraphin is younger less senior but we see that Seraphin doesn't play by those rules. When mcgee first came in he cowered to haywood, he coward to Blatche and whoever else had seniority over him. In college he coward to Fesenko because because Fesenko was senior to him.

Your telepathy must make it difficult to form normalized social relationships.

Quick question though: was McGee cowering before or after he dunked on Haywood and broke his wrist in training camp? Just curious.

And dude must be a complete coward if he was cowed by Ukrainian Kyrylo Fesenko while 3,000 miles away in Nevada. Though to be fair Fesenko's powers of seniority are awe-striking.

[WizarDynasty]

Fazekas and Fesenko who the world cares, they are both bums. Telepathy would be the logical conclusions when you subtract years of actual basketball court experience from the equation.

[nate33]

Finally will it force McGee to really develop his non contact game since at the moment he is no match physically for Seraphin and Seraphin...unlike his previous team mates actually enjoys shoving mcgee to the ground every play to grab every rebound. how long will the wizards last with booker guarding Seraphin in practice. Blatche won't have to worry so much because coaches dont' want to put any stress on blatche's foot so there is no escape from the brutality of Seraphin...mcGee gets tougher or he is ridiculed by his teammates..and while the non english speaking Seraphin has no clue what he has done to McGee psyche due to the language barrier so he doesn't ease up on his brutality of the soft mcgee. So entertaining.

Don't forget Hilton Armstrong. It's a pity because Armstrong won't be physical with McGee.

[WizarDynasty]

yeah but armstrong is still a senior in McGee's eyes and armstrong has slight build compared to younger athletic brute true to form bigman Seraphin.

it's in McGee nature to cower to seniority but definitely not in McGee nature to coward to someone who is suppose to lower on the pecking order than him and Seraphin is definitely lower in the pecking order than hilton Armstrong.
Seraphin a young european player with no nba experience, can't speak english, doesn't know the offense or defense of the wizards, and I years younger ranked higher than him on NBA2k11. you saw the twit where mcgee comments about jamison being lowly ranked on Nba2k and you best believe that blatche will be in his head. Blatche had to fight tooth and nail over five years to get the starting spot from jamison.
For Seraphin to learn enough English to learn what flip wants and start over McGee would be devastating.
We might see McGEe caught taking steroid if that happens just to battle Seraphin. It will be very very interesting because Seraphin is here to stay.
What's worse for McGee is that he can't use his sense of humor to beg for mercy since Seraphin is still learning English lol. McGee is a position where we find out if greatness is him to stand up to a young thorough bred with less nba seniority challenging his pecking order in the wizard team hierarchy for his spot and his biggest advantage strength, leverage, and lack of fear. The only way McGee gets seraphin respect is through his play, not his words and the fact that McGee chose to allow Booker to guard him means that McGee is slowly losing his hard earned ranking to a younger player unproven bigman drafted near the same position as him. i see McGee waking up with nightmares of Seraphin in the during the final minutes of a game while mcgee is on the bench. blatche and Seraphin at the moment is alot better at the the end of games than Blatche and mcgee since McGee can't guard in the post or fight for rebound position.

[nate33]

I hope you are right about Seraphin, but it looks like you might have to wait a year or two before your prediction comes to fruition. Seraphin looks pretty raw out there. And his stats in Europe suggests that he isn't a dominant rebounder in the Ben Wallace/Dejuan Blair mold. If he's merely an average rebounder and has no offensive aptitude, I'm not sure how he's going to supplant McGee this season. Yes, it's likely that he'll be a better post defender than McGee, but that alone isn't enough to make up for McGee's superiority on offense and help defense. You may not think much of McGee's toughness or mental approach to the game (and neither do I), but the fact remains that McGee has a 9'-8" standing reach, great speed, and good hands. He's going to make plays even if by accident.

[WizarDynasty]

I hope you are right about Seraphin, but it looks like you might have to wait a year or two before your prediction comes to fruition. Seraphin looks pretty raw out there. And his stats in Europe suggests that he isn't a dominant rebounder in the Ben Wallace/Dejuan Blair mold. If he's merely an average rebounder and has no offensive aptitude, I'm not sure how he's going to supplant McGee this season. Yes, it's likely that he'll be a better post defender than McGee, but that alone isn't enough to make up for McGee's superiority on offense and help defense. You may not think much of McGee's toughness or mental approach to the game (and neither do I), but the fact remains that McGee has a 9'-8" standing reach, great speed, and good hands. He's going to make plays even if by accident.

But Seraphin doesn't quit after one bad play for the entire game. McGee kills the spirit of the entire team when he gets punked. he doesn't have a steel core will to keep battling. Seraphin, you can chop Seraphin's arm off and its sagging by the flesh and he is still out there battling with his other arm.
McGee is a flash player that plays for a few minutes a game and then coasts, seraphin is giving you is all on every play..combine that with his physical talent and he catapults way past mcgee. if mcgee gets a scratch on his arm, he is ready to quit, mcGee just doesn't have the mentally to battle when he feels the pain. but he is going to fill the pain for the rest of his career as long as he and Seraphin are Centers on the wizards.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I hope you are right about Seraphin, but it looks like you might have to wait a year or two before your prediction comes to fruition. Seraphin looks pretty raw out there. And his stats in Europe suggests that he isn't a dominant rebounder in the Ben Wallace/Dejuan Blair mold. If he's merely an average rebounder and has no offensive aptitude, I'm not sure how he's going to supplant McGee this season. Yes, it's likely that he'll be a better post defender than McGee, but that alone isn't enough to make up for McGee's superiority on offense and help defense. You may not think much of McGee's toughness or mental approach to the game (and neither do I), but the fact remains that McGee has a 9'-8" standing reach, great speed, and good hands. He's going to make plays even if by accident.

All I ever looked at prior to the draft years ago were the rebound ratios of guys like Millsap and Blair. Their dominance translated to the next level--particularly that of Blair. Doesn't matter if he's three inches shorter than Seraphin, he's a MUCH better rebounder.

I think Seraphin is already a much better post defender than McGee, because Javale's epically bad defending the post. Deshawn was an epically bad offensive SG. Javale in the post is an epically bad defender. Seraphin will use his body and do a better job as long as fouls don't get in the way.

[Dat2U]

I'm guessing it's been mentioned somewhere in this thread, but when I read the beats' tweets about how "RAW" Keh-von is, one name jumps to mind: Ben Wallace.

The Wiz gave up on Wallace 11 summers ago, when he was 24, KS is similarly "undersized," by which I mean in height only and is a physical beast. It's going to take some time, but we're not going to make the same mistake with this kid. He's only 20. I think he'll be here a looooong time, and make a lot of people forget about not drafting DeJuan Blair.

I don't see the comparison. Wallace was pogo stick athlete. Could jump out the gym and absolutely dominated his competition defensively on the Division II level. Wallace even showed signs very earlier in his rookie year that he was something special. I remember him having a 20/20 game in preseason that year.

Seraphin might be a better low post defender than McGee right now but that isn't saying a whole lot. So is Hilton Armstrong and none of us are excited about him being here.

The more I see him, the more I see "Ja-hidi-hidi-ho". That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I think our expectations should be tempered. If Jahidi could have ever stayed in shape & avoided those nagging injuries he might have had a solid career. But the comparisons to Nene seem out of whack. And he's a totally different player than DeJuan Blair.

Wizardynasty is right about one thing. Seraphin is a good challenge for McGee in practice. He'll probably help us more in getting McGee ready for the rigors of banging against bigger, stronger players than any actual contributions on the court this year.

I agree that Seraphin will take some time to develop and patience is needed. But I don't see a real difference maker or burgeoning star in our midst. More like a raw physical presence that might become a solid role player one day.

[doclinkin]

Best to remember Seraphin was developing his skillset late in the year, finally putting it together before he blew out his knee. He hasn't been practicing or playing with anyone until just recently -- here, after his work visa situation was cleared up. The new found skills are bound to be rusty, need to be rediscovered somewhat. And at 270+ coming off the injury he's up a few pounds from his measured playing weight & fitness. In short I wouldn't put too much stock in a single late night scrimmage, either way.

Granted he still bangs to set up that weak baby jumper instead of stuffing it home, pretty simple to fix that. Key to me is to see that he looks big enough-- long arms, solid body, sturdy foundation-- and quick enough to play at this level. Not too concerned.

Plus if you believe my man Wiznasty he will chew his own arm off to track you down and kill you with the stump. (Whereas JaVale is scared of butterflies). He knows this about Big Kev because, um, well he watched the same scrimmage you did.

[What's funny is Wizdy always takes something I'd said early on, then mutates it in the radioactive test chamber of his own head to the point where it hulks out and goes on a rampage. I'm often caught disagreeing with the kernel of something I said like: what idjit thought this thing up? Then realize: oh yeah, me... Funhouse mirror for ideas, our boy Wzdy.]

[Dat2U]

Best to remember Seraphin was developing his skillset late in the year, finally putting it together before he blew out his knee. He hasn't been practicing or playing with anyone until just recently -- here, after his work visa situation was cleared up. The new found skills are bound to be rusty, need to be rediscovered somewhat. And at 270+ coming off the injury he's up a few pounds from his measured playing weight & fitness. In short I wouldn't put too much stock in a single late night scrimmage, either way.

Granted he still bangs to set up that weak baby jumper instead of stuffing it home, pretty simple to fix that. Key to me is to see that he looks big enough-- long arms, solid body, sturdy foundation-- and quick enough to play at this level. Not too concerned.

Time will tell if Seraphin's skills will really translate to an NBA court. In practice a Ben Wallace or Kwame Brown can face up, nail 20 footers, take guys off the dribble and make nifty passes. In an actual game situation, their more liable to dribble the ball off their feet or throw-up an airball from the free throw line.

Nikloz Tshkitishvili & Darko Milicic could dominate lower level competition overseas with a varied skill set but put them on an NBA court and it looked like they've never practiced those same skills in their life.

[doclinkin]

Nikloz Tshkitishvili & Darko Milicic could dominate lower level competition overseas with a varied skill set but put them on an NBA court and it looked like they've never practiced those same skills in their life.

True. But 'big and thumpy' is a language that translates pretty well. And unlike Jahidi, big boy has quick feet for his size, hands that can catch a ball -- not hands like chunks of firewood. Or puny little squirrel paws like the KFB. He's got the requisite physical tools, and then some. The rest is mostly mental, plus good coaching, hi BBall-IQ unselfish teammates.

And unlike Skita or Darko, there are few outsized expectations based on lotto pick status: he just needs to play intimidating strong defense, foul hard but foul judiciously (unlike foul-per-second leader Jahidi) rebound, and on offense: occasionally dunk the ball. If he can earn minutes as a reliable back-up, that would justify his draft position. Any skill he adds to that checklist is whipped cream on the pudding.

Offensively though, there's room for the benefit of the doubt for a player coming off injury into his first few weeks of NBA-level scrimmage. He doesn't seem like he scares easily, unlike Darko and Skittish, I suspect he'll find a comfort zone to figure out what he can do at this level. For a cat with 5 years experience only, he's well past where I would have expected him. May prove a quick study. And the areas he falls short are all improvable skillsets. Judgment errors.

Granted, part of what heartens me was to see his statistical improvement late season for the French League Champs, not any NBA track record. However, given the recent success of NBA Frenchies, there's some evidence they run a decent league over there. His talent may translate.

Basically, a glimpse of one practice on a rebuilt wheel is too early for me personally to decide. Not when I've already hyped him up off a few seconds of internet footage anyway.