Comparing Front-courts

[hands11]

So did we jump in the standings now that we could possibly have Atom Ant ?

[Jimmy Recard]

Not sure if anyone has seen our NBA 2K11 ratings yet, but this is where they rank Andray and Javale:

Javale Mcgee - 59 (39th amongst Centers)

65 – Zaza Pachulia
65 – Nazr Mohammed
64 – Eddy Curry
64 - Robin Lopez
62 – Chris Wilcox
61 – Dan Gadzuric
60 – Erick Dampier
59 - Javale McGee
59 - Nenad Krstic
59 – DeSagana Diop
59 – Hasheem Thabeet
58 – Joel Anthony
58 – Juwan Howard

Andray Blatche - 72 (24th amongst Power Forwards)

75 - Carl Landry
75 - David West
74 - Paul Millsap
74 - Kevin Love
73 – Elton Brand
72 – Marreese Speights
72 – Thaddeus Young
72 - Andray Blatche
72 - Troy Murphy
71 – Udonis Haslem
71 – Charlie Villanueva
71 – Jason Maxiell
71 – Luc Richard Mbah a Moute

[closg00]

Magnum Rolle has signed a two-year NBA contract with the Indiana Pacers.

The second round pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, Rolle followed a productive summer league with impressive play in the Pacer’s preseason workouts.

Originally drafted by the Oklahoma City Thunder with the 51st overall pick, Rolle was traded to Indiana on draft night.

Per the wiretap, Rolle looks like a good option to have at PF for the Pacers.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Magnum Rolle? Sounds like a brand of condoms.

Seriously, Rolle played at La Tech and his success isn't a surprise. La Tech is in the same conference as Hawaii. Same school that produced Paul Millsap. I heard a lot about Rolle over the years. Good all-around game.

The Pacers, however, also have Tyler Hansbrough and Josh McRoberts at PF.

Looking at their roster they also have a D-League standout, Lance Allred, in camp. He won't make their team but Allred is a real good player.

Rolle might see some playing time, as he is pretty athletic; but I think McRoberts will surprise at PF.

[Dat2U]

Magnum Rolle? Sounds like a brand of condoms.

Seriously, Rolle played at La Tech and his success isn't a surprise. La Tech is in the same conference as Hawaii. Same school that produced Paul Millsap. I heard a lot about Rolle over the years. Good all-around game.

The Pacers, however, also have Tyler Hansbrough and Josh McRoberts at PF.

Looking at their roster they also have a D-League standout, Lance Allred, in camp. He won't make their team but Allred is a real good player.

Rolle might see some playing time, as he is pretty athletic; but I think McRoberts will surprise at PF.

I'd bet money on Rolle before McRoberts. I heard he looked awful in the Orlando summer league. I've never been too impressed with him either. He's got some skills & wasn't a terrible athlete but every time I watched him, it seemed like he'd make a bonehead play. Seemed to have a over-inflated opinion of his abilities. Never liked his body-language either.

One former Dukie that might be worth a look is Shavlik Randolph. I think he's in camp with Miami.

[willbcocks]

Question, and I won't even start a new thread to ask it . Who's currently the better NBA player? Andray Blatche or Antawn Jamison? Who would help your team win more games? If you had to choose one to start at PF for your team, for this year only. Who would you choose and why?

I'd especially be interested in hearing from those like willbcocks or dandridge10, who appear to have little confidence in Blatche's ability to excel given his immaturity & checkered past.

Sorry, didn't check the thread for a long time.

You've got me wrong on Blatche. I like his game a lot now, and I have high expectations for him because I think he has a very high BBall IQ and a good work ethic. He's still a question mark, but the answer is at least above average.

The one I'm not high on is Mcgee. I think he will hurt us a lot on the floor, and I think him and Blatche will not work well together next year, particularly on defense. Between no-help Blatche and pogo-Mcgee, we were getting killed downlow at the end of the year. And our rebounding was pathetic.

And everyone else is complete garbage, which does not bode well when Mcgee gets in quick foul trouble.

I think next year we are still more talented than we are good at the starting spots. IMO a good frontcourt must first be able to defend the paint and rebound. We will be poor at both and have no depth. We will have some positives that other teams won't (more offense rebounds/alley oops/great passing and scoring from blatche), but we won't rate on the fundamentals.

[Ruzious]

Magnum Rolle? Sounds like a brand of condoms.

Seriously, Rolle played at La Tech and his success isn't a surprise. La Tech is in the same conference as Hawaii. Same school that produced Paul Millsap. I heard a lot about Rolle over the years. Good all-around game.

The Pacers, however, also have Tyler Hansbrough and Josh McRoberts at PF.

Looking at their roster they also have a D-League standout, Lance Allred, in camp. He won't make their team but Allred is a real good player.

Rolle might see some playing time, as he is pretty athletic; but I think McRoberts will surprise at PF.

Great line. It's funny they have Hansbrough and McRoberts competing for the same spot. Both came to the ACC and appeared destined to have a classic big man rivalry. McRoberts was considered to have the higher upside, but Hansbrough developed at UNC much much better and faster than McRoberts did at Duke. It's amazing how HS All-American bigs don't develop at Duke with Coach K. He's great with perimeter players, but with bigs - not so much. Is Shavlik Randolph still in the NBA?

[closg00]

Timofey Mozgov, the Knicks' new international man of mystery, may have won the starting center job even before training camp begins.

A Knicks official says that Mozgov, the 7-1 rookie from St. Petersburg, Russia, has been impressive during voluntary training sessions in Greenburgh and that coach Mike D'Antoni is already considering starting Mozgov alongside Amar'e Stoudemire, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and Raymond Felton.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baske ... z117FEvivJ

Vindication, Mozgov is looking like the starting C with Amare at PF. The Knicks scoured the world and D-League trying-out every Center prospect before signing Mozgov to a 3-year 9.7 mil deal. The Knicks have some nice size in their starting lineup, everyone is 6"8 or taller except Felton.

[TheGreatWall]

Timofey Mozgov, the Knicks' new international man of mystery, may have won the starting center job even before training camp begins.

A Knicks official says that Mozgov, the 7-1 rookie from St. Petersburg, Russia, has been impressive during voluntary training sessions in Greenburgh and that coach Mike D'Antoni is already considering starting Mozgov alongside Amar'e Stoudemire, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and Raymond Felton.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baske ... z117FEvivJ

Vindication, Mozgov is looking like the starting C with Amare at PF. The Knicks scoured the world and D-League trying-out every Center prospect before signing Mozgov to a 3-year 9.7 mil deal. The Knicks have some nice size in their starting lineup, everyone is 6"8 or taller except Felton.

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/c ... lmwXWvVobK

Or Randolph. Or Turiaf.

Quite frankly, the Knicks are so bad at center, they don't even know who to start.

My bet is that by midseason, you'll see Stoudamire at center, with Randolph playing the big forward.

[Ruzious]

Timofey Mozgov, the Knicks' new international man of mystery, may have won the starting center job even before training camp begins.

A Knicks official says that Mozgov, the 7-1 rookie from St. Petersburg, Russia, has been impressive during voluntary training sessions in Greenburgh and that coach Mike D'Antoni is already considering starting Mozgov alongside Amar'e Stoudemire, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and Raymond Felton.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baske ... z117FEvivJ

Vindication, Mozgov is looking like the starting C with Amare at PF. The Knicks scoured the world and D-League trying-out every Center prospect before signing Mozgov to a 3-year 9.7 mil deal. The Knicks have some nice size in their starting lineup, everyone is 6"8 or taller except Felton.

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/c ... lmwXWvVobK

Or Randolph. Or Turiaf.

Quite frankly, the Knicks are so bad at center, they don't even know who to start.

My bet is that by midseason, you'll see Stoudamire at center, with Randolph playing the big forward.

I think you're right. How else are they going to find PT for Galinari (sp?) and Chandler - assuming they keep them.

[Dat2U]

Question, and I won't even start a new thread to ask it . Who's currently the better NBA player? Andray Blatche or Antawn Jamison? Who would help your team win more games? If you had to choose one to start at PF for your team, for this year only. Who would you choose and why?

I'd especially be interested in hearing from those like willbcocks or dandridge10, who appear to have little confidence in Blatche's ability to excel given his immaturity & checkered past.

Sorry, didn't check the thread for a long time.

You've got me wrong on Blatche. I like his game a lot now, and I have high expectations for him because I think he has a very high BBall IQ and a good work ethic. He's still a question mark, but the answer is at least above average.

The one I'm not high on is Mcgee. I think he will hurt us a lot on the floor, and I think him and Blatche will not work well together next year, particularly on defense. Between no-help Blatche and pogo-Mcgee, we were getting killed downlow at the end of the year. And our rebounding was pathetic.

And everyone else is complete garbage, which does not bode well when Mcgee gets in quick foul trouble.

I think next year we are still more talented than we are good at the starting spots. IMO a good frontcourt must first be able to defend the paint and rebound. We will be poor at both and have no depth. We will have some positives that other teams won't (more offense rebounds/alley oops/great passing and scoring from blatche), but we won't rate on the fundamentals.

I agree that McGee starting at C isn't ideal. And that we have absolutely nothing behind Blatche & McGee. That's one of my biggest disappointments this off-season.

However the great thing about young players with upside is the chance that they actually might improve. Who knows, maybe a light turns on for Javale. Maybe a floor leader like Wall speed's up his development. It's not out of the realm of possibility. Could anyone have predicted that Blatche would have seized his opportunity like he did last year? That truly came out of nowhere so who knows, maybe both will take steps forward in terms of rebounding & defense.

With McGee we really have no choice b/c of the lack of depth.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Javale's gotten a lot of positive hype over this past summer. Team USA tryouts and summer league raised his profile. Wall is a stud at 20 and Javale is only 22. The Wizards have invested time in McGee. I am reasonably certain the investment will pay off in big way, starting THIS season.

Dat, you bring up an excellent point about Blatche's progression. Nobody saw dominance coming, based on how Andray didn't do a whole bunch his first 3-4 seasons with the team. Last offseason, however, this guy named 7 Day Dray showed up and the results on the court from day one of preseason were real and lasting. After the Jamison trade, Andray got his chance and just blew up. He did seize his opportunity, Dat.

For McGee, it's his time. He's been studying the game and making physical improvements. His mom's been critiquing. Folks like Flip have helped him discover that asthma has been impacting his conditioning. Javale's doggone growth spurt in the short run has him awkward but in the long run, that dude is going to fill out and get much stronger. doclinkin and I both said a couple years ago that we thought Javle is still growing. I'm telling you right now, he's going to be BETTER than Andray, offensively.

Andray is much more highly skilled with his handle, and with his footwork, and he can change speeds--he's more of a post player. Javale is just freaking long and he's fast. McGee's got good hands. McGee IMO is going to figure out how to hold position inside and once he does his offensive repertoire will become extremely potent. Imagine Pau with more hops. Javale doesn't have Pau's stroke, but I foresee him gaining more and more confidence as he scores over guys like Seraphin and Booker in practice. Hamady is another good one for Javale to practice against. He can move N'Diaye around, but he's got to work against a guy as long as he is. Javale can also post up Yi.

Note that already McGee posts higher Win Score/Min than Blatche. Javale's two seasons with PER in the 17 range can IMO easily become PERs in the 20+ range due to dunks from Wall.

I expect McGee and Blatche will be much more effective than what the Wizards have had in past seasons. Better than Haywood and Jamison in time. They're longer. Javale is horrible defensively compared to Brendan, but McGee can score more in 10 minutes than Brendan can in 25. McGee with Wall is going to be tremendous.

[Dat2U]

Blatche is already better than Jamison. I think that's something that's totally lost on the media & experts in general. Jamison was such a miserable defender that we could never properly hide him on D. His rebounding IMO was also overrated so I don't think we lose anything on the boards either.

We'll miss Brendan but as you said CCJ, McGee does bring the finishing ability that Brendan never had. If he can get stronger on the defensive glass as the coaching staff hopes he will, then that would help out significantly. Javale may be as bad an individual defender as Jamison but the huge difference is at least McGee's ability as a weakside shot-blocker means he's not a complete waste. With Jamison it was always like we were playing 4 on 5 which presented major problems.

[closg00]

Vindication, Mozgov is looking like the starting C with Amare at PF. The Knicks scoured the world and D-League trying-out every Center prospect before signing Mozgov to a 3-year 9.7 mil deal. The Knicks have some nice size in their starting lineup, everyone is 6"8 or taller except Felton.

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/c ... lmwXWvVobK

Or Randolph. Or Turiaf.

Quite frankly, the Knicks are so bad at center, they don't even know who to start.

My bet is that by midseason, you'll see Stoudamire at center, with Randolph playing the big forward.

Now they know

The Knicks will start center Timofey Mozgov on Wednesday against the Celtics at Madison Square Garden.

Frank Isola writes that Mozgov could start for the remainder of the preseason if he preforms well against Boston.

Mozgov signed a three-year deal with the Knicks in July.

[no D in Hibachi]

Mozgov is the one starting center where McGee is unquestionably better going into THIS season. Every other center in the league is pretty much better than McGee right now.

[Dat2U]

Spencer Hawes? Darko Milicic? I'd rate those two as definitely worse.

Off the top of my head I'd say Ben Wallace (at this stage of his career), Andrea Bargnani (especially defensively & on the boards), Nazr Mohammed & Nenad Krstic aren't significantly better either.

[DallasShalDune]

Hawes, Darko, old Ben Wallace, Mohammed, Kristic, and Mozgov all most definitely < McGee. Hawes is the only C that's close. McGee has his problems, but at least he can have a momentum changing block or a momentum changing dunk.

Bargnani is better, imho. He has gotten a bit better on the boards, though his D is as bad as McGee's, if not worse b/c he can't block 2 a game like McGee can give us as a starter. McGee is capable of probably 4 a game if his stamina wasn't so low.

[no D in Hibachi]

Hawes is definately worse, I forgot him. But Darko's better right now as a center than McGee. Last year Darko's on/off differential was +3.8 whereas McGee's was -4.8. Thats an 8.6 swing. Darko's defense is much much better than McGee's. While McGee's per 36 numbers are a hair better than Darko he's so bad defensively that Darko gets the nod going into the season. Last year Nazr had a per of 19.6, pretty dang good for any big. He was also the starting center on one of the top defensive teams in the league--it wasn't by accident. Also, old Wallace's on/off differential was +8.2 and his per was 15.8. Sure he's not the trendy pick to be better than the flashy McGee, but he's still a better defender and more productive as a player. He'd easily start over McGee in Washington. Nenad probably isn't as good as McGee, but certainly more consistent than McGee. At tims Mcgee will much better than Nenad, but at times will be much worse.

[closg00]

Portland, Ore. • Kyrylo Fesenko has worked and waited. He has endured personal frustration and public insults. But after three years of at-times-questionable progress, confidence and momentum are finally in the hands of the Utah Jazz center.

Fesenko recorded team highs with 18 points and seven rebounds, carrying Utah to a 109-100 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers during a preseason game Monday night at Memorial Coliseum before a crowd.

Fesenko entered training camp weighing 280 pounds, 25 less than his playing weight in 2009-10. The lack of baggage immediately resulted in increased speed, mobility and on-the-court freedom. And it has directly translated into newfound confidence for the 7-foot-1 Ukraine-born center.

“He’s big, and his conditioning is better than it’s ever been,” Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. “That’s the whole thing. Everybody talks about getting in shape. You’ve got to do it. You’ve got to do the work. And he seems to be in much better shape.”

If teams had known Fesenko had dropped 25 pounds, perhaps he would have gotten an offer. Utah is going to have to pay him more than 1 million next year if they want to keep him. Let's see if he can put-up numbers against teams with a Center.

[closg00]

Andray gets ranked below Jeff Green and Jamison, oh-well, AB gets under-rated again.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/4880 ... ds#page/11