Analysis of Kosta Koufos

Geaux_Hawks · Post #1 » by **Geaux_Hawks** » Sun Apr 3, 2011 7:35 pm

Title pretty much says it all. Just give analysis of him, if there is one and what the Nuggets plan with him maybe. Would a 2nd rnd pick equate to his value?

Post #2 » by **el loco** » Sun Apr 3, 2011 9:40 pm

I don't know what to say about him, he can run the floor well, seems to be able to alter and block shots, shows that he can knock down a jumper in practice, but bricks them in garbage minutes, and he has a 36 inch vertical. George Karl says that he likes him, I guess it would depend how low the 2nd round pick is.

Post #3 » by **The Rebel** » Mon Apr 4, 2011 12:20 am

Geaux_Hawks wrote:Title pretty much says it all. Just give analysis of him, if there is one and what the Nuggets plan with him maybe. Would a 2nd rnd pick equate to his value?

Considering the nuggets gave up a 2nd round pick to get him, I doubt they want to turn around and trade him for a 2nd rounder. He is a solid prospect that may develop into a decent rotation type guy, which is what the Nuggets would be looking at with whoever they pick in the 2nd round, no need to trade him.

DaFan334 · Post #4 » by **DaFan334** » Mon Apr 4, 2011 1:08 am

I would guess our willingness to move him would depend on where the 2nd round pick was and if we liked someone available with it. Its kinda hard to say because if Kenyon is brought back, we do have 4 centers then. If we decide to move Nene to the 4 and start Timo at center, Koufus becomes more of a necessity.

Greco21 · Post #5 » by **Greco21** » Tue Apr 5, 2011 6:34 pm

Hi guys.

Koufos is rumored to move to Greece after next summer. First he is invited to the National Team and second he realized he made a great mistake by not staying in Ohio for a couple more years. The guy needs playing time. It would be a waste to throw him to the D-League because he has proven his skills there. On the other hand given the minutes he can do things BUT when he initially enters the court he makes one or two goofy mistakes. In Minesota he had some good games and some efficient (+ on the court) minutes but Minesota fans did not display any kind of patience with any build up project player.

I believe his move to Denver was wrong since they already had a solid backcourt. Also Chandler and Gallinari can play the 4 spot.

IMO he is better than Mozgov but he has to prove that... One other thing is that coaches seem to like him (Sloan,Rambis and now Karl) but he does not take time.

I believe that during the summer he has to make decisions. I do not believe that he has the luxury of hanging on the bench too much.

Kashy_Tigray · Post #6 » by **Kashy_Tigray** » Tue Apr 5, 2011 7:25 pm

Greco21 wrote:Hi guys.

Koufos is rumored to move to Greece after next summer. First he is invited to the National Team and second he realized he made a great mistake by not staying in Ohio for a couple more years. The guy needs playing time. It would be a waste to throw him to the D-League because he has proven his skills there. On the other hand given the minutes he can do things BUT when he initially enters the court he makes one or two goofy mistakes. In Minesota he had some good games and some efficient (+ on the court) minutes but Minesota fans did not display any kind of patience with any build up project player.

I believe his move to Denver was wrong since they already had a solid backcourt. Also Chandler and Gallinari can play the 4 spot.

IMO he is better than Mozgov but he has to prove that... One other thing is that coaches seem to like him (Sloan,Rambis and now Karl) but he does not take time.

I believe that during the summer he has to make decisions. I do not believe that he has the luxury of hanging on the bench too much.

Koufos is a restricted FA in summer of 2012, yes? Denver will probably want him around for the foreseaable future.

My guess is he and Mozgov will split the center minutes next season (Mozgov 28-30; Koufos 18-20).

Post #7 » by **el loco** » Wed Apr 6, 2011 12:02 pm

GK gave him a chance last night and imo he failed. He was easily pushed off of his spots, and the time he wasn't, he turned into the defense instead of away from it. I will give him the benefit of the doubt and say it was because he was nervous. But, if he gets another chance against the Mavs tonight, and it happens again, then I will have seen all I care to see from him this year.

Greco21 · Post #8 » by **Greco21** » Wed Apr 6, 2011 6:25 pm

el loco wrote:GK gave him a chance last night and imo he failed. He was easily pushed off of his spots, and the time he wasn't, he turned into the defense instead of away from it. I will give him the benefit of the doubt and say it was because he was nervous. But, if he gets another chance against the Mavs tonight, and it happens again, then I will have seen all I care to see from him this year.

I do not think he will get another chance. I mean it was pretty disappointing watching a small line up in the end of the 3rd quarter. His defense was Ok but in offense he took the wrong decisions although he got himself in a good spot twice. He got to stop being nervous as you say but that requires minutes. So i will stick to my original post and i think his future in Denver will be very short.

Post #9 » by **el loco** » Wed Apr 6, 2011 6:52 pm

Greco21 wrote:
el loco wrote:GK gave him a chance last night and imo he failed. He was easily pushed off of his spots, and the time he wasn't, he turned into the defense instead of away from it. I will give him the benefit of the doubt and say it was because he was nervous. But, if he gets another chance against the Mavs tonight, and it happens again, then I will have seen all I care to see from him this year.

I do not think he will get another chance. I mean it was pretty disappointing watching a small line up in the end of the 3rd quarter. His defense was Ok but in offense he took the wrong decisions although he got himself in a good spot twice. He got to stop being nervous as you say but that requires minutes. So i will stick to my original post and i think his future in Denver will be very short.

I think he will get another chance, and he is under contract next year, so unless he is traded he will be back next season.

Post #10 » by **el loco** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 3:20 am

In 15 minutes tonight he got 15/8 off of 5/7 from the floor. He had himself a nice game tonight and there is still time left. He finished up with 18 and 9, he tied his career high in points.

asdfgh · Post #11 » by **asdfgh** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:20 am

Koufos is one of the most fundamentally sound 7-footers in the league, and he could become a Brook Lopez kind of player if he becomes more assertive (which is a big if). He certainly has the skills though

Post #12 » by **The Rebel** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:35 pm

After watching Koufos the last couple of games, and Mozgov in the limited time he had before he got injured I think both are pretty good prospects. I don't think either of them will ever be stars, but both can be good contributers and possibly even starters for a long time in the NBA.

Greco21 · Post #13 » by **Greco21** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 5:54 pm

He needs minutes on the court. He got his chance and his produced. I think Denver is doing a really good job with youngsters. If he plays against Utah he is going to have some tough match ups. Lets see if he responds the challenge

pickaxe · Post #14 » by **pickaxe** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 8:44 pm

Greco21 wrote:He needs minutes on the court. He got his chance and his produced. I think Denver is doing a really good job with youngsters. If he plays against Utah he is going to have some tough match ups. Lets see if he responds the challenge

Kouf did really well last night and really played dominant and helped slow down what was a GS offense that kept perking back to life.

I like the idea of having Gallo, Mozzy, Kouf, Birdman, Kenyon and Nene....hugely solid big man rotation that is versatile in both PF and C and gives Karl some some very deadly options and depth.

Greco21 · Post #15 » by **Greco21** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 9:47 pm

I like the idea Koufos developing next to players like Kenyon Martin. I was just reading Greek websites and they insisted that Koufos is headed to Greece after this summer because of the lockout...

pickaxe · Post #16 » by **pickaxe** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 11:13 pm

Greco21 wrote:I like the idea Koufos developing next to players like Kenyon Martin. I was just reading Greek websites and they insisted that Koufos is headed to Greece after this summer because of the lockout...

With Kouf being described as a very fundamental big, along with hearing he drove all the way to get things going with Denver, along with hearing this it sounds like he is just a very prepared dude I can see him having an array of options. He probably has a very good career ahead of him sticking with Denver and putting in tons of time.

Why wouldn't someone want to go play for his home country if no basketball was going on here in the U.S.? You love basketball you go where you need to.

Post #17 » by **el loco** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 1:33 am

meloivynene wrote:
Greco21 wrote:I like the idea Koufos developing next to players like Kenyon Martin. I was just reading Greek websites and they insisted that Koufos is headed to Greece after this summer because of the lockout...

With Kouf being described as a very fundamental big, along with hearing he drove all the way to get things going with Denver, along with hearing this it sounds like he is just a very prepared dude I can see him having an array of options. He probably has a very good career ahead of him sticking with Denver and putting in tons of time.

Why wouldn't someone want to go play for his home country if no basketball was going on here in the U.S.? You love basketball you go where you need to.

He is still under contract with the Nuggets next year, and if he did go to Greece to play, the Nuggets would retain his rights if that part of the next CBA doesn't change.

Greco21 · Post #18 » by **Greco21** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:13 am

meloivynene wrote:
Greco21 wrote:I like the idea Koufos developing next to players like Kenyon Martin. I was just reading Greek websites and they insisted that Koufos is headed to Greece after this summer because of the lockout...

With Kouf being described as a very fundamental big, along with hearing he drove all the way to get things going with Denver, along with hearing this it sounds like he is just a very prepared dude I can see him having an array of options. He probably has a very good career ahead of him sticking with Denver and putting in tons of time.

Why wouldn't someone want to go play for his home country if no basketball was going on here in the U.S.? You love basketball you go where you need to.

At the age of 19 when i first watched him play he was more of a Dirk Nowitski kind of a player but had some post moves. In Ohio he continued the same kind of player until Jery Sloan wanted a Greg Ostertag-Mark Eaton kind of player. So he struggled to gain a lot of pounds and become a low post center. After gaining some muscle weight he appeared really stiff on the court and his shot was not the same. At the same time he got injured and his time on the floor was really limited (his rookie year was much better than his second year in the NBA).

Then he was traded in Minnesota. He had a couple of good games but there was no patience over there. I have posted the same thing several times. One mistake, one bad shot was enough to get him out of the game. At some point Minnesota GM stated that Koufos is on sale. My first though was that he would go to New York

...but he ended up in Denver. I was really surprized. A team with 4 bigs and Mozgov newly acquired would have little chances. I though like Denver would be the end of his NBA career. Especially when he had consecutive DNP. Ok lets do not get overexited because he had a good game in almost garbage time but on the other end he made a big statement that he is legit, patient and never lost faith.

Post #19 » by **The Rebel** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:47 am

Greco21 wrote:I like the idea Koufos developing next to players like Kenyon Martin. I was just reading Greek websites and they insisted that Koufos is headed to Greece after this summer because of the lockout...

He would never be cleared to play by FIBA as he is still under contract with the Nuggets next year.

Greco21 · Post #20 » by **Greco21** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:24 pm

The Rebel wrote:
Greco21 wrote:I like the idea Koufos developing next to players like Kenyon Martin. I was just reading Greek websites and they insisted that Koufos is headed to Greece after this summer because of the lockout...

He would never be cleared to play by FIBA as he is still under contract with the Nuggets next year.

Well I guess they (Greek sports media) made the assumption that Denver will set Kosta free because he is little used and Denver is full on the backcourt combined with the lockout situation.