Boban Marjanovic Thread

[TheGr81]

Idk if even the Clippers themselves know how much they won this Blake trade. Most fans certainly don't because they just look at the numbers and assume that somebody is as good as is his role on the team.

Well, guess what - that isn't always the case and the prime example is Marjanovic. He was terribly underused in Detroit. It was painful injustice. The reason for that wasn't Marjanovic's lack of quality, it's Van Gundy being an idiot. He didn't want Marjanovic on the team, but the Pistons took him anyway, so Van Gundy pushed his personal agenda by not letting Marjanovic play. Beside that, maybe he also dislikes foreign players.

In the small number of matches when Marjanovic got decent minutes, he has shown that he is a pretty much unstoppable on offense. Nobody can stop him 1 on 1 in the post. And beside that he has a good hand and he is an excellent ft shooter. With starting center spot he could easily average 17-12, especially if you surround him with shooters and an elite passing pg, like the Clippers currently have.

So instead of 1 quality player (Blake), LAC now has shooters to open up the floor and a STRONG CAPABLE CENTER, who together certainly can have much higher impact than Blake alone. Boban's weakness is that he is slow on defense, but Blake is not that good defender either.

Just look how Marjanovic took Whiteside to school (15p):

Watch on YouTube

And here is Marjanovic's career high (27p):

Watch on YouTube

So, unlike what almost everybody think, Boban is the strongest player LAC got in this trade, not the weakest. And long story short, Boban should get the starting center spot, the minutes and the ball - it will hugely pay off for the team. Hopefully Doc is smart enough to realize this and to know how to use Boban.

[og15]

I thought you said you're not even a fan of Boban...

[MartinToVaught]

Well, after we trade DJ, Boban should be getting plenty of minutes.

[apet8945]

Idk if even the Clippers themselves know how much they won this Blake trade. Most fans certainly don't because they just look at the numbers and assume that somebody is as good as is his role on the team.

Well, guess what - that isn't always the case and the prime example is Marjanovic. He was terribly underused in Detroit. It was painful injustice. The reason for that wasn't Marjanovic's lack of quality, it's Van Gundy being an idiot. He didn't want Marjanovic on the team, but the Pistons took him anyway, so Van Gundy pushed his personal agenda by not letting Marjanovic play. Beside that, maybe he also dislikes foreign players.

In the small number of matches when Marjanovic got decent minutes, he has shown that he is a pretty much unstoppable on offense. Nobody can stop him 1 on 1 in the post. And beside that he has a good hand and he is an excellent ft shooter. With starting center spot he could easily average 17-12, especially if you surround him with shooters and an elite passing pg, like the Clippers currently have.

So instead of 1 quality player (Blake), LAC now has shooters to open up the floor and a STRONG CAPABLE CENTER, who together certainly can have much higher impact than Blake alone. Boban's weakness is that he is slow on defense, but Blake is not that good defender either.

I am interested in seeing what Boban can do.

OP, do you consider Boban as a legitimate starting Center in this league, or his he best used as a reserve?

Also, does anyone know why he has sever cauliflower ear?

[Vae Victus]

Boban is a situational player. Against a traditional C, he will destroy them via overpowering them in the post, and able to sufficiently defend against a traditional C inside game. Against a modern 5 who can reliably stretch the floor to mid-3pt range, Boban is toast. He's simply too slow to cover that much ground, that against a guard attack on PnR he's dead, against fast agile roller he's blown by, against a PnPop he just cant contest it well enough.

He can still be an asset, when splitting time with a modern 5, and against teams with at least 1 traditional big who gets significant PT.

Against teams that go small, well his PT will be heavily limited, but he can be used for offense only out of TO situations at end of quarters.

Most likely Doc will bury him on the bench.

[esqtvd]

What we learned here today:

Boban rules.
Boban sucks.
Fire Van Gundy.
Fire Doc.

I think we're all in agreement here. I love it when things work out.

[Richard Miller]

PistonPowered has excellent article on Boban's strengths and weaknesses:

https://pistonpowered.com/2018/01/31/pistons-regret-trading-boban-marjanovic/

So basically what the poster above said, he's a situational player and if the opposing team is not shooting lights out, he can be a worthy backup. Hope they let him shoot three for once.

Watch on YouTube

[esqtvd]

PistonPowered has excellent article on Boban's strengths and weaknesses:

https://pistonpowered.com/2018/01/31/pistons-regret-trading-boban-marjanovic/

So basically what the poster above said, he's a situational player and if the opposing team is not shooting lights out, he can be a worthy backup. Hope they let him shoot three for once.

Watch on YouTube

Ouch. Just too slow to play against real NBAers. Can give him some minutes along the way but not against actual playoff rotations.

Here is the good news though, despite all of his faults, there are plenty of backups who are not good enough to take full advantage of them. If he is giving up pull-up jumpers they are not to Stephen Curry or Kyle Lowry, but rather D.J. Augustin or J.J. Barea. Those backups can still kill you with jumpers on the right night, but there are also nights where they won’t, which is why they are backups.

[Richard Miller]

Ouch. Just too slow to play against real NBAers. Can give him some minutes along the way but not against actual playoff rotations.

Well, atm playoff rotations are not exactly the biggest worry on this team, still plenty of work left before that comes in play.

[esqtvd]

Ouch. Just too slow to play against real NBAers. Can give him some minutes along the way but not against actual playoff rotations.

Well, atm playoff rotations are not exactly the biggest worry on this team, still plenty of work left before that comes in play.

Well, if you're giving out PT on a developing team, it's silly to waste it on people who are really not going to help you win a championship someday. It looks like he's in the deal solely for salary ballast, and for the Pistons to get off the hook for his $7M salary next year. He was apparently a bad FA signing.

Hey, I've never seen him play, but the Pistons fan article makes a convincing case that he's just too slow to challenge even close-in jumpers. We'll see for ourselves presently. He has a bit of a postup game and boxes out well, but those are 20th century skills. It seems that if he challenges a shooter, he can't get back to protect the rim. That's key to 21st century NBA D. You just can't park in the paint anymore.

[Richard Miller]

Well, if you're giving out PT on a developing team, it's silly to waste it on people who are really not going to help you win a championship someday. It looks like he's in the deal solely for salary ballast, and for the Pistons to get off the hook for his $7M salary next year. He was apparently a bad FA signing.

Hey, I've never seen him play, but the Pistons fan article makes a convincing case that he's just too slow to challenge even close-in jumpers. We'll see for ourselves presently. He has a bit of a postup game and boxes out well, but those are 20th century skills. It seems that if he challenges a shooter, he can't get back to protect the rim. That's key to 21st century NBA D. You just can't park in the paint anymore.

Well, he was signed at the time when Pistons literally had cash to burn else he would've stayed in SAS (for lesser money of course). Also can't help but feel he was criminally misused by Can't Van Coach. Last season he recorded 15/19 vs Hornets in 20 minutes on 4 FGAs, after that 13/11 vs Warriors (garbage time, but still) followed by something like 15 DNPs. SVG also freely admitted he never had anything drawn up for him, so when Boban did well, he did that pretty much on his own. Obviously he's never going to be a starter, but shouldn't be just handing out towels either.

[esqtvd]

Well, if you're giving out PT on a developing team, it's silly to waste it on people who are really not going to help you win a championship someday. It looks like he's in the deal solely for salary ballast, and for the Pistons to get off the hook for his $7M salary next year. He was apparently a bad FA signing.

Hey, I've never seen him play, but the Pistons fan article makes a convincing case that he's just too slow to challenge even close-in jumpers. We'll see for ourselves presently. He has a bit of a postup game and boxes out well, but those are 20th century skills. It seems that if he challenges a shooter, he can't get back to protect the rim. That's key to 21st century NBA D. You just can't park in the paint anymore.

Well, he was signed at the time when Pistons literally had cash to burn else he would've stayed in SAS (for lesser money of course). Also can't help but feel he was criminally misused by Can't Van Coach. Last season he recorded 15/19 vs Hornets in 20 minutes on 4 FGAs, after that 13/11 vs Warriors (garbage time, but still) followed by something like 15 DNPs. SVG also freely admitted he never had anything drawn up for him, so when Boban did well, he did that pretty much on his own. Obviously he's never going to be a starter, but shouldn't be just handing out towels either.

Hey, I'll give him a chance. Maybe you can put him out there with Lou and 3 defenders to stalk the paint. But this looks pretty bad.

https://pistonpowered.com/2018/01/31/pistons-regret-trading-boban-marjanovic/
Is Marjanovic really that slow though? What if they let him go a little bit?

Yeah, he really is that slow.

If he has to take more than a step or two outside of right in front of the hoop he is unlikely to be able to recover to the hoop to stop anyone there. Look at this play:



Notice how Derrick Favors takes his roll an extra step to the other side of the hoop instead of directly down the lane while Alec Burks does not actually go to the hoop, but never even enters the paint (one of several nice adjustments the Jazz made in the second half after having trouble with Marjanovic in the first).

Marjanovic takes a step out of his zone, which is exactly what Burks is looking for at which point a simple pocket pass results in a can’t miss basket.

Once again notice that Marjanovic isn’t even close to recovering from that play despite actually making an attempt to do so.

Obviously on plays like that big men often won’t recover but they often don’t even bother. Marjanovic was bothering too, he just couldn’t go any faster.

Once again Marjanovic puts your defense in a losing situation.

Either Marjanovic stays in the paint to cover the rim and allow for free open jumpers or have him step out to leave the rim unattended.

[donemilio21]

yeah, it would be great to have Milos, Gallo and Boban all on the floor at the same time. at least the opposing team offenses would love it .

[Richard Miller]

Hey, I'll give him a chance. Maybe you can put him out there with Lou and 3 defenders to stalk the paint. But this looks pretty bad.

True that, but I guess if he were faster, he would've been the centerpiece of this trade, and not a backup/salary dump. Still, there might be some role for him; other than already mentioned stuff, he's also incredibly positive guy, works hard and doesn't sulk even if he gets only 2 min of playtime ("it's my 2 minutes" I think he said once), well liked by the teammates and fans.

[TheGr81]

Idk if even the Clippers themselves know how much they won this Blake trade. Most fans certainly don't because they just look at the numbers and assume that somebody is as good as is his role on the team.

Well, guess what - that isn't always the case and the prime example is Marjanovic. He was terribly underused in Detroit. It was painful injustice. The reason for that wasn't Marjanovic's lack of quality, it's Van Gundy being an idiot. He didn't want Marjanovic on the team, but the Pistons took him anyway, so Van Gundy pushed his personal agenda by not letting Marjanovic play. Beside that, maybe he also dislikes foreign players.

In the small number of matches when Marjanovic got decent minutes, he has shown that he is a pretty much unstoppable on offense. Nobody can stop him 1 on 1 in the post. And beside that he has a good hand and he is an excellent ft shooter. With starting center spot he could easily average 17-12, especially if you surround him with shooters and an elite passing pg, like the Clippers currently have.

So instead of 1 quality player (Blake), LAC now has shooters to open up the floor and a STRONG CAPABLE CENTER, who together certainly can have much higher impact than Blake alone. Boban's weakness is that he is slow on defense, but Blake is not that good defender either.

I am interested in seeing what Boban can do.

OP, do you consider Boban as a legitimate starting Center in this league, or his he best used as a reserve?

Also, does anyone know why he has sever cauliflower ear?

Player who outplays Whiteside (and Porzingis in Euro 2017) should in principle be a legit starter.

But if we don't think schematically like the most NBA coaches, with fixed schemes and PTs, and if we do what's best for the team, his usage should be adjusted to each team.

Against most teams he can play good minutes and be very useful, but against some teams which cover the floor and double-team quickly and which can exploit Boban's lack of lateral movement - not so much. Speaking of Euro 2017, it showed that pretty well - Boban didn't just outplayed Porzingis, he was money in the most matches but he was useless against the quick Slovenian team in the final. They double-teamed him on defense and exploited him on offense (pnr and pnp), so after ineffective 1st half he was benched for the most of the 2nd half.

[7r5ur]

I mean, Boban is awesome... Everyone loves Boban.

When he's on the floor he often seems totally unstoppable. It's just a matter of getting him the ball without turning it over.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult for him to play in situations where the opposing center isn't a big, lethargic dude because he just can't keep up defensively. Put him in a pick and roll and it's lights out. He also gets tired easily so being more than a bench spark would be tough...

Popovich couldn't work a scheme that afforded him a consistent role and neither could SVG. I really hope Doc does because it would be great to see this work out for him. Dude is capable of putting up monster numbers and all of his teammates love the guy.

[esqtvd]

I mean, Boban is awesome... Everyone loves Boban.

When he's on the floor he often seems totally unstoppable. It's just a matter of getting him the ball without turning it over.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult for him to play in situations where the opposing center isn't a big, lethargic dude because he just can't keep up defensively. Put him in a pick and roll and it's lights out. He also gets tired easily so being more than a bench spark would be tough...

Popovich couldn't work a scheme that afforded him a consistent role and neither could SVG. I really hope Doc does because it would be great to see this work out for him. Dude is capable of putting up monster numbers and all of his teammates love the guy.

If we move DJ, that might move Trezz up to starting C. As Harrell's undersized, Boban could be of help against the bigger bigs in the league. Otherwise, he seems to be here because Detroit wanted to dump him and his $7M per.

[madmaxmedia]

Yeah, but look at those hands!

[Inspektor1312]

He can be a decent center coming off the bench for 15 or so minutes. Not playing him at all like in Detroit would be a big mistake.

[deeetroiter]

Last time Boban played just a few nights ago, 14 points, 8 rbs in ELEVEN MINUTES.

He EASILY compensates for his slow feet by causing many a missed shot just raising his arms and forcing high arching shots. There is NO STAT for that, The Pistons almost always went on runs when he stepped on the floor, like 85 percent of the time.

He creates his own shot from above, no way to stop him other than to fould. He is shooting 62 percent this,season. SVG was an IDIOT for not playing him enough.

Last year in games he was actually a part of the rotation--11 and 9 in 15 mpg.

The nonsense article posted about him being slow of course doesn't show him vausing missed shots. Ask his detractors to simply show you the numbers showing he is a defensive liability, they can't. He is a scoring and rebounding machine.

Your team ahould NEVER, EVER allow a 20-0 run with Boban on the bench **** the idiot SVG. We lost a game at Indiana earlier where we were up 23 late in yhe 3rd, SVG keeps Boban on the bench, they come back and beat us. He uses Boban, eats clock and sets him up deep, GAME OVER, no way we lose that game.

So you better hope Doc isn't as dumb as SVG. You do have a better option at backup center over our guy Moreland, who cannot score at all. So Doc has an excuse, but SVG was a total moron and refusing to use Boban cost us several games this year.