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How much play time do you see him getting next season, and can you see him starting at any point in the season?

I just hope he at least gets a decent opportunity to play.

Well if Dalembert isn't coming, I hope he's ready for 15 MPG at least. We need someone young, hungry and strong there, Z and Dampier are just way old they are even getting pushed around.

His main problems are still build and conditioning. He says he's down to 12% body fat and the team's goal is 10%, so he ought to be able to get there by training camp.

If he's at 10% body fat, he ought to be able to build his cardio up enough to hang in an NBA game, but it was pretty obvious in his spot minutes at the end of the year that he wasn't there yet (though he did miss time with injury, which obviously set him back a little). I think those are really the main hangups with getting him PT, and its really on him to fix them.

No to starting yes to playing 15-20 minutes.

He can be 3rd string if we get Dalembert. Hell, we need some sort of center, so I think he's good for 3rd string anyway. Joel is great as a backup at center or PF. Anything to keep Juwan on the bench or retired. PEACE.

mopper8 wrote:His main problems are still build and conditioning. He says he's down to 12% body fat and the team's goal is 10%, so he ought to be able to get there by training camp.

If he's at 10% body fat, he ought to be able to build his cardio up enough to hang in an NBA game, but it was pretty obvious in his spot minutes at the end of the year that he wasn't there yet (though he did miss time with injury, which obviously set him back a little). I think those are really the main hangups with getting him PT, and its really on him to fix them.

Aside of this he needs to work on his postgame. He appeared to be a little too hectic and clumsy when he received the ball down there. It's simply about learning how to use your body properly without committing silly fouls or losing the ball.
Defensively, I believe we'll get him right as well. Just teach him the fundamental stuff you need for our defensive principles and he'll be fine.

Well, he's losing weight, played some games at D-League, what's great imo.

Maybe after a good summer he's able to get some minutes for us and will have an opportunity to show he can do the hard work.

At now, the only thing we know is he's much better than Anthony is at scoring, based on play from the same stages. He's also bigger.

I think he will never going to be a great C, but he has potential to be a good backup C. We need size in the middle, and Pittman giving us 10mpg of quality bball would be great.

He can be Miami's big baby Davis. That's a good thing to have on a squad.

SUN wrote:He can be Miami's big baby Davis. That's a good thing to have on a squad.

i think we're overrating pittman. big baby destroyed college. pittman never played more than 20 mins a game. a success would be for him to be the 5th big behing MLE, bosh, haslem, joel, be dressed for every game and play 10 mins in blowout games. anything more than that would be gravy.

diablerouge wrote:

SUN wrote:He can be Miami's big baby Davis. That's a good thing to have on a squad.

i think we're overrating pittman. big baby destroyed college. pittman never played more than 20 mins a game. a success would be for him to be the 5th big behing MLE, bosh, haslem, joel, be dressed for every game and play 10 mins in blowout games. anything more than that would be gravy.

You're understimating his abilities. His minutes in college were limited due to his weight. He simply wasn't capable of playing high level basketball for more than 20 minutes. But the kid has raw potential. His huge hands, big body and relatively quick feet are a decent combination to let him become a solid backup center. It'll require a lot of work on his part, no doubt about it, but from what you hear he has the right attitude to accomplish this goal.

I really believe DexPitt will be our primary backup center next year for stretches of the season. We all saw the musical chairs we played with our center spot and even if we obtain a starting quality center I think with injuries and also resting guys to gear up for the playoffs Dexter Pittman is going to get the chance to take a step towards becoming a rotation player next season.

aside from seeing the Big 3 and the 2 Gators play extended time together and seeing our offense progress with another year of chemistry and tinkering I think I am most excited to see the progression of Dexter Pittman.

It sucks that summer league is cancelled.

Obviously with the new CBA so many things can change but as of right now I'm assuming the following:

- We sign a C (Dalembert)?

If so, it's highly unlikely Dex plays ahead of whoever we sign. Then he has to compete with Joel for that 2nd string C position (If he wants consistent minutes). Not to mention, Bosh and UD are both capable of playing there in limited minutes.

We all know how much Joel is loved by this team. Dexter will have to set himself far apart in order to overtake him.

I'm rooting for him though, been a Pittman homer before we drafted him. He has the physical tools to be a good player in this league.

We have alonzo mourning on staff(wink wink) and you tell me he can't get no burn? - Each team we faced in the playoff's threw a "no name" player at us, which took some energy and effort away form one of our players.

Chalmers/Bibby
Wade/Miller
LeBron/Jones
Bosh/Haslem/Anthony
Dalmbert/Anthony + Pittman split minutes

I'm hoping for that. I want Pittman getting 8-15 minutes next season

He hasnt played any significant minutes as a NBA player, so to expect him to start is crazy. He has spent the whole year on conditioning, very little on learning how to play in the NBA. So he will basically be a rookie next year.

He won't start but we can definitely use him. He's a big guy and that's something we need. All of our "centers" in the Finals were just being pushed around by Chandler.

Roster:
PG: Chalmers/ Reggie Jackson (Assuming we get him at #31)
SG: Wade/Miller
SF: James/ Jones
PF: Bosh/Haslem
C: ???????????????/Anthony-Pittman

I think he'll be a useful garbage bucket player that can actually catch balls and score unlike Joel. I expect him to start sometimes when the rest of the bigs are underperforming and will average about 10-15 minutes a game.

Good practice fodder

I was just going through some videos of Pittman again, and I was remembering how strong he looked in the low post simply overpowering everyone. He looked like a bad, bad man! Hopefully the staff worked on his game enough last year to feel confident enough to give him 10 minutes this next year.

This video still gets me pumped about the kid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCZryTYGp6E