UcanUwill wrote:krii wrote:UcanUwill wrote:
I think he is one of those guys who dominates juniors/college, simply because of his superior strength and size, but who willl struggle greatly against pro grown men competition.
He played well against Valunciunas, Gasol and others on the international level. I do believe he is a great post-player for a bench in the league. It's not easy to shoot over him, he is fairly mobile (for his size), he finishes at a rather high ratio around the rim. What do you really need from a bench center other than that?
We will see. To be honest, I was pretty low on Karnowski for a very long time. I was probably predetermined since I have seen these type of players bust all the time, Darius Silinkis, Hoffa comes to mind. To be fair, Karnowski is probably much better than these guys, but he is still somewhat in the same mold. I was low on him before NBA became all perimeter, small ball oriented, switch and all that. Now I am even more skeptical.
I don't know, I see more Marc Gasol in him then anyone like Silinkis or Hoffa. He is terrific passer, great at the rim, sees the floor much better than most of the bigs in the academic basketball (including forwards). I know that league has changed but people are undervaluing players like Karnowski. Many teams in the NBA could play their bench unit with someone who can finish at a high ratio in a post, play great defense in the paint and pass the ball with such an ease. He isn't bad at defending the perimeter (chasing opposing centers or switching there) but his size give him this goofy look - but c'mon, we are talking about a 7"1' and 280-290 pound guy here.
I thought the same as you a few months back, especially after his back injury. But after watching almost every Gonzaga game this season I see no reasons why he wouldn't fit as a bench big for a team that likes to pass the ball and play sniffy defense.
Derento wrote:Karnowski is a complete zero in the league for me. He is a 51 percent career free throw shooter. Slow and overweight. A below average rebounder for his size and competition. Only thing he brings is limited post play which will go down in efficiency when he faces tougher competition.
Naah.
1. He was .51% FT before the season. At some point this season he was on .65% and he is right now at .59. He is steadily improving on this element of the game. One more important thing: he tends to miss his free throws when he has to shoot them only once/twice a game. Whenever anyone tried a 'hack-a-Shem' tactics, he got to much higher percentages: out of 14 games when he had to shoot at least 4 FT, he had 6 games with under .600 FT% BUT also games with 9/10, 7/9, 5/6, 4/5, 4/4 and multiple 3/4 lines. This proves that he is much better FT shooter than his numbers show. Check it by yourself:
http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/przemek-karnowski-1/gamelog/20172. He isn't overweight. I thought he is when he lost like 20 kg during his injury, but apparently he keeps the weight recommended by doctors. He isn't muscled/flashy in his build but it doesn't mean he is fat. I bet in the NBA, with a private medical team, he would improve his physicality to some other level - like many players before him.
3. He isn't slow for a 7"1'. In the middle of the season he outrun entire Huskies team in the transition - and that was when he was still rehabbing and looking for a better physical shape after the injury. If you watch the game you'll see that he is fairly mobile for a guy his size. Sure he ain't no John Wall but hey, we are talking about a walking mountain. Look at some Gonzaga games this season and check how mobile he is whenever defending the perimeter.
4. Rebounds: when asked he is a good rebounder, same with raw numbers & advanced data.
5. Limited post play? Would you mind to tell me what is limited in his repertoire? In the video above he has shown more post moves than half of the centers in the league ever thought about. What's limited in there?
