Slartibartfast wrote: I don't consider him to be a small-ball SF - he's got the beef and length to be a regular SF. It's PF where he'd be small and where he'd create the most havoc (much like Green and Diaw at the 5)... At the 4 he'd have obvious advantages against a lot of the 4s in the NBA (especially in transition) and I think he has the tools to minimize the extent of their damage on the other end (the frame to deny easy post position and box out, excellent rebounder) while providing good quickness in team D.
I was thinking about this last time I watched MSU and I can't quite see it. Small ball PFs need an athleticism advantage to make up for their lack of size, and 'heft' doesn't matter too much when you're not guarding ground-bound 5s. Seems like you're trying to make some stuff that worked for Draymond--strong base/trunk, skill--mean something for DV and I don't get that, partially because Draymond's an incredibly talented defender regardless of size and partially because DV's totally different.
I was thinking about Paul Millsap as a potential model, but he's significantly bigger and was a dominant big in college who developed supplementary perimeter skills. Hard for me to see how DV doesn't get killed by most NBA PFs on offense, and how he'd be dynamic enough with his quickness to cause constant havoc when he's on offense. (Also don't get what you mean by 'providing quickness' for team D, hard to see how his lateral speed is ever going to be a positive thing.)
