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He's good.

Fischella wrote:

jpengland wrote:He is a fantastic prospect. He has size, can finish through contact, a few post moves and a decent looking jumper. Defensively he is long, protects the rim and has the quickness to defend the PnR very. He also seems like a hard worker.

I'd consider taking him anywhere past 5.

He has really average length for a Center, the thing about finishing is that he hasnt really played against strong competition in the PAC12.

It looks like he has long arms to me. He has said that he has a wingspan of 7'3", but was measured at the Nike Skill Academy as having a wingspan of 7'1". Who is right? Well I would not place to much trust in pre-combine measurements, because different orgs can measure wingspan slightly different. Did they go out to the finger tips? How was the player positioned? For instance, the Draftexpress measurement history states that in 2014 Aaron White wingspan was 6'9.5" at the Nike Skills Academy, but at the NBA draft combine 2015 his wingspan was measured at 6'11.5". Also consider Sam Dekker, Draftexpress says his wingspan was 6'10" at the 2014 Nike Skills Academy, but his wingspan measured 6'11.5" at the NBA combine in 2015. Did these players wingspan each increase a lot when they aged 20-21 for AW or 19-20 for SD? Well some players shoulders do grow wider in that time range, but its more likely that the Nike Skills Academy measures wingspan slightly differently than they do at the Combine. Note Nike Skill Academy wingspan measurements are almost always lower than the wingspan measured at other events like the Hoop summit etc. So I would wait to see whats his wingspan and standing reach are at the NBA draft combine before judging his length. I suspect he will probably have a wingspan of 7'3" and a standing reach well above 9', but we will have to wait and see.

Fischella wrote:

jpengland wrote:He is a fantastic prospect. He has size, can finish through contact, a few post moves and a decent looking jumper. Defensively he is long, protects the rim and has the quickness to defend the PnR very. He also seems like a hard worker.

I'd consider taking him anywhere past 5.

He has really average length for a Center, the thing about finishing is that he hasnt really played against strong competition in the PAC12.

Utah played a pretty strong schedule depending what model you look at. 8th RPI, 36th BPI, 6th CBS, 43 KenPom, 18th Nolan.

Not a lot of stellar bigs in the pac-12 this year though, but the guy played really well.
I'd agree anywhere after top 5

Look, Poeltl is a physical player with good size, can run the P&R, has good post moves, can pass out of the post, he can defend the perimeter pretty well for a big and can defend the post somewhat. He also moves better than it looks like he can move (because he's kind of stiff-looking). He's also 20 years old and has improved a lot from last year to this year. I think he has a good chance to be a really good player. A smaller Marc Gasol-type in his prime if you ask me. He's better than a player like Jusuf Nurkic is right now and he's basically a starter. I think Poeltl can be a starter right away.

https://youtu.be/kwWltVRSJVQ here's that "unathletic" Poeltl.

Johnlac1 wrote:https://youtu.be/kwWltVRSJVQ here's that "unathletic" Poeltl.

Sometimes "unathletic" means, "wasn't seen on Eastern Standard Time Prime Time Television".

Willie Cauley Stein? Amazing Athlete, as seen on EST Prime Time.

Poeltl and Thon Maker? Uh, average athletes.

Porzingis last spring? Average athlete.

I honestly think after Simmons and Ingram at 1 and 2, it's Bender, then Dunn and I think Poeltl is right there with Dunn. The only really off-putting thing for me was his performance against Sabonis.

doordoor123 wrote:I honestly think after Simmons and Ingram at 1 and 2, it's Bender, then Dunn and I think Poeltl is right there with Dunn. The only really off-putting thing for me was his performance against Sabonis.

I saw part of that game. The parts I saw Poeltl was frequently double teamed. He got into foul trouble in the first half with Utah behind by six points. When he came back in they were behind by 15 and the game was over.
And supposedly he tweaked his ankle before the game cutting down his mobility.
But be that as it may, anybody can have a bad game. Poeltl also a few low scoring games during the reg. season including one against Oregon. And Sabonis is a real good player..... let's give him credit.

But I saw Poeltl about ten games last season. He was dominant in most of them. And he played against some good centers like Tarczewski and Rabb in the Big 12. Many games he was double-teamed, and he still got his points.
Remember, his game was mostly close to the basket. However, after seeing the speed with which Poeltl took the ball to the basket and his ability to drive from outside the lane leaves me no doubt he can score on NBA centers. If he adds a consistent 12-15 foot jump shot, he's going to be very difficult to handle in the pros.

Right now he 's behind young centers like Okafor and Towns who can drill outside shots. But they way Poeltl improved from his frosh year to his soph makes me believe he will be relentless in improving his game.

He's a much, much safer bet than Bender.

I see some Bogut in him. That's a very good thing

Envelope wrote:He's a much, much safer bet than Bender.

Completely different players, and I think best case Bender is a much more valuable player than best case Poeltl

doordoor123 wrote:Look, Poeltl is a physical player with good size, can run the P&R, has good post moves, can pass out of the post, he can defend the perimeter pretty well for a big and can defend the post somewhat. He also moves better than it looks like he can move (because he's kind of stiff-looking). He's also 20 years old and has improved a lot from last year to this year. I think he has a good chance to be a really good player. A smaller Marc Gasol-type in his prime if you ask me. He's better than a player like Jusuf Nurkic is right now and he's basically a starter. I think Poeltl can be a starter right away.

Poeltl doesnt have anything close to the defensive potential or abilities of Marc or Jusuf. I've watched plenty of both and Poeltl's potential doesnt come close to Jusuf.


Sabonis > Poeltl. That was painfully obvious in the Utah - Zaga game

Sabonis wasn't double teamed every time he touched the ball like Poeltl was. He also wasn't dealing with an injury.

Poeltl was dominant all year, on both ends of the court. And his teammates didn't even go all out to get him the damn ball. He could have averaged 19 or 20 if they had.

People didn't watch him play. The turned on one game in the NCAA tournament and saw by far his worst game of the year.

Sabonis and Poeltl played against each other in August. Here is the full game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM97r_I33lU&feature=youtu.be

I think it's a good watch if you want to see how Poeltl will play in the NBA. The entire gameplan for Utah was to get Poeltl the ball in deep position and use his post moves. That's not how he will be used in the NBA. Instead, he will see a lot more action in the pick and roll and catch the ball on the move. That's how he was playing for Austria. It was mostly pick and roll/pick and pop, some faceup drives from the perimeter as well. He even drained a spot up three.

KqWIN wrote:Sabonis and Poeltl played against each other in August. Here is the full game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM97r_I33lU&feature=youtu.be

I think it's a good watch if you want to see how Poeltl will play in the NBA. The entire gameplan for Utah was to get Poeltl the ball in deep position and use his post moves. That's not how he will be used in the NBA. Instead, he will see a lot more action in the pick and roll and catch the ball on the move. That's how he was playing for Austria. It was mostly pick and roll/pick and pop, some faceup drives from the perimeter as well. He even drained a spot up three.

Thanks for the link. Interesting game. I see JVal also played,...although he appeared to be merely cruising.
This game is how Poeltl should be used in the pros...especially if he improves those outside shots. He doesn't have to shoot threes....if he can just make open 12-15 footers he'll be plenty tough. Planting him on the blocks would be a waste of his athleticism.

BUST