If Andrea Bargnani was drafted in 2020....

[Clay Davis]

How much different would his career have been?

One of the things about Bargnani is that he was a guard in a center's body; he had a very good ability to shoot off the bounce for a guy his size and had excellent dribbling skills for a seven-footer. He was essentially the rich man's Brook Lopez on offense. The major problem, however, was that he couldn't rebound; he simply couldn't rebound for ****. At the time we'd have to put him on the floor against big men like Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, Tim Duncan, and KG (among others), Averaging 6 rebounds wouldn't cut it against those guys since the game was played so much closer to the basket.

Obviously the game is different now. 4s and 5s play further away from the basket and sometimes a line-up won't include a center at all. Instead of pure centers whose defensive gravity relied upon verticality and physicality, with lateral quickness being largely a redundancy, now lateral quickness is prized above all as it is largely synonymous with lessening offensive gravity -- rather than imposing defensive gravity, which will actually work against you.

There were a lot of problems with the way that Bargs was developed: he was initially expected to be the center counter-part to another 'soft' big man in Chris Bosh. He wasn't able to flourish as a ball-handling big man, in that regard, and was expected to put on size. It took away a lot of the quickness that made him unique and forced him to play closer to the basket than he otherwise would have liked. He, simply put, wasn't put in the best situation for his game to flourish. This isn't to excuse his disappointing career arc, but simply to explain his impact and development.

Current, conventional wisdom implies that it would be much more feasible for Andrea to play his game as his skillset demanded: a center who can put the ball on the floor. Kind of like Demarcus Cousins but with more grace and less rebounds. I think that Bargnani would likely suffer on defense -- simply because he isn't as intelligent defensively as someone like Brook Lopez or Marc Gasol -- would be a net positive contributor on offense for his ability to spread the floor and benefit from the spacing that players in general are afforded. I'm not sure whether or not he'd be a star (since, Caliper tests aside, he never really showed that capability) but he'd definitely have a more comfortable niche.

If Bargnani was playing today and in his prime I could imagine a lot of situations where he'd be in the corner, either willing to take an open 3 or attacking the close-out.

And no, I'm not BC.

[supra2k8]

[UcanUwill]

very bad rebounder and defender, I doubt anything would be different, he had more chances to succeed than he ever deserved. Right now even his strengths (lets just say hes a good shooter, which he wasnt later in his career) are so common, I think he might be even worse now.

[Randle McMurphy]

Bargnani's biggest issue was that he didn't give a **** about basketball or his career, so I imagine it wouldn't have been too much different.

He was also one of the worst team defenders I've ever seen. It's hard to see him even being able to play on a team like Nurse's.

[Rappid]

People keep insisting he never cared, but he never had the talent.

[themailman]

You know what let's not speculate

Because in 2020 no one would draft barnyarns

[jim rockford]

while i agree he fits the game much more these days, i tend to agree that much of what held him back back then would still hold him back today

[Randle McMurphy]

People keep insisting he never cared, but he never had the talent.

Can't it be both?

[TheAlchemist]

He'd probably be a better player or worth a lot more, but essentially he'd be crap because of his lack of drive, motivation, and determination.

The mental was never there ever.

[howlin mad axer]

Bargnani played basketball because he's 7 foot, that's what 7 footers do, he wasn't a basketball player that was tall, he was a tall person that was a basketball player. He's a nice enough person but he isn't a basketball player first, he appreciated the lifestyle the sport afforded him but he wasn't driven to win the way people would have liked.

[Indeed]

His lack of defensive awareness can still be a problem, but Nurse may able to make/develop him into a useful player.

[themailman]

Anyone else get mad when they think of the Barnyarni era in Toronto?

Like this clown was actually our franchise player after Bosh was traded?

**** we've been through alot as a franchise

[And1+2]

I honestly believe Bargnani could be successful in the league if he was drafted now, provided he was playing for a winning team and didn't have many early expectations.

[Rapsalot]

With the 3 point line being more important he would have had more room to Jog, Jog, Jog! LOL

[steamed hams]

he'd be exactly like Markannen 2.0

3rd option who scores 15-20 pts a game, 6-8 boards on a bad team. Bad defense, 35% from 3, 40% from 2. To think of it he'd be exactly like he was, just a slight bump in points from jacking more 3s in this era.

[Westside Gunn]

he would still be a top 10 pick.

the guy was criticized for being offensive minded only, while soft, not being able to play in the post, and not caring about defense. that describes most of the league today and the direction the game is headed. he'd be an excellent fit.

he was forced to become a traditional C or PF when his natural game was a stretch PF. his one on one defense was very underrated. we all criticized him but in hindsight you really can't fault him for being ahead of his time. bc's evolution of the game theory was called pretty early but he turned out to be pretty accurate.

europeans had this reputation for being soft in the old nba. now you can import as many as you want because north american players are playing as soft, if not more.

[maternal85]

I'm not his biggest fan but this is some hate. He'd be a good/decent NBA player in today's game. He cant defend ? Which center is the post throwing elbows like shaq back in the days nowadays? His lateral quickness was good for a center too. He'd make you respect his outside shot.

Imagine if he was on a healthy GS team with people switching and doubling Curry, Thompson, and perhaps KD (if he stayed). He'd have a field day. Bargs was drafted in the wrong era.

[FluLikeSymptoms]

He would definitely be a top-7 pick in any draft and top-3 in this one, for sure. Remember he was really fun to watch as a rookie, he did special things and they would’ve come through in Italy so the scouting would be, US guys are boring and this guy could be special. They called him Il Mago because of his passing, he was a 7ft SG- so it’s a 7ft guy who had plus mobility, plus range, plus passing and he was extra confident. Probably #1, even if he was averaging 11 and 4 like he was back then.

Then whatever happened happened, a mix of him being a lazy mouth-breather, the organization wanting him to bulk up and be the C despite him never looking like a C at any point in his life before then(hey, we’re drafting you #1 because you’re a 7ft SG, now be a different player), and Mitchell having absolutely no clue of how to deal with him, or really anything at all. I’m sure Smitch yelled at him the same way for years and never considered a plan B when it obviously wasn’t working.

If 2003 were 2020 and we drafted Bargnani, Bosh probably would’ve played 5, which looked more natural for him as a rookie and then obviously in Miami, and Bargnani would have been the 4 or maybe 3 and stayed at a lighter weight, doing things he was good at. Definitely moved better laterally than Bosh. But maybe he goes sour anyway. Probably.

[SharoneWright]

Dude couldn't run the floor in 2020.

[tecumseh18]

There was one time when Bargs looked like a useful player*- in the 2008-2009 season when Bosh and Calderon were hurt and he was paired with JO (with Roko running the point in the game I'm thinking of). JO and Bosh had similar offensive games, and never meshed on the court. But JO could provide the low post presence that Bargs or Bosh never could, while Bargs could hang out on the outside and take and make the random shot. I couldn't believe it when Colangelo traded JO at the deadline that season, and thought at the time that Bosh should have been dispatched for young talent/picks. Obviously Marion was never going to stay, and ending up winning the championship with the team he signed with.

But it's a different era now. Neither Bargs nor JO could cover guys on the perimeter. This current version of the Raps is just spectacular on defence. We'll be forever spoiled, and never tolerate players like Bargs or DeMar again. As much as we all want to see TDII (and even Matt) get more minutes - especially over McCaw - they're just not ready to do what McCaw can do.

* [edit] OK, there was also that fabled 13-game stretch a few years later, but I remember a deep dive analysis at the time showed how it was largely driven by the weak competition the Raps happened to be facing during that period.