Jakob Poeltl is underrated

[Statistician MK]

I realized that many of you don't like him, but my opinion is that Jak is very underrated.

He plays 26 minutes per game. Bitadze (ORL) and Gafford (WSH) are the only two starting centres in the Eastern Conference with less playing time. And 12 starting centres (out of 15) have playing time of 30+ min. per game.

Here are some stats in five categories, with the mode "Per 36 minutes".
Filter: The centres from the East, with playing time more than 750 minutes this season.

PTS
1. Joel Embiid
2. Julius Randle
3. Bam Adebayo

REB
1. Clint Capela
2. Joel Embiid
3. Jakob Poeltl

STL
1. Isaiah Hartenstein
2. Joel Embiid
3. Jakob Poeltl

BLK
1. Brook Lopez
2. Myles Turner
3. Jakob Poeltl

FG%
1. Jakob Poeltl ..... 69.5%
2. Jarrett Allen
3. Clint Capela

[OakleyDokely]

I like him as well. Every team needs a player like him. Just need to pair him with a stretch big and rotate them based on the matchups.

[Duffman100]

I like him as well. Every team needs a player like him. Just need to pair him with a stretch big and rotate them based on the matchups.

Utah is doing that with Olynyk and Kessler.

[Raptors Realtor]

Poeltl is pretty solid, however he needs to be surrounded by players who can shoot, space the floor and open up the paint for him. His game isn't suited to a below average shooting team who clog the paint.

[And1+2]

I also like him. He's solid and he gets the blame a lot for the rotation mistakes of others.

[DatHomieYouHaTe]

He would be better with a lot more spacing around him for sure.. still has many holes in his game especially that FT shooting

[nikster]

Poeltl is pretty solid, however he needs to be surrounded by players who can shoot, space the floor and open up the paint for him. His game isn't suited to a below average shooting team who clog the paint.

that doesnt mean getting him was a mistake tho. Any version of this team that competes, wether it is now or in a few years, will have better shooting. He is the type of player that plays with a pick and roll partner too and he was stuck with Schroder as his only option this year until the trade for Quickley.Think this trade will already help Jak

[Tor_Raps]

The hate Poeltl gets is similar to the hate Fred got last year where both have no backup so they are relied on too heavily. Most teams give you 2 options at those positions where you can sit one if they're off or the other player has it going.

Thank Masai for his stupid 6'9 approach that put all the blame on the PG, C and coach because the roster is too flawed. Hopefully the OG trade was a sign they realized they've been stupid since 2020.

[Raptors Realtor]

Poeltl is pretty solid, however he needs to be surrounded by players who can shoot, space the floor and open up the paint for him. His game isn't suited to a below average shooting team who clog the paint.

that doesnt mean getting him was a mistake tho. Any version of this team that competes, wether it is now or in a few years, will have better shooting. He is the type of player that plays with a pick and roll partner too and he was stuck with Schroder as his only option this year until the trade for Quickley.Think this trade will already help Jak

Wasn't saying it was a mistake per se, just meant that his game wasn't really suited to our team or vice versa the past 2 seasons.

[SFour]

I wish he was more of a shot blocking threat, then the lack of 3pt shooting wouldn't matter as much.

[WuTang_CMB]

They needed a real guard who can run a P and R intelligently and who has weapons. IQ has that.

Poeltl will look a lot better with him and more spacing on the floor.

[YogurtProducer]

The hate Poeltl gets is similar to the hate Fred got last year where both have no backup so they are relied on too heavily. Most teams give you 2 options at those positions where you can sit one if they're off or the other player has it going.

Thank Masai for his stupid 6'9 approach that put all the blame on the PG, C and coach because the roster is too flawed. Hopefully the OG trade was a sign they realized they've been stupid since 2020.

Can’t really blame the 6’9 thing. Problem was lack of talent.

Siakam and Barnes and OG also had limited depth behind them and yet there wasn’t complaints their way (to the same extent).

[Tor_Raps]

The hate Poeltl gets is similar to the hate Fred got last year where both have no backup so they are relied on too heavily. Most teams give you 2 options at those positions where you can sit one if they're off or the other player has it going.

Thank Masai for his stupid 6'9 approach that put all the blame on the PG, C and coach because the roster is too flawed. Hopefully the OG trade was a sign they realized they've been stupid since 2020.

Can’t really blame the 6’9 thing. Problem was lack of talent.

Siakam and Barnes and OG also had limited depth behind them and yet there wasn’t complaints their way (to the same extent).

That's because they can all make up for their lack of deficiencies as there are a lot of overlapping skills for the most part. Harder to do that for PGs and Cs. Our coach also got scapegoated when it was clearly a roster issue.

[Indeed]

If you can't shoot free throw, you can't close game. He is not worth 20m to me, the rebounding is overrated, and the field goal percentage is high, because he occupied the paint (which is a negative to me when the lineup FG is worse). Turner offers more at the same salary, and similar Center would get paid the same with better range.

[ArthurVandelay]

He’d be a nice pairing with Okongwu

Their strengths cover each other weaknesses.

Would give a lot of flexibility with matchups/line ups. Atlanta often plays Capela and OO together, so Poeltl and OO could also work at some point.

[douggood]

lead the league in efg% until last night.

[douggood]

If you can't shoot free throw, you can't close game. He is not worth 20m to me, the rebounding is overrated, and the field goal percentage is high, because he occupied the paint (which is a negative to me when the lineup FG is worse). Turner offers more at the same salary, and similar Center would get paid the same with better range.

turner is 30$/year
because of cap logistics, raise and extend he is making 20 mi this year. but he signed a 2 year 60$ extension.

jakob is 15th-ish highest paid center, which is about right for him.

[lolwut]

Poeltl isn't perfect, but who can you replace him with (that is available) that would be a net positive? He's very good at some things and very bad at some others, just like every other center. I'd say his positives outweigh his negatives.

It's not like we're trotting Loren Woods or Greg Foster out there. Poeltl is a legit, solid, starting caliber center in the league. He's probably a top 5 center to ever suit up for this team.

[dagger]

Poeltl is pretty solid, however he needs to be surrounded by players who can shoot, space the floor and open up the paint for him. His game isn't suited to a below average shooting team who clog the paint.

That's right, but the inverse is also true. Give a shooter like Quickley one of the league's perimeter screen setters and it makes the shooter more dangerous, which in turn will eventually make Poeltl as the roller in pick and roll action more dangerous. A lot of fans and media don't appreciate how fit matters. How the pieces fit together. OG is a really good player, but he didn't fit with the other pieces in Masai's all-big-man experiment. Having OG rather than a good shooter in the backcourt made everyone worse, which is not a criticism of OG, just how the pieces fit. Now, with Quickley and Barrett, the pieces fit better. Poeltl actually makes more sense in the offence, at least in some matchups, not just because Quickley is a shooter but the possibility for them to create a two man game that keeps defences honest as they think about doubling or collapsing on Quickley.

Fans ought to watch Poeltl set screens. The Raptors have had a few good ones over the years. I remember Amir Johnson, he was one of the best but unlike Poeltl, Amir still had a nagging habit of drawing many offensive fouls for moving screens. Poeltl doesn't foul nearly as much in his screen setting.

What is really exciting is this notion that have a top 5 screen setter for Quickley will actually make him more dangerous. So Poeltl's value is not only on the defensive end, where it is obvious, or around the rim offensively, but out on the perimeter where his value is less obvious but potentially game changing in the pairing he creates with a top shooter. They make each other more deadly.

There is really no stat for a great screen setter, every couple of years someone writes a good article and tries to rank them. This one is two years old, but I doubt it has changed that much.

BTW, I don't see some of the more expensive centres in the league on this list. It's grunt-work, with no glory.

https://www.nba.com/news/rudy-gobert-among-10-players-leading-nba-in-screen-assists

[Indeed]

If you can't shoot free throw, you can't close game. He is not worth 20m to me, the rebounding is overrated, and the field goal percentage is high, because he occupied the paint (which is a negative to me when the lineup FG is worse). Turner offers more at the same salary, and similar Center would get paid the same with better range.

turner is 30$/year
because of cap logistics, raise and extend he is making 20 mi this year. but he signed a 2 year 60$ extension.

jakob is 13th highest paid center, which is about right for him.

Poeltl isn't a top 15 Centre to me, and the reason Turner is having 20m on the book instead of 30m (Pacers was below min team salary, and require to split those money to players, and Pacers gave to Turner as bonus for re-signing), because other teams would not trade for Turner over 20m. Turner's market value was at 20m, that was reported back then as well. So now you think Poeltl would have teams interested in paying him 20m outside of us? That is very unlikely. Poeltl market was very limited, and only Celtics was interested for him as a backup.