Alex Sarr

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Just because a center has enough size to defend the position doesn't mean they have to be unskilled. A center can be big and skilled, or big and mobile. They don't have to be "goons".

Well, yes. The problem is, really big centers who are also skilled enough and/or mobile enough to stay on the floor in the playoffs are extremely rare, and costly. If you can find one of those guys, and there's maybe 8-10 in the entire league, then sure, add him to the roster and play Sarr more at PF. But even then, there will be difficulties. A team only has so many resources (picks and cap room) to spend at every position. And as long as we already have Sarr, I'd rather spend those resources to fill other needs with Sarr playing at center (plus a low-cost part-time goon center to complement him in certain matchups).

If you pay your star perimeter player max money, and also pay Sarr max or near-max money, and you go find an elite center who costs max or near-max money, you won't have enough money to fill out the perimeter positions. I'm saying, once we have your superstar scorer and Sarr as a (hopefully) star-caliber PF/C, our money is better spent on good wings before we spend it on another high-cost center.

I've said many times that it isn't hard to find a center with the size to defend the position. Utah drafted Kessler at 22. Hornets drafted Kalkbrenner at 34 (obviously not sure how good he is). OKC got Hartenstein on a reasonable deal. Ditto the Raps with Poetle.

How many quality centers have been drafted outside the top 10? We could have drafted Ware instead of Bub. We don't need to spend big money on a C.

I think your entire premise about a center getting played off the floor is moot because if the other team does that it plays into our hands. If they want to play small which allows us to play Sarr at C comfortably that is a win for us.

Do they really want to let us play Sarr at the 5 and Kyshawn at the 4? If so bring it on.

Kalkbrenner leads the league in two categories. He leads in FG% (0.900) and EFG% (0.900). He is 6th in ORB%. His PER is 18.7.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/kalkbry01.html

He is a 23 year-old rookie who was at Creighton for 5 years. Donovan Clingan is one year younger than Ryan Kalkbrenner.

[nate33]

Well, yes. The problem is, really big centers who are also skilled enough and/or mobile enough to stay on the floor in the playoffs are extremely rare, and costly. If you can find one of those guys, and there's maybe 8-10 in the entire league, then sure, add him to the roster and play Sarr more at PF. But even then, there will be difficulties. A team only has so many resources (picks and cap room) to spend at every position. And as long as we already have Sarr, I'd rather spend those resources to fill other needs with Sarr playing at center (plus a low-cost part-time goon center to complement him in certain matchups).

If you pay your star perimeter player max money, and also pay Sarr max or near-max money, and you go find an elite center who costs max or near-max money, you won't have enough money to fill out the perimeter positions. I'm saying, once we have your superstar scorer and Sarr as a (hopefully) star-caliber PF/C, our money is better spent on good wings before we spend it on another high-cost center.

I've said many times that it isn't hard to find a center with the size to defend the position. Utah drafted Kessler at 22. Hornets drafted Kalkbrenner at 34 (obviously not sure how good he is). OKC got Hartenstein on a reasonable deal. Ditto the Raps with Poetle.

How many quality centers have been drafted outside the top 10? We could have drafted Ware instead of Bub. We don't need to spend big money on a C.

I think your entire premise about a center getting played off the floor is moot because if the other team does that it plays into our hands. If they want to play small which allows us to play Sarr at C comfortably that is a win for us.

Do they really want to let us play Sarr at the 5 and Kyshawn at the 4? If so bring it on.

Kalkbrenner leads the league in two categories. He leads in FG% (0.900) and EFG% (0.900). He is 6th in ORB%. His PER is 18.7.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/kalkbry01.html

He is a 23 year-old rookie who was at Creighton for 5 years. Donovan Clingan is one year younger than Ryan Kalkbrenner.

Kalkenbrenner averages an anemic 9.5 rebounds per 36 minutes. And Charlotte's DRtg plummets by 13.3 points when he is on the floor. With Kalkenbrenner off the floor, Charlottle has a DRtg of 112.5, a respectable number that would rank 10th place in the league. When he is on the floor, Charlotte's DRtg is a horrific 125.8, which would rank second-to-last behind only Brooklyn.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I've said many times that it isn't hard to find a center with the size to defend the position. Utah drafted Kessler at 22. Hornets drafted Kalkbrenner at 34 (obviously not sure how good he is). OKC got Hartenstein on a reasonable deal. Ditto the Raps with Poetle.

How many quality centers have been drafted outside the top 10? We could have drafted Ware instead of Bub. We don't need to spend big money on a C.

I think your entire premise about a center getting played off the floor is moot because if the other team does that it plays into our hands. If they want to play small which allows us to play Sarr at C comfortably that is a win for us.

Do they really want to let us play Sarr at the 5 and Kyshawn at the 4? If so bring it on.

Kalkbrenner leads the league in two categories. He leads in FG% (0.900) and EFG% (0.900). He is 6th in ORB%. His PER is 18.7.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/kalkbry01.html

He is a 23 year-old rookie who was at Creighton for 5 years. Donovan Clingan is one year younger than Ryan Kalkbrenner.

Kalkenbrenner averages an anemic 9.5 rebounds per 36 minutes. And Charlotte's DRtg plummets by 13.3 points when he is on the floor. With Kalkenbrenner off the floor, Charlottle has a DRtg of 112.5, a respectable number that would rank 10th place in the league. When he is on the floor, Charlotte's DRtg is a horrific 125.8, which would rank second-to-last behind only Brooklyn.

Five games in that's the rest of the story.

Perhaps the Hornets have been much better with Moussa Diabate at C .

[tontoz]

I never paid any attention to Kalkbrenner, I just saw other guys mention him. But the point remains that getting a center that can defend the spot effectively isn't hard.

There is a reason why AD and many bigs before him don't like playing center. They take a beating. Over the course of 82 games that is a lot of abuse.

[nate33]

6-and-a-half games into the season and I continue to be impressed with Sarr's offensive aptitude. He has massively improved his finishing around the rim and his ability to absorb contact. He is legitimately an offensive weapon for us at a ripe old age of 20. He leads the team in points per minute at a totally respectable TS% of .620. He really is tough to deal with on the short roll because he passes well and is starting to hit that floater. And even when he misses the floater, his second-effort follow-up is faster than everyone else and he often dunks in the rebound.

Obviously, he is still pretty raw and has a lot of improvement ahead of him with his footwork, hands, and shooting touch, but I really think he is going to be a very good offensive player in a few years - at least good enough to be a 3rd option and maybe even a 2nd option.

His main weakness now is his hands. He still gets the ball stripped too much and he has a tendency to lower the ball too much so little guards get swipe at it. But that's just details and strength. The guy is going to be good.

The other thing I really like about him is his demeanor. He seems sort of emotionless and at first, I thought it was meekness. I no longer think that. I think he is just unflappable. He reminds me of Tim Duncan in that he doesn't let anything get to him and he just goes and makes the next play.

[willbcocks]

The other thing I really like about him is his demeanor. He seems sort of emotionless and at first, I thought it was sort of a meekness. But I no longer think that. I think he is just unflappable. He is more like Tim Duncan in that he doesn't let anything get to him and he just goes and makes the next play.

I've thought this ever since he seemed unphased by that 0-15 summer league game and the firestorm of press attention it brought. He didn't come out of that trying to prove himself, nor did he become tentative. It just didn't seem to bother him one way or the other.