tmorgan wrote:FarBeyondDriven wrote:btw he's not coming out of nowhere. This thread was started years ago for a reason. Because of his elite BBIQ, size, shot-blocking around the basket and passing ability he's a unique prospect. Had he been utilized properly at UCLA there's a good chance he would have been drafted already. I think it's pretty obvious that he wasn't used well and as soon as he transfers to a coach that does he immediately looks like the prospect many of us envisioned years ago. He's worked on his body, he looks stronger and more fluid. He's shown some ability to move his feet well enough to look surprisingly capable of defending the perimeter on some switches, in college at least. To me he still looks pretty raw but someone I'd love to invest a lottery pick on and bring him along slowly hoping that in a few years you've got a starting center that can be a mismatch. Until then, he should be no worse than any other backup/spot starting center. This is similar to the Clinan and Edey picks from a couple of years ago. He's in the same tier as they are as a prospect imo but I don't hold it against someone if they disagree.
Aday has some skills, there’s no doubt about that. The difference between him, Clingan and Edey is in the body types.
All three, as huge humans, have some stamina issues. Clingan had REALLY bad stamina issues in college and as a rookie, but he’s gotten better, so there’s similar hope for Mara. Edey interestingly has the least problems with stamina, but you also don’t see him trying to sprint out like Clingan does very frequently,
It goes beyond that, though.
Edey, after toning up some since Purdue, seems very fit and has a normal looking (except monstrously huge) body. He’s similar to someone like Mark Eaton (RIP), a body type that isn’t conducive to speed but has a typical center of gravity and can carry a ton of good weight. He’s still having injury problems, sadly, but there’s hope he can get his legs and feet healthy and have a good career. Truly an intimidating half court force when healthy.
Climgan’s a little armier and leggier than Edey and not as thick, but still decently stout. He’s easier to move but makes up for it with his arms. Now that he has his stamina issues under control, his decent shootingrange and defensive mobility make him a very useful player, despite sometimes getting pushed around at least a little bit.
Mara is even more unique, but not likely in a good way. He’s a touch shorter than Edey and taller than Clingan, but has a standing reach two inches higher than both. This man is all arms and legs, even more so than Clingan. He needs to add serious muscle, especially to his legs, and he’s still carrying some extra useless weight as Edey was in college. There’s no changing his high center of gravity, though, because his legs are really, really long. Holding boxouts is going to be a problem, and despite his very long strides, he doesn’t move particularly well either end to end or laterally. He’s as immobile as Edey with strength even worse than Clingan right now, and his body looks very hard to change.
Who knows, maybe he ends up making it as a starter down the line. I don’t see that as likely, though, because he has some of the weaknesses of both guys mentioned here (immobile like Edey, no offensive range like Edey, but weaker on both ends like Clingan).
I think he's worse than the two you list for the reasons you mention. That may still be a very good player though in mid/late lotto.
His passing is intriguing too as he's far beyond those two on that front which could be big to alleviate offensive clunkiness.
"Too big to fail" is a boring evaluation but nevertheless may be a statement of truth.
