Kevin Seraphin

[WizarDynasty]

those charts are spectactular nate! got show the appreciation. you up the quality big time here.

[nate33]

Again though in the discussion of PF vs C, it doesn't matter much if he's gonna be playing next to the 6'11" Dray. Blatche defends Centers competently at the one end while playing the skill-position forward at the other end. KSera can play the weakside defender and offball rebounder at the defensive end and the low-post no-frills guy at the other end. Still provides a positive mismatch for us, and good synergy between the two.

While Blatche can defend C's, I think he's better at defending PF's. Blatche's counterpart PER allowed at PF is 16.8. At center, it's 18.3.

I agree with your basic premise that Blatche should guard the "skill guy" and Seraphin should guard the "brute". But when the "brute" is a 7-footer with respectable post skills like a Chris Kaman or Andrew Bynum, I hope Seraphin has the height to match up with him so we don't have to wear Blatche down on D.

[TheGreatWall]

Seraphin is 278 lbs right? He looks like it.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

A new highlight mix has been posted on bulletsforever. I notice a some mid-range ability in these clips which is a plus. KS has a somewhat of slow release that looks potentially easy to block in the NBA so he will have to adjust. Love the soft touch around the basket.
http://www.bulletsforever.com/2010/8/20 ... light-film

Wow! Some great footage here! I'm really, really excited about him now.

Seraphin seems to love contact. He does a real nice job of banging into the defender to get him off balance to set up that jump hook. I really like the extension of his hook shot and I was impressed to see extension in his jumper. He releases it from a real high point, and he actually jumps while shooting - uncommon for a big man. I just hope the jumper is accurate. There's a reason that very few big men actually jump when they shoot from the outside.

I'm still a little concerned that he doesn't appear to be that tall on video, but measurements don't lie. Seraphin has longer standing reach and wingspan than Horford and Noah. It may just be that he has such a big lower body that he looks short out there. Dude has a huge ass. Nobody is going to be able to dislodge him once he is set.

I'm going to put on my rose-colored glasses here and say that our frontcourt of the future is already here. I think Seraphin will ultimately be our starting center and he'll fit very well alongside Blatche. McGee will bring energy off the bench.

I've been having a parallel discussion in the Javale McGee thread. doc posted the same You Tube's of Seraphin's workout over there.

nate, I think it's exactly what you said. Big legs make him look shorter. He IS a bit short. No way in hell Seraphin's 6' 10". I'd say he's an NBA 6' 8". Maybe 6' 8 1/2" He has huge, huge hands and apparently long arms. His arms are big, so they don't look as long as they are.

What wouldn't surprise me at all is if he's close to 275 in weight.

I didn't post this in the other thread but I thought that by the end of this season the starters will probably be Howard at SF, Blatche at PF, and Seraphin at C.

If Seraphin can rebound well he could be the steal of the draft. I know the spin moves and the up-and-unders will work. I love the way he throws down dunks with ease. Seraphin's going to have more dunks his first 25 or so games than Brendan would in a season. His hook could make him a reliable scorer.

We all should be excited about Seraphin because he can defend (Hoop Summit footage--no doubt he gets after it defensively). I also like that he's put time in developing both hands and he's got the international game. Will hit a face up shot. Will hook. Very SMART player. Great bounce.

[Induveca]

Been doing some digging about french websites I come across..........found some interesting stuff from the national coach of France on Seraphin from before the draft. Translated to the best of my ability.

----------
Physically, he has no problem....it is mental. He is many times off balance. He has problems catching the ball, but he is progressing. He has skill, but has just begun to learn how to play the game.....and that justifies us continuing to give him a chance to earn playing time.
-----------

I've talked to a few people over here about him I've become friends with (everyone here is a huge soccer fan, but basketball is right up there secone when it comes to national teams). My take from them is Seraphin is a huge physical specimen, but was mostly lost on the court and just doesn't know how to play the game very well in general due to inexperience, but has the talent to do so....

[Induveca]

I saw someone else posted a recap of the below interview from a DC paper, but it left out a lot of interesting tidbits from the entire interview I thought. With my much improved/very functional french tried to do a better job for us Wiz fans.

INTERVIEW

In 2010 Kevin Seraphin lived a dream. He was a champion in France with his squad Cholet, voted most improved in the French Pro A league and then drafted into the NBA with the 17th pick in the 2010 NBA draft.

He has just recently signed his rookie contract with the Washington Wizards, and his fortunes are still rising as his journey leads him to the US league NBA.

Question:
Kevin is playing in the NBA a dream come true for you?

Seraphin:
Most definitely, a year ago in our interview I stated this was a major goal. It's happened.

Question:
You've taken quite a road to the NBA.

Seraphin:
I was spotted by Guyanese pro scouts and was offered a position in a Caribbean league. My parents agreed, and I joined. However just two months after I was recruited to France to play for Poitiers and Cholet.

Question:
About Cholet (his French pro squad), you must certainly be happy with how the season went?

Seraphin:
As a team member, we won the French championship so I'm obviously happy. As an individual, I had little playing time but I know I could have produced more. In that regards I am somewhat disappointed I didn't have a chance to play more.

Question:
You had a chance to work with French basketball legend, Jim Bilba. How was that experience?

Seraphin:
Jim and I have a great relationship. I learned the most from him during team defense drills. However he did work with me individually at times. In reality, I learned more from Jean-Francois Martin, the training coach in Cholet. He took me under his wing before I worked with Jim or Erman Kunter.

Question:
When did you make your decision to enter the NBA draft?

Answer:
After I participated in the Nike Hoop Summit in 2009. It became clear then that I would enter the 2010 NBA draft.

Question:
How did it feel to get up on stage with David Stern when your name was called?

Seraphin:
The handshake with Stern was really tremendous. It was overwhelming, I knew at that moment I was playing in the "big leagues".

Question:
Even after you decided to head to the NBA. Were you tempted to remain in Europe for a few more years?

Seraphin:
Certainly. I considered staying enother year to play for Cholet in the Euroleague. But the Wizards are rebuilding, which will hopefully afford a lot of playing time for their youth. That's why I decided to make the leap.

Question:
Did your Cholet teammate Mickael Gelabale help you make the decision to go to the NBA immediately?

Seraphin:
I did consult with him, and he advised me to not wait another year. He advised me I would excel more in the NBA with coaches who will make me play at 200% constantly. His opinion is I would progress much faster.

Question:
Considering the poor events surrounding the Washington squad least year, did you consider not joining the team?

Seraphin:
No. However, I am sure this year none of that will happen again.

Question:
While rehabbing, you didn't have a chance to play in the summer league games. But what is your opinion of your teammate John Wall?

Seraphin:
Wall is an extremely talented player. I watched all the games, and he is an amazing/exceptional talent. A born leader. It is obvious he makes players around him much better.

Question:
Did Washington talk to you about the NBDL?

Seraphin:
DEFINITELY NOT. My arrangement with the Wizards is I would never see any time in the NBDL. Other teams mentioned it during workouts, but Washington told me they want me on the floor with the team to see how I'm progressing. We'll see if they hold true to that.

Question:
How were you talks with the coach of Washington, Flip Saunders?

Seraphin:
They were fine. He has coached Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace, I think his history of coaching NBA all stars will help me progress greatly.

Question:
Since your injury prevented you from playing for France, what is your opinion on the squad's preparation for the FIBA World cup?

Seraphin:
It's too early to say. So many players are missing, and Beaubois was just injured. It's a raw/young team....but I think we can have a good showing.

Question:
When will we see you playing in Blue? (For Team France)

Seraphin:
Team France is something I experienced young, and I loved the experience. But as of now, my focus is the NBA then we'll see how things progress.

[fugop]

BTW, what happened to Earl Clark, is he a bust?

WizD - On-the-money re: Seraphin's shot-blocking, I forget to mention that earlier. KS's shot-blocking skills are much better than McGee's (for now) Seraphin appears to have very good timing, I was very impressed.

Clark didn't get much playing time and didn't produce much in PHX last year. His shooting percentages were poor, in part because he played ~10 minutes with Nash over the course of the season.

Bottom line: too early to tell. After Robin Lopez didn't play last year, people thought he was a bust, but PHX used him quite a bit this year. Could be the same with Clark, but who knows. The acquisition of Turkoglu and Childress suggests that his future is at PF, behind Warrick, or with anothrer team..

* Back to the Earl Clark topic. Is he a tradable commodity at this point? He has potential, a discernible NBA talent (versatile defense) and a contract with no guaranteed money after this season. But it's hard to see how he is going to get on the floor for the Suns with 10 rotation players appearing to be ahead of him (Nash, Richardson, Hill, Turkoglu, Lopez for a starting unit and Dragic, Childress, Dudley, Warrick and Frye for a bench unit). After playing the least of any rookie first-rounder not named B.J. Mullens last season, you wonder whether another team would have bigger plans for him and would be willing to sacrifice a low first-rounder to do so. To figure out what he has to learn, Clark has to play ... and remember plays.

http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/PaulCoro/91475

[doclinkin]

Again though in the discussion of PF vs C, it doesn't matter much if he's gonna be playing next to the 6'11" Dray. Blatche defends Centers competently at the one end while playing the skill-position forward at the other end. KSera can play the weakside defender and offball rebounder at the defensive end and the low-post no-frills guy at the other end. Still provides a positive mismatch for us, and good synergy between the two.

While Blatche can defend C's, I think he's better at defending PF's. Blatche's counterpart PER allowed at PF is 16.8. At center, it's 18.3.

I agree with your basic premise that Blatche should guard the "skill guy" and Seraphin should guard the "brute". But when the "brute" is a 7-footer with respectable post skills like a Chris Kaman or Andrew Bynum, I hope Seraphin has the height to match up with him so we don't have to wear Blatche down on D.

I think we can effectively defend dominant Bigs with a platoon technique. Few teams have dominant mismatch bigs at both spots (Kaman + Griff maybe, true; certainly Pau plus Bynam) we'll have enough size depth and fouls that we can harass them, and scrap hard. But aside from Big Kedder we don't have any body with the amplitude and aptitude and desire to bang. He's our best option. Unless N'Diaye surprises.

I think in time, pretty quickly, Seraphin will have the muscle, length and athleticism (if not the height) to hold his own against the big boys. If not excel, intimidate, or shut them down completely. I think he'll make a positive difference.

Right now he's still got developing fundamentals, and like I said, doesn't yet hold his ground due to poor technique. I still have yet to see a vid where he properly boxes out the lane to rebound, so while I was jocking his name in the draft a bit (hoping he'd fall to our late first, not expecting we'd trade up) and have been a booster for him here, I suspect it will take a little bit before he's a complete player on defense.

I'm okay with that. Clearly he's a quick study. And I already trust him better on defense than I do JaVale, who has all the height you could ask for plus unmatched length. I'm pretty sure by the end of the year, height or no, we'll see him challenging JaVale for minutes. He's a better fit on offense next to Dray, and should be fine in the lowpsot roles of Flip's zone scheme. Whether you call him center or not in that case makes no real difference.

[doclinkin]

He is many times off balance.

Exactly, he plays a little top heavy on defense, waiting to jump not carving out space with his stance. He still manages to bump players out the way despite playing on his tippy toes, but would be far more effective with good technique. But one Big Man camp could fix that.

[Induveca]

Also with some more digging, sure it's been posted before but need to bring people back to earth on this guy, at least for the next few seasons.

2009 with Cholet
----------------
5.8 PPG
4.1 rebounds per game
51% FG%
14.9 mpg

He has scored over 9 points 11 times in 68 professional games. Only grabbed over 9 boards 4 times.

I'm looking at a 35% dropoff from his French numbers purely based off of being in a new league, and the players being far more athletic. The guy is a beast over here in terms of size, in the NBA not so much.

Looking at other foreign guys who have come to the NBA in a similar situation/similar type player in their first seasons.

Nene Hilario - 10.5PPG/6.1RPG/28.2MPG
DJ Mbenga (Belgian) - 1.0PPG/0.5RPG/3.9MPG
Ian Mahinmi (French) - 3.5PPG/0.8RPG/3.8MPG
Johan Petro (French) - 5.2PPG/4.4RPG/18.9MPG
Zaza Pachulia - 3.3PPG/2.9RPG/11.2MPG
Marcin Gortat - 3.0PPG/2.7RPG/6.8MPG
Viktor Khryapa - 4.2 PPG/3.4RPG/16.3MPG

Luckily the guy he most reminds me of is Hilario from the video I've seen, but unfortunately we know he won't be getting 28 MPG this coming season. The rest of them have fizzled out or become just role players. But looking at Mahinmi's stats, wow SA has a nice little gem there possibly. They sure do stock up on high caliber foreign centers. Bodes wel they wanted Seraphin.

[closg00]

This report will temper expectations for KS this summer & fall.

Since Jerome Knoepffler has watched Kevin Seraphin play last season, I thought that he would have a solid opinion as to how ready he is for the NBA. He responded by saying, "In fact in my opinion, Kevin isn't ready for the NBA right now." Jerome's main concern does not appear to be Kevin Seraphin's raw talent or ability, but his relative lack of experience. Jerome reminded that Seraphin "has played basketball for only 5 or 6 years."

Another concern that Jerome Knoepffler voiced was the change in position that Seraphin will likely need to make in order to succeed in the NBA. And a change in position often calls for an adjustment period. He said, Seraphin "played Center all the season with Cholet, but with the NBA he is undersized for this position." Seraphin, who is listed at 6-9, is not the prototypical size for a NBA Center and is expected to move to Power Forward with the Wizards. Jerome also questioned whether Seraphin has sophisticated enough offensive skills, presently, to warrant him earning playing time this season. He believes that Seraphin is "physical and can rebound" but that "he needs to improve his shot and his moves offensively, and I don't think that in a few months he can do that."

Ultimately, Jerome Knoepffler's personal preference would have been for Kevin Seraphin to have spent another season or two developing in Europe. He said, "Personally, I prefer that he stay in Cholet or in a big franchise in Europe and play in the Euroleague." He questioned whether the Wizards truly have the minutes to provide to him. "In my opinion, there are too many guys in Washington - Andray Blatche, Trevor Booker [and] JaVale MCGee - there's great guys in the interior positions for the Wizards. Personally I don't think he will have a lot of playing time. I'd have to see it to believe it.

The rest.
http://www.bulletsforever.com/2010/8/29 ... okie-kevin

[Wizards2Lottery]

Great guys in the interior position? Seraphin won't have trouble stealing minutes from McGee and Booker. All he has to do is be semi competent.

[closg00]

Great guys in the interior position? Seraphin won't have trouble stealing minutes from McGee and Booker. All he has to do is be semi competent.

The highlight reels do not show what we already know, KS is as-raw as McGee and needs years of development time, the French guy who covers French hoops lays it all out without spin or sugar-coating. The article also mentioned that he still doesn't have a work visa.

[Hoopalotta]

I don't really find that all to be bad news. I'm figuring that amongst the reasons we made sure to bring him over this year was the upcoming lockout which would have greatly complicated the whole process later (especially if he signed a new Euro deal in the interim). Dude's not ready; big deal.

But I'm not so sure about him transitioning to power forward as mentioned there. That might take 8 years and be self defeating as far as emphasis. I think he's a galoot through n' through and should be concentrating on those aspects. If McGee were to really spiff his face-up and skill game to where he's spacing for us and a little bit go-to in the half court, you could probably play them together with McGee as the de facto skill big on offense and Seraphin guarding the opposing power forward on defense. That might work, but it would be contingent on huge development with McGee (the interior passing might be a problem too).

But as to the rest of the report it's not a big deal. Nice tools and work ethic, really raw. He'll get opportunities in spots while making lots of mistakes. About what I figured.

Also it said that he has his work permit.

[Hoopalotta]

Also, tying into the theme of the week, let's not forget what he brings:

Dude has a huge ass. I'm really, really excited about him now.*

* There might have been some creative editing on my part as far as the sequencing in the quote there

[willbcocks]

UPDATE: According to Jerome Knoepffler, Kevin Seraphin has received his Visa and is now in Washington.

[closg00]

I don't really find that all to be bad news. I'm figuring that amongst the reasons we made sure to bring him over this year was the upcoming lockout which would have greatly complicated the whole process later (especially if he signed a new Euro deal in the interim). Dude's not ready; big deal.

But I'm not so sure about him transitioning to power forward as mentioned there. That might take 8 years and be self defeating as far as emphasis. I think he's a galoot through n' through and should be concentrating on those aspects. If McGee were to really spiff his face-up and skill game to where he's spacing for us and a little bit go-to in the half court, you could probably play them together with McGee as the de facto skill big on offense and Seraphin guarding the opposing power forward on defense. That might work, but it would be contingent on huge development with McGee (the interior passing might be a problem too).

But as to the rest of the report it's not a big deal. Nice tools and work ethic, really raw. He'll get opportunities in spots while making lots of mistakes. About what I figured.

Also it said that he has his work permit.

Not bad news, it's what I expected pretty-much, but it sounds like KS won't be part of the rotation anytime soon due to inexperience and overall rawness.

[nate33]

Also, tying into the theme of the week, let's not forget what he brings:

Dude has a huge ass. I'm really, really excited about him now.*

* There might have been some creative editing on my part as far as the sequencing in the quote there

[closg00]

UPDATE: According to Jerome Knoepffler, Kevin Seraphin has received his Visa and is now in Washington.

Story updated within the last hour.

[Benjammin]

I don't want to make you all jealous (yeah sure), but I'm facebook friends with Kevin and his facebook yesterday indicated "enfin a Washington" which I translate as "finally in Washington".