Moxie wrote:
How can anyone give an informed answer? He hasn't played in a year. The last time he played, Harrison Barnes was by consensus the next dominant swingman. Once we saw Barnes play at NC, we could actually evaluate him against challenging competition, and lo and behold, he isn't a dominant player at all.
You can't say Kanter would have been the best big man in college. I can't say he would have been a bust. We don't have enough information. But if Harrison Barnes could fool everyone the way he did in high school, it is just as possible that Enes Kanter fooled us as well, and now he is coasting on completely incorrect hype to a top 3 selection.
He isn't a 'safe' pick at all.
It's a different case. The worst part of Barne's game is his poor dribbling skills and that was displayed even during the All-American game and Jordan Brand game. He might have scored bunch of points in those games to make people believe he's legit, but scouts have already indicated his poor ball handle based on those games recap. So it wasn't a huge surprise to see him struggle in college, he just simply couldn't get by any defenders at all due to that poor handle.
Kanter on the other hand, the last game he played against was a matchup against some of the best recruits. He was dominating Sullinger the whole game. Although Sully wasn't the best post up defender he's still however a big banger, someone who does a good job on boxing out and rebounding in the paint. Yet, Kanter won the matchup. There were times he out-muscled 2-3 guys in the paint and crashed the board thru traffic. Not only has he displayed post-up skills, he also displayed his outside range, runs good for his size in the transition and played with high motor and intensity. These attributes can't fool people, these are legit skillset.
It's obviously his defense remains questionable, but other than that, he can score and rebound against challenging competition. That's for sure. Thus, I say he's a safe pick when compared to other bigs in the draft.