can o peas wrote:
did you watch the video though? sullinger spins around him like he's stuck in cement. sullinger only played 25 minutes and had limited stats because it was such a blowout. and most of those steals were off of guards like diebler, lighty, and craft. I don't doubt that he'll get hustle stats like steals and maybe blocks just from being energetic a la balkman. so he probably doesn't have the height or weight to defend the post- one thing that will probably translate though is his rebounding but that's the only thing known.
As for Vucevic, I picked those games specifically since he was playing against future nba big men. it's not like those are the only blocks he ever had. I'm just trying to understand how 1.4 blocks per game is in any universe bad. at worse, it's average. I won't address the toughness concerns because who knows. At least he rebounds.
I watched the video. He will probably struggle in the post defensively to start off. Pretty much every young big man does. But he has really quick feet, he's athletic, he hustles and he's relentless. I think those things will translate into him eventually being a good defender. Rebounding is our biggest weakness which is the biggest way he will help our defense though.
I understand people don't see how Faried fits next to Amare, but there's still plenty of minutes for him off the bench. And he could play next to Amare for stretches the way the Celtics use KG and Big Baby or the Bulls use Gibson/Boozer/Kurt Thomas or the Spurs use Duncan and Blair. Pretty much every team goes small now a days.
Vucevic was 130th in blocks. Usually when a player can't get at least 2 blocks a game, he's not going to be a shotblocker in the NBA. Bogut is the exception and he was still at 1.9 in 30 min.
Its really difficult to find any player that size who only blocked 1.4 in 35 minutes. Only big men I can find w/ less are bad defenders like Lee and Boozer. Even Nick Collison was blocking 2 shots a game. Maybe Horford is another example at 1.8, but he's not really a shot blocker in the NBA and was playing next to Noah. Even guys who were busts like Michael Bradley were blocking almost 2 shots a game.
I won't be mad or anything if we draft Vucevic though. He definitely has his plus's. And who really knows how any of these guys will translate and improve?