rumdiary wrote:miltk wrote:rumdiary wrote:The reason LaVine's getting all this discussion is because his potential ceiling is Russell Westbrook. That's reason alone to draft him in the lottery.
In 2011 there was one guy with a 5-star potential ceiling: Kyrie Irving. In 2012 there was one guy: Anthony Davis.
This year there are five: Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Joel Embiid, Dante Exum and Zach LaVine.
LaVine is very, very, very unlikely to reach his potential ceiling, but the fact that it's there, that it exists, is what made me scour every single UCLA game this year for the few minutes he had!
there's a flaw here. what if no one ever said "westbrook with a shot". that is basically why he's being drafted.because he has done nothing westbrookian nor done anything jj.redickian
I think Zach's definitely displayed a Westbrook-level of athleticism in the way he attacks defenses.
Scouring through UCLA's general sports highlights for hours I found lots of examples that really made me excited.
He's a good shooter but not great, but that's true of Westbrook too.
Maybe the main difference is his strength and bulk, or lack of it!
as a bruin, i can tell you for a fact that lavine has not successfully attacked the rim,,,to such an extent that i can say that with a blanket statement. some people are saying he lacks strength and bulk....i reserve judgement. as for his athleticism, particularly his dunking and leaping ability, let's face it, he's a pogo stick. however i have seen him NUMEROUS times, as in not just once of twice, fail to reach the rim when he TRIED. norm powell, not half the 'athlete" lavine is, will dunk at the drop of a hat. is lavine some kind of practice dunker or what?
if people are going to say "westbrook with a dunk" then i'd like to see ONE play that validates that. something close to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FP0ua5xFw4 as for shooting, up until the missouri game zach was 59%/54%. from missouri on he was something like 40%/33%. in no uncertain terms, i think these are mediocre numbers and performances to be considered a front half of the draft.
