HotelVitale wrote:bwgood77 wrote: As I was a big Bender fan going into the draft, the thing that stood out the most to me based on footage was his passing and play making skills. He played PG growing up and seems to have very good court vision and very good instincts. I think he has quite a few strengths such as running the floor, perimeter defense, blocking shots, and making steals, and he even did well rebounding and didn't foul too much in this last game. Last season he may not have been known for his passing and ballhandling but he didn't get much of an opportunity, nor has he this season so far.
That footage is literally like 6 plays though, IIRC, most of which were fairly routine NBA passes (though not for 7 footers!). He seemed to me more like a guy that could read the floor but would need some time to fit that in with his different scoring tools--which should eventually be spot-ups, fake and drive, pull-ups, etc. But I also felt he was not close to NBA speed at most things, and was thus an interesting prospect that you had to look at and say 'he's really big and can definitely do a bunch of basketball things, wonder what he'll actually look like as a player in a few years?' Just saying, I'm not sure he NEEDS to play right now, so long as he's working hard the rest of the time getting himself closer to being his best self somewhere down the line.
No, I such MUCH more footage of uncanny passes that were very surprising to me. I tried to do a quick search on youtube to find the ones I had posted on our draft thread, and could maybe find them later, but there was far more evidence than what you suggest. Of course the nba speed wasn't there, just as it isn't for any prospect.
"
