fleet wrote:SensiBull wrote:Something else that informs my view on LaVine is a positive comment made about another Bulls player - Wendell Carter, Jr.
About two months before the draft, an NBA fan made a video touting WCJ as the best big in the draft. He talked about the usual stuff we've all heard ((Bagley's reclassifiation concealed his true ability, unselfish player, rim protector w/2 blks per game, 3 pt range, good shot mechanics, turned down Harvard, etc.). You know the pitch. We all heard it.
Then he said something really subjective that I've never heard anyone else say about WCJ in relation to other bigs in this draft that I'm not sure I'd say about lots of players, not just Zach Lavine. It was one of those things that you see all the time, but can't put your finger on until someone says it out loud.
He said, "Plus, Wendell just moves like what I call a 'hooper.''"
I don't want to misquote him, but he went on to point out how some young players have natural physical gifts, and you can tell that someone tapped them on the shoulder one day, and said, "Have you ever thought of applying that gift to basketball?" as opposed to someone who spent long days playing 21 or horse all day, out of love, and just happened to have the physical makeup later in life, just as an aside, to actually do it for a living.
I ask myself, "If LaVine did NOT have a 44" vert (and one day he won't), what would his all-around game look like? How would it be structured?"
In the absence of anything more than an enigmatic answer to that question, my natural instinct is to insure myself against that quite realistic scenario.
It was a video and a point that does not help Zach Lavine's case, that's for sure.
I remember the video and the comment, and it confirmed what’s become a secondary litmus test of mine for projecting NBA perimeter players:
Do you play basketball in your free time?
Not drills. Not plyometrics. Basketball.
You look at the elite guards and wings and, almost invariably, they seek our pick up games during the summer. I’m not talking Drew League-type events, though they count too in a way. I mean they blow through Los Angeles and find out where the daily game is and go there for 5 on 5 because they NEED to get a run in.
Off the top of my head, LeBron, KD, CP3, PG, Devon Booker, Steph, Hoodie Melo and DeRozan do this.
To me this says a couple things: one, you like the game enough to play it when you’re not getting paid. That passion for basketball is the throughline in the careers of the greats.
Two, you’re putting in extra hours to get your feel, instincts and craft right.
Zach may play pick up basketball for all I know. I haven’t heard one way or another. But, given his feel issues, I’d be more reassured by hearing he’s been hunting down basketball games than I am by his backyard workout videos with oversized tires and stuff.
