Illmatic12 wrote:payitforward wrote:Illmatic12 wrote:Samanic reminds me a lot of the Brooklyn Nets rookie - Rodions Kuruc. He was the 40th pick and played really well for them, he was selected to the rookie-soph game iirc. ...
Kurucs was expected to be a typical floor spacing big, but the aspect of his game that got overlooked was his underrated athleticism and quickness. He’s able to take other bigs off the dribble when they run him off the 3pt line. And on defense , it turns out that he can actually switch and slide his feet with guards so he makes for a useful small ball C.
Kurucs was a terrific pick at #40, no doubt. & he has potential. But, tho he started the season well, I'd say "played really well" is an overstatement.
I'm not dinging the guy! For example, he had one outstanding game vs. the Sixers in R1 of the playoffs. Plus he played 1300 minutes for the Nets as a 20-21 year old rookie. A bargain pick w/o a doubt.
I also think he's got to wind up more of a wing than a big. If you get 7.5 boards per 40 minutes, it might be hard projecting you at Center.... But, he shot 31.5% on 3-pointers. That made for a TS% well below average.
I mention this only b/c of your comparison to Samanic -- whom, like you, I really like. But Samanic is a good bit bigger than Kuriucs, he's 6'11" & already at 220 lbs -- Samanic is a 2 full years younger than Kuriucs -- just turned 19 in January -- so he might well grow a bit more.
I have to think Samanic is even earlier in his development than Kuriucs. Watching him, it's hard for me to imagine he's ready to play big minutes in the NBA.
I thought I remember seeing Kurucs he was shooting near -40% on threes earlier in the season. Maybe he tailed off towards the end (which would make sense for an NBA rook) not exactly sure.
But I know BKN is pretty happy with him thus far and they had a first round grade on him. What's interesting is that his team in Europe, FC Barcelona, was intentionally holding him back and didn't give him playing time because they were afraid he'd showcase his talent and leave for the NBA.
https://nothinbutnets.com/2018/07/12/brooklyn-nets-rumors-rodions-kurucs/
https://www.eurohoops.net/en/nba-news/794116/rodions-kurucs-after-three-years-im-finally-enjoying-playing-basketball/
As I said, a bargain pick at #40 -- of course they're happy with him! Wow, that was a deep draft!
I figured you were still opining off his early season play. He trailed off. Doesn't make me hate him! I'd be delighted if we had him. You will recall that I was screaming last year at this time for us to trade down & get 2 picks, a lower R1 pick & a high R2 pick. Now, the guy I'd have wanted most with a high R2 pick was Mitchell Robinson, but he went #36. If we'd traded our #15, lets say, for Atlanta's #30 & #34 -- we could have picked Mitchell Robinson at 30 & Kurucs at 34. That would have been a haul.
But... at least Ernie was fired!!