Ruzious wrote:Mirotic12 wrote:Ruzious wrote:People can make excuses all day long for Vesely - saying the exact opposite of each other - he should have played center instead of forward or he should have played forward instead of center - but the truth is he sucked with the Wizards, and no other NBA team showed any interest in him. He couldn't play center in the NBA, because he was weak and had terrible hands. He couldn't play the 3, because his offense wasn't good enough. And all of that was predictable watching his Euro games on video. He was talked about ad nauseum on the Wiz board before he was drafted - it was almost unanimous there that he was going to bust. Eventually talent rises like cream to the top - no matter who the coach is. He didn't.
Once he got to his prime in Europe, he was like 5 times a better player than he was on Partizan. The guy is an absolute unreal athletic freak of nature and is 7 feet with a huge wingspan. He would have probably been at something like prime DeAndre Jordan level, if he continued to play in the NBA.
Considering that he's a 7 footer, I honestly can't think of a European player in all of history that had his overall level of athleticism. Pelekanos was more athletic if you don't account for height, but not if you factor in he was like 6-6, and not 7-0. And in terms of all players that played in EuroLeague (any nationality), and counting all the FIBA years back to the 1950s also, Vesely is probably like the second most athletic player ever after Raga.
He's literally a once in a generation level athlete at 7 feet. I have absolutely zero doubt that he could have eventually been a decent starting center in the NBA.
No doubt he was a very good athlete, but the Wiz had him with Javale McGee - who was a better athlete than Vesely and even longer. That didn't work out very well. McGee's been a career journeyman. I gotta disagree with you on Vesely becoming a good NBA center. An NBA center absolutely needs good hands to excel, and he didn't have them. He also lacked the strength.
As a center he just sucks. I mean he is good for Euroleague, but he has no NBA upside. He is basically a garbage bucket and lob finisher, but he cant block shots and is below average rebounder. In Europe he gets his buckets, but in the NBA whats good from a center like that, imagine if prime Deandre couldnt block shots nor rebound very well, absolute waste. I liked him way better as a 3 at a time, maybe I do overrate his ability to be perimeter player, but Thabo Safalosha and Andre Robertson were SF's in the league, so I dont know. My opinion stands, he was developed all wrong, they drafted a guy who couldnt rebound, defend the post or block shots and put him at center, of course he sucked.