#BringBacktheBiz - The Bismack Biyombo Thread

[yosemiteben]

Again, Biz was very active with his hands and aware of passing lanes initially, it wasn't unusual for him to poke the ball away from people. He's probably had this instinct tempered to resolve foul issues. Try and watch his triple double game from hoop summit, he was a terror when he wasn't worried about cheap fouls.

Maybe you're right, but per 36 he's never averaged more than 0.5 steals per game. Kind of hard to give him credit for what he did in a high school all star game.

The least amount of steals averaged by Ben Wallace per 36 in any year of his entire career was 1.3.

[Liver_Pooty]

Biyombo is not going to steal a basketball unless the ball literally lands in his lap. Its not a stab at him, its just not his game.

[TheKingofSting]

Biz has a better shot of crossing a guard over than stealing a pass.

[Eoghan]

I don't like to tell people they're wrong but you are. Biz used to pick pockets of bigs and leak into passing lanes. There's a reason he was invited to the hoop summit in the first place. To curtail his foul trouble and improve other things the coaches told him to focus only on rebounding and defense. The biggest reason people are noticing his leadership and improved awareness is because he doesn't have to guard three players every possession anymore. His first two years he had to guard his man, Byron Mullens/DJ White/insert awful PF here plus whomever the guards let by. But he's had a lot of these qualities since day one, between his improvement as a rebounder (learning to box out instead of athlete for every board) and footwork and the collective improvement of his teammates his natural talent is starting to show again.

[TheKingofSting]

I don't like to tell people they're wrong but you are.

LIES!

[yosemiteben]

Again I'm not saying BDave is wrong cause I don't know. But in Biz's four year career he's never had a game where he's had more than 2 steals, and from eyeballing game logs he's only had like seven or eight games where he's had that many.

He hasn't had a game with two steals since March of 2013. I was a little shocked to learn that.

[Liver_Pooty]

Again I'm not saying BDave is wrong cause I don't know. But in Biz's four year career he's never had a game where he's had more than 2 steals, and from eyeballing game logs he's only had like seven or eight games where he's had that many.

He hasn't had a game with two steals since March of 2013. I was a little shocked to learn that.

Hes wrong.

[vorbis]

anyways, it's funny how nobody is saying dumb **** about his age when he's playing well. it's only when he's not playing that people start talking about his age. i'm not trying to let somebody get away with something or anything, but at this point biyombo's age (or TRUE age in the eyes of Zach Lowe and presumably coach Clifford) is not particularly important. he's clearly a young player and he's clearly showing multifaceted skill on the court. a big chunk of his game, particularly the parts involving playing within a team concept offensively and defensively, is blossoming right now.

the hornets would be stupid, in my view, to mess around and let him go somewhere else without making him a competitive offer as a free agent. i have been very hopeful about him since the beginning, really, and the more he plays this season the better he looks. i will be curious to see if any improvements he's made since Jefferson went down stick once he's back to leftover minutes when Jefferson comes back. if he continues to do the right thing on offense, compete on defense and crash the boards, he will have really solidified his game this year. if he goes back to fumbling the ball all the time then that will be revealing. he's been very solid with the ball I've thought since he started getting regular 20+ minute runs.

really want to see him standardize that foul shot. if he can get into the low 60's percentage-wise, he can do more defensive substitution at the end of games, even when coached by that ol stick in the mud Clifford.

[thruthefire]

Ratliff made some sense as a comparison before Biz became such a great rebounder. Still, Theo averaged double figures a few times in his career, while I doubt Biz will ever escape single digits.

Big Ben is the better comp.

[thruthefire]

BTW, with Biz on the court, the Hornets have a better DRtg than any team in the league.

The same goes for MKG.

[BeesWax]

Biyombo is not going to steal a basketball unless the ball literally lands in his lap. Its not a stab at him, its just not his game.

I think he would steal a lot more passes if his job was to front his man. He has long arms and solid reflexes but it just is not what he is asked to do. If you play behind the center pushing him out of the post you won't get many steals except just terrible passes. I wish there was a tipped pass stat in the NBA because I do think I remember him getting some that lead to steals.

[JDR720]

Biyombo is not going to steal a basketball unless the ball literally lands in his lap. Its not a stab at him, its just not his game.

I think he would steal a lot more passes if his job was to front his man. He has long arms and solid reflexes but it just is not what he is asked to do. If you play behind the center pushing him out of the post you won't get many steals except just terrible passes. I wish there was a tipped pass stat in the NBA because I do think I remember him getting some that lead to steals.

Probably, he has what a 7-7 wingspan? could get a lot of steals if he was asked to get steals probably.

Kinda like MKG, he is a great defender but he only gets .4 per game, if he wanted/ was told to get steals he could easily get 1.5 per game, hell Kemba just gets 1.4 and 1.2 per game under Clifford he got 2 per game under Dunlap, its just not in Cliffs defensive philosophy to take risks trying to get steals.

Well anyway back to Biz, there is only 5 centers in the NBA that average more than 1 steal per game. I think Biz more than makes up for his lack of steals with his shot blocking, he gets 4 per 48 mins that is 2nd in the entire NBA (just centers) behind Gobert

[BeesWax]

Biyombo is not going to steal a basketball unless the ball literally lands in his lap. Its not a stab at him, its just not his game.

I think he would steal a lot more passes if his job was to front his man. He has long arms and solid reflexes but it just is not what he is asked to do. If you play behind the center pushing him out of the post you won't get many steals except just terrible passes. I wish there was a tipped pass stat in the NBA because I do think I remember him getting some that lead to steals.

Probably, he has what a 7-7 wingspan? could get a lot of steals if he was asked to get steals probably.

Kinda like MKG, he is a great defender but he only gets .4 per game, if he wanted/ was told to get steals he could easily get 1.5 per game, hell Kemba just gets 1.4 and 1.2 per game under Clifford he got 2 per game under Dunlap, its just not in Cliffs defensive philosophy to take risks trying to get steals.

Well anyway back to Biz, there is only 5 centers in the NBA that average more than 1 steal per game. I think Biz more than makes up for his lack of steals with his shot blocking, he gets 4 per 48 mins that is 2nd in the entire NBA (just centers) behind Gobert

We play disciplined defense. We do not gamble and shoot passing lanes much. Our strategy seems to be just stay where you belong and we will prevent points. Do not gamble and give up easy buckets. It does not show up much on the stat sheet for individuals but it does on the team outlook. I do think we deflect a decent number of passes even if we don't get steals. Clifford talked about that in one of his post games. Don't have to get the ball to be disruptive.

[James Gatz]

I posted this in the game thread but felt it probably should be put here as well:

It's weird how defensive this board has gotten about Bismack's age. Even if he is the age that is listed, the rest of league thinks he is older. While most of this board thinks this is unfounded it is not in the eyes of decision makers. So at least when it comes to trades and signings his value is lower around the league. It doesn't matter if he is actually 22 or not.

I for one am glad to know most people in the league think he is older than his listed age. It's information we didn't have previously.

If I was to bet, I would bet on him being older. I feel like the people whose job it is to find out this information are more likely to know than a bunch of diehard fans on a message board.

It's getting a bit jingoistic to not even consider he isn't his listed age.

Also who cares? Even if he is 25, he's having a good stretch of games and may have a future as a starter in this league.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/489864687543390208[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/489866486522335232[/tweet]

[Diop]

Lamar going to work.

[BeesWax]

I posted this in the game thread but felt it probably should be put here as well:

It's weird how defensive this board has gotten about Bismack's age. Even if he is the age that is listed, the rest of league thinks he is older. While most of this board thinks this is unfounded it is not in the eyes of decision makers. So at least when it comes to trades and signings his value is lower around the league. It doesn't matter if he is actually 22 or not.

I for one am glad to know most people in the league think he is older than his listed age. It's information we didn't have previously.

If I was to bet, I would bet on him being older. I feel like the people whose job it is to find out this information are more likely to know than a bunch of diehard fans on a message board.

It's getting a bit jingoistic to not even consider he isn't his listed age.

Also who cares? Even if he is 25, he's having a good stretch of games and may have a future as a starter in this league.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/489864687543390208[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/489866486522335232[/tweet]

The problem is there is no reason they think this other than where he is from. It is the same as with the central american baseball players. They could be their age but everyone doubts it because of where they come from.

I for one think he is the age he is because of watching him develop and listening two him interview over the last few years. He sounded like a kid when he came into the league and he sounds more mature now. Zach Lowe doesn't have any source who can show anything close to proof that he is older than he is. He just loves to spout off at the mouth like this at times. This was all an attempt to justify his conversation about Biz being a career backup.

[catch20two]

I would like to hear what Zachety LoweBlow gotta say about Biz play recently. Somebody ask him.

[catch20two]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/552257134331981825[/tweet]

[Braggins]

I posted this in the game thread but felt it probably should be put here as well:

It's weird how defensive this board has gotten about Bismack's age. Even if he is the age that is listed, the rest of league thinks he is older. While most of this board thinks this is unfounded it is not in the eyes of decision makers. So at least when it comes to trades and signings his value is lower around the league. It doesn't matter if he is actually 22 or not.

I for one am glad to know most people in the league think he is older than his listed age. It's information we didn't have previously.

If I was to bet, I would bet on him being older. I feel like the people whose job it is to find out this information are more likely to know than a bunch of diehard fans on a message board.

It's getting a bit jingoistic to not even consider he isn't his listed age.

Also who cares? Even if he is 25, he's having a good stretch of games and may have a future as a starter in this league.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/489864687543390208[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/489866486522335232[/tweet]

Again, he is just repeating a rumor. He didn't give any evidence or reason why people don't believe his age. If Lowe had cited a source claiming this and gave some sort of explanation or reasoning it would maybe mean something. Like I said before, he was given a bone age test that confirmed his age within one year while in Spain. It also wasn't like he was some jungle dwelling tribesman from Africa. I don't deny that many people believe that he is older, but until someone gives any kind of reason or evidence other than people thinking he is older because he is from Africa and was stronger and more athletic than most kids his age (true for the majority of players) when he came to the US then this means nothing.

Do you seriously look at Biz compared to other players his age and think "Man, there is no way this guy could possibly be the same age as the rest of them"? If so, then why? I assume if you don't believe Biz is 22 then you also don't believe that Greg Oden was 19 in this picture and that he was actually in his mid 30s when he came into the NBA.

[BeesWax]

I posted this in the game thread but felt it probably should be put here as well:

It's weird how defensive this board has gotten about Bismack's age. Even if he is the age that is listed, the rest of league thinks he is older. While most of this board thinks this is unfounded it is not in the eyes of decision makers. So at least when it comes to trades and signings his value is lower around the league. It doesn't matter if he is actually 22 or not.

I for one am glad to know most people in the league think he is older than his listed age. It's information we didn't have previously.

If I was to bet, I would bet on him being older. I feel like the people whose job it is to find out this information are more likely to know than a bunch of diehard fans on a message board.

It's getting a bit jingoistic to not even consider he isn't his listed age.

Also who cares? Even if he is 25, he's having a good stretch of games and may have a future as a starter in this league.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/489864687543390208[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/489866486522335232[/tweet]

Again, he is just repeating a rumor. He didn't give any evidence or reason why people don't believe his age. If Lowe had cited a source claiming this and gave some sort of explanation or reasoning it would maybe mean something. Like I said before, he was given a bone age test that confirmed his age within one year while in Spain. It also wasn't like he was some jungle dwelling tribesman from Africa. I don't deny that many people believe that he is older, but until someone gives any kind of reason or evidence other than people thinking he is older because he is from Africa and was stronger and more athletic than most kids his age (true for the majority of players) when he came to the US then this means nothing.

Good point. I am going to take Lowe's approach from now on and just go with Lebron is 35. There is no way he could have been that big at 18 he must have been 23. They doctored his birth certificate and hid him in the basement for a few years when he was little. It was all part of the grand plan to make an unstoppable force in the NBA. Such a load that just because a kid is from Africa or somewhere else we have to doubt everything they say.