Post by DERRENMATTS on Sept 5, 2005 22:33:53 GMT -5
Too many players are being drafted on their athleticism, it seems. Nowadays, if a player has a high vertical, is quick, and has impressive physical attributes (such as long arms, a long standing reach, and wingspan), he gets drafted. Even if he is a long ways from being a really good basketball player, if he has the athleticism and physical features, he'll get picked because of the potential, whether or not the potential is there.
As !!!GREENIAC!!! Vitale commented on draft day, we aren't drafting track and field athletes.
Case in point, Charlie Villanueva. This guy is a freakish athlete, but very raw. As a 6'10" player with unbelievably long arms, quickness, ball handling and shooting ability like that of a wing player, its easy to see why he's an intriguing prospect. I followed him a lot at UCONN, and I was in favor of drafting him--but not with the 7th pick. If he was available at 18, and all the top players were already taken, I would have hoped Ainge would have drafted him. But in a surprise move, which may have set off the entire draft, the Raptors selected Villanueva at 7, clearly too early in the draft. They could have moved the 7th pick for a later spot in the draft, and still picked up Charlie V. Its a case of picking a prospect with unbelievable athletic and physical gifts. Luckily for Toronto, Villanueva does seem to have a bright future. We weren't so lucky, taking Kedrick Brown at 11th in the '01 draft.
On the flip side, Ryan Gomes fell all the way to 50th. For a guy of his caliber who has so much college credentials, because he doesn't have supreme athleticism (height, length, jumping ability, quickness, etc), many teams bypassed him. I wasn't high on Gomes in college and I probably wouldn't have drafted him at 18 if Gerald Green wasn't there (I was more in favor of guys like Fransisco Garcia and Wayne Simien). But he is certainly first round material, if not, early second round.
Basketball is a game where athleticism and physical gifts are advantageous. But just as important are basketball smarts--and too many teams don't rate this part of the game high enough. Lucky for us, Ainge does. If there's a guy who has solid fundamentals and basketball smarts, but is not a fantastic athlete (Fransisco Garcia), I'd easily take him over a guy with superior athleticism with less basketball smarts (Hakim Warrick).
As !!!GREENIAC!!! Vitale commented on draft day, we aren't drafting track and field athletes.
Case in point, Charlie Villanueva. This guy is a freakish athlete, but very raw. As a 6'10" player with unbelievably long arms, quickness, ball handling and shooting ability like that of a wing player, its easy to see why he's an intriguing prospect. I followed him a lot at UCONN, and I was in favor of drafting him--but not with the 7th pick. If he was available at 18, and all the top players were already taken, I would have hoped Ainge would have drafted him. But in a surprise move, which may have set off the entire draft, the Raptors selected Villanueva at 7, clearly too early in the draft. They could have moved the 7th pick for a later spot in the draft, and still picked up Charlie V. Its a case of picking a prospect with unbelievable athletic and physical gifts. Luckily for Toronto, Villanueva does seem to have a bright future. We weren't so lucky, taking Kedrick Brown at 11th in the '01 draft.
On the flip side, Ryan Gomes fell all the way to 50th. For a guy of his caliber who has so much college credentials, because he doesn't have supreme athleticism (height, length, jumping ability, quickness, etc), many teams bypassed him. I wasn't high on Gomes in college and I probably wouldn't have drafted him at 18 if Gerald Green wasn't there (I was more in favor of guys like Fransisco Garcia and Wayne Simien). But he is certainly first round material, if not, early second round.
Basketball is a game where athleticism and physical gifts are advantageous. But just as important are basketball smarts--and too many teams don't rate this part of the game high enough. Lucky for us, Ainge does. If there's a guy who has solid fundamentals and basketball smarts, but is not a fantastic athlete (Fransisco Garcia), I'd easily take him over a guy with superior athleticism with less basketball smarts (Hakim Warrick).
