Biyombo: The Mystery Man!
- Thread starter Basketball_Romantic23
- Start date
vslice02
Well-Known Member
Look what you've done, Matt Harpring.
MattMan
Active Member
If people are willing to be patient with him, then he has the potential to make it big. We'll still have a glaring issue of horrible outside shooting. It would be fun to watch a strong Jazz team being able to dominate the paint/boards. Something I'm sure not used to seeing.
JimLes
Well-Known Member
Ugh. I do not like "super-raw big man project" draft picks. They're probably my least favourite draft picks. Right ahead of "hometown college hero" and "undersized scorer for a college I've never heard of" kind of picks.
It's not that I don't want the Jazz to draft a powerful defensive presence down low, it's that this you can't teach height attitude has yet to yield any real results. Biyombo fits the bill of so many failed raw big man prospects, it's not even funny. Shawn Bradley, Pavel Podkolzine, Hasheem Thabeet, DeSagana Diop, Oumare Cisse, Hasheem Thabeet, etc. All freakishly tall, all started playing basketball quite late(should be an automatic uh-oh), all played few minutes on significant level, all very deficient offensively, and of course, all flops. Not one of them learned to play any offense, and in the end even their defense didn't quite translate to the highest level. People just fall in love with potential and "upside" and assume that magically, a player will improve over time. Never mind whether the Jazz have some secret all those other teams had or not. Somehow, we'll make this Biyombo kid a Mutombo.
Yeah, Mutombo. The one guy used as an example that this can work and the one guy everyone hopes all these raw big projects will become. The only issue is that Mutombo played 3 years at Georgetown, posted very good numbers(including 15PPG his senior year) and was generally a much more finished of a product than any of these other prospects. Hell, he openly talked about his age and being 25 on draft night so you knew what you were getting, too.
It just seems like an awfully big gamble to spend either of the two top 12 picks on Hasheem Thabeet lite. As someone who's been a fan for a couple of decades, having one top 12 pick has been rare enough. I'd rather not spend one of the two on a very raw prospect. That's what second round is for.
It's not that I don't want the Jazz to draft a powerful defensive presence down low, it's that this you can't teach height attitude has yet to yield any real results. Biyombo fits the bill of so many failed raw big man prospects, it's not even funny. Shawn Bradley, Pavel Podkolzine, Hasheem Thabeet, DeSagana Diop, Oumare Cisse, Hasheem Thabeet, etc. All freakishly tall, all started playing basketball quite late(should be an automatic uh-oh), all played few minutes on significant level, all very deficient offensively, and of course, all flops. Not one of them learned to play any offense, and in the end even their defense didn't quite translate to the highest level. People just fall in love with potential and "upside" and assume that magically, a player will improve over time. Never mind whether the Jazz have some secret all those other teams had or not. Somehow, we'll make this Biyombo kid a Mutombo.
Yeah, Mutombo. The one guy used as an example that this can work and the one guy everyone hopes all these raw big projects will become. The only issue is that Mutombo played 3 years at Georgetown, posted very good numbers(including 15PPG his senior year) and was generally a much more finished of a product than any of these other prospects. Hell, he openly talked about his age and being 25 on draft night so you knew what you were getting, too.
It just seems like an awfully big gamble to spend either of the two top 12 picks on Hasheem Thabeet lite. As someone who's been a fan for a couple of decades, having one top 12 pick has been rare enough. I'd rather not spend one of the two on a very raw prospect. That's what second round is for.
Joe Bagadonuts
Well-Known Member
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I've been a fan for a couple decades too and I love the idea of spending the second draft pick on a high risk, high reward player that we couldn't possibly have an opportunity to draft in an ordinary year.
jimmy eat jazz
Well-Known Member
"High risk, high reward" is fast becoming the most over-used cliche on this board.
What's the risk/reward ratio for Biyombo? Personally I see Biyombo as someone who's risk/reward ratio is unacceptably low. Very high potential reward, but also excessively high risk. He has 'project' written all over him in bright big neon signs. No thanks.
Joe Bagadonuts
Well-Known Member
Actually, I think the risk that he's not an impact defensive player is very low, and that would mean he will have a role in the NBA for years. The reward could be that if he learns to hit a sky hook or an 8 foot jump shot and improves to 70% on foul shots he could be an all star. It's rare to get that type of a player at 12, but the Jazz have pulled it off multiple times before.