I had similar thoughts. He's been super impressive. I think his ceiling might have as much to do with how the game changes over time and how valuable a player like him is. Defensively, I think he's more of the Lopez/Marc Gasol build, but those guys are still super valuable and always will be. You can be the DPOY being a strong interior presence + incredible post defender. I think he needs to get physically stronger and have more reps to get on that level, but it's totally doable. He's so far ahead of where I expected him to be. What's been interesting to me is that Hardy is deploying him like Rob Williams (I wonder if he was the one who came up with that idea) and not having guard the C very often. He's just being a huge deterrence. The Jazz tried to do that with Gobert a little, but it wasn't well practiced. I think this is the style of defense that will eventually take over. Even if I think Kessler is more of Marc/Lopez type athlete, it's good to see he can still be effective in that role and his instincts are pretty good.
Offensively I'm not sure I buy into the shooting aspect that some had hoped for but I'm shocked at how comfortable he looks in the paint. He's really good when there's a guy on between him in the basket. The real test will be how he responds to switching defenses and what kind of value he can provide there. His hands+calm presence under pressure is a really good indicator though.
