What's new

What can't he do?

The Midnight

#Baby_Talk
Contributor
What can't he do?

- Jefferson type inside move: Tick
- Athletic dunks: Tick
- Off the dribble: Tick
- Spin move: Tick
- Passing: Tick
- Block shot: Tick
- Mid range shot: Tick
- 3pt range: Tick

Okay, okay, before you get started - it is a blimmin' high school game, but the skills are there and from the Combine he does have the size.

Personally, I don't think he'll be there at 3 - I do think Wolves will keep the pick and snag him at #3 as they're loaded at the wing. But that's fine we'll just take DWill2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5kAZL0Q3ic&feature=related
 
Nice vid. Of the practices, pick-up games I saw him play, he played more center than he did in this video, so nice to see the more complete game. I saw mostly anchoring down, using his body to create space, blocking out, and really owning the paint.
 
Okay, okay, before you get started - it is a blimmin' high school game, but the skills are there and from the Combine he does have the size.

I actually don't care that it's film from a High School game. Just a few years ago (when High Schooler's could still enter the draft), we were all juding draft prospects by their HS tapes. I like what I see on highlight film.

When a big guy ends up being a bust, there's usually a glaring weakness or two in his game that ends up being overlooked because scouts/GMs think they can get them to overcome it.

Granted, the tape I've seen on Kanter is limited but I'm still trying to see what this guys "glaring" weakness would be. His outside jumper is impressive for a big man, great touch as he gets closer to the rim, he seems to move extremely well, seems more than comfortable in the post, looks like he knows how to use his size down low, IMO shows the ability to be really good as a passer, good hands, etc.

The more I see on him, the more I feel he's a certain no-brainer at #3 (if he even lasts that long).

My money is on Minnesota snatching him up at 2.
 
I love this guy's game. I am going to be very disappointed if the Jazz do not draft him if he is available.
 
I agree with PKM, Kanter uses his body to create space and makes the game easier. I am most impressed with his fluid movement and shot.

It would be VERY hard to pass on him at 3....


Jazzman calls it glarring weakness, I like to call it fatal flaw--and I don't see one in Kanter.
 
I've posted this one a couple times already. Anyway, the 42 second to 1:00 mark is where I see the most potential in him. He's got size and a hell of a stroke and solid athleticism but those quick spin moves for a guy of that size, with the touch to finish, is very impressive.
 
He should have stayed in Europe where he could play. There was 0% chance he could have played in college.
 
I have few concerns about his offensive game. He does tend to bring the ball down instead of keeping it high but overall he is an excellent offensive prospect. Defensively I have very serious concerns about him being average defensively.
 
Regarding who is at fault for Kanter's NCAA ineligibility, this SI article gives a little background.

NCAA president offers strong words on Enes Kanter

When newly appointed NCAA president Mark Emmert addressed the non-decision handed down in the Cam Newton case, he expressed ambivalence about what his association had done -- as if he knew the NCAA had no other choice but he still wasn't happy about it. There was, however, no such equivocation when I talked to Emmert on Sunday about Kentucky freshman Enes Kanter. Although the NCAA president has no involvement in the enforcement process, Emmert gave a full-throated defense of his staff's decision to declare Kanter permanently ineligible for accepting more than $33,000 above necessary expenses from the pro team he played for in his native Turkey. That decision was upheld by an appeals committee last Friday.

"The facts are utterly unambiguous, the rule is utterly unambiguous, and the intention of the membership is utterly unambiguous," Emmert said. "The vast majority of people in collegiate basketball knew that this was an issue with Enes Kanter. Kentucky knew it. Everybody who talked with him knew it. So I'm amazed that people are shocked by the fact that he is ineligible."

The main criticism being lobbed at the NCAA these days is that its enforcement decisions have been inconsistent, to put it mildly. Kansas guard Josh Selby and Mississippi State forward Renardo Sidney were also found to have accepted impermissible benefits, yet both were allowed to play after serving a suspension and repaying the loot. On the flip side, Auburn quarterback Cam Newton got off scot free even though his father was caught trying to pimp his son. The biggest travesty of all was the amnesty granted to five Ohio State football players to play in the Sugar Bowl before beginning their five-game suspensions next season.

Emmert didn't disagree with my suggestion that the penalties have been inconsistent, but he said there was good reason for that. "They are all very different cases with very different facts," he said. "You mentioned Selby. Here was an individual who took somewhere over $5,000 worth of impermissible benefits. It wasn't from a professional team. It was from a third party. That wasn't a violation of our rules regarding professional athletics."

I also asked Emmert about the important question of intent. Kanter turned down far more money, perhaps in the millions, to try to come to the States to play college basketball. Unlike Newton's dad, who clearly tried to cash in on his son's talents, Kanter's family appears to have made a good-faith effort to keep him eligible. "I can't describe what a good-faith effort is," Emmet replied. "I don't know the young man or his family. If their intention all along was to have him come play in the United States, then it would simply have been a matter of not accepting pay. We've seen a threefold increase in the number of international athletes coming to college, so it's not right to say the environment is not conducive for them to come here and play. They simply have to not do it for money."

Finally, I asked Emmert about the very serious allegation made by Dick Vitale during ESPN's telecast of the UConn-Texas game Saturday. Vitale asserted that the reason Kanter was made permanently ineligible -- as opposed to temporarily suspended and forced to return the money -- was because he plays at Kentucky for the NCAA's nemesis, John Calipari. Vitale made this claim despite the fact that last season, the NCAA suspended Kentucky point guard John Wall for just two games for receiving impermissible benefits, similar to what it did with Selby. After the game, Vitale wrote on Twitter that he believed if Kanter were playing at Washington instead of Kentucky, he would not have been declared permanently ineligible.

Some background. Kanter turned down lucrative offers from teams in Turkey and Greece because he wanted to play high school and college ball in the United States. But when Kanter came here in 2009, two top prep schools turned him down because of concerns about his quasi-pro experience. He eventually enrolled at Stoneridge Prep in Simi Valley, Calif., and in November he (Kanter) verbally committed to the University of Washington. On the day he committed, the president at the University of Washington was a man named Mark Emmert.

What happened from there is a matter of some debate. It has been widely reported that to Washington's chagrin, Kanter de-committed last February, re-opened his recruitment and two months later signed with Kentucky. When I asked Emmert why Washington recruited Kanter, he told me that as university president he did not get involved with basketball recruiting and thus did not know his coach's thinking. My own sources have indicated to me that the Washington coaching staff originally believed Kanter would have to miss some time but could retain his eligibility. But the more information they received on Kanter following his commitment, the more the Washington coaches realized it was unlikely he would ever be eligible. Kanter never visited the Washington campus and never applied for admission. He also never contacted Lorenzo Romar to tell him he was de-committing. The two just quietly went their separate ways.

Would Washington have rolled the dice like Kentucky did if Kanter wanted to come? Possibly. They would have had nothing to lose, right? Still, the fact is, Washington, like everyone else who was involved with Kanter, believed he would never clear the NCAA's amateurism hurdle. That's why Romar eventually backed off.

To suggest that Kanter would have been eligible had he gone to the NCAA president's former school is to give full embrace to conspiracy theory. I'm sure it will not shock you to hear that Emmert scoffed at Vitale's allegation. "Not to put too fine a point on it, but that's ridiculous," he said. "By all accounts this is a very talented basketball player, but yet there were very few schools recruiting him. Why was that? Because everyone understood that there was a very large probability that he was not going to be deemed eligible. This has nothing to do with Kentucky or Coach Calipari. It has to do with a clear rule and a clear set of facts."

Read more: https://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2...hoop.thoughts.kansas/index.html#ixzz1OKfWTMAA

I give full embrace to conspiracy theory.
 
It's funny when guys see Kanter lighting up High School guys and claim they need to "see more". Kevin Garnett lighting up High Schoolers was good enough for the T'Wolves. Dwight Howard's HS tapes were good enough for the Magic.

Now I'm sure somebody's gonna come in here and ask about the likes of Deshawn Stevenson or Martell Webster and point out that HS dominance is not a sure sign of NBA dominance. Obviously, we all know that's the case. My point on Kanter is that regardless of his age and competition level on these highlight videos, he simply does things that you would want to see from a potential Top 3 pick.

Another thought for those who want to "see more" from Kanter: Back when Dwight Howard was drafted, the Bobcats had first crack at him and just couldn't bring themselves to make him the #1 overall pick. The fact that they had "seen more" from Omeka Okafor during his time UCON is what ultimately convinced them to pass on the 18-year old Howard. Obviously, we all know that was the wrong pick.

Don't get me wrong, the more you see on a guy, the more you know about him. It's just that sometimes that you can lead you to over-analyze between your choices and you end up out-smarting yourself. I may not be 100% certain of what Kanter's NBA ceiling is from these few tapes, but I think we've seen enough to determine that the kid has serious talent and is not the next Kwame Brown.
 
He should have stayed in Europe where he could play. There was 0% chance he could have played in college.

Such an utterly ridiculous and uninformed statement. (And you do not want to get into a debate with me on this issue ... unless you have a real fondness for losing.)
 
I have few concerns about his offensive game. He does tend to bring the ball down instead of keeping it high but overall he is an excellent offensive prospect. Defensively I have very serious concerns about him being average defensively.

Honestly, if he came in and was an average NBA defender right now, I would take it. It's better than what Millsap and Jefferson are right now in pick-and-roll D. He's not going to block a lot of shots, but he looks like he has the lateral quicks to be an improvement as a defender in that regard. Favors and Kanter would be quite a duo right away on the glass. Both of them can really rebound already.
 
No NBA rookie center comes into the league and dominates on the defensive end. Defense depends on the team scheme and desire. If high schoolers were eligible for the draft, he could have been #1 pick last year. If we do pick him, let's just hope he doesn't turn into Kwame Brown.
 
Back
Top