Will we regret not taking Vonleh?

[Joe Green]

You may be right.. but Vonleh has the body to be a Center. If he drifts to the perimeter he will be a poor man's Bosh.

But seeing his play in SL - he is always down low banging. His low shooting numbers are not due to chucking, but due to his trying to change his game. Centers are the rarest commodity - and at 18 years old he is as good a bet as any.

As for the Banks 2.0 - come on... I bet if smart's first name was Jeff, he wouldn't get those comparisons. I watched almost every game Banks played for the Cs. He had unbelievable lateral speed - but that his where the similarities end. Smart is much bigger, more length, smarter (no pun intended) natural point. I hope he will be allowed to play point for Cs since he is so much better playmaking than playing SG.

[hpantazo]

You may be right.. but Vonleh has the body to be a Center. If he drifts to the perimeter he will be a poor man's Bosh.

But seeing his play in SL - he is always down low banging. His low shooting numbers are not due to chucking, but due to his trying to change his game. Centers are the rarest commodity - and at 18 years old he is as good a bet as any.

As for the Banks 2.0 - come on... I bet if smart's first name was Jeff, he wouldn't get those comparisons. I watched almost every game Banks played for the Cs. He had unbelievable lateral speed - but that his where the similarities end. Smart is much bigger, more length, smarter (no pun intended) natural point. I hope he will be allowed to play point for Cs since he is so much better playmaking than playing SG.

Agreed. Marcus Banks was a lot closer to Avery Bradley than Marcus Smart.

[MSceltic]

From what I read Boston wasn't taking him anyway because of character concerns they had with him so if that is the case there is no way I would regret not taking him. Maybe he gets the things the Celtics were worried about taken care of but with the 6th pick you can't take that chance.

This is the report I read as well, and if it is true I respect Danny's decision. Vonleh grew up in the boston area right? If that is the case, I can see the hometown team not wanting to draft him and constantly fear that when he is not at practice he is hanging out with bad influences he grew up with. If true, it was a smart decision to not use the 6th overall pick on someone who could be a cancer to the organization.

[Mr October]

You may be right.. but Vonleh has the body to be a Center. If he drifts to the perimeter he will be a poor man's Bosh.

But seeing his play in SL - he is always down low banging. His low shooting numbers are not due to chucking, but due to his trying to change his game. Centers are the rarest commodity - and at 18 years old he is as good a bet as any.

I know a lot of people on this blog like to think of Noah as a center. I just don't see it. Long arms alone don't make you a center. He is 6-9 in shoes, that is barely tall enough to be a power forward. After watching a number of Indiana games i never thought to myself, 'this guy will make an excellent center in the NBA'. I didn't see anything resembling elite Shot blocking, or intimidation around the hoop. I saw an 18 year old who reminded me of Lamar Odom with his versatility and length.

[manl_lui]

since the draft, I've seen nothing but "trade Rondo" threads and "Marcus is going to be a bust" threads

the season hasn't even started yet, and people are totally basing rookie's future by SL games

I want to keep Rondo, and have high hopes for Smart and hope he can play the two, but if Smart ends up being a beast, that makes Rondo expendable.

Bottom line is, I rather experiment and see what happens during the season before making the bust comments or "we will regret not drafting x and y players or we didn't tank hard enough

[Jeff]

there likely will be someone drafted after Smart that out-performs him over the course of their careers

that's not necessarily the same as regretting not picking him since Smart was likely the best bet at the time

[footey]

Well stated, Jeff.

The elements of luck and hindsight are hard to overstate in any draft.

[footey]

You may be right.. but Vonleh has the body to be a Center. If he drifts to the perimeter he will be a poor man's Bosh.

But seeing his play in SL - he is always down low banging. His low shooting numbers are not due to chucking, but due to his trying to change his game. Centers are the rarest commodity - and at 18 years old he is as good a bet as any.

As for the Banks 2.0 - come on... I bet if smart's first name was Jeff, he wouldn't get those comparisons. I watched almost every game Banks played for the Cs. He had unbelievable lateral speed - but that his where the similarities end. Smart is much bigger, more length, smarter (no pun intended) natural point. I hope he will be allowed to play point for Cs since he is so much better playmaking than playing SG.

Vonleh seems to short in today's NBA to be a center. I know he is "long", but his lack of height and foot speed do not give him the physical tools to be a decent center in today's NBA.

[Fred Roberts]

You may be right.. but Vonleh has the body to be a Center. If he drifts to the perimeter he will be a poor man's Bosh.

But seeing his play in SL - he is always down low banging. His low shooting numbers are not due to chucking, but due to his trying to change his game. Centers are the rarest commodity - and at 18 years old he is as good a bet as any.

I know a lot of people on this blog like to think of Noah as a center. I just don't see it. Long arms alone don't make you a center. He is 6-9 in shoes, that is barely tall enough to be a power forward. After watching a number of Indiana games i never thought to myself, 'this guy will make an excellent center in the NBA'. I didn't see anything resembling elite Shot blocking, or intimidation around the hoop. I saw an 18 year old who reminded me of Lamar Odom with his versatility and length.

Agreed. He's a quarter inch taller than Jeff Green plus a few pounds and some reach.

[BigAlTheFuture]

I think Smart will be better than Vonleh. More and more I watch Vonleh, the more I don't think he will be any good in the NBA.

[D.o.s.]

You may be right.. but Vonleh has the body to be a Center. If he drifts to the perimeter he will be a poor man's Bosh.

But seeing his play in SL - he is always down low banging. His low shooting numbers are not due to chucking, but due to his trying to change his game. Centers are the rarest commodity - and at 18 years old he is as good a bet as any.

I know a lot of people on this blog like to think of Noah as a center. I just don't see it. Long arms alone don't make you a center. He is 6-9 in shoes, that is barely tall enough to be a power forward. After watching a number of Indiana games i never thought to myself, 'this guy will make an excellent center in the NBA'. I didn't see anything resembling elite Shot blocking, or intimidation around the hoop. I saw an 18 year old who reminded me of Lamar Odom with his versatility and length.

I definitely read this and thought you were referring to Joakim, since its been a last name kind of thread.

[Mr October]

You may be right.. but Vonleh has the body to be a Center. If he drifts to the perimeter he will be a poor man's Bosh.

But seeing his play in SL - he is always down low banging. His low shooting numbers are not due to chucking, but due to his trying to change his game. Centers are the rarest commodity - and at 18 years old he is as good a bet as any.

I know a lot of people on this blog like to think of Noah as a center. I just don't see it. Long arms alone don't make you a center. He is 6-9 in shoes, that is barely tall enough to be a power forward. After watching a number of Indiana games i never thought to myself, 'this guy will make an excellent center in the NBA'. I didn't see anything resembling elite Shot blocking, or intimidation around the hoop. I saw an 18 year old who reminded me of Lamar Odom with his versatility and length.

I definitely read this and thought you were referring to Joakim, since its been a last name kind of thread.

Haha. I didn't realize I did that. i am a habitual flip flopper of using first names and last names. And sometimes in the same post!