Banchero has been the best of the bunch so far. His passing and defense has been impressive. Would probably go Murray next followed by Holmgren. Jabari Smith Jr has not looked very good.
When every draftnik on the planet had Banchero going 3rd in the draft, I was kinda stumped because, to me, Banchero was clearly the most talented and most NBA ready. The translatable skills were great, his body was developed well for a 19 year old kid and he really just needed to stretch his shooting to the three point line to be able to be a scorer on all levels.
I said back in December or January that he was the best of this draft. I think this is just the start of him showing that. Orlando got a difference maker with Paolo Banchero.
I think his passing and handle got underrated, quite a bit actually. Especially for someone who is 6'10 and a lean 250lbs. Sure, he turns it over, but he is a freight train. Reminding me a lot of Blake Griffin when he started handling the ball more.
Yeah, and let's not forget Griffin was 21 in his first year. Banchero will be 19 at the start of the year(but then quickly turn 20). He doesn't have the hops Griffin had before the injuries added up, but the rest of his game has a lot of similarities of Blake at 24/25 years old.
Sure and Griffin was also coming off a devastating injury that cost him an entire year.
Does Banchero remind anyone else of Carmelo Anthony? Not in his total game but in parts of his game particularly his shot attempts.
There is just something about the way Banchero moves. The way he creates separation, the way he handles the ball ... the way he takes quite a few contested midrange jump-shots and hard finishes on the drive that he tries to muscle up through people when he cannot explode over them.
Whereas someone like Blake Griffin was such a freak athlete that he was always able to explode up over people and finish in traffic and so quick that he was almost always able to blow by other big men who were too slow to check him.
Anyway back to Banchero and Melo, Banchero reminds me physically more of Melo - physically and in terms of shot attempts. Only bigger at 6-10 and able to play PF in this more spaced out small ball era. So using his perimeter game more than a power 3 game. I wonder if Banchero would've been a SF 15-20 years ago rather than a PF.
I like that Banchero is more interested in passing and helping his teammates than Melo was. Banchero looks to have a more well-rounded game.
Anyway, Banchero reminds me more of a SF than a PF and in terms of scoring & ball-handling he does remind me of Melo.
