Celtics sign O'bryant

[johnnyrondo]

Interesting:

""O'Bryant became the first NBA Lottery pick to be sent down to the Bakersfield Jam of the NBDL on December 30, 2006. On February 19, 2007, O'Bryant was recalled from the Jam. Coach Don Nelson had critical words for him: "I told him if he goes down to the D-League and isn't a dominant player, there should be red flags all over the place, and he should be the first to notice. He's not only not dominating, he's not playing very well. He's a long-term project. I really liked him the first week of training camp, but I assumed there would be great progress. ... He hasn't gotten better one bit."[1]

The Warriors declined to pick up his third year option, which will make him an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2007-2008 season.[2] On March 10, 2008, O’Bryant was reassigned to the Bakersfield Jam.[3] However, he was later recalled and rejoined the Warriors for the remainder of the season.[4]""

He sounds like GS's version of Gerald, but at least Gerald showed some flashes of scoring in the league. Danny has a long history of signing guys that turn out to be wastes...Dickau, Googs, Scal, Pollard, Blount. It looked like he was turning the corner with House and Posey, but O'Bryant? I'd have rather drafted that Jordan kid as a project big. Or Chalmers as our backup point guard. Here's hoping the second year is a team option at least.

[Chris]

I wouldn't be surprised if Perk himself was gased on a 15+ minute drill.

More information and variables need to be considered before saying someone is out of shape (a big guy) on a 15 minute drill.

That's a good point.  And I don't know much about Covile, but I do know that Brian Butch is not a big man like O'Bryant.  Butch actually reminded me a lot of Brian Scalabrine in college (although not nearly as quick)...he just came accross as a guy who could keep his energy up for rediculous amounts of time.

But either way, it sounds like O'Bryant was out of shape.

[Truth Hurts]

I am having a difficult time really judging this deal until we get some details.

 

[jdpapa3]

Maybe Danny had it leak that he was gassed in the workout so he could get him for the minimum. You have to be skeptical. Danny's not an idiot. He didn't dip into the LLE or MLE for this one.

[johnnyrondo]

After the Clips "stole" BD from the Warriors, the Warriors "retaliated" with that 90 million offer to Brand. I'd love to see a thread tomorrow after this odd signing, entitled "GSW retaliates, signs Pollard"

[Brickowski]

Actually he sounds like a young Jerome James.

But you never know.  I really think Clifford Ray is one of the best big man coaches around, and I'm sure that Ainge would not have signed O'Brant unless Clifford saw something in this kid.  I'm willing to suspend judgment.  He was a late bloomer who played at a mid-major because no one offered him a scholarship.  Maybe he will be a late bloomer in the pros, too.

[cordobes]

What happened to Birdman?

Birdman was/is not what he need, IMO. Birdman is too light and under-weighted to defend the post. Paul Pierce is heavier than him. A guy like Pollard has about 50lbs on him (maybe less, I'm just guessing). There's only a way of a post defender upsetting this, having great technique. But I don't think he has what it takes, because he never did that job.

To elaborate a little bit, basically there are 3 ways of defending the man on the post:
- from behind, fighting the position; Birdman lacks the size and the lower body strength to do that.
- fronting; in the NBA this is only effective when facing a team who doesn't have good passers to the post and offensive rebounders. Also, it implies permanent pressure over the ball, and we don't do that always.
- side denial; Thibodeau likes this. The problem is that this solution implies very polished and accurate footwork from the defender (and also heavy scouting on the opponent players, weakside help, etc). I doubt Birdman masters this kind of footwork to make up for his lack of weight (OTH, I haven't seen him playing for 2 years, so I may be wrong).

So, if Birdman comes, he's not going to play 5 at the defense. Our defensive center rotation would probably be Perkins/BBD/KG (and now POB) and he'd guard the PF. 

[yupitsme]

I can't wait to see what our '3' will do with him. I bet they will have him looking pretttyyyyy good  

[fan33]

IMO why: He's tall/long 260 @ 22 will get more specific coaching here and he is coachable, ie. intellegence! Has shown touch and a hook as well as a jumper in terms of potential, sure somewhat a project still, but one with pleanty of upside on the cheap...

Had a stress fracture of the foot in '06,playing in NV summer league, which he sat out 6 weeks for...

/ Sends a signal to Posey we have begun filling out the roster without yet using MLE

[Chris]

The more I think about it, I wouldn't be at all surprised if this is just another Jackie Manuel deal.  Getting a body under contract, and allow him to try to earn a job in the preseason, with nothing guaranteed.

[guava_wrench]

To be fair, in the workout, O'Bryant was gassed.  It's not like he got dominated by Butch when rested.

Well, that's the point.  If he was gassed after 15 minutes against Brian Butch, how's he going to do against a legit NBA player?  From that report, Butch and Ryvon Covile (again, who?) didn't seem to have a huge issue with their conditioning.

We shouldn't be so myopic. All reports are Jefferson had a horrible workout before we drafted him. The article also doesn't say much about the other players apart from O'Bryant being gassed and unable to keep up. We don't know what reasons their might be for that.

Asking "how's he going to do against a legit NBA player?" doesn't make sense since O'Bryant has already played against NBA players.

[P2]

I can't believe it. I thought he looked tired and bad on defense in our workouts? He was the one I wanted to have the least. What exactly does he bring to the table other than being a major bust?

[Chief]

He's big and cheap.  I'm sure he signed for the minimum.  Why not? Let Clifford Ray and Bryan Doo earn their keep. I'd just as soon have this guy as the useless Pollard.

I 100% agree. First, we have arguably the best big man coach in the game, so let him work with this kid for a couple of months. Second, I don't trust Nellie and his take on big men. Finally, Danny is a great talent evaluator. I will not question any moves until I see this guy play in a Celtic uniform.

[Roy Hobbs]

And yet Danny still offered this guy a contract... With his track record I think I will take Danny's opinion on this one...

Now paging Brian Scalabrine. 

Again, I'm sick of the "Danny Ainge is infallible" mantra.  Danny has made maybe two shrewd free agent signings since he got here that weren't absolute no-brainers:  Eddie House and Mike James.  The rest of his free agents have been either obvious moves for the money (Posey, P.J.) or pretty poor (Scal, Googs, everybody else).

I appreciate the "In Danny we trust" slogan, but his record in evaluating free agents has been a bit spotty.  I'm not criticizing him, because overall as a GM he's been good.  However, I'm not going to trust Danny's judgment on a free agent because of some imaginary tremendous track record.

[Brickowski]

I can't believe it. I thought he looked tired and bad on defense in our workouts? He was the one I wanted to have the least. What exactly does he bring to the table other than being a major bust?

You don't get a 7-ft. lotto pick for the vets minimum unless he's been a major bust.

And we don't know how much of the 2 yrs is guaranteed.  Maybe none of it is.